Letters from An tAthair Peadar Ó Laoghaire, Castlelyons, County Cork, to Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. The letters relate to instruction in the Irish language (particularly for children), and translations of prayers and other religious material from English into Irish. In a letter (9 Nov. 1918) O’Leary expresses his hope that Bibby, Father Augustine, and Brother Bernard have all escaped the flu and ‘are all keeping free from that plague’. In another letter (Dec. 1918) O’Leary wrote ‘20 years ago people used to write to me and say “An tAthair Peadar”’. He also states that he is in good health and feels blessed ‘to have much energy in my 80th year’. In another letter (27 Feb. 1919) he argued that ‘the writers of religious poetry in English should all be gathered together and taken out and shot! Why do they take it for granted that because poetry is religious it may be nonsense!’. He later claimed that ‘those English religious hymns are really absurd’ (Mar. 1919). In another letter (23 Mar. 1919) O’Leary wrote ‘if you want to be sure of the real sound of the words get a real native speaker to say the words for you’. In December 1919 O’Leary invited Fr. Albert to Cork and to stay for a fortnight as he wanted to talk about ‘those little hymns of mine’. The file includes notes and some Irish language extracts and translations of mostly religious material.
‘Memorandum of Ambulance work & efforts for peace’ by J.P. Homan, Vernon Avenue, Clontarf, Dublin. The memorandum refers to his work with St. John’s Ambulance during the Civil War hostilities in Dublin in June and July 1922. Specific mention is made of Homan’s interactions with Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. and the friar’s efforts to secure a cessation of the fighting. Includes a short clipping of an obituary for J.P. Homan (‘Irish Independent’, 6 Aug. 1944). (Volume pages 79-87).
A file containing postcards sent to Fr. Richard Henebry. The correspondents include Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. and Vicar A. Suppiger (Solothurn, Switzerland). Some of the cards seemingly relate to the cause of the sixteenth and seventeenth century Irish martyrs presented to the ecclesiastical authorities in Rome. Most of the images on the postcards depict scenes from the continent (including various sites in Rome). One of the postcards shows the Father Nicholas Sheehy Demonstration in Clogheen, County Tipperary, 1898. The card from Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. shows the interior of the Church of St. Francis in Kilkenny (May 1905). The cards are extant in an elaborate leather pouch.
A clipping of an article referring to a reprint of a letter of Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. in which he describes Seán Heuston’s execution. The letter was published in ‘The Capuchin Annual’ (1935) which the ‘Irish Press’ article commends.
