Report by Fr. Albert Bibby OSFC on temperance missions from Oct.-Dec. 1906. The report includes the location of the mission, information on the success (or otherwise) of the preaching including the numbers taking the pledge and the general state of the temperance cause in the locality. The locations include Ballyforan, Ballygar, Louisburgh and Clare Island. The report on Ballygar, County Galway (where a mission was held from 2-16 Dec 1906) reads as follows: ‘Nearly all the heads of families took a pledge not to give intoxicating drinks at funerals or wakes or American wakes (held on night previous to some member of family going to America) whilst all others promised not to accept drink on these occasions’. The ‘American Wake’, sometimes referred to as the ‘Live Wake’, was a unique leave-taking ceremony for rural Irish people travelling to the United States. ‘American Wakes’ took place prior to the Great Famine, but most of the documentary evidence survives from the late 1800s and early 1900s. It was most commonly practiced in counties along the western seaboard where traditional customs remained most potent. Usually held on the evening prior to an emigrant's departure, the ‘American Wake’ resembled its ceremonial model, the traditional wake for the dead. It represented a permanent breaking of earthly ties for people who regarded emigration as death’s equivalent.
Fr. Richard Henebry (front row, seated, second from left) at an Irish language summer school organised by Conrad na Gaelige. The summer school was possibly held in the Waterford Gaeltacht. Fr. Albert Bibby OSFC is seated in the front row (first on the right).
The fonds consists of the correspondence and papers of Capuchin friars detailing their involvement with participants in the national struggle. The majority of the material dates from 1916-1925 and includes many records highlighting the roles played by Irish Capuchins in ministering to republican leaders and their relations. Of particular interest is a large collection of prison letters including the correspondence of some of the leading figures of the Irish Revolution. The fonds also contains a large collection of republican publicity material, newspapers and miscellaneous items of ephemera and artefacts mostly relating to the military and political campaign organised by nationalists for Irish independence. A smaller collection relating to the repatriation of the bodies of Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. and Fr. Dominic O’Connor OFM Cap. from the United States to Ireland in 1958 is also extant.
The fliers claim the support of Fr. Laurence Dowling OFM Cap. and Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap., Capuchin Franciscan Friary, Church Street, calling them ‘distinguished representatives of the Order which in dark and evil days held aloft the lamp of learning in Ireland’. Father Lawrence wrote ‘I am glad Mr. John Farren is seeking election as a member of the Dublin Corporation. …’. The fliers were printed by Mitchell & Co., 29 Capel Street, Dublin, and published by the candidate.
Photographic print of a group of Capuchin friars in the garden of Holy Trinity Friary. The group includes first on the left, Fr. Angelus Healy OSFC (1975-1953), third from the left, Fr. Camillus Killian OSFC (1872-1941), fifth from the left, Fr. Albert Bibby OSFC (1877-1925), third from the right, Fr. Bernardine Harvey OSFC (1874-1953), and first on the right, Fr. Stanislaus Kavanagh OSFC (1876-1965). Photographer/Studio: Guy Studio, Cork. An annotation in faint pencil on the reverse reads: ‘Taken in Holy Trinity garden by a most cross and irritable German from Guy’s’.
