 He attended St. Joseph's Seraphic Seminary and later studied with the Irish Capuchin Order for a total of three years spanning 1941–44.He includes in his main reasons for leaving the path to priesthood his lack of disciplinary habits and longing for a freer existence.On leaving the seminary, and to avoid signing up for military service, he returned to Belfast in 1946 where he lived for four years during which time his poetry was published in several magazines and the 1948 volume of "New Irish Poets".