Thomas J Morrissey - Dom Eugene Boylan: Trappist Monk, Scientist and Writer

Agnes Boylan.

Richard Boylan, a quiet, thoughtful and well-read man, was sub-manager of the Hibernian Bank in Bray. Agnes, a tall, handsome woman of commanding presence, was outgoing and vivacious. She delighted in company and was frequently the centre of the party. As a gifted musician with a good voice, she loved to draw people to her house for musical evenings. She was in charge of the Pro-Cathedrals Palestrina Choir under the aegis of Dr Nicholas Donnelly, Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin, as well as organist at the local Catholic church. Agnes was the youngest of fourteen children. Her mother, who lived with the Boylan family, played a major part in rearing the children.

Kevin Boylan had happy memories of his early years, and these memories were later supplemented by what others told him. In this way he learned how, on one occasion, when his mother hosted a dinner party for the local clergy at her house, he had taken the coffee pot from the kitchen and was happily pouring the contents down the sink. When his deed was detected, his reply Ill do it myelf#x2019; was not without significance in view of his later career. It was a frequent protest of his.

When Kevin was three years old, his father was appointed bank manager in the market town of Kells in Co. Meath, to where the family moved in 1907, and where a year later, a third son, Gerald, was born. They lived in the big bank house in the town; it had a large garden, but they missed the sea. Kevins memories from that time were of the garden and of music in the house. His grandmother presided over a large room called the nursery, where all the children, except the baby, slept. Kevins great friend was his father. They went for walks together, and until the end of his life he remembered them walking together in a wood in Headfort Estate near Kells. To be like his father he gave up taking sugar in his tea.

They were only eighteen months in Kells when Richard was appointed to the Dublin area as an inspector, and the family found themselves on the move again. At this point, they rented a house in Monkstown, Co. Dublin, quite near the town of Kingstown now Dn Laoghaire.

For the next four years, Kevin recalled, we lived at 4 Trafalgar Terrace, opposite to Seapoint Tower. Those were halcyon years. The sea was at our door. Not surprisingly, it was there that he learned to swim. He remembered that his father was away for most of the week and that his mother played a lot of Bridge. There was also a fair share of music in the house. My grandmothers big room was the nursery, he remembered. She made most of our clothes, told us stories and later made us read to her. She had a lot to do with our mental development. One story she told had a snake in it, and this, Kevin surmised, might explain his later almost pathological fear and loathing of snakes. Those evenings when my father came home were memorable I cant ever remember being beaten, or any one of the three father, mother, grandmother having any difficulty in controlling us, although we were mischievous enough. I dont think we were unduly subdued, our submission was through love rather than fear.