Printed facsimile of a letter from Fr. Albert Bibby to the editor of ‘The Monitor’ referring to his worsening condition in in St. Francis Hospital in Santa Barbara, California. He writes ‘It is hard to feel that that I may not see dear old Ireland again, or my good mother, sisters and friends there. It would lessen the sacrifice to be laid to rest with Rory [O’Connor] and the boys in Glasnevin’. He adds that he has no bitterness towards his political opponents’. (Volume page 91).
A clipping of an article reprinting a copy of Fr. Albert Bibby’s final letter to Éamon de Valera pledging his ‘unchanged and unchangeable, and uncompromising’ allegiance to the Republic and to you, its President’. He argues that ‘in the movement for the independence of Ireland I have always endeavoured to remember that I was a Capuchin Priest’. The volume also includes a covering letter from Fr. Dominic O’Connor OFM Cap. to de Valera enclosing Bibby’ letter and referring to the latter’s ailing health. O’Connor concludes by stating that it is ‘better to die in agony than for freedom than live in luxurious freedom’. (Volume page 116).
A scene on Inishmaan (Inis Meáin), one of the Aran Islands off the coast of County Galway. A manuscript annotation on the reverse of the print reads 'Inishmaan'.