In the novel The Pale Horse, Father Gorman was a catholic priest at St Dominic's. He took the last confession of Mrs Jessie Davis and administered the last rites. After the session he stopped by a cafe where he decided to write down a list of names which Mrs Davis had mentioned as part of her confession. Because the lining of his pocket was torn, he decided to stuff the list into his shoe instead.
On leaving the cafe, Father Gorman was mysteriously beaten to death. His attackers obviously wanted something from him as his pockets had been turned out. They missed the list in the shoe which was subsequently found by the police. Inspector Lejeune believed the list to be significant.
Portrayals
In the 2011 ITV adaption The Pale Horse (Episode 1, series 5 of Agatha Christie's Marple), Father Gorman was played by Nicholas Parsons. Here he is given the first name Patrick and is personally known to Miss Marple. According to Miss Marple, they had met when during World War 1 at a convalescent home. Miss Marple had at that time been serving as a nursing sister while Gorman was the chaplain of the 7th Royal Irish Horse. In this adaptation, the list of names confided by Mrs Davis to Gorman was not found in his shoe. He had posted it to Miss Marple before he was killed.
In Le cheval pâle, the French Télévisions film adaptation of the novel for the series Les Petits Meurtres d'Agatha Christie, the parallel character is Père François.