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Expenditure accounts in connection with the building of a new Friary on Walkin Street. The accounts provide details of expenditure including Stephen Lalor, builder (£1,337 12s 7d); Samuel Hynes, architect (£100); alms house purchase (£315 2s 0d). A noted is appended to the accounts: ‘The above items were paid by cheque from bank. Some other items in connection with demolition of old house, repairing of new Alms House &c come under the ordinary expenses of the house’. Includes statement of ‘total amount of contract for addition &c to church and convent, Kilkenny, £3,430 13s 3d’. Endorsed on verso ‘statement of accounts given by Fr. Fidelis on the state of his house’.

Total Abstinence Society of Ireland Medal
c.1840-1850
Diameter: 4.5 cm
Pewter Medal in Glass
Physical Description:
• Face (front): In relief, Fr. Mathew addresses kneeling crowd. Outer rim inscription reads: ‘May God bless you and grant you grace and strength to keep your promise’.
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 Very Rev. T. Mathew, President / The Total Abstinence Society of Ireland’.
The medal has fragments of a green ribbon and pin attached.

Total Abstinence Society of Ireland Medal
c.1840-1850
Diameter: 4.5 cm
Pewter Medal in Glass
Physical Description:
• Face (front): In relief, Fr. Mathew addresses kneeling crowd. Outer rim inscription reads: ‘May God bless you and grant you grace and strength to keep your promise’.
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 Very Rev. T. Mathew, President / The Total Abstinence Society of Ireland’.
The medal has fragments of a green ribbon and pin attached.

Total Abstinence Society of Ireland Medals
c.1840-1850
Diameter: 4.3 cm
Thirteen Pewter Medals
Physical Description:
• 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 (or in some cases two angels) 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: ‘Total Abstinence Society of Ireland’.
Obverse: Cruciform text 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 Very Rev. Mathew, President, Total Abstinence Society’.
One of the medals was found in an envelope from John O’Neill, Musical Instrument Manufacturer, 140 Capel Street, Dublin. An annotation on the envelope reads ‘Fr. Mathew Temperance Medal / given to Fr. Stanislaus Kavanagh OFM Cap. / by an old woman in Kells, County Meath’.

Father Mathew Temperance Medal
c.1840-1850
Diameter: 4.4 cm
Silver Medal
Physical description:
• Face (front): Fr. Mathew addresses the kneeling crowd. Outer rim inscription reads ‘May God bless you and grant you grace and strength to keep your promise.
Obverse: Outer edge inscription reads ‘Dedicated to the Very Rev. Theobald Mathew. Centre: ‘Whose / exertions / have laid the / foundation of his country’s happiness / and merited / the admiration / of mankind’.
A green and white ribbon in the form of a crucifix (with pin) is attached.

Total Abstinence Society Medal
c.1840-1850
Diameter: 4.4 cm
Silver Medal
Physical description:
• Face (front): 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’.
A green ribbon with pin is attached.

Total Abstinence Society Medal
1840
Diameter: 4.4 cm
Silver Medal in Glass
Physical description:
• Face (front): Man and woman on pedestal on which two children are seated. The adults carry a shield surmounted by a cross, with an angel above left of the cross. 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 encircled by title of society, president (Fr. Theobald Mathew), and the date of foundation (10 Apr. 1838).
A large green ribbon is attached with the following embroidered text ‘F ✙ M / 1840 / God Save Ireland’. The ribbon is partially torn. Very careful manual handling is required.

Medal of the Army Temperance Association, India
1862
Oval-shaped silver medal
4 cm x 3 cm
Physical Description:
• Medal of the Soldiers’ Total Abstinence Association in India. The inscription the face reads ‘Watch and be sober’. Inscription the obverse reads ‘The Association Medal for Fidelity India’.
Note: After 1902 the Victoria Memorial Medal was adopted and used by Indian Organisations of the Royal Army Temperance Association as a Two-Year Medal.

Temperance Medal Ribbon
1889
Physical Description:
• A green ribbon with silver crucifix attached bearing the inscription ‘Presented to the Very Rev. Fr. Columbus [Maher] OSFC / President / Feb. 1889’. The ribbon would have been originally attached to a temperance medal. Fr. Columbus Maher OSFC (1835-1894) was President of the Father Mathew Temperance Association attached to St. Mary of the Angels, Church Street, Dublin.

A collection of Total Abstinence Society medals collected by Fr. Angelus Healy OFM Cap. and other Capuchin friars. Most of the medals were sent to Fr. Angelus who duly recorded their provenance and source. The collection includes:
• Silver medal ‘presented to Fr. Angelus by Miss Gibson, Ballyglass, County Mayo. It belonged to her grandfather, who had taken the pledge from Fr. Mathew. He was a convert, but she is of the opinion he had taken the Pledge whilst he was a Protestant’.
• Silver cross of the Youghal Roman Catholic Total Abstinence Society founded by the Rev. John Foley on 1 May 1839. The obverse has the text of the pledge with the Latin phrase ‘In hoc signo vinces’. Two examples of the cross are extant. Fr. Angelus notes that one of the crosses was donated by Miss Gibson of County Mayo.
• Silver medal of the Total Abstinence Society of the Sacred Thirst. The medal has a red ribbon and pin attachment. With annotated envelope by Fr. Angelus Healy OFM Cap.
• Silver medal of the Total Abstinence Society of Ireland. The medal is engraved on the rim ‘Presented to L.S. Gore Jones by The Rev. T. Mathew’. The medal was given to Fr. Angelus by Rev. Laurence Kelly CC, St. Michan’s Church, North Anne Street, Dublin.
• Pewter medal of the Dublin Total Abstinence League founded in 1872. The inscription on the obverse reads ‘For / Glory to God / for example to man / safety / I promise with the Divine / Assistance to abstain / from all intoxicating / drinks and to / discountenance / the / liquor traffic’. The front has a side-profile view of Fr. Mathew. Fr. Angelus notes that the maker was Woodhouse, Dublin.
• Pewter medal of the Total Abstinence Pledge. The front (face) shows the Good Shepherd. The outer-rim inscription reads ‘I have found the sheep that was lost Luke Chap. 15 v. 6’. The obverse: Cruciform text of pledge. The outer-rim inscription reads ‘The Dublin Total Abstinence Pledge The Very Revd. Dr. Spratt Patron 1840’. Fr. Angelus notes that the maker was J. Taylor.

Letters of Fr. Timothy Phelim O’Shea OFM Cap. (1902-1979). The correspondents include Fr. Kieran O’Callaghan OFM Cap., Provincial Secretary; Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap., Provincial Minister; Fr. James O’Mahony OFM Cap., Provincial Minister; Fr. Colman Griffin OFM Cap., Provincial Minister; Fr. Conrad O’Donovan OFM Cap., Provincial Minister., and Fr. Clement Neubauer OFM Cap., General Minister. The subjects include: the progress of the Irish Capuchin mission in Barotseland and Livingstone, Northern Rhodesia; the Silozi catechism; the Loanja station; requests for financial assistance and loans for the Northern Rhodesian mission; missionary activities in Cape Town, South Africa; the recognition of five parishes in the Cape as coming under Irish Capuchin jurisdiction (1946); the Katima Mulilo mission station in the Caprivi Strip (1949); Fr. Phelim’s appointment as Regular Superior of the Victoria Falls Mission; the completion of the church at Langa (1949); the deaths of Fr. Eustace Burke OFM Cap. and Fr. Donatus Aherne OFM Cap. (1949); Educational matters in the missionary territories; the appointment of Fr. Killian Flynn OFM Cap. as Education Secretary General (1949); the need for more missionary sisters (Holy Faith Sisters, Sisters of Mercy, the Irish Sisters of Charity and the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Africa); the opening of the church at the Holy Family Mission, Katima Mulilo. (Mar. 1954); the building of a new convent and girls’ boarding school at Maramba. (July 1953); his proposal to resign as Bishop of Livingstone ‘in line with the gradual Zambianization of the Hierarchy’. (10 Aug. 1969). Reference is also made to the activities of the following Capuchin friars: Fr. Casimir Butler OFM Cap.; Fr. Oliver O’Hanlon OFM Cap.; Fr. Timothy Connery OFM Cap.; Fr. Agathangelus Herlihy OFM Cap.; Fr. Seraphin Nesdale OFM Cap.; Fr. Eltin Daly OFM Cap. The file also includes a manuscript copy of an ‘Approved Prayer for the Conversion of Africa’ and a typescript copy of a ‘Spiritual portrait of Bishop Timothy Phelim O’Shea OFM Cap.’ by Fr. Salvator Quinn OFM Cap. (Livingstone, 1992). 19 pp.

Reports on school inspections in the Northern Rhodesian mission compiled by Fr. Luke Browne OFM Cap. The reports are chronological and give information on the physical condition of the schools, the numbers of pupils and teachers, attendance, and the catechism and subjects taught in the schools. Reference is made to schools in Lusense, Schuckmannsburg (now Luhonono in the Caprivi Strip), Sichili, Kasika and Twambo.

Information booklet explaining the history and work of the Irish Capuchin missionaries in the Prefecture Apostolic of Victoria Falls, Barotseland, Northern Rhodesia.

Illustrated souvenir of the Great Temperance Demonstration held in Longford Town on 3 July 1910. Includes photographs and reports on speeches at the demonstration including an address by Most Rev. Joseph Hoare, Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise, Fr. Aloysius Travers OSFC and many other public figures.

D.F. Giltinan was honorary secretary of the Father Mathew Centenary Committee and was also secretary to the Lord Mayor of Cork. The file includes:
• Letter from John O’Sullivan, St. Patrick’s Catholic Total Abstinence League, to D.F. Giltinan re his valuable services in the cause of total abstinence in Cork. 30 Nov. 1887.
• Invitation cards to D.F. Giltinan to the National Celebration of the Centenary of Father Mathew in Cork on 9-15 October 1890. Includes invitations to the centennial oration given by Sir John Pope Hennessy (1834-1891) and religious ceremonies in Holy Trinity Church in Cork. Printed and manuscript, 5 pp.
• Letter from Fr. Paul Neary OSFC to D.F. Giltinan re a gift of a small case of relics as a mark of gratitude for his services in connection with the Fr. Mathew centenary celebrations. 6 Oct. 1891.
• Notes for a speech given by D.F. Giltinan at a meeting of the Father Mathew Centenary Committee.
• Notice to D.F. Giltinan from Fr. Paul Neary OSFC re the final meeting of the Father Mathew Centenary Committee on 18 Oct. 1891.
• Letters from D.F. Giltinan to Henry McConnell, 42 Great Brunswick Street, Dublin, re an unpaid bill of quantities in connection with the completion of the Father Mathew Memorial (Holy Trinity) Church, Cork. 25 Mar. 1893-18 Aug. 1893.
• The file also includes a cover letter from Nora Giltinan referring to an enclosed poem written by her deceased brother ‘which may be of use for the columns of the “Father Mathew Record”’. 17 July 1931.

Author: Fr. Matthew Flynn OFM Cap. (1915-1978)
Publisher: Dublin: Catholic Truth Society of Ireland, 7-8 Lower Abbey Street
Language: English