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Near-contemporary badges and pins for the Father Mathew Total Abstinence Association. It is noted that the triangle pin signified the taking of the ‘temporary pledge’. The shield signified the taking of the ‘perpetual pledge’.

Face (front): Centre: Man and woman on pedestal on which two children are seated. The adults carry a shield surmounted by a cross, with an angel above. The upper part of the shield has a lamb bearing a banner. The man bears a banner with the words ‘sobriety’. The woman bears a banner with the words ‘Domestic Comfort’. Outer-edge inscription reads: ‘In hoc signo vinces’.
Obverse: Cruciform text of pledge. Outer edge inscription reads: ‘Total Abstinence Society, The Very Rev. T. Mathew, President’. Variant inscriptions read ‘Cork Total Abstinence Society …’ or ‘Cork Roman Catholic Total Abstinence Society …’. Inner rim inscription reads ‘Founded 10 April 1838’.
All of the medals in this file have been encased in glass. One is in purple-coloured glass and another in orange-coloured glass. One of the temperance medals is attached to a commemorative medal marking the death of Daniel O’Connell. The front shows a portrait of O’Connell with the wording ‘Daniel O’Connell Esq. MP., The Friend of His Country’ and the obverse a gravestone with ‘D. O’Connell, Born, 6 August 1775, Died, 15 May 1847’ above ‘Catholic Emancipation, Repeal’ with a weeping Hibernia, along with a harp.

Face (front): Profile view of the head of Fr. Mathew. Along outer edge: ‘The Very Rev. Theobald Mathew’.
Obverse: Cruciform formula of pledge: ‘I / Promise / by the / Help of / God/ to abstain from all / intoxicating drinks / except used medicinally / and to discountenance the / cause and practice / of / intemperance’. Outer edge inscription reads: ‘The Total Abstinence Society of Ireland’.
One of the medals has fragments of a white ribbon and pin attached.

Face (front): Profile view of the head of Fr. Mathew. Along outer edge: ‘The Father Mathew OSFC Total Abstinence Association’.
Obverse: Cruciform formula of pledge: ‘From the / Great Glory of God/ and the/ Salvation / of souls / in honour of / the sacred thirst and agony of Jesus / and the sorrowful Heart of Mary / I promise / to abstain from all / intoxicating drinks during / my life / and thus / discourage / their use / in others’.
Images in the four corners of the cross, clockwise, beginning with upper left: Heart surmounted by cross, entwined by crown of thorns, with drops of blood, Heart a fire pierced by sword, with drops of blood; harp; 3 shamrocks.
Two of the medals have green ribbon and pin attachments.

• Transcript from the 'Limerick Reporter', 3 Sept. 1841, referring to the appointment of Fr. Mathew to the ‘High Office of Commissary Apostolic’. The extract reads ‘Proud indeed may Father Mathew be, that his vast toils, are thus recognised by the venerable Pope Gregory XVI. … We congratulate the Apostle of Temperance …’. Typescript, 1 p.
• Inscription on the Gong presented by Fr. Mathew to the South Presentation Convent in Cork. It reads: ‘May each sound of the bell be accompanied to the mercy seat by a pious supplication for the conversion of sinners of whom I am the chief / Theobald Mathew’. Manuscript, 2 pp.
• 'Dublin University Magazine', June 1849, containing a biography of Fr. Mathew and a description of his temperance campaign. Printed, pp 694-706.
• Copy letters of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC to John Maher, Mrs. C. Hall, Rev. T. Fitzgerald, Hugh Green, and Richard Scully, c.1846-7. Subjects include the Famine, the Ursuline Convent in Thurles, and his precarious financial situation. Typescript, 5 pp.
• Lyrics for a song celebrating Fr. Mathew’s temperance crusade. The first lines read:
‘Ye teetotallers all both great and small
Of every rank and station
Once rally around this clergyman
The pride of Erin’s Nation’.
Manuscript, 2 pp.
• Copy letters of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC. The copies were made by Fr. Stanislaus Kavanagh OFM Cap. An annotation on the first page suggests that some of the originals ‘are held in the Cork Museum’. Another annotation indicates that they were copied into an archival source book by Fr. Stanislaus. The notebook includes:
Copy letter from Fr. Mathew to Elizabeth O’Connor (16 Sept. 1849).
Copy letter from Cardinal Paul Cullen to Fr. Mathew (10 Oct. 1841).
Copy will of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC (21 Nov. 1849). The witnesses are noted as David O’Meara and Cornelius R. Mahony.
Copy extract from Social Notes / concerning social reform, social requirements and social progress, editor, S.C. Hall FSA, Part 7 (Sept. 1878). The extract provides a biography of Fr. Mathew. The copy notes give a transcription date of 3 Oct. 1923.
Manuscript, 18 pp.

• Poem titled ‘Fr. Mathew’s Cornet’. Manuscript, 1 p.
• Poem by ‘A Parish Boy’ titled ‘Capashine [sic] Fathers’. The first lines read:
‘Oh God bless the Capashine [sic] Fathers
For their hard and toilful strife
By which they’ve raised our city
To its present state of life …’.
Manuscript, 3 pp.
• Copy letter of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC to H. Sharp re a visit to a Mr. Brabason. 3 Nov. 1841. Typescript, 1 p.
• Copy extract from the 'Saunder’s News-Letter' referring to Fr. Mathew administering the pledge to nearly five thousand people at the Custom House in Dublin. 31 Mar. 1840. Typescript, 1 p.
• Copy poem by Seaghan Ó Laoghaire titled ‘Glory be to Whiskey’. Manuscript, 1 p.
• Copy letter from Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC to Dr. Shiel, Ballyshannon, County Donegal, referring to his visit to state prisoners and his attitude towards William Smith O’Brien. 26 Aug. 1844. Typescript, 1 p.
• Copy letter from Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC to Rev. George Whitmore Carr, New Ross, County Wexford, 8 Dec. 1839. Reference is also made to Fr. Mathew’s visit to New Ross. The extract is from an obituary of Rev. George Whitmore Carr (1779-1849). Printed, 9 pp.
• William O’Connell, ‘Three documents relating to Father Mathew / A famous Irish Chancery action of 1839’, 'Journal of the Cork Historical & Archaeological Society', XLVI (1951), 5 pp. An offprint presented to Fr. Stanislaus Kavanagh OFM Cap.
• Poem by J.E. Murphy titled ‘Lines suggested by seeing the beloved Apostle of Temperance, returning from the Charity Sermon preached at the Cathedral, Cork, 17th April 1852’. Manuscript, 1 p.
• A note affirming that Fr. Mathew entered Maynooth Seminary ‘as a student from Cashel’ in 1807. Manuscript, 1 p.
• Extract from the annals of the South Presentation Convent in Cork re the celebration of the golden jubilee of Mother Clare O’Callaghan at which Fr. Mathew attended in January 1845. Manuscript, 1 p.
• Copy letter of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC to Richard Foley, 37 Francis Street, Kilrush, thanking him for his kind gift of £5. The letter reads: ‘It has graciously pleased the Almighty to smite me with general Paralysis, which fixed particularly in my right arm, consequently I write with difficulty and almost illegibly. My exertions in America, preaching temperance to the expatriated Irish, in that vast Republic, exhausted my strength’. 31 May 1854. Typescript, 1 p.
• Copy articles from 'The Constitution or Cork Advertiser' reporting on the death and funeral of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC. 9 Dec. 1856-13 Dec. 1856. Manuscript, 3 pp.