Previously a chartered accountant (as well as being academically qualified in music), John Landy entered the Discalced Carmelite Order's novitiate in Australia, completing his training for the priesthood in Ireland where he was ordained. There he also suffered the extended brush with death which underlies the poem 'Death'. He returned to Queensland, then for thirteen years lived in Rome, serving as translator for the General for his Order, who was Mexican. Landy also lived in Jerusalem for three years.
