Letter from Richard Smyth, 924 Summit Avenue, New York City, to Fr. James O’Mahony OFM Cap., Provincial Minister, regarding a proposal for the reparation of the bodies of Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. and Fr. Dominic O’Connor OFM Cap., the latter from a ‘non-Catholic cemetery in Oregon, USA’. He affirms that ‘it was impossible to make any move before this time, as one or more of the political parties in Ireland would use the occasion to forward their own political interests’.
Typescript letter from Risteárd Ó Maolchatha (Richard Mulcahy), Chief of Staff of the IRA, to Terence MacSwiney, expressing his alarm on hearing that he ‘had been going about Cork during the day and even staying at home and elsewhere at night without any protection’. Mulcahy added ‘I want you to try and realise what a blow it would be to our prestige, if, after, what has happened in Cork, you should be attacked without having a scrap of protection … . A simple general instruction is being issued on this matter, but you must understand that your position is unique …’. Manuscript annotation on the reverse: ‘Toirdhealbhach Mac Suibhne’.
Letter from Rev. P.J. O’Rourke, Heppner, Oregon, to Fr. Aloysius Travers OFM Cap. enclosing a duplicate copy draft for £65 12s 6d. Fr. O’Rourke added ‘Knowing dear Father you can apply it to the best advantage. The donors wished it to be given principally to the survivors of those who fell during Easter Week’. With cover which has been opened by the censor. With an acknowledgment letter from F.X. Coghlan, Irish National Aid and Volunteer Dependents’ Fund, 10 Exchequer St., Dublin. Includes receipt to Fr. Aloysius Travers OFM Cap. for the sum £65 12 6d received from the aforementioned parishioners of Heppner, Oregon.
Letter from Rev. Michael Curran, Pontifical Irish College Rome, to Terence MacSwiney, expressing his hope that ‘it may be possible for you to come to Rome for the celebration of the festivities connected with beatification of Oliver Plunkett’. Rev. Curran adds ‘We are fully aware of the extraordinary difficulties that must stand in the way of such a visit at such a time … In case you find yourself unable to come perhaps some other delegate might be sent from the Corporation of Cork’.
Letter from Patrick J. MacNally, Commandant, Collins’ Barracks, Cork, to Fr. Aloysius Travers OFM Cap. enclosing a typescript copy of his unfinished account of the Easter Week Rising. Comdt. MacNally also encloses a rough sketch of the Church Street area upon which he asks Fr. Aloysius to ‘mark roughly the positions of any barricades you saw … [and] houses that were occupied’. He also attaches ‘a sketch of the Bride Street area … to enable you to fix the corner where you stood at the surrender of Eamonn Ceannt’.
Letter from Patrick Holohan, ‘Number: 975, hut 2, Irish Prisoner … Frongoch, North Wales’ to Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap., Church Street, Dublin, referring to the provision of religious services and giving news of conditions and prisoners at the camp. Holohan adds ‘I was glad to hear that you were with Heuston when he died as I was very fond of him. It is delightful to see all our leaders being converted to the Catholic faith’. With cover which has been opened by the censor.
Letter from Padraig Ó Caoimh, General Secretary of the GAA, to Fr. Nessan Shaw OFM Cap., expressing his happiness on hearing that the bodies of Fr. Albert and Fr. Dominic will be repatriated to Ireland. He adds: ‘I had the honour and pleasure of serving mass for Fr. Dominic while in Parkhurst. Up to the time of the truce he was only allowed to say it every Sunday and after that daily … We were life long friends … the night before he left Cork and Ireland – he came to see me in a house where I was on the run’. Ó Caoimh joined the Irish Volunteers in 1916; three years later he gave up school teaching to become an officer with the Cork Brigade of the IRA. In 1920 he was appointed manager of the Employment Bureau established by the First Dáil. Soon afterwards, he was captured by the British and sentenced to 15 years penal servitude. He was released in 1922. In 1929 he resigned from his position as manager of a tobacco company following his appointment as General Secretary of the GAA, a position he held until 1964.
Letter from Muriel MacDonough, 50 Marlbourough Rd., Donnybrook, to Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap., apologising for not seeing him when he called to her house. ‘My bell was out of order and it is practically impossible to hear knocks, especially with [her son] Don babbling making an uproar’.
She expresses her regret on hearing of Fr. Aloysius’s recent illness. She wrote: ‘When I asked for you to go and see [her son] Don I had no notion that you were ill …’. She added ‘Please thank Fr. Albert from me and his promise to go and see Don, also for the copy of the Catholic Bulletin which I am delighted to have’. With photographic postcard print of ‘Donagh and Barbara MacDonagh children of Thomas MacDonagh, shot at Kilmainham, May 3rd 1916’.
Letter from Miceál Ó Coileáin (Michael Collins), Aire Airgid (Minister for Finance), Dáil Éireann, Mansion House, Dublin, to Toirdhealbhach Mac Suibhne (Terence MacSwiney), regarding monies from the city of Cork in connection with the advancement of the Dáil Éireann Loan. In Irish.
