Paul B McNulty

An Irish Jesuit in Australia Paul B McNulty

I first met my granduncle, the late Eustace Boylan SJ (1869-1953) in 1948, in the McNulty home at 15 Warrington Place, Dublin, Ireland. Aged eight, I sat quietly in the rear corner away from the window overlooking the street. He also sat quietly on the opposite side of the room just in front of a large wall-to-wall shelf of neatly stacked books. The room was crowded with family members and friends as if celebrating a special event. Eventually, his niece and my Auntie May approached and said: "If you want to talk to Father Eustace, you'll have to walk over and shout into his ear." As May retreated, I glanced at the old man, now aged 79, who looked tired and lonely. He glanced at me but I thought the better of approaching him. That is all I remember of my first and only contact with the great man. As time passed, that image remained with me. Who was this man? Why did he emigrate to Australia? Fortunately, my late sister, Patricia, who inherited 15 Warrington Place had retained some letters, documents, photos and two of his books which were invaluable when researching the genealogy of my Boylan and McNulty ancestors . The fact that Eustace Boylan had published two well-written books encouraged me to find out more about my mysterious granduncle. I knew it was time to raise my pen after reading a celebration of his life in an Obituary in the Irish Province News. That concluded "with the hope that selections from his writings will be given permanent form in a Volume for Publication." It was also indicated that Fr Boylan had represented the Australian Province at the Jesuit Congress ... in Rome in ... 1948 ... and on that occasion had spent some months in our Province. Given that he spent the rest of his days in Australia, I still wonder if he had remembered that time when our paths had crossed. Armed with genealogical research previously undertaken, and with the cooperation of people and agencies in Australia and Ireland, I have now assembled a biography of my granduncle, Eustace Boylan SJ, as now published. Comments and/or corrections to paul.mcnulty@ucd.ie would be most welcome..