An autograph book signed by Anti-Treaty IRA prisoners detained in Limerick Jail in early 1923. The text includes patriotic and republican poems and statements composed by the detainees. The volume was compiled by James O’Mahony (Séamus Ó Mathúna) from Mitchelstown in County Cork. O’Mahony joined the Irish Volunteers in September 1917 and was active in the anti-conscription campaign. As an engineering student in University College Cork, he continued his republican activities and by July 1921 held the rank of adjutant of the 6th Battalion of the Cork No. 2 Brigade of the IRA. He participated in several engagements with British forces in Cork during the War of Independence and was appointed the brigade’s principal training officer. He took the Anti-Treaty side during the Civil War and was a member of the republican forces which fought in a large-scale engagement in Kilmallock in County Limerick in August 1922. He was captured by the National Army in December 1922 and was initially confined in Mitchelstown. In early January 1923, he was moved to Limerick Jail and was held there until he escaped on 31 March.
Correspondence file relating to Christopher J. Brady who along with Michael J. Molloy and Liam Ó Briain, compositors, were responsible for printing the 1916 Proclamation. The Proclamation was composed in Liberty Hall, the headquarters of the Irish Transport and General Workers Union. Liberty Hall was also the location of the printing press, an antiquated Wharfdale Double Crown, used to print Connolly’s ‘The Worker’s Republic’ newspaper. Brady used this press to print the Proclamation on Sunday, 23 April 1916. The file includes a photographic print of Christopher J. Brady and letters mainly regarding requests that he authenticate original copies of the Proclamation. One of the letters (17 June 1934) is from Nellie Gifford-Donnelly to Brady requesting that he and Michael J. Molloy and Liam Ó Briain visit Dr. Kathleen Lynn to authenticate and sign a copy of the 1916 Proclamation in her possession. Both Gifford-Donnelly and Kathleen Lynn were committed nationalists and feminists who had participated in the Rising. Gifford-Donnelly was later instrumental in securing historical documents and objects associated with the Easter Rising. The Proclamation signed by Brady is now on display in the National Museum of Ireland.
Original newspaper clippings relating to the Civil War assembled by the editors of 'The Capuchin Annual'. The file comprises clippings from the 'Cork Examiner' and the 'Evening Echo' and contains reports on hostilities between Free State forces and republicans mainly in Munster. The file includes: • ‘Heavy Firing in Limerick City / Encounter in Clare / Commandant Breen’s Declaration’, 'Cork Examiner', 13 July 1922. • 'Cork Examiner', 15 July 1922. • 'Cork Examiner', 30-31 July 1922. • ‘Cork and Peace / Harry Boland Shot / Cork Coachmakers’ Strike’, 'Evening Echo', 2 Aug. 1922. • ‘Manufacturing Atrocities / Protest by Free State Soldiers’. 'Cork Examiner', 4 Aug. 1922.
The file includes: • Reports of the seventh centenary celebrations of the Franciscan Order at St. Mary of the Angels, Church Street ('Irish Catholic', 5 Jan. 1927; 'Irish Independent', 31 Jan. 1927). Includes photographic prints of Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap., Fr. Aloysius Travers OFM Cap. and Fr. Angelus Healy OFM Cap. An image of the High Altar in the Church decorated with a banner (‘Saint Francis / Pray for Us’) is also included. • Report of a talk on ‘Industrial Conciliation Boards’ by Fr. Thomas Dowling OSFC in the Rotary Club, Dublin. 'Evening Herald', 6 Nov. 1922. • An article on the Irish Tertiary Pilgrimage to Rome led by Fr. Aloysius Travers OFM Cap., Fr. Columbus Murphy OFM Cap. and Fr. Canice Bourke OFM Cap. of the Church Street Friary. 'Irish Independent', 12 Oct. 1926. • ‘The Franciscan Year / Solemn Opening / Ceremonies at St. Mary of the Angels, Dublin / Eloquent Sermon by the Most Rev. Sylvester Mulligan OSFC, Definitor General, Rome’. 'Irish Catholic', 7 Aug. 1926. • ‘The Capuchins / A Great Franciscan Reform / Foundation of the Irish Province’. c.1925. • ‘Honouring the memory of the men of Easter Week’. A clipping of a print showing a procession organised by Cumann 1916 which left St. Mary of the Angels, Church Street, for Glasnevin Cemetery. 'Freeman’s Journal', 25 Apr. 1922.
The file includes: • Photographic print of the shrine of St. Thérèse at St. Mary of the Angels, Church Street. 'Irish Independent', 1 Oct. 1947. • Report on a meeting of the Council of St. Joseph’s Boy’s Brigade, Church Street, Dublin. 'Irish Catholic', 28 Oct. 1943. • Clipping of a print of the Christmas Crib at St. Mary of the Angels. 'Irish Independent', 30 Dec. 1940. • Clipping of a print of Fr. Bernardine Harvey OFM Cap. at the Church Street Friary on the occasion of his golden jubilee of his entering the Order (1944). Fr. Brendan O'Callaghan OFM Cap., Fr. Angelus Healy OFM Cap. and Fr. Benedict Phelan OFM Cap. are also present in the image.
The file includes: • ‘Evening Mail Centenary Supplement’, 12 Oct. 1961. A photographic supplement commentary the centenary of the first edition of the newspaper. The edition contains references to the Father Mathew Statue on Sackville Street (later O’Connell Street). • ‘Canal boom helped the Friars’ by D.F. Moore. The article comprises a brief history of the Church Street locality and refers to the historic residences of the Capuchin friars on the street ('Evening Press', 18 Jan. 1962). The article includes a copy of the photographic print of the old Capuchin Chapel on Church Street at CA CS/7/1.
A set of four photographic postcard prints of the exterior (and friary garden) and interior (High Altar and Sanctuary) of St. Mary of the Angels, Church Street. The annotated titles are printed: ‘Sanctuary, St. Mary of the Angels, Church Street, Dublin’.
Photographic prints of two close-up views of the High Altar and pulpit of St. Mary of the Angels, Church Street. A manuscript annotation on the reverse reads ‘The Father Mathew Record’
A flier titled 'A plea for the Catholic Boy’s Brigade by E.D. Daly'. The flier refers to the good works performed by Boys’ Brigade members in the Church Street area and seeks subscriptions to aid the organisation. It reads: ‘At present Church Street is not quite up to the mark of its energetic past. The sites of several of its rookeries of wickedness are now covered by Police Courts, and by buildings in which Capuchins carry on their work. …. How long this breeding ground of sin and crime existed in the past must be left to imagination. What is certain is that this worst spot of the worst city in Ireland was selected by the Capuchin Order as a place in which to live, beside the poor, and to help them against temptations to crime and intemperance. To anyone who can feel for the poor, and understand evils around them which they do not realise themselves, the way to Church Street from Sackville Street is still like a descent into Hades, if traversed about 8 p.m. at this time of year’. The file contains three copies of the document.
Annotated photographic prints (black and white, half-length portrait) of William Coffey, ‘treasurer in the active workers’ and Peter Tierney, ‘the first organiser along with Fr. Benvenutus Guy OSFC’.
