An original framed total abstinence pledge card of Mary Farrell dated 18 Nov. 1840. The pledge card is signed by Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC. The certificate has been colour tinted by hand.
Two framed temperance medals. Both of the medals have ribbons attached (purple and green). The purple ribbon has the following inscription: ‘Approach them once a month / Live worthy of them the entire month / They loose and bind in heaven’. The medal with the green ribbon has an image of St. Patrick with the motif ‘Apostle of Ireland / Pray for Us’. The inscription above reads ‘Temperance / Perseverance’.
Colour print showing Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC administering the pledge (probably at the Custom House, Dublin). The caption reads: ‘The Very Revd. Theobald Mathew / Administering the Temperance Pledge / I promise to abstain from all intoxicating drinks &c except used medicinally, and by order of a medical man, and to discountenance the cause and practice of intemperance / Prayer / May God bless you and enable you to keep your promise’. The frame backing has a printed flier from the ‘Association of Men of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus / Church of St. Kevin, Harrington Street, A.D. 1914’.
Framed National Total Abstinence Society pledge card of Mathew Gorman dated 3 Oct. 1830. The pledge reads ‘I voluntarily agree to abstain from all intoxicating drinks (except by medical direction) and will not give or offer, and to discountenance the cause and practice of intemperance’. A small seal is attached to the card.
Framed manuscript quoting a passage from Romans Ch. 14, verse 21 which reads ‘It is good not to eat flesh, and not to drink wine nor anything whereby thy brother is offended or scandalized, or made weak’. The passage is signed by Fr. Theobald Mathew and is dated at Cork, 5 Feb. 1845.
Framed letter of Lord John Russell (1792-1878), Chatham Place, London, to Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC, re the grant of an annual pension of £300 from the Civil List as a mark of approbation for his work in combatting intemperance in Ireland.
Framed letter of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC, Imperial Hotel, Dublin, to Richard Dowden referring to the harsh sentence handed down to a sailor at a court martial in Cove (Cobh) Harbour. Fr. Mathew wrote ‘Strict discipline it is true, must be enforced in Her Majesty’s Fleet, but from the Report of the Trial, it is evident that the miserable culprit, was a habitual drunkard, and consequently a lunatic, and should be treated as such …’.
Framed letter of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC, Cork, to Ms [recipient not given] referring to the shortage of food in the city. The letter reads ‘It would afford me pleasure to forward a supply of food but I deeply regret to say that my stock of Indian meal is exhausted. I soon disposed of the three hundred barrels I had for the relief of the destitute. Almost the entire support of the poor strangers who crowd our city is thrown upon me. Eighteen hundred weight of Indian meal is daily cooked in my boilers. Next week, I must have double the quantity as the other public kitchens will be closed’.
