Originally published in The Gateway Issue No. 17 (September 2009)
A fine teacher, a bewitching storyteller, an intrepid hiker and collector of plants and flowers, a skilled sportsman, a gardener, a musician, singer, poet, and artist. And all of these skills pretty well self-taught.. Such was Brother Patricius.
He was born on the 1st November 1911 and the place of his birth may hold the key to some traits of his character. Young Patrick hailed from the Glen of Aherlow, one of Ireland’s most scenic, with fertile land and stunning views of not so distant mountains. Such a pleasant prospect was enough to stir the young artistic spirit.
His mother seems to have had a profound influence on him. Years later he wrote a poem entitled “Mum’s Rosary” which helps to capture some of the life and spirituality of family and home. Two of the verses go as follows:
‘She handed down our rosaries
And waved us to our knees,
And Heaven itself drew closer still
Above the wind-stirred trees.
Great was her faith in things divine,
Hell’s fires she did not fear;
For with her hand she touched God’s sky,
He was, she said, so near’.
No doubt his mother was instrumental in his decision to join the Brothers. But so too was his primary school teacher who knew the La Salle Brothers well and recommended Patrick to them. He left home in 1926, first for the Juniorate, then the Novitiate in 1928, followed by the Scholasticate, all located in Castletown, Co Laois, Ireland. The somewhat strict formation process was tempered with picnics, games, swims and farm-work. Patrick’s interest in poetry began in the Juniorate while ‘fooling in the back row composing funny rimes’ about his companions. He found this most entertaining. Later, he would receive a more formal training with the help of fellow poet, Brother Hugh Bates.
The call to the missions came early and in 1931, at the age of twenty, he was on his way in a group of four young Brothers, accompanied by Brother John Lynam. One of the young Brothers was called Hubert O’Leary and he and Patricius were posted to Hong Kong, the former to La Salle College and the latter to St Joseph’s College. Patricius became a good friend of Hubert, not least because ‘he had a lovely voice, and when he sang solo during midnight mass at Christmas, people kept looking back to see who was singing’.
At that time Brothers were frequently moved from one school to another and in 1933 Patricius was transferred to St Xavier’s Institution In Penang. Right from the start in Hong Kong he had displayed fine teaching qualities, including artistic blackboard work. In Penang he also loved to head for the hills and hike and swim. Penang hill in particular attracted him and he reveled in the jungle walks.
In 1937 he was transferred to Singapore, to the newly opened St Patrick’s School in Katong by the sea. He continued to enjoy his teaching as well as swims in the sea before another transfer across the city to the famed St Joseph’s Institution. Since the school was in the heart of the city, there was no shortage of heat, dust and noise. Rumours of a possible Japanese invasion were in full circulation and tension was rising. People wanted to believe that the British Empire could withstand all attacks and that “Fortress Singapore” was impregnable.
Brother Patricius kept a careful diary of events from 1940 to the end of the war. He describes in some detail the military preparations of the British, the daily propaganda through newspapers and radio, the surprise first air attack on Singapore which made short work of British delusions, the Japanese occupation, the decision of the Brothers to follow the Catholic bishop and community to the jungles of Malaya and what transpired there. These diaries were first written up using the title: “Under the Hinomaru” and more recently published in book form with the title: “Jungles are Never Neutral”. Although in many ways a harrowing tale, Brother Patricius was somehow able to temper danger and death with light and laughter.
During the Japanese occupation of Singapore the work of the Brothers was badly disrupted. Those who were British citizens were interned in Changi Prison for the duration of the war. The others were asked to reopen St Joseph’s but to teach through Japanese which necessitated attending lessons in the afternoons. However, there was little stress on academic education and instead drills, singing Japanese songs and gardening were the order of the day. Then came the Japanese authorities’ persuasion to move the Catholic population to a jungle clearing called Bahau in Malaya and the Bishop’s and Brothers’ decision to go there.
The jungle settlement had been painted in idyllic terms. A desolate wilderness of uprooted trees, surrounded by jungle, infested by mosquitoes and other pests, was the reality. Nevertheless, the Bishop and Brothers put heart into the weary settlers and they set to with a will, clearing the jungle bit by bit and planting vegetables. Brother Patricius of course put it all into verse. Here is a sample of what was endured:
With axe and parang, midst flame and smoke,
With muscle and brawn and blade,
Thro’ jungle and wood we hacked and hewed,
But the price supreme we paid.
All battered and bent, all tattered and rent,
All grimy and grim yet gay,
We sweated and slogged, we sweltered and sogged,
In the jungles of far Malaya.
The price paid was to their health. Malnutrition brought on dysentery, diarrhoea, beri-beri, tuberculosis etc…and the coffin makers and cemetery workers were kept busy. Two Brothers died of cerebral malaria while the rest emerged from the jungle looking like skeletons. Home leave and a good rest should have been the priority. Instead they focused on the school and the children and did Trojan work to get everything shipshape again. Fortunately, in 1947, the superiors insisted that home leave must be taken and Brother Patricius was at last able to renew acquaintance with his family and with the beautiful glen of Aherlow after an absence of sixteen years. He treasured that visit in his heart.
On his return later in 1947 he was posted to St Francis’ Institution, Malacca, where he served for some seven years. It was love at first sight. One of his students at the time gives us a good picture of the man and his times:
“He taught Scripture, English and Literature in the upper forms and adopted several ingenious methods of teaching never taught at teacher training colleges. His daily Literature lessons were unique, almost like getting a real stage performance, and he was able to rattle off by heart the lines of any of the characters. Brother Patricius was meticulous to the point of utter perfection as far as English Grammar was concerned.
He was a brilliant basketball player and coach and, in spite of his generous proportions, he was ‘Mr Twinkletoes’ on the court. He was also versatile enough to be able to strum a mandolin and on many an occasion he entertained the boarders to a tune or two in his own individual style”.
Brother Patricius’ next assignment was to St John’s Institution, Kuala Lumpur where he taught from 1955 to 1959 before been posted to Kota Kinabalu as headmaster of Sacred Heart Primary School. Never before had he been in charge of a school - and he made sure it never happened again! School administration and especially the bureaucracy entailed drove him up the wall. His heart was in the classroom and he had little patience with “filling forms”.
He was the first De La Salle Brother to climb to the top of Mount Kinabalu which stands at 13,455 feet. Brother Frederick Lynch and himself made this four to five days trek and climb, staying in rock caves overnight in the freezing cold and in the company of rats that nibbled their ears. Safely back home, Brother Patricius wrote a play for his Primary school boys entitled, “Kinacu, the King of Kinabalu.” It won first prize at the inter –school Drama Festival.
How happy he was early in 1965 to be able to shake off the shackles of administration and return to the classroom, this time in St Joseph’s College, Hong Kong. And it was in Hong Kong that he would see out the rest of his years, thirty-seven in all. Apart from a few years in Chan Sui Ki (La Salle) College Community, he would be attached to St Joseph’s College in the heart of Hong Kong Island.
His final ten years of teaching in St Joseph’s were full of interest and colour. As Brother Patrick Tierney recalls: “He taught English, Religious Studies and PE. His PE lessons were conducted from a chair in the yard! He used to bring his English compositions up to the roof garden in St Joseph’s. He would write STOP after the first paragraph either because the boy had made the wrong kind of mistakes or because he was itching to get at the flowers and plants. He did not have green fingers but the roof garden was his pride and joy. It was somewhat untamed and wild, a reflection perhaps of his personality. He was normally jolly and good-humoured, but if he thought a person or situation had gone too far, he could make his feelings known in no uncertain terms. Fortunately this happened rarely!”
Weekends and long holidays saw Patricius and his old companion of Bahau days, Brother Meldan, heading for the outdoors and tramping the hills and valleys of Hong Kong, on the lookout for unusual flora and fauna. On one walk they came across a dead man hanging from a tree. And of course they had numerous encounters with snakes.
Patricius was now in the twilight of his teaching career and official retirement came in 1975 when he was sixty-four. He was to have a long retirement of twenty-seven years but had no problem putting his time to good use. Outdoors it would be either hiking or gardening; indoors it would be either artwork or composing poems. He had a passion for Celtic art and design and completed hundreds of sheets of illuminated manuscript of religious texts. The Brothers quietly lamented that such beautiful work was being done on less than quality paper. His magnum opus is entitled ‘Laudate Dominum’- Praise the Lord, a massive, illustrated tome containing the Mass Liturgy, Psalms and Canticles and other religious prayers. At times the hand is shaky but overall it’s a lovely piece of work by a man in his eighties.
He also wrote hundreds of poems at this time of his life, many deeply spiritual, many in praise of nature and several recalling old times. In a nice touch, students from all Lasallian schools in Hong Kong illustrated selected poems as a tribute to the poet and an inspiration to readers. Brother Patricius himself once wrote to a fellow poet: ‘Strange! Strange! How a poem can show a different face when read at different times.’ Poetry lovers will know how to relate to this thought.
As a member of St Joseph’s Community, Patricius was the unofficial guest-master. He was very welcoming and entertaining. As his Director, Brother Alphonsus Breen, recalls: “He had a fund of stories and a great memory for songs and recitations of bygone days and he could render these in fine style to the admiration and appreciation of his audience.”
The Brothers hardly noticed that age was creeping up on him. Apart from some trouble with one leg, he had always enjoyed robust health and loved mountain climbing. It came as somewhat of a shock, therefore, when he suffered two strokes in the year 2000. He soon lost the ability to walk or talk and became bedridden. The old leg complaint came against him and amputation followed. It was sad to see him so helpless, he who always had been so lively. Most of the last two years of his life was spent in the St Joseph’s Home for the Aged, run by the Little Sisters of the Poor, in Kowloon. Here he was treated like one of the family.
Brother Patricius died peacefully on the morning of the 8th September and the funeral Mass was held on the 11th. The Mass was celebrated by Fr Patrick Sun, an old boy of St Joseph’s, together with Bishop Joseph Zen and Fr Garaventa, PIME. Students from St Joseph’s College took care of the choir and serving. Brother Thomas Favier welcomed the congregation and Brother Patrick Tierney gave the homily. Brother Patricius was laid to rest in St Michael’s Cemetery, Happy Valley, where a large number of students and friends paid their respects.
We can leave the final words to Brother Thomas Favier who had lived in community with Pat since his arrival in 1985:
‘Brother Pat’s life was long, blessed and fruitful. Those privileged to know him will appreciate his many natural talents, his devotion to God and to Mary, his love of nature, his single-minded dedication to his work and interests, his love of life and his cheerful smiling welcome. Above all we appreciate his ever-present optimism and the respect that was part of his nature. We pray in the language that he loved ‘Go ndeana Dia trocaire ar a anam’.
