Aengus Cantwell:ON October 17th, Aengus Cantwell, a man who was in love with long distances for much of his life, returned to his native Cromadh an tSubhachais to be buried. He died in his sleep at his home in Sligo on October 15th.
Aengus (Geddy), born May 10th, 1930, was one of nine children of David and May Cantwell. He grew up Croom, County Limerick, studied at University College Dublin and Teresianum College in Rome, and was ordained a priest of the Discalced Carmelite community. For a time, he served in the Philippines – in Iloilo and with Cardinal Santos In Manila – a formative experience of his life.
He left the Carmelite order in the 1970s and married Julia Moyles, then proprietor of the Imperial Hotel in Sligo. The hotel served for years as the social hub of the Yeats Society, of which Aengus was president for three years. He lectured at St Angela’s College in Sligo, only fully retiring in 2006, at the age of 76.
Those, then, are the facts of his life. All who knew him will remember him rather by his singular approach to that life – to love, friendship, fellowship and learning. The values imbibed from his parents he carried with him to the grave: a love of place, people and culture, an unfailing generosity of spirit, an exquisite courtesy. He also carried on the family tradition of teaching – formally in schools in Castlemartyr, Loughrea and Sligo, and later, informally, when he helped students to write their dissertations, prepare for their Leaving Certificates or pass repeat examinations.
In his later years, Aengus treasured the gift of serenity. He was a light that led many out of the gloom, buoying up battered souls with his respect and care. His desire to understand and to empathise was a reflection of his philosophical nature. He never lost the questing impulse, or his awe in the face of the ineffable, and he drew on the wisdom of the ages – the Bible, Aristotle, Virgil and Dante, the writings of Teresa of Avila and St John of the Cross. His life was shaped by a deep spirituality, and the bond formed early with the Carmelite community was never broken.
His was a goodness peppered with mischief. He loved to play the rascal. In Sligo General Hospital, when asked where he lived by a consultant he thought less than polite, Aengus answered by way of Yeats: “I live in a bee-loud glade”. Aengus saw the mythic in the everyday, but it was the genuine connection with another human being that mattered. He endeared himself to the Filipina nurses, speaking to them in their own language.
He was a man of paradoxes. Nothing gave him greater happiness than simple human kindness. And yet, he appreciated fine surroundings. On a cold December night in 2009, he used his earnings from a talk he had given to treat four old friends to dinner at L’Écrivain, where he spoke French with the hostess, Italian and Portuguese with the wait staff, and Irish, Latin, Greek and English with his dinner companions. Scholarship, languages, flights of erudition were always accompanied by delight. He was never far from lapsing into an impish fit of laughter.
It was his beloved Yeats who said, “my glory was I had such friends”. Aengus often echoed the sentiment, and he leaves behind many old friends from Sligo and Croom and new friends from his hospice team and staff at St John’s Hospital, who cared for him so kindly. He is survived by his sisters Paula, Brid, and Ide; his sister-in-law Maura; and Kitty, mainstay of the Cantwell household.
His final resting place is in his beloved Maigue valley. Máigh na gcaor, na gcraobh, na gcruach . . . Aengus's was a life to be celebrated for its magnanimity, integrity and sheer delight in being. May he rest in peace. Sólás na bhFlaitheas síoraí dó. – JC, MM & MST