An image of HMS 'Vanguard', a British Navy battleship at Cape Town Harbour in South Africa. The ship was used as a royal yacht to transport King George VI and his family to South Africa, the first visit to the country by a reigning British monarch. HMS 'Vanguard' arrived in Cape Town on 17 February, escorted by the South African frigates 'Good Hope', 'Transvaal' and 'Natal' on the last leg of her voyage. The warship departed Cape Town on 22 April 1947.
James McKenna (d. 1846) played a key role in the founding of the Cork Total Abstinence Society (CTAS) in 1838. He also acted as Fr. Mathew’s principal travelling secretary during the early years of his campaign. McKenna made extensive efforts to publicise the movement through newspaper advertising, the printing of posters, pamphlets and handbills but the most comprehensive expression of his temperance philosophy is preserved in his manuscript history of the movement. McKenna kept his voluminous records of the CTAS’s progress in his 'History of the Temperance Reformation in Ireland, England and Scotland by James McKenna, Chief Travelling and Confidential Secretary to the Very Reverend Theobald Mathew'. This eclectic, meticulously hand-written collection of hundreds of outsized pages of transcribed material was woven together in McKenna’s own strident presentation. The text recorded very many of the activities connected Fr. Mathew’s temperance campaign from 1838 to 1846. McKenna intended to publish his account, as the definitive, triumphal and popular history of what seemed like a permanent social revolution. McKenna’s sudden death (in Cork in 1846), and the temperance crusade’s rapid retreat, likely combined to prevent the manuscript’s publication. Although of dubious literary merit, McKenna’s manuscript represents an extremely important source for Fr. Mathew’s temperance crusade. The text is preserved in the Irish Capuchin Archives.
‘History of the Temperance Reformation by James McKenna, chief travelling secretary to the Very Rev. Theobald Mathew’. The volume commences with a piece titled ‘National effects produced by temperance in Ireland; general decrease of crime taken from the assizes; returns, statements and testimony of judges; returns from the police officers; general decrease of disease and sick in hospitals and infirmaries …’. Returns from assizes and police officials are given from various parts of the country from 1839-41. The volume includes a large number of testimonials and addresses from various members of the aristocracy, landed gentry, politicians (including Daniel O’Connell), the clergy and other public figures referring to the beneficial effects of Fr. Mathew’s temperance crusade. With copy testimonials and letters from Lord Morpeth, the Marquis of Lansdowne, the Lord Bishop of Norwich and other prominent individuals. The volume also includes articles and reflections on the history and progress of the temperance movement, pledge-taking statistics, and descriptions of Fr. Mathew’s meetings and rallies in cities, towns and villages all over Ireland. ‘A history of the temperance movement and progress in England’ by James McKenna is extant from pp 563-895. Copy testimonials, letters and addresses from England, Scotland, the United States and Canada are transcribed from pp 961-88. A comprehensive index to the volume is included from pp 987-1,005 pp.
History of the South Friary, Blackamoor Lane, Cork, by Fr. Francis Hayes OFM Cap. (1866-1946). The manuscript additions and corrections to the text are by Fr. Stanislaus Kavanagh OFM Cap. The history concludes by noting that the end of the Blackamoor Friary was noted in an ‘Old Account Book of the South Friary: “October 6th 1850. On this Sunday the South Friary was finally closed and the new Church of the Most Holy Trinity was opened on the 10th October being the birthday of the Very Rev. Mr. Theobald Mathew’. With copy photographic print of the old friary building on Blackamoor Lane. The print has been endorsed on the reverse by Fr. Carthage Ruth OFM Cap. It reads ‘Blackamoor Lane off Sullivan’s Quay, Cork city – behind Tax Office, built about 1771 by Friar Arthur O’Leary – used until 1850 when Fr. Mathew Memorial Church of the Holy Trinity was opened for divine worship’.
Lectures on the history of the Irish Capuchin missions (primarily in Africa) compiled by Fr. Angelus Healy OFM Cap. The talks were likely prepared for promotional and educational purposes. They include copy documents including a letter from the Most Rev. Bernard O’Riley, Vicar Apostolic of Cape Town, to Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap., Provincial Minister, requesting a Capuchin foundation in his diocese (12 May 1927), and copy letters from Archbishop Carlo Salotti, Secretary of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, to Fr. Melchor a Benisa OFM Cap., Minister General, re the Irish Capuchin mission in Barotseland, Northern Rhodesia (Jan. 1931).
A history of Katima Mulilo in the Caprivi Strip in South West Africa (Namibia) compiled by Fr. Luke Browne OFM Cap. (1920-2008). The history is divided into four distinct sections: • The history of the Makalolo on the Zambezi, 1800-1870 • The first missionaries to Linyanti • The colonial era / the poachers on the Kwando, 1890-1940 • The Capuchins at Katima Mulilo, 1944-1984 The final section of the history contains copy letters and documents relating to the administration and staffing of the Holy Family Mission in Katima Mulilo including statistical information re the area and population of the district and a list of resident friars in the mission from 1940-72.
A history of the Capuchin novitiate in Kilkenny, 1875-77 by Fr. Angelus Healy OFM Cap. Referring to the decision to found a novitiate, Fr. Angelus wrote ‘In the month of May 1875 a visitation of the Irish Custody was made by Very Rev. Arsenius, the Provincial of Paris Province. At the conclusion of the visitation he called the Custos [Fr. Patrick O’Reilly OSFC] and his two assistants [Fr. Edward Tommins OSFC and Fr. Aloysius Hennessy OSFC]. They met in our Convent at Dublin on May 25th. At this meeting it was decided to apply to our Superiors General in Rome, for permission to establish a Novitiate for the Irish Custody’. The novitiate was transferred from Kilkenny to Rochestown on 14 Feb. 1877. Fr. Angelus concludes by noting that the ‘account of the Novitiate in Rochestown from 1877 to 1886, when it returned to Kilkenny may be given in another paper’.
History of the Capuchin Friary, Father Mathew Quay, Cork, possibly compiled by Fr. Angelus Healy OFM Cap. The notes are described as incomplete, requiring ‘supplementation and possibly correction’. The first section deals briefly with the history of the Capuchins in Cork from 1620 to 1832. At page six Fr. Angelus traces the efforts made by the Capuchins to build a friary adjacent to Holy Trinity Church. This history is divided into distinct sections: I. 1855: Very. Rev. Vincent McLeod OSFC, guardian. II. 1866: Very. Rev. Edward Tommins OSFC, guardian. Includes an article from the Cork Examiner (24 Sept. 1866) referring to the laying of the foundation stone of a new friary. This project was later abandoned. III. 18[ ]: Very Rev. Father Cherubin [Mazzini] OSFC, guardian. IV. 1877: Very Rev. Father Thomas Sheehy OSFC, guardian. V. 1878: Very Rev. Father Albert Mitchell OSFC, Custos-Provincial. VI. 1879-1884: Very Rev. Father Simeon Gaudillot OSFC, Commissary General; Very Rev. Seraphim Van Damme of Bruges, Provincial Minister. (Includes an account from the Cork Examiner (10 June 1884) re the opening of the new Capuchin Friary. Addenda: Historical notes re the Irish Capuchin Custody, the ‘dismemberment of the Irish Province’, the transfer of the Cork and Rochestown Friaries to the English Capuchin Province, and the re-creation in 1885 of the Irish Capuchin Province. The final page consists of an incomplete obituary list of Cork Capuchins. The file includes copy typescript extracts from the volume.
Notes on the history of Holy Trinity Church, Cork, by Fr. Stanislaus Kavanagh OFM Cap. from the laying of the foundation stone in October 1832 to circa 1856. Reference is made to the construction, financing and decoration of the Church. Some of the notes were copied from ‘an account book of the Cork community preserved in the Archives in Dublin’ (See CA HT/3/1/1). Also, a typescript copy of an article on the Church from 'Battersby’s Catholic Registry' (1851), p. 221.
Draft article titled ‘A History of Haulbowline’ compiled by Lieutenant-Commander D.M. Brunicardi and submitted to 'The Capuchin Annual' for publication. The article includes a black and white reproduction of a nineteenth-century view of Haulbowline Island in Cork Harbour.
