Dossier 10 - Copy Letter Book

A volume containing copy and draft correspondence of Fr. Senan Moynihan OFM Cap. Manuscript annotation on the first page reads ‘Letters from Father Senan OFM Cap. / Private Letters’. The file contains copies of his personal letters and correspondence relating to the Capuchin Publications Office. Includes many references to the financial difficulties experienced by the office. A partial alphabetical index of correspondents is provided at the beginning of the volume. Includes Fr. Senan’s copy letters to Fr. Bosco Lennon OFM Cap., Aodh de Blacam, Frank E. Benner (Fruithill Park, Andersonstown, Belfast), Pádraig De Brún, Fr. Colman Griffin OFM Cap. (Provincial Minister, refers to efforts to alleviate the deteriorating financial situation in the Capuchin Publications Office, 3 Apr. 1951), Frank E. Dubrey, Fr. Cyril Kelleher OFM Cap., John English & Co. (refers to the use of the ‘Annual’ printing blocks for ‘The Father Mathew Record’, his wish to return the ‘Record’ to its former size, and a print for the ‘Record’ of between 12,000 to 15,000 a month, 20 May 1951), Sister M. Kevin (Convent of Mercy, Ardee, County Louth), Archbishop Sylvester Mulligan OFM Cap., John Lloyd, Gertrude O’Brien (Adams Street, Chicago), Joseph O’Connor (Seosamh Ó Conchubhair), Hugh O’Hagan, Michael O’Leary (Sutton, County Dublin), James M.B. Wright, Albert Dryer (Kenyon Street, Fairfield, Sydney), Fr. Cuthbert Gumbinger OFM Cap., Denis O’Shea (Evergreen Street, Cork), Chief Superintendent Harry O’Mara, Adolf Morath (photographer), Fr. Henry Edward George Rope, Fr. Jerome Hawes TOSF (Mount Alvernia Hermitage, Cat Island, Bahamas), Diarmuid Breathnach, Fr. Otto Richter (Jablonec, Czechoslovakia), Fr. Christopher Crowley OFM Cap., John Alvin Feltis (1503 Lincoln Avenue, Toledo, Ohio), Dr. Colm A. McDonnell, John J. Kelly, Doran Hurley, Kevin Egan (The Holy Well, Cairns, County Sligo), Thomas MacGreevy, Sophie Raffalovich O'Brien, Fr. Francis Regis (Bishop’s House, Kumbakonam, India),Fr. George Macarius Korb (Nagoya, Japan), Sister M. Patrick, (The Missionary Sisters of St. Columban, Cahircon, Ennis, County Clare), Michael J. Kennedy (‘Manresa’, Trimlestown Park, Booterstown, Dublin), Mannix Joyce, Pat Lawlor (Wellington, New Zealand), James Comyn (Fountain Court, Temple, London), Fr. Terence L. Connolly SJ, Helen Walker Homan (205 East 70th Street, New York), Eileen Crean, Edward Evans, 1st Baron Mountevans (refers to his intention to publish a lengthy article in the next edition of the ‘Annual’ on Tom Cream, the Antarctic explorer ‘who was a neighbour of mine in Kerry in the old days’, 20 Feb. 1952), Richard King, Seumas MacManus, Mother Mary Martin (Our Lady of Lourdes Convent, Drogheda, County Louth), Fr. Jack Hanlon, Kathleen O’Connell (Government Buildings, Dublin), Ada P. McCormick (editor of the ‘Letter’, Tucson, Arizona), Kevin MacGrath (Mespil Road, Dublin), Hamish Fraser, Aileen O’Reilly, Sister M. Benignus (Presentation Convent, Doneraile, County Cork), J.J. O’Connor (Manager, National Bank, 33 Arran Quay, Dublin, claiming that ‘all our financial difficulties would be resolved if we could succeed in getting a few thousand new life-members for the Association of Patrons’, 5 Apr. 1952), Rev. John O. Buchmann (St. Leo’s Rectory, Irvington, New Jersey), Alice Rynne (née Curtayne) (Downings House, Prosperous, Naas, County Kildare), Fr. Andrew Carew OFM Cap. (Guardian, Ard Mhuire Capuchin Friary, County Donegal), Michael Lennon (Healthfield Road, Terenure, Dublin), Michael P. Reynolds (Abbey Terrace, Ballymote, County Sligo), Alfred White (162 Crumlin Road, Dublin), Margaret Mary Pearse, Owen McCabe (Clones, County Monaghan), Archbishop James Thomas Gibbons Hayes SJ, Archbishop Gerald O’Hara (Apostolic Nuncio to Ireland, seeking permission to read and retain ‘books and periodicals treating of communism and periodicals written or edited by communists’, 22 June 1952), Frieda Le Pla, Fr. Canice Bourke OFM Cap. (refers to Matt Talbot’s prayer book which he lent to Fr. Canice some fifteen years ago and which he would now like returned, 4 July 1952), Séamus Campbell, Winefride Nolan (Aughrim, County Wicklow), and Bishop Daniel Mageean.

Includes a list of subscribers for a charity concert and benefit held in aid of the missionary work of Archbishop Sylvester Mulligan OFM Cap. in India (Oct. 1946), pp 45-54; A letter to Fr. Cyril Kelleher OFM Cap. reads ‘For almost twenty-five years I have been intimately associated with printing in this dear country of ours but never have I found conditions worse than they are at present, fantastic is the only adequate word to describe the increase in the cost of production of both the ‘Annual’ and the ‘Record’. And my only hope of survival is to enrol a few thousand good Americans as members … of the Association of Patrons’. (11 Feb. 1952, pp 93-5); a biographical note and reflection on Bishop William MacNeely (pp 166-8).