He was born in
Johnsonville, in
Wellington, the fifth of eight children (five sons and three daughters) of Kathleen (
née Gaffney) and George Charles Douglas, an Australian-born railway worker. His mother was a devout Catholic from County Sligo, Ireland, and his father became a Catholic in 1926. Douglas trained for the
Catholic priesthood at
Holy Cross Seminary, Mosgiel. Within a few months of his ordination, at the end of 1934, he applied to join the Missionary Society of St. Columban. He was
curate at
New Plymouth when he left to join the society at the start of 1937. He was appointed to the Philippines in July 1939. He was posted to
Pililla. Five years later during the
Japanese occupation he was taken by secret police looking for information on
guerrillas active in his area. Over three days in the Church of Saint James the Apostle in
Paete, Laguna, he was beaten and tortured, the presumption being that police were trying to extort information from him about guerrillas whose
confessions he may have heard. He remained silent and on 27 July 1943, very weak but still conscious, was put on a truck with a guard of Japanese soldiers. He was never seen again. He is remembered in the name of a boys college in New Plymouth,
Francis Douglas Memorial College. ==Beatification==