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Authority record
Irish Capuchin Archives

McCafferty, Bonaventure, 1888-1962, Capuchin brother

  • IE CA DB/82
  • Person
  • 24 May 1888-5 September 1962

Charles McCafferty was born in Derry city on 24 May 1888. He joined the Capuchin Franciscan Order (taking Bonaventure as his religious name) in Kilkenny in April 1912. He was solemnly professed as a Capuchin friar in September 1918. For the next thirty-six years he resided at the Seraphic College in Rochestown in County Cork. His primary responsibility was the management of the kitchen serving both the staff and students in the college. His time in Rochestown is notable for the assistance he gave to Captain Robert Monteith (1879-1956), the soldier and Irish nationalist, who had accompanied Roger Casement in his ill-fated attempt to land at Banna Strand in County Kerry in April 1916. Montieth was nursed through malaria by Br. Bonaventure and other Capuchin friars at Rochestown, before travelling back to his family in New York in December 1916, working in disguise as a fireman and coal trimmer on a merchant vessel. An account of this episode reads as follows:

‘Monteith was nursed by a Derryman, Br. Bonaventure [McCafferty OFM Cap.], who filled the role of both cook and guest-master. In both capacities Br. Bonaventure was excellent; blessed with a true Franciscan spirit of fraternity he was kindly, caring, and jovial. Under his care, Captain Monteith regained strength and when he was well enough to go out in the grounds, he was schooled in the basics of Capuchin behaviour – in so far as externals were concerned at any rate – because there was always the fear of a sudden raid by the British army. Dressed in a Capuchin habit, wearing a beard, and correctly holding a breviary he could hardly be distinguished from the ordinary religious. In case of suspicion, care was taken to include him on the ordinary list of the community. When completely fit and well he left Rochestown and enlisted under a false name as a fireman on the liner, ‘Adriatic’, bound for America. When the ship docked in New York he “jumped off” and made his way home to his family on Third Avenue, 116 Street, just before Christmas 1916’.

In 1949 Br. Bonaventure was assigned to the Church Street Friary in Dublin. He was plagued with ill-health in his later years and died in the friary on 5 September 1962. He was buried in the Capuchin plot in Glasnevin Cemetery.

Baptismal name: Charles McCafferty
Religious name: Br. Bonaventure McCafferty OFM Cap.
Date of birth: 24 May 1888
Place of birth: 157 Lecky Road, Derry
Name of father: Charles McCafferty (Grocer)
Name of mother: Catherine McCafferty (née Griffin)
Date of reception into the Capuchin Order: 16 Apr. 1912
Date of first profession: 1 May 1913
Date of final profession: 8 Sept. 1918
Date of death: 5 Sept. 1962
Place of death: Church Street Friary, Dublin
Place of burial: Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin

Mathew, Theobald, 1790-1856, Capuchin priest

  • IE CA DB/TM
  • Person
  • 10 October 1790-8 December 1856

Theobald Mathew was born at Thomastown Castle near the village of Golden in County Tipperary on 10 October 1790. The Mathews were an old, landed family with both Catholic and Protestant branches. Francis Mathew (1738-1806) was the owner of Thomastown Castle. He was created Viscount Landaff in 1793, and then Earl Landaff in 1797 (the title derived from the place in Wales from which the family had come to Ireland in the seventeenth century). The title was sometimes referred to as the Earldom of Llandaff since that is the more common Welsh spelling, but it is Earl Landaff in the Peerage of Ireland. The Mathews of Thomastown held this title from 1797 to 1833. In the 1760s, Francis Mathew had adopted his orphaned cousin, James Mathew, Theobald’s father. On reaching adulthood, James was appointed the agent for the Mathew estate. Unlike many of the Mathews, James remained a Catholic throughout his life. His wife, Anne Whyte, was also a Catholic. They had twelve children, the fourth of whom was Theobald. The young Theobald Mathew had a privileged childhood, enjoying favoured treatment from his Protestant relation, Lady Elizabeth Mathew, the daughter of Francis Mathew. Lady Elizabeth knew and approved of Theobald’s priestly ambitions, and in 1800 she provided the money to pay for his education at St. Canice’s, a Catholic boarding school in Kilkenny. In September 1807, Theobald enrolled at St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth, for seminary training. However, his plans were upset when in his first year he was forced to leave Maynooth to avoid being expelled for holding what appears to have been a drunken party for his fellow students. He was subsequently accepted by the Capuchin Franciscan Order as a novice and he made his way to Church Street in Dublin to be trained. The Capuchins, in common with many of the religious orders in Ireland, were weak at this time and were thus extremely anxious for new recruits.

On 3 April 1813 Mathew was ordained a deacon. A year later he was ordained a priest by the Most Rev. Daniel Murray (1768-1852), later Archbishop of Dublin. After a brief sojourn in Kilkenny, Fr. Mathew moved back to Cork where he came under the influence of Fr. Daniel Donovan OSFC (d. 14 Jan. 1821) who was elected Provincial Minister of the Irish Capuchins in 1816. Fr. Mathew devoted a good deal of his time to practical charitable enterprises, establishing schools for poor and orphaned children. In these schools the children were taught household skills in addition to elementary subjects. In 1821, Fr. Donovan died, and Fr. Mathew was elected his successor as Provincial Minister. He would continue to hold this position until 1851. In 1832, he broke ground for an elaborate, Gothic-style Capuchin church in Cork (subsequently called The Church of the Most Holy Trinity), on Charlotte Quay (later renamed Father Mathew Quay). Due to a lack of funds the church would remain unfinished in Fr. Mathew’s lifetime. It was not until 1890 that the spire and façade were added. Nevertheless, Fr. Mathew gained an excellent reputation in the local community for his tireless endeavours in support of the poor of Cork. He was also noted for his exceptional spirit of ecumenism. He was on friendly terms with several leading Protestants and Quakers in the city. Fr. Mathew joined the total abstinence movement in Cork in April 1838. The Cork Total Abstinence Society was established with the avowed aim of encouraging people to make one enduring act of which would keep them sober for life. This act of will was enshrined in the pledge to abstain from the taking of intoxicating liquor.

From the very beginning Fr. Mathew’s endeavours in the cause of temperance gained striking success. Under his leadership, teetotalism drew many adherents in Cork and spread throughout Munster and eventually throughout Ireland. The Society’s ranks quickly grew, and within three months, Fr. Mathew had enrolled 25,000 new members in Cork alone. In five months, the number had increased to 130,000. He travelled across Ireland, convincing thousands more to pledge teetotalism. In August 1842, he began traveling internationally, first to Scotland, then England. At its height, just before the outbreak of the famine in 1845, Fr. Mathew’s temperance movement had enrolled three million people, or more than half of the adult population of Ireland. By the mid-1840s he was frequently travelling to Britain with equally dramatic results. The leading nationalist politician, Daniel O’Connell (1775-1847), described the temperance movement as Fr. Mathew’s ‘mighty moral crusade’. In 1847, the priests of the diocese of Cork selected him to be their bishop. However, there was strong opposition from members of the hierarchy. It was held against him that he had accepted a pension from the Government. One long-standing critic among the bishops described him as ‘the hired tool of a heretical government’. This reflected the long-standing determination of the Catholic Church in Ireland not to accept state funding and the interference that would come in its train. Fr. Mathew’s financial mismanagement (he was known to be bountiful and generous to the point of extravagance), liberal Catholicism and Protestant associations also told against him. The Pope acceded to the almost unanimous advice of the Irish hierarchy that Fr. Mathew should not be appointed to the bishopric. Nevertheless, his standing as a popular figure remained undiminished. In July 1849, he visited the United States where he was greeted with enthusiastic acclaim. In Washington, the Congress unanimously admitted to him to a seat on the floor of the House; he was the first non-American after the Marquis de Lafayette to be so honoured. Rallies and demonstrations were held across the country to honour Ireland’s renowned ‘Apostle of Temperance’.

Despite this personal adulation, it was clear that Fr. Mathew’s movement had reached its zenith. From the late 1840s the movement began to decline almost dramatically as it had risen. His health started to fail (he had suffered a stroke in 1848) and crippling debts began to accumulate, making it increasingly difficult to continue the temperance crusade. The onset of the famine, brought about by the failure of the potato crop in 1845, dealt a grievous blow to the movement; thousands of Fr. Mathew’s followers died or emigrated in those years. Many of those who remained in Ireland had to contend with more pressing concerns than the maintenance of their pledge to abstain from alcohol. In late 1853, despite declining health, Fr. Mathew ventured to Limerick where he administered the pledge in what was his last appearance at a public meeting. In October 1854, on medical advice, he travelled to Madeira, but his health continued to deteriorate. In the absence of its charismatic leader the temperance movement continued to weaken. He suffered a severe stroke in late 1856 and died in Queenstown, County Cork, on 8 December 1856. He was 66 years old. He was buried in St. Joseph’s Cemetery in Cork, which he had established twenty-six years earlier.

Mannion, Godfrey, 1929-2000, Capuchin priest

  • IE CA DB/GM
  • Person
  • 7 April 1915-2 April 2000

John (Seán) Mannion was born in Dublin on 7 April 1929. He attended the Capuchin College in Rochestown in County Cork and joined the Order in October 1947 taking Godfrey as his religious name. He was ordained to the priesthood in May 1955. Soon after his ordination he was sent to Rome to undertake further theological studies obtaining a Licentiate of Sacred Theology (STL) in 1958. On his return to Ireland, he joined the community in St. Bonaventure’s Hostel and completed a Higher Diploma in Education in University College Cork. He spent the following ten years in Ard Mhuire Friary in County Donegal as a director of student friars and vicar. He was transferred to the Church Street community in Dublin in 1967 and would remain here for the next thirty years. He served as the national spiritual assistant for the Third Order of St. Francis confraternity for many years and was well known for the retreats and missions he gave to diocesan clerics and religious of other congregations and orders. He moved to the Capuchin residence in Raheny in 1998. Following a period of illness, he died in Raheny on 2 April 2000. He was buried in Dardistown Cemetery.

Baptismal name: John (Seán) Anthony Mannion
Religious name: Fr. Godfrey Mannion OFM Cap.
Date of birth: 7 Apr. 1929
Place of birth: 36 St. Jarlath Road, Cabra, Dublin
Name of father: Thomas Mannion (Draper’s Assistant)
Name of mother: Mary Mannion (née Morgan)
Primary School Education: Christ the King National School, Cabra, Dublin
Secondary School Education: Rochestown Capuchin College, County Cork
Date of reception into the Capuchin Order: 3 Oct. 1947
Date of first profession: 4 Oct. 1948
Date of final profession: 4 Oct. 1951
Date of ordination (as priest): 17 May 1955
Educational attainments: BA, 2nd class honours (1951); Higher Diploma in Education (1956); Licentiate of Sacred Theology (STL) (1958).
Leadership positions: Provincial Definitor (Councillor), 1970-9.
Date of death: 2 Apr. 2000
Place of death: Capuchin Friary, Raheny, Dublin
Place of burial: Dardistown Cemetery, Dublin

Maher, Columbus, 1835-1894, Capuchin priest

  • IE CA DB/CM
  • Person
  • 9 June 1835-10 September 1894

Patrick J. Maher was born on North Brunswick Street, opposite, what was then, the Richmond Hospital in Dublin on 9 June 1835. His family’s property extended to North King Street and possibly included the site (No. 49) on which a former Capuchin House stood. He was baptized and made his first communion (8 September 1848) in the old Church Street chapel where he served Mass for Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC from whom he took the total abstinence pledge. In 1851 he entered the Capuchin novitiate, taking the name Columbus, at Frascati near Rome, and made his solemn profession the following year. He then studied philosophy at Florence and theology at Sienna after which he was granted patents for preaching in 1855. The following year he received subdiaconate in Rome. Too young to be ordained, he spent some months with the Capuchin community in Pantasaph, Wales, until he returned briefly to Ireland to receive a diaconate from Cardinal Paul Cullen at Maynooth on 5 June 1857. The following year, at the age of twenty-three, he was ordained a priest in Liverpool with a dispensation of thirteen months from the Holy See. At the time it was noted that he was the first Capuchin priest to be ordained in England since the Reformation. At the Provincial Chapter in 1859 he was appointed guardian in Kilkenny where he served two terms and was in demand as a confessor and preacher until he was sent to Rome as a novice master. While there he was asked to go to Ancona to minister to about 800 men of the Irish Brigade who were on their way to defend Pope Pius IX.

Having returned to Ireland, he spent some time in Cork and again in Kilkenny until he moved to Dublin. Here, in 1880, he identified himself with the Temperance League and from then on, his whole life and energy were devoted to a crusade against the abuses of intoxicating drink. He became Vice-President of the Father Mathew Total Abstinence Society of the Sacred Thirst founded by his fellow Capuchin Fr. Albert Mitchell OSFC (1831-1893). When Fr. Albert left for missionary work in Australia in 1883, Fr. Columbus became President and undertook the herculean task of resuscitating the total abstinence movement, which had been declining ever since Fr. Mathew’s death. Gradually, as a result of his untiring efforts, Fr. Columbus made total abstinence popular, honoured and respected in Dublin. He succeeded in constantly enlisting individuals rather than enrolling large numbers at a time. Eventually, the old Temperance Hall at 3 Halston Street proved inadequate to meet the demands upon its space. With the centenary of the birth of Fr. Mathew approaching (1890), Fr. Columbus decided to perpetuate his hero’s memory by building a Memorial Hall on Church Street and by erecting a statue in Dublin. All classes and creeds contributed to collections made throughout the city, the country, and abroad. A committee presided over by the Lord Mayor met regularly in the Oak Room of the Mansion House, Fr. Columbus being one of its most attentive members. A competition for a suitable design for a statue was won by Mary Redmond (1863-1930). It would be eight feet tall, sculptured in light grey Sicilian marble and standing on a pedestal of limestone fourteen feet high.

On 30 October 1890, a procession of 50,000 made its way from St. Stephen's Green to O’Connell Street for the laying of the top stone of the pedestal. All the city trades turned out with bands and banners; and the various temperance societies and sodalities, the League of the Cross and other bodies were fully represented. On the platform there was a representative group of clergy, merchants, and other citizens of all denominations. Among them were sixty-five total abstainers who had taken the pledge from Fr. Mathew himself in 1840. It was a proud moment for Fr. Columbus when he was given the silver trowel, now preserved in the Irish Capuchin Archives, used by the Lord Mayor to lay the top stone of the pedestal. Three years later the statue itself was put in place.

Although the Memorial Hall’s foundation stone was blessed and laid in the centenary year, it took twelve months to build. Then on 25 January 1891 it was opened by Archbishop William Walsh who had been a supporter of Fr. Columbus from the outset. Before extensions were added (1904) the main auditorium was 73 feet in length and 39 feet wide and there was a gallery on three sides. Altogether there was accommodation for between 800 and 900 people. In addition to the main hall there was a coffee bar, a billiard room and reading rooms. Among the large representative group attending the opening were the Lord Mayor, the Sheriff, William Conyngham Plunket, the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, and the Irish nationalist politician John Redmond who regretted that Dublin was the worst city for drunkenness that he had ever visited. The Temperance League now moved from Halston Street to their new Memorial Hall on Church Street. A monthly meeting was also held in the nearby Church of St. Mary of the Angels, but after only two years it was necessary to hold two meetings – one for men and another for women. Indefatigably, Fr. Columbus presided over the thousands striving for sobriety.

Fr. Columbus Maher OSFC died suddenly of a suspected heart attack on the morning of 10 September 1894 in the Capuchin Friary on Church Street, Dublin. He was 59 years old. At his funeral Mass Fr. Matthew O’Connor OSFC, Provincial Minister, stated that the Capuchin community had been deprived of an exemplary member, Church Street of a devoted confessor and preacher, the Temperance League of its protector and the City of Dublin of a public benefactor. The universal esteem in which he had been held was clear from the long file of mourning carriages and the estimated 6,000 people who attended his funeral in Glasnevin Cemetery.

MacRory, Camillus, 1925-2011, Capuchin priest

  • IE CA DB/CMR
  • Person
  • 26 May 1925-25 December 2011

James MacRory was born in Belfast on 26 May 1925, the son of John MacRory and Anne Margaret MacRory. He was received as a Capuchin Franciscan novice in Rochestown Friary in County Cork in October 1943. He took Camillius as his religious name upon joining the Order. He made his solemn profession in 1947 in Ard Mhuire Friary in County Donegal where he was also ordained to the priesthood on 25 May 1951. Following his ordination, Fr. Camillus was assigned to teach at Rochestown College, from August 1951 to October 1952. He was then sent to California where he worked as an Associate Pastor at Our Lady of Angels in Burlingame from 1952 to 1960. For the next eighteen years Camillus ministered as an Associate Pastor at St. Joseph’s Parish (Roseburg, Oregon), as Pastor at St. Aloysius (Point Arena, California), and Old Mission Santa Inés (Solvang, California), and at St. Francis of Assisi (Los Angeles, California). After his return from Oxford in England where he participated in special studies from 1978-80, he once again served as an Associate Pastor at Our Lady of Angels in Burlingame. After that last assignment he became Director of On-going Education for the Western America Capuchin Province, a member of the Peace, Justice and Ecology Committee, and the National Spiritual Assistant for the Secular Franciscan Organisation (SFO). He was also spiritual assistant to the Secular Franciscans at Our Lady of Angels Parish in Burlingame, California. He also served as a priest at Mater Dolorosa Parish in San Francisco. He died on 25 December 2011 at Mercy Care and Retirement Centre in Oakland, California, after suffering from respiratory complications. He was buried in the cemetery adjoining San Lorenzo Friary, Santa Inés, California.

Baptismal name: James MacRory
Religious name: Fr. Camillus MacRory OFM Cap.
Date of birth: 26 May 1925
Place of birth: Belfast, County Antrim (Diocese of Down & Connor)
Name of father: John MacRory
Name of mother: Anne Margaret MacRory (née Farnan)
Date of reception into the Capuchin Order: 26 Oct. 1943
Date of first profession: 29 Oct. 1944
Date of final profession: 29 Oct. 1947
Date of ordination (as priest): 24 May 1951
Educational attainments: BSc (1947)
Missionary activities: Travelled to the Western United States mission custody in 1952
Date of death: 25 Dec. 2011
Place of death: Mercy Care and Retirement Centre, Oakland, California
Place of burial: Cemetery, San Lorenzo Seminary, Santa Inés, California

MacQuillan, Jerome, 1923-1968, Capuchin priest

  • IE CA DB/147
  • Person
  • 28 August 1899-8 December 1968

Baptismal name: Peter MacQuillan
Religious name: Fr. Jerome MacQuillan OFM Cap.
Date of birth: 28 Aug. 1899
Place of birth: Drogheda, County Louth,
Name of father: William MacQuillan (Merchant)
Name of mother: Margaret MacQuillan (née Kelly)
Date of reception into the Capuchin Order: 17 Sept. 1923
Date of first profession: 18 Sept. 1924
Date of final profession: 18 Sept. 1927
Date of ordination (as priest): 29 June 1931
Educational attainments: BA (1927)
Missionary activities: Travelled to Barotseland, Northern Rhodesia (later Zambia), in 1933.
Date of death: 8 Dec. 1968
Place of death: Cape Town, South Africa
Place of burial: Maitland Cemetery, Cape Town, South Africa

MacQuillan, Albeus, 1913-1989, Capuchin priest

  • IE CA DB/AMQ
  • Person
  • 11 April 1912-10 August 1989

Baptismal name: Vincent MacQuillan
Religious name: Fr. Albeus MacQuillan OFM Cap.
Date of birth: 11 Apr. 1912
Place of birth: Fair Street, Drogheda, County Louth
Name of father: William MacQuillan (Merchant)
Name of mother: Margaret MacQuillan (née Kelly)
Date of reception into the Capuchin Order: 3 Oct. 1933
Date of first profession: 4 Oct. 1934
Date of final profession: 4 Oct. 1937
Date of ordination (as priest): 12 June 1941
Educational attainments: BA, 2nd class hons. (1937)
Missionary activities: Travelled to Barotseland, Northern Rhodesia (later Zambia) on 8 Apr. 1942. Transferred to Cape Town, South Africa, on 12 May 1971.
Date of death: 10 Aug. 1989
Place of death: Cape Town, South Africa
Place of burial: Maitland Cemetery, Cape Town, South Africa

Leahy, Angelus, 1939-1992, Capuchin brother

  • IE CA DB/AL
  • Person
  • 9 February 1939-16 September 1992

William Leahy was born in Blackrock, Cork, on 9 February 1939. He joined the Capuchin Franciscans in January 1957 and took Angelus as his religious name. He completed his postulancy and novitiate in Kilkenny. His first assignment was in the Theology House at Ard Mhuire Friary in County Donegal. After nearly three years in Donegal, he returned to Cork and worked as a cook in Rochestown College. He was solemnly professed as a Capuchin friar on 7 April 1961. Aside from a short stint questing for the Church Street Friary in Dublin, Br. Angelus spent most of the next eighteen years working as a cook in communities in Rochestown, Ard Mhuire and Raheny. In 1980 he volunteered to travel to New Zealand where the Irish Capuchins had established a mission custody. His initial assignment was at the friary in Henderson, a suburb in Auckland. Ill-health forced his return to Ireland in 1992 and he died in the Bon Secours Hospital in Cork on 16 September 1992. He was buried in the cemetery adjoining the Capuchin Friary in Rochestown, County Cork.

Baptismal name: William Leahy
Religious name: Br. Angelus Leahy OFM Cap.
Date of birth: 9 February 1939
Place of birth: Blackrock, Cork
Name of father: Michael Leahy
Name of mother: Margaret Leahy (née Deasy)
Date of reception into the Capuchin Order: 6 Jan. 1957
Date of first profession: 7 Jan. 1958
Date of final profession: 7 Apr. 1961
Missionary activities: Travelled to the New Zealand mission custody in 1980. He returned to Ireland in 1992.
Date of death: 16 Sept. 1992
Place of death: Bon Secours Hospital, Cork
Place of burial: Cemetery, Rochestown Capuchin Friary, County Cork

Larkin, Paschal, 1894-1976, Capuchin priest

  • IE CA DB/76
  • Person
  • 29 July 1894-7 December 1976

William Larkin was born in Ballintober, a village in County Roscommon, on 29 July 1894. He joined the Capuchin Franciscan Order in October 1910, taking Paschal as his religious name, and was ordained to the priesthood in March 1920. He graduated with an MA from University College Cork in 1916. In 1917 he obtained a university scholarship prize (worth £600) which allowed him to continue his studies overseas. A gifted scholar in the field of economic history, he held the position of Assistant Professor of Economics and Commerce at University College Cork from 1921 to 1923 and continued to lecture (on a part-time basis) in the University until the 1950s. He also supervised several students taking an MA degree in economics including Jack Nagle who later became an Assistant Secretary in the Department of Agriculture. Fr. Larkin also conducted tutorial classes for workers in Cork city and gave public University Extension Lectures on Catholic social teaching throughout the 1930s. His published works included ‘Marxian Socialism’ (1917), the highly influential ‘Property in the Eighteenth Century’ (1930), and ‘Economics and Frontiers’ (1957). He also authored several scholarly articles for ‘The Capuchin Annual’. He died on 7 December 1976 and was buried in the cemetery attached to Rochestown Capuchin Friary in County Cork.

Baptismal name: William Larkin
Religious name: Fr. Paschal Larkin OFM Cap.
Date of birth: 29 July 1894
Place of birth: Frenchlawn, Ballintober, County Roscommon (Diocese of Elphin)
Name of father: Michael Larkin
Name of mother: Mary Anne Larkin (née Kilbride)
Date of reception into the Capuchin Order: 16 Oct. 1910
Date of first profession: 17 Sept. 1911
Date of final profession: 9 July 1916
Date of ordination (as priest): 20 Mar. 1920
Educational attainments: BA, 1st class hons. (1915); MA (1916); Studentship (1917); PhD, London (1928); Economics Lecturer in University College Cork, 1928-58.
Date of death: 7 Dec. 1976
Place of burial: Cemetery, Rochestown Capuchin Friary, County Cork

Knaresboro, Patrick, 1833-1901, Capuchin priest

  • IE CA DB/PK
  • Person
  • 1833-3 November 1901

Baptismal name: John Knaresboro
Religious name: Fr. Patrick Knaresboro OSFC
Date of birth: 1833
Place of birth: Inch, County Kilkenny
Date of reception into the Capuchin Order: c.1850
Ministries: He began his missionary work in India in 1859 ministering to Catholic soldiers and civilians in Shimla (Simla), Chakrata and Dagshai.
Date of death: 3 Nov. 1901
Place of death: Dagshai, Himachal Pradesh, India

Results 81 to 90 of 197