Letter from Br. Colmcille Cregan OFM Cap. to Fr. Bonaventure Murphy OFM Cap. referring to Fr. Albert Bibby's worsening condition in Santa Barbara Hospital. He writes that Father Albert ‘has no desire to die, as he had [a] big wish to do something for Saint Agnes [Mission Santa Inés], but God has ordained otherwise. Anyway, he set the Mission going and had got many interested in the restoration work’. He also refers to Fr. Dominic O'Connor's presence which has delighted Albert and that the latter expresses no bitterness towards his brethren at home. He also affirms that it is Bibby's wish to be buried in Ireland and to make representations to the Provincial Minister and the relevant authorities in Ireland to ensure that this happens.
Letter from Robert Monteith, Detroit, to Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap., expressing his pleasure that Fr. Albert will be visiting him in Detroit. Monteith adds ‘The news coming across is surely heartening. I feel it in my bones that we are on the eve of great things and that our fond hopes will be realised’. He also expresses his wish that Fr. Albert addresses ‘our people’ in the city.
Letter to Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. from [signature indecipherable], St. Brigid’s Clara, giving family news and referring to Fr. Albert’s exile in America. With cover annotated on reverse: ‘Fr. Albert died on Feb. 14th [1925]. Return this letter unread, Joseph’
A letter from Dorothy Godfrey (1893-1975) to Fr. Bonaventure Murphy OFM Cap. on her anger on hearing of the death of Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. She writes ‘I want to tell you and your good friends, that Fr. Albert did die broken-hearted over the treatment he received from F. P[eter Bowe] and the two who went over to England to have his faculties taken from him. What he suffered for God and Ireland he did not mind, but to think of his own in religion doing such mean things almost broke his heart'.
Letter from Dorothy Godfrey, 267 West, 139 Street, New York City, to Fr. Peter Bowe OFM Cap., Provincial Minister, Holy Trinity Friary, Cork, referring to the poor treatment which Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. received from the higher echelons of the clergy and the Order. She asserts: ‘May God forgive the clergy or Free Staters who had a hand in his exile. Sending a dying priest 3,500 miles across our land. I went with him to the train and it left a picture in my mind that cannot be blotted out. Another Christ carrying his cross. He was not able to drag his feet across the platform and carrying a heavy bag’.
Photographic print (black and white) of Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. and Fr. Dominic O’Connor OFM Cap. outside the Church Street Friary, Dublin. A woman, carrying an umbrella, and a young boy are following them. The print is pasted onto card and is annotated on the reverse: ‘donated by Mrs. H. Cass, Huntstown, Kilmanagh, County Kildare’. It is noted that the copyright of this image was held by J. Cashman, 13 Manor Place, Dublin, and the 'Irish Press'.
Photographic print of the coffin of Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. at Santa Inez, California. Stamped on the reverse: ‘Greene, Photographer, 19 W. Figueroa St., Santa Barbara’.
The issue of 'Franciscan Annals and Tertiary Record, Organ of the Guild of St. Anthony', xl, no. 474 (June 1916). The 'Annals' was a publication associated with the Third Order of St. Francis., a lay confraternity. The issue carried a commentary titled ‘Franciscan Notes and News’, referring to the work done by Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. and Fr. Columbus Murphy OFM Cap. during the Easter Rising (pp 182-5).
