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A collection of photographic prints assembled by Fr. Nessan Shaw OFM Cap. for an exhibition on the life and temperance campaign of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC. The prints have been annotated on the reverse by Fr. Nessan. The file includes:
• Thomastown Castle, County Tipperary, birthplace of Fr. Mathew.
• Rathclogheen House, Golden, County Tipperary, where Fr. Mathew lived until he joined the Capuchins.
• St. Patrick’s Church, Kilfeacle, County Tipperary, Fr. Mathew’s parish church.
• The old Capuchin Chapel on Blackamoor Lane, Cork.
• Holy Trinity Church, after it was opened (without steeple) in 1850.
• House in Cove Street where Fr. Mathew Lived. Fr. Nessan notes that ‘it was No. 8 but it has since been demolished’.
• Portrait of Fr. Mathew. An annotation on the reverse reads: ‘This photograph … is an exact reproduction of the original painting at present in the Bon Secours Convent, Cork. On the back of the original painting is the following inscription “The original portrait of Fr. Mathew which I painted for himself / James Butler Brennan RHA”’.
• Father Mathew Statue on St. Patrick’s Street, Cork.
• Fr. Mathew Tower (with copy engraving). An annotation on the reverse reads: ‘Fr. Mathew Tower / built in Kilcoolishal, Dunkettle, by William O’Connor, a merchant tailor of Cork, to commemorate the hospitable reception which Fr. Mathew received in London in 1843. It was completed in 1846 and opened on November 10th’.
• Fr. Mathew’s grave in St. Joseph’s Cemetery, Cork.
• ‘A specimen of Fr. Mathew’s handwriting’.
• Plaque on a wall of a house on Cove Street commemorating Fr. Mathew’s residence in a house nearby.
• A gong presented by Fr. Mathew to the Ursuline Sisters of Thurles.
• A cup and saucer with images of Fr. Mathew and some temperance symbols emblazoned upon them. Fr. Nessan notes that these items are in the possession of the Foy family in Philadelphia, United States. He adds that the family ‘claim a relationship with Fr. Theobald Mathew through a great-great grandfather, Michael Moore, whose mother was Rose Anna Mathew’.
• The unveiling of the Fr. Mathew Statue on O’Connell Street, Dublin, on 8 Feb. 1893.
• Solemn High Mass at Thomastown Castle to commemorate the centenary of the inauguration of the temperance campaign by Fr. Mathew. 19 June 1938.

Programme for an event at The Brompton Oratory, London, to mark the 150th anniversary of Fr. Mathew’s death. The programme provides an illustrated history of the life of Fr. Mathew and the subsequent commemorations of his temperance campaign. The programme includes photographic prints of:
The Father Mathew Tower, Cork.
The Father Mathew Statue by John Foley, erected on 10 Oct. 1864.
The Father Mathew statue, Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, erected in 1876.
The Father Mathew Statue by Mary Redmond, O’Connell Street, Dublin, unveiled in 1893.
The chalice presented by Lady Elizabeth Mathew to her kinsman, Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC, now held in Holy Trinity Church, Cork.
Charles Lysaght, barrister and collateral descendant of Fr. Mathew, in St. Joseph’s Cemetery in Cork.

• Notes re the provenance of temperance medals held in the Irish Capuchin Archives. The text refers to a large gold medal (CA FM RES/9/3/6) with the following engraving on the rim: ‘P.P. Daly took the Total Abstinence Pledge, May 20th 1840’. It is affirmed that this medal was ‘bought from a jeweller, who was going to melt it, for £7’. Reference is also made to a large silver medal presented to the Capuchins by a Miss Gibson from Ballyglass in County Mayo. A cross, also gifted to the Capuchins by Miss Gibson, belonged to the Youghal Roman Catholic Total Abstinence and Religious Society founded on 19 May 1839. Another silver medal has a large green ribbon attached to it and was presented by a Miss Tobin, 13 Killarney Street, Dublin. A smaller silver medal is engraved on the rim: ‘Presented to L.S. Gore Jones by the Rev. T. Mathew’. It was given to Fr. Angelus Healy OFM Cap. by Fr. Laurence Kelly, Catholic Curate, St. Michan’s Church, Halston Street, Dublin. [c.1915]. Manuscript and typescript, 8 pp.
• Letters and notes re the provenance of temperance medals sent to the Capuchin friars. One of the letters to Fr. Maurice O’Dowd OFM Cap. refers to a medal gifted by a Mrs Lyons of 29 Clarence Street North. The letter states that ‘it belonged to her father-in-law Maurice Lyons who is dead over 40 years’. The letter is dated 10 Apr. 1938. Another note states that a medal given to Fr. Canice Bourke OFM Cap. by a Dr O’Mahony on 30 Aug. 1930 and was found ‘in a secret drawer belonging to his uncle the late Dr Shanahan’. Manuscript, 7 pp.
• Newspaper cutting of an article by Michael Kenny titled ‘Discovering the National Museum’, 'Irish Times', 5 April 1981. The article refers to the National Museum’s collection of temperance medals and dies from which the medals were struck. The article reads ‘Given the great numbers enrolled it is hardly surprising that a huge number of medals were struck of widely varying design and legend. A few were struck in gold and silver, but the vast majority in bronze and white metal, particularly the latter. Many contemporary medallists were involved in their production … particularly Isaac Parkes of Dublin …’. With letters to the editor responding to Michael Kenny’s article. 5 Apr. 1981-19 Apr. 1981. Clipping, 5 pp.

Bound collection of pamphlets associated with the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association (PTAA). The collection includes:
Rev. J.A. Cullen SJ, ‘The Pioneer Movement / its story and origin’.
Most Rev. Dr. Collier, ‘The Pioneer Association is a necessary organisation’.
Most Rev. Dr. Mageean, ‘Speech at Annual Meeting, Pioneer TAA, 1935’.
Rev. F.M. Browne SJ, ‘The Pioneer is a happy warrior’.
Rev. L. Gallagher SJ, ‘The Responsibility of the Individual Pioneer’.
Rev. J. Stokes, ‘The Pioneer Apostolate’.
Rev. J. Taggart, ‘The motives of the Pioneer’.
The file also includes annual reports of the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association from 1935-40 and copies of rules and regulations of the PTAA.

Register book of the Sacred Thirst Sodality attached to the Total Abstinence Hall, Halston Street, Dublin. The register includes lists of male and female members of the sodality, minutes of meetings, newspaper cuttings and printed leaflets inserted into the volume. Includes:
• Statement re the number of public houses in Dublin and the number of arrests for drunkenness in Aug. 1880.
• Cutting from the 'Catholic Times', 11 Nov. 1881, referring to a meeting of the Sodality presided over by Fr. Albert Mitchell OSFC, President.
• ‘Theobald Mathew / Anniversary Commemoration / Lecture by Very Rev. J.T. Murphy / Speech by John Dillon MP, 'Freeman’s Journal', 10 Dec. 1901.
• ‘Archbishop McCabe on Drunkenness’, 'Freeman’s Journal', 14 Feb. 1882.
• 'First Annual Report of the Father Mathew OSFC Total Abstinence Sodality and Hall, Halston Street, Dublin', signed by Fr. Albert Mitchell OSFC, President. Feb. 1882. Printed, 2 pp.
• 'The Archbishop of Dublin on drunkenness'. Letter of the Most Rev. Edward McCabe, Archbishop of Dublin. The letter is addressed to Fr. Albert Mitchell OSFC and refers to the work of the Total Abstinence Society associated with the temperance hall on Halston Street, Dublin. 22 Feb. 1882. Printed, 1 p.
• Cutting of a letter by Michael Dwyer to the editor of the 'Freeman’s Journal', 23 Feb. 1882. An annotation reads ‘This Mr. Dwyer is the secretary of the Publicans and has had the insolence to attack the statement of his Grace the Archbishop in his letter to me [Fr. Albert Mitchell OSFC] of Feb. 22, 1882’. With a cutting of Fr. Mitchell’s reply dated 24 Feb. 1882.
• Cutting of an article titled ‘Total Abstinence – what the doctors say of the use of drink’. The article takes the form of a letter to the editor of the 'Kilkenny Journal' from ‘An advocate of Total Abstinence’.
• ‘The prayers of the members on requesting the following intentions for the conversion of a son of a husband, of a sister and her son, of a father and mother, of a friend a long-time from their duty, of a husband drinking and neglecting his duty …’. Sept. 1880-Jan. 1881.

Publisher: Dublin: Catholic Total Abstinence Federation of Ireland

Notes by Fr. Nessan Shaw OFM Cap. on the life of Fr. Mathew and events connected with the temperance campaign. The file also includes some material relating to the general history of the Capuchins in Ireland. Includes:
• Note re the foundation of the Total Abstinence Association on Halston Street by Fr. Columbus Maher OSFC in c.1880. The note also refers to the foundation of The Father Mathew Record (1908), the Father Mathew Feis (1909), the opening of Father Mathew Park, Fairview, Dublin, by Fr. Aloysius Travers OSFC on 10 April 1910, and the establishment of the Young Irish Crusaders in 1909.
• Letter from the Public Record Office of Ireland to Fr. Nessan regarding a document (1840) in the Chief Secretary Office’s papers referring to an application from the Irish Temperance Union for the use of Smithfield Penitentiary. The letter reads ‘The application is based on the fact that the number of prisoners detained in the Richmond Bridewell was reduced from 313 in September 1839 to 191 in November 1840 “between these two periods the Temperance Reformation had greatly extended itself throughout the city”’. The letter is dated 15 Feb. 1955.
• Photostat copy from Fr. Thomas C. Butler OSA, The Augustinians in Cork, 1280-1985 (1986). The extracts refer to the presence of the Capuchin friars in Cork from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries.
• Photostat copy from Desmond Bowen, 'Paul Cardinal Cullen and the shaping of modern Irish Catholicism' (Dublin, 1983). The extracts refer to the relationship between Cardinal Cullen and the temperance campaigner.
• Notes by Fr. Nessan re places visited by Fr. Mathew in support of his temperance campaign in 1842.
• Letter from Michael O’Connell to Fr. Nessan re the preaching of Fr. Mathew at the dedication of Blackrock parish church in Dublin in Sept. 1845. The letter is dated 25 Jan. 1992.
• Note titled ‘The façade and spire of Holy Trinity Church, Cork’. The note provides a general history of the completion of work on the church for the centenary of Fr. Mathew’s birth and also refers to the blessing of the new bell in the church on 26 Apr. 1896. The note reads ‘Having “baptized” the Bell, the Bishop [of Cork] rounded it, being followed by the sponsors Mr Humphrey Donovan (the donor) and Miss H. Donovan, his sister’.
• Note by Fr. Nessan titled ‘O’Connell and Repeal, 1840-47’.
• Cutting from 'The Standard', Dec. 1949, surveying various Catholic churches in Dublin. The article includes photographic prints of St. Michan’s Church, Halston Street. The article also refers to nearby Newgate Prison on Green Street. It reads ‘In 1863 the prison was substantially demolished and converted into fruit market which gave way, in 1893, to St. Michan’s Park, where the statue of Erin stands, with the plaques of Lord Edward Fitzgerald and the Sheares brothers on the pedestal’. The article also refers to the Capuchin chapel on Church Street. It reads ‘In 1720, they [the Capuchins] moved to Church Street, where their chapel in 1749 “had an Altar-piece showing the Crucifixion; though formerly it was a painting of Our Saviour taken down from the Cross, which piece is much esteemed by connoisseurs”. The Capuchin Church, in Church Street, of 1720, was taken down in 1868, and the present church was erected on its site and completed in 1881’.

Research compiled by Fr. Nessan Shaw OFM Cap. and used for his MA thesis on the life of Fr. Mathew. The topics include Fr. Mathew’s upbringing and education, and genealogical research. The file also includes a copybook containing sources illustrative of social conditions in Ireland at the time of Fr. Mathew’s temperance crusade.

• Letter to Fr. Nessan Shaw OFM Cap. from the Public Record Office of Ireland sending on information in relation to Fr. Mathew’s family history and ancestry. 28 June 1939. Manuscript, 1 p.
• Copy article by the Most Rev. David Mathew titled ‘Father Mathew’s family / The Mathews in Tipperary’, 'The Capuchin Annual' (1956-7), pp 143-52. Copy print, 10 pp.
• An article by Fr. Nessan titled ‘The Mathews of Thomastown’. Typescript, 5 pp.
• Cutting of an article by Padraig Ó Maidin titled ‘“Grand George Mathew” and Thomastown’.
• 'The Father Mathew Record', Vol. 49, No. 1 (Jan. 1957). The publication is a souvenir edition which includes articles covering the Father Mathew centenary celebrations. The cover has a photograph of the Fr. Mathew marble bust by John Hogan.
• Cutting of an article titled ‘Thurles honours Diana’s ancestor’, 'Cork Examiner', 5 Feb. 1990. The article refers to Lady Elizabeth Butler, an ancestor to Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC and supposedly Diana, Princess of Wales.
• Copy of an article by Fr. Nessan titled ‘A Great Irish Capuchin’, published in 'The Capuchin' magazine. The article refers to the celebrations in 1988 of the 150th anniversary of the inauguration of the temperance campaign by Fr. Mathew. With typescript copy, 5 pp.
• The Mathew family tree compiled by Fr. Nessan. Manuscript, 1 p.
• Letter to Fr. Nessan from Rev. Christy O’Dwyer, President of St. Patrick’s College, Thurles, enclosing a copy of an entry in the Skehan Index of Clergy, re Fr. Theobald Mathew (1834-1872), a nephew of the Apostle of Temperance. 8 Feb. 1994. Typescript, 2 pp.
• Copy cutting of an article advertising the Ursuline Convent School in Thurles. The advertisement notes that prospectuses can be obtained from Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC. 'Cork Examiner', 22 May 1844.
• Copy extracts from the archives of the Ursuline Convent, Thurles, re the presentation of Fr. Mathew’s sister as a boarding pupil at the school, and to a donation made by him to the Ursuline Sisters. 1815-45. Copy manuscript, 3 pp.
• Copy newspaper cutting of an article by Nicholas Farrell titled ‘Dickensian litigant quits Bar for the pub’. The article refers to the legal travails of Thomas Mathew, a great-grandson of Sir J.C. Mathew who was a descendant of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC. (1991). Cutting, 1 p.
• Notes by Fr. Nessan on Elizabeth Poyntz (1587-1673) who became Lady Thurles in 1608 when she married Thomas Butler, Viscount Thurles. The notes refer to her genealogical relationship with Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC. Typescript, 3 pp.

Three copybooks of Fr. Nessan containing extracts from Fr. Mathew’s correspondence principally relating to his organisation of the temperance campaign. The copybooks contain partial indexes to the contents. The topics covered include ‘political attitudes’, ‘pecuniary embarrassments’, ‘temperance medals’, ‘temperance bands’, ‘English temperance mission’, ‘Legislative aid for temperance’, and ‘Fr. Mathew’s attitude to the abolition of slavery’.