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A collection of letters sent to Fr. Aloysius Travers OFM Cap. by republican internees and prisoners including Seán T. O’Kelly and W.T. Cosgrave.

A collection of mostly personal papers relating to the life and ministry of Fr. Aloysius Travers OFM Cap. The sub-series comprises papers relating to significant political figures and events and includes letters from George Noble Plunkett and Arthur Griffith and a signed admission card to the first meeting of Dáil Éireann.

The sub-series consists of records relating to Fr. Dominic O’Connor’s service as a military chaplain during the First World War.

The sub-series comprises records relating to arrest and imprisonment of Fr. Dominic O’Connor OFM Cap. during the War of Independence.

The correspondence of Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap.

The sub-series comprises original memorial cards for deceased republicans collected by Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap.

The Catholic Boys’ Brigade was founded by Fr. Benvenutus Guy OSFC (1860-1927), a Capuchin friar, in March 1894. Mainly composed of impoverished children from the Church Street area, the organisation was initially called St. Joseph’s Boys’ Brigade. The stated objects of the Brigade were ‘to crush vice and evil habits among boys, to instruct them thoroughly in the Christian doctrine … to give them habits of obedience, discipline, and self-respect and love for ecclesiastical authority and holy religion and to promote their moral, physical and temporal well-being’. The idea of forming a Brigade for the Catholic boys of Dublin sprung from the success achieved by the Protestant Boys’ Brigade. The first meeting hall of the Brigade was in a house in Smithfield which was rented at 5s per week. This meeting was held on 24 April 1894 with nine boys in attendance. The organisation grew rapidly. The Brigade Hall was soon relocated to a property (formerly a smelting foundry) at 156 Church Street which was purchased for the sum of £300. The organizing committee also succeeded in obtaining the use of an old vegetable market at the rear of the Hall which was used as a drill yard in 1895. The newly furnished hall and gallery could hold 1,500 attendees. A uniform was supplied to each enrolled boy consisting of a sash, a cap and a badge. An important aspect of the Brigade’s activities was physical exercise and participants routinely trained in ‘physical drilling, figure marching, squad and company drills’. A band was also established under the supervision of Fr. Sebastian O’Brien OSFC (1867-1931). A night-school for instructing illiterate young boys was founded in October 1899 and soon attracted thirty-five students. Religious instruction was supplied by the Capuchin friars. This was initially performed by Fr. Benvenutus Guy OSFC and later by Fr. Paul Neary OSFC (1857-1939). In 1904 the Church Street Capuchins transferred trusteeship of the properties owned by the Catholic Boys’ Brigade to lay stewardship.

This section includes records relating to accounts held by the Capuchin friars of Church Street mostly with the Smithfield branch of the National Bank in Dublin. The National Bank was merged into Bank of Ireland in 1969.