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Near-contemporary badges and pins for the Father Mathew Total Abstinence Association. It is noted that the triangle pin signified the taking of the ‘temporary pledge’. The shield signified the taking of the ‘perpetual pledge’.

Author: Right Rev. Mgr. William H. Cologan
Publisher: London: Catholic Truth Society, 69 Southwark Bridge Road
Language: English

Face (front): Centre: Man and woman on pedestal on which two children are seated. The adults carry a shield surmounted by a cross, with an angel above. The upper part of the shield has a lamb bearing a banner. The man bears a banner with the words ‘sobriety’. The woman bears a banner with the words ‘Domestic Comfort’. Outer-edge inscription reads: ‘In hoc signo vinces’.
Obverse: Cruciform text of pledge. Outer edge inscription reads: ‘Total Abstinence Society, The Very Rev. T. Mathew, President’. Variant inscriptions read ‘Cork Total Abstinence Society …’ or ‘Cork Roman Catholic Total Abstinence Society …’. Inner rim inscription reads ‘Founded 10 April 1838’.
All of the medals in this file have been encased in glass. One is in purple-coloured glass and another in orange-coloured glass. One of the temperance medals is attached to a commemorative medal marking the death of Daniel O’Connell. The front shows a portrait of O’Connell with the wording ‘Daniel O’Connell Esq. MP., The Friend of His Country’ and the obverse a gravestone with ‘D. O’Connell, Born, 6 August 1775, Died, 15 May 1847’ above ‘Catholic Emancipation, Repeal’ with a weeping Hibernia, along with a harp.

Face (front): Profile view of the head of Fr. Mathew. Along outer edge: ‘The Very Rev. Theobald Mathew’.
Obverse: Cruciform formula of pledge: ‘I / Promise / by the / Help of / God/ to abstain from all / intoxicating drinks / except used medicinally / and to discountenance the / cause and practice / of / intemperance’. Outer edge inscription reads: ‘The Total Abstinence Society of Ireland’.
One of the medals has fragments of a white ribbon and pin attached.

Face (front): Profile view of the head of Fr. Mathew. Along outer edge: ‘The Father Mathew OSFC Total Abstinence Association’.
Obverse: Cruciform formula of pledge: ‘From the / Great Glory of God/ and the/ Salvation / of souls / in honour of / the sacred thirst and agony of Jesus / and the sorrowful Heart of Mary / I promise / to abstain from all / intoxicating drinks during / my life / and thus / discourage / their use / in others’.
Images in the four corners of the cross, clockwise, beginning with upper left: Heart surmounted by cross, entwined by crown of thorns, with drops of blood, Heart a fire pierced by sword, with drops of blood; harp; 3 shamrocks.
Two of the medals have green ribbon and pin attachments.

The sub-series contains a collection of original Total Abstinence Society pledge cards. Most of the cards are signed by the pledge-taker and by Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC. The cards were decorated with various temperance symbols and vignettes. An illustration on one side of the cards depicted a scene warning of the dangers of intemperance – a man driven by alcohol to beat his wife. Another illustration showed a scene of temperance – a happy family reading together by the hearth. The cards are listed in chronological order.

• Poem titled ‘Fr. Mathew’s Cornet’. Manuscript, 1 p.
• Poem by ‘A Parish Boy’ titled ‘Capashine [sic] Fathers’. The first lines read:
‘Oh God bless the Capashine [sic] Fathers
For their hard and toilful strife
By which they’ve raised our city
To its present state of life …’.
Manuscript, 3 pp.
• Copy letter of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC to H. Sharp re a visit to a Mr. Brabason. 3 Nov. 1841. Typescript, 1 p.
• Copy extract from the 'Saunder’s News-Letter' referring to Fr. Mathew administering the pledge to nearly five thousand people at the Custom House in Dublin. 31 Mar. 1840. Typescript, 1 p.
• Copy poem by Seaghan Ó Laoghaire titled ‘Glory be to Whiskey’. Manuscript, 1 p.
• Copy letter from Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC to Dr. Shiel, Ballyshannon, County Donegal, referring to his visit to state prisoners and his attitude towards William Smith O’Brien. 26 Aug. 1844. Typescript, 1 p.
• Copy letter from Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC to Rev. George Whitmore Carr, New Ross, County Wexford, 8 Dec. 1839. Reference is also made to Fr. Mathew’s visit to New Ross. The extract is from an obituary of Rev. George Whitmore Carr (1779-1849). Printed, 9 pp.
• William O’Connell, ‘Three documents relating to Father Mathew / A famous Irish Chancery action of 1839’, 'Journal of the Cork Historical & Archaeological Society', XLVI (1951), 5 pp. An offprint presented to Fr. Stanislaus Kavanagh OFM Cap.
• Poem by J.E. Murphy titled ‘Lines suggested by seeing the beloved Apostle of Temperance, returning from the Charity Sermon preached at the Cathedral, Cork, 17th April 1852’. Manuscript, 1 p.
• A note affirming that Fr. Mathew entered Maynooth Seminary ‘as a student from Cashel’ in 1807. Manuscript, 1 p.
• Extract from the annals of the South Presentation Convent in Cork re the celebration of the golden jubilee of Mother Clare O’Callaghan at which Fr. Mathew attended in January 1845. Manuscript, 1 p.
• Copy letter of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC to Richard Foley, 37 Francis Street, Kilrush, thanking him for his kind gift of £5. The letter reads: ‘It has graciously pleased the Almighty to smite me with general Paralysis, which fixed particularly in my right arm, consequently I write with difficulty and almost illegibly. My exertions in America, preaching temperance to the expatriated Irish, in that vast Republic, exhausted my strength’. 31 May 1854. Typescript, 1 p.
• Copy articles from 'The Constitution or Cork Advertiser' reporting on the death and funeral of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC. 9 Dec. 1856-13 Dec. 1856. Manuscript, 3 pp.

• Newspaper cutting of a letter from Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC dated at Cork, 31 March 1847. It reads ‘We shall ever regard America as our deliverer in the hour of bitter calamity. The immense supply of Indian corn, wafted into the Cove of Cork, the last few days, and the Free-Gift cargoes, daily expected, have had an unexpected effect on the Corn Market’. The letter was reprinted from the 'Albany Evening Journal'.
• 'Manual of tablets of maxims, eulogies &c in prose and poetry reciting descriptively the blessings and benefits arising to the members of the Very Rev. T. Mathew’s Temperance Society' (Dublin, 1840). Printed, 36 pp.
• Letter of the Most Rev. Daniel O’Connor OESA, Titular Bishop of Saldae (1786-1867), John Street, Chapel House, Dublin, to James Roche, Cork, re his support for the ‘completion of the Church of my excellent friend, Father Mathew’ in Cork. 4 Nov. 1848. Manuscript, 1 p.
• 'Sermon delivered by the Very Rev. T. Mathew on Sunday last in Marlborough St. Chapel. 29 Mar. 1840'. Printed. 2 pp.