The late Eddie Brady - the man who conquered mountains and more

RIP Fr Eddie Brady (1929 – 2021) White Fathers, Missionaries of Africa and Corratubber, Cavan

It was Fr John O Donoghue who coined the phrase ‘Bun Os Cionn’ (upside down!) to best describe the life and times of Fr Eddie Brady. Fr Sean O’Leary gave the homily at the funeral Mass of Fr Eddie. They did so on the day Eddie was taken home to his final resting place at St Patrick’s Chapel, Castletara, Cavan, nestling under the foothills of Shantemon mountain and its famed fingerstones.

You can take the man out of Castletara... just make sure you bring him back!

It was exactly as Eddie wanted. ‘Bun Os Cionn’ we were informed has its roots in the other kingdom – Kerry. It seems so apt.

He’s now back where it all began – amongst his own, the people who made him the man he became, the people he never forgot.

Eddie was the only son born to his parents Elizabeth (nee McEvoy) Crosserlough and Michael Brady, Castletara, in March 1929. Turbulent times. He lost his father or ‘Da’ as he called him.

It was a tough start to life but Eddie persevered earning top marks in his Leaving Certificate at St Patrick’s College, Cavan, before graduating with honours from University College Dublin (UCD).

Eddie wouldn’t want anyone to know this however. You see, one of his greatest traits lay in his ordinariness. So unassuming - never one to blow his own trumpet and always keen to give the credit to others. ‘Bun Os Cionn.’

He wouldn’t want you (the reader) to know that he once held the office of Town Clerk in Cavan and was a sure bet to make it to County Manager one day. He had it all in one way - a brilliant career, plenty of property, a good motor car and every reason to sit tight and reap the awards.

Instead, Eddie chose to walk away and dedicate his life to the service of others. His calling came early enough in life but he wasn’t ordained until 1966. He studied for a life in the White Fathers, Missionaries of Africa, at their base camp in Blacklion Co Cavan. Today, the same building is better known as Loughan House Open Prison. Another ‘Bun Os Cionn.’

Having attained top marks in Theology, Eddie headed to the UK working for a while in London and Birmingham.

His next stop was Tanzania, all the way over to East Africa. Another culture, another language – Swahili has at least 14 variations. Eddie conquered them all and then he climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. He endeared himself to people wherever he went. He was always interested in getting your story and never in the least bit carried away by his own.

A caring and compassionate man, Eddie stood squarely shoulder to shoulder on the side of the downtrodden, the oppressed, the hungry, the poor, the hopeless and the helpless!

He just loved people, be it his family in Cavan and his neighbours. Eddie never forgot. Most of all, he loved his other family – The White Fathers, the men he soldiered with for so many years in a distant land. They were with him when the influx of refugees arrived from Uganda, fleeing as they did Idi Amin’s reign of terror. They were there too for the Tutsi and Hutu Rwanda massacres. This allied to the daily routine of tending to the needs of the sick and the hungry of their own. These men were his brothers in arms and they stayed with him right up to the end. Men like (Frs) Charlie Timoney, Jimmy McTiernan, Ian Buckmaster, Karl Kaelin, Neil Loughrey, Diarmuid Sheehan, Sean O’Leary and Michael O’Sullivan, all based now in Templeogue, Dublin.

The cortège travelled from Dublin following Fr Jimmy McTiernan’s magnificent homily. Fr Jim spoke of Eddie’s many qualities – his honesty and sobriety, his friendly presence, his walks and talks in his beloved Templeogue, sitting down with a refugee or two and giving them a sense of belonging and being important to someone. He spoke too of Eddie’s dress sense – always functional and being a Cavan man, always cheap and cheerful!

His sister, Anna Mae Hughes (RIP) Athlone once famously decked him out in a brand new three-piece suit. Eddie was raging! He headed up the town where he met Tommy, his friend, the beggar man, on the bridge. Tommy was rattling his cup. He admired Eddie’s new suit. Eddie thought it would look better on Tommy! Later in the evening Eddie arrived home in a tattered pair of trousers and a football jersey adorned with Pele’s number 10 on the back. Not a great deal by Cavan standards you’d imagine, For Eddie, it was a bargain - ‘Bun os Cionn.’

Neither did he (Eddie) bother with Amazon, Easons or Veritas for expensive books. Fr Jimmy will tell you his books, like his clothes, cost little or nothing. He loved Patrick Kavanagh, W.B. Yeats and Oliver Goldsmith. He could mix it too with Shakespeare when he wanted to, but not in a showy – off sense. Books on Breifne, spirituality, theological matters, self-awareness and self-improvement. His own writings too were legendary. A wee storey of fable to get his message across.

Some of Eddie’s happiest times were spent walking through Shantemon and rehearsing for plays with his beloved ‘Moonlight Players’. A tremendous director/producer, Eddie would attribute the success of this young troupe to people like John Clarke, Packie Cahill, Sean Boylan and his friend Francie Kelly. The Hannigan girls, Madge Cahill, his sister Phyllis along with her good friend Mary Boylan, amongst others all deserve massive credit for their exploits. Eddie would want it this way. Eddie treasured these days and loved reminiscing.

No doubt he dreamed of home and thought of the Cavan GAA greats – John Joe O’Reilly, the Bouchiers, PJ Duke (his room-mate at UCD), Tom Cully and so many others - all resting now. He loved Willie Doonan and Charlie Gallagher too. He thought Mick O’Connell (married to a Killygarry woman) the best he’d ever seen, but would always say our own Hughie Newman wasn’t too far behind him.

He loved The Anglo–Celt too. Whether reading it on his weekend sojourns to his sister Liz Rehill in Ballyhaise or eagerly awaiting its arrival in Covid times in Templeogue. Where to first? Barry Tierney’s ‘Ballyhaise News’? Or the latest offering form his good friend Jonathan Smyth? “ Very nice, very good” as he would say himself.

Always though, Eddie’s focus was on others. He had a long association with Amnesty International - the many letters to and on behalf of prisoners that he wrote, giving hope and encouragement. Numerous letters were also sent to families of victims of violence on all sides, it didn’t matter about creed or background, Eddie sympathised and empathised and felt everyone’s pain.

And then the countless stamps he collected to be put up for sale in order to put food on someone’s table. The collection boxes he gathered from every sweet shop, public house and post office across the country. The thanks he’d give – “you’ve no idea of what this means.”

In failing health and unable, though willing, to return to Africa, Eddie turned over a new chapter in his life. He helped to raise funds through the Chapter that he set up – African Compassionate Aid. This programme, with your help, provided a school and a church. It also assists villagers with developing their farms so that they don’t just survive, but can then support their children through education. Because of Eddie’s nature. People knew he would use the money to do the right thing for those who needed it most. He not only read The Good Book, but lived it out in his thoughts, words and actions.

Eddie was predeceased by his parents, Michael and Elizabeth; his sisters Anna Mae and Phyllis; his niece Fidelma Rehill-Morrow and his nephew Eddie Rehill – both taken at far too young an age. He was also predeceased by his good friends and brothers–in–law Sean Rehill, Tony Hughes and Jimmy Conaty; and by his many McEvoy, Gorman, Young and Brady cousins.

Eddie is survived by his sister, Mrs Liz Rehill, Ballyhaise and countless nieces, nephews, grand nieces, grand nephews. We all miss him.