Dossier 5 - Custom Rules and Constitution Book of the Seraphic School, Kilkenny and Rochestown

24 pp; 21 cm x 17 cm; Bound volume; manuscript

A volume recording the foundational regulations, customs, and internal spiritual framework governing the Seraphic School, documenting its establishment in Kilkenny on 8 December 1884 and its subsequent transfer to the Rochestown Monastery in County Cork on 22 November 1886. Headed by the pious abbreviation ‘L. D. S. H.’, the opening leaf details the ideological and religious purpose of the academy, defining it as a preparatory pipeline for the novitiate and a ‘nursery for the future members of our Irish Province’. The text commands that the school’s daily routine be rigidly guided by the historical customs handed down from the era of St. Francis of Assisi and his immediate companions. It charges successive generations of friars and students to emulate the footprints, observances, and living images of past Franciscan saints to protect their spiritual inheritance.

The volume is in poor condition. Several pages are loose and detached and many are badly frayed and torn at the edges. Careful handling is required.