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Author: John Francis Maguire
Publisher: London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts & Green
Language: English
Edition: Second Edition
Physical condition: Bound in contemporary hard covers with gilt title to spine. The volume is in poor condition. The spine cover has completely disintegrated and front cover is partially detached from the text block. Foxing to opening pages. The page-edges are frayed and brittle. Very careful manual handling is required.

• Notes from the register of the Dublin Capuchin community re novitiate arrangements in the early nineteenth century. It reads ‘Fr. Celestine Corcoran, Provincial Minister, in a letter to the Fr. General on Sept. 2nd 1815 mentions that he had arranged with the “Patre Provinciale Baeticae” to send young men to be received in that province. Six young men were received in the Convent of Seville, Spain, on Sunday, November 19th 1815, and were professed there on November 24th 1816. … At the request of Fr. Mathew in accordance with a decree of the Sacred Congregation of Regular Discipline of Dec. 20, 1825, the Convent of Frascati was appointed as a novitiate for Irish novices. … Irish friars were received also in Convents in Italy, and in Fr. Mathew’s time (1850) four were received in Bruges, Frs. Tommins, Dillon, Mitchell, and O’Reilly, and in the following year (1851) five entered in Frascati, Frs. Muldoon, Rourke, Dunne, Knaresboro and Maher’. The file also includes notes relating to Fr. Mathew taken from the Capuchin General Archives in Rome. The notes refer to the appointment of Fr. Mathew as Provincial Minister of the Irish Capuchins from c.1813-52. ‘In a letter to the Fr. General dated Sept. 2nd 1815, he signs himself “Provincialis Hiberniae”’. Also includes a copy of the decree by which the Irish Capuchins were permitted to have a novitiate in their houses in Ireland dated 29 May 1808. It is noted that a copy of this decree is preserved in the Franciscan Library, Merchants’ Quay, Dublin. Typescript, 3 pp.
• Extracts from the account book of the Capuchin Friary in Cork relating to the building of Holy Trinity (Father Mathew Memorial) Church. The extracts were compiled by Br. Nessan Shaw OFM Cap. The notes refer to the difficulties in securing funding for the completion of the church. It reads ‘During the great excitement of the temperance movement Fr. Mathew was pressed from many parts of Ireland to allow the church to be finished by subscriptions of teetotallers but would not allow the matter to be accomplished’. The following statement of accounts is also given in the notes:
‘Mr. Anthony, contracting architect received £13,000
Sir Thomas Deane & Co. received £1,000
Since 1848 to various parties £2,500
Total: £16,500
Collection made in 1854: £500
Total: £17,000’
Manuscript, 3 pp.
• Copy letter of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC to David O’Meara, his secretary, affirming that he is attending to his sick brother in Kenmare, County Kerry. 30 Jan. 1848. Typescript, 1 p.
• Copy letter of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC to Larry Egan, Herbert Park, Gardiner’s Hill, Cork, regarding his life assurance which he has assigned to William Rathborne of Liverpool, merchant. 11 May 1849. Manuscript, 1 p.
• Copy letter from Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC to Symon Carew, 96 Lower Mount Street, Dublin, re his brother’s (Charles) illness and the payment of rent. He writes ‘The persons who at present hold the land are no tenants of mine, neither have I any control over them. The will continue to keep possession and pay no rent’. 5 Feb. 1848. Typescript, 1 p.
• Copy letters of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC from Maurice Denham Jephson, 'An Anglo-Irish Miscellany / Some Records of the Jephsons of Mallow' (Dublin: Allen & Figgis, 1964). The three copy letters are from Fr. Mathew to Lady Browne and Sir Denham Jephson-Norreys, (1799-1888), MP for Mallow, and date from 2 July 1844-5 Nov. 1844. Printed, 4 pp.
• Copy letter from Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC to Mrs Cronin re an Altar Stone consecrated by the late Pope Gregory XVI which he is happy to forward on to her. 24 July 1846. A note appended to the letter reads ‘The original [letter] is in the South Presentation Convent, Douglas Street, Cork / The original, from which I typed this copy, is in the hand of one of the secretaries of Fr. Mathew, David O’Meara’. Typescript, 1 p.
• Copy letter from Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC to the Rev. Guardian [possibly Fr. Vincent McLeod OSFC] re an accusation that Fr. Laurence O’Flynn OSFC (1807-1863) had ‘repeatedly hunted upon and destroyed game’ on the lands of Reginald Greene. Fr. Mathew writes ‘That a member of the Capuchin Order should subject himself to such a charge, and partake of such amusements, must fill a religious mind with horror. You will Rev. Father Guardian deliver the enclosed obedience to the Rev. Father O’Flynn, and take care that my mandate shall be strictly obeyed’. The letter is dated at Cork, 20 Sept. 1846. With a typed copy of the letter in Italian held in the Capuchin General Archives in Rome. Typescript, 2 pp.

Newspaper cuttings referring to Father Mathew Hall, Church Street. The cuttings are mainly from 'The Irish Catholic' and include references to the opening of 'Aonach na Bealtaine', temperance work, membership of the Hall, notices of annual meetings, details of excursions and lectures, and statements of accounts of the Hall Committee. One of the cuttings refers to the work of Fr. Albert Mitchell OSFC in founding the temperance sodality. It reads ‘in 1881 the association was installed in modest apartments in Halston Street … in 1891, the centenary year of Father Mathew, the new fine hall now standing on Church Street was opened during the presidency of Father Columbus Maher OSFC’. Includes two sketches of Fathers Mitchell and Maher. The report of the 23rd annual meeting of Father Mathew Hall contained a short excerpt of a speech by Pádraig Pearse in which he stated that the ‘Irish Ireland movement would be successful only so far and so long as it went hand in hand with temperance and its off-shoot of total abstinence’.

Lease by John Jameson & Sons, distillers, Bow Street, to Fr. Joseph Bernard Jennings OSFC, Fr. Patrick Columbus Maher OSFC and Fr. Joseph Harkins OSFC, Capuchin Convent, Church Street, of a plot and parcel of land situated on the west side of Church Street as delineated in green on an annexed sketch map, for 90 years at the yearly rent of £13 10s. The sketch plan of the demised premises is drawn at a scale of 20 feet to 1 inch. With a similar lease between the said parties relating to a plot of ground on the east side of Bow Street ‘and a piece of ground at the rear thereof extending along the north side of the premises in the possession of John Jameson & Sons’ as delineated in yellow on an annexed sketch map, for 43 years at the yearly rent of 1s. The lease reserves to the lessor and his workmen ‘full and free liberty in case of necessity to open, repair and inspect the sewer extending from the back of the corn kiln of Messrs John Jameson & Sons and …. a right of entry through the entrance gate in Bow Street to the Chapel Yard at all reasonable times’. The file also includes drafts and copies of the said lease agreements and a copy memorandum of equitable deposit from the Capuchin friars to John Jameson & Sons for £103 as security.

Assignment by Catherine Murphy, widow, John Murphy, labourer, Ellen Murphy and Mary Murphy to Fr. Daniel Patrick O’Reilly OSFC, Fr. Joseph Bernard Jennings OSFC and Fr. Patrick Joseph Columbus Maher OSFC, Church Street, of the residue of the lease of premises formerly known as ‘the Swan Inn’, later no. 142 Church Street, measuring twenty 25 feet 11 inches at front, 25 feet 7 inches at rear, and in depth from front to rear 170 feet 11 inches. In consideration of £100. The original lease, dated 26 Feb. 1835, was from Patrick Joseph Nolan to William Hynes for the term of 61 years at the yearly rent of £32. With two draft copies of costs by Terence O’Reilly, solicitor, 5 North Great Georges’ Street, and a note by Catherine Murphy agreeing to dispose of her interest in the aforementioned premises for the sum of £100 payable to her daughter Ellen. With a badly torn draft of said assignment.

Assignment from Fr. John Laurence O’Flynn OSFC to Fr. James Edward Tommins OSFC, Fr. Daniel Patrick O’Reilly OSFC, Capuchin Convent, Dublin, Fr. Patrick Joseph Columbus Maher OSFC, Capuchin Convent, Kilkenny, and Fr. Edmund Thomas Dillon OSFC, Capuchin Convent, Cork, of the leasehold interest in premises on Walkin Street in consideration of 5s. The lease recites an earlier lease (dated 31 Aug. 1855) from Frances and Grace Blair to Fr. James Lewis O’Reardon [var. Louis O’Riordan] and Fr. John Laurence O’Flynn of the ‘gateway and yard formerly held by Humphrey Semple and the house at present occupied by Thomas Aylward … and the plot of ground in the possession of the said Rev. John Laurence O’Flynn which said demised premises are situate in Walkin Street in the parish of Saint Mary, City of Kilkenny … forever at the yearly rent of £6’. The file also includes a conveyance (19 Aug. 1897) from Beledia Juliana Maher to Fr. Peter Bowe OSFC and others of the said gateway and premises on Walkin Street to hold in fee farm subject to the rents payable. It is noted that Beledia Juliana Maher was the principal heiress-at-law of the estate of the late Fr. Patrick Joseph Columbus Maher OSFC.

Notes by Fr. Nessan Shaw OFM Cap. on the life of Fr. Mathew and events connected with the temperance campaign. The file also includes some material relating to the general history of the Capuchins in Ireland. Includes:
• Note re the foundation of the Total Abstinence Association on Halston Street by Fr. Columbus Maher OSFC in c.1880. The note also refers to the foundation of The Father Mathew Record (1908), the Father Mathew Feis (1909), the opening of Father Mathew Park, Fairview, Dublin, by Fr. Aloysius Travers OSFC on 10 April 1910, and the establishment of the Young Irish Crusaders in 1909.
• Letter from the Public Record Office of Ireland to Fr. Nessan regarding a document (1840) in the Chief Secretary Office’s papers referring to an application from the Irish Temperance Union for the use of Smithfield Penitentiary. The letter reads ‘The application is based on the fact that the number of prisoners detained in the Richmond Bridewell was reduced from 313 in September 1839 to 191 in November 1840 “between these two periods the Temperance Reformation had greatly extended itself throughout the city”’. The letter is dated 15 Feb. 1955.
• Photostat copy from Fr. Thomas C. Butler OSA, The Augustinians in Cork, 1280-1985 (1986). The extracts refer to the presence of the Capuchin friars in Cork from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries.
• Photostat copy from Desmond Bowen, 'Paul Cardinal Cullen and the shaping of modern Irish Catholicism' (Dublin, 1983). The extracts refer to the relationship between Cardinal Cullen and the temperance campaigner.
• Notes by Fr. Nessan re places visited by Fr. Mathew in support of his temperance campaign in 1842.
• Letter from Michael O’Connell to Fr. Nessan re the preaching of Fr. Mathew at the dedication of Blackrock parish church in Dublin in Sept. 1845. The letter is dated 25 Jan. 1992.
• Note titled ‘The façade and spire of Holy Trinity Church, Cork’. The note provides a general history of the completion of work on the church for the centenary of Fr. Mathew’s birth and also refers to the blessing of the new bell in the church on 26 Apr. 1896. The note reads ‘Having “baptized” the Bell, the Bishop [of Cork] rounded it, being followed by the sponsors Mr Humphrey Donovan (the donor) and Miss H. Donovan, his sister’.
• Note by Fr. Nessan titled ‘O’Connell and Repeal, 1840-47’.
• Cutting from 'The Standard', Dec. 1949, surveying various Catholic churches in Dublin. The article includes photographic prints of St. Michan’s Church, Halston Street. The article also refers to nearby Newgate Prison on Green Street. It reads ‘In 1863 the prison was substantially demolished and converted into fruit market which gave way, in 1893, to St. Michan’s Park, where the statue of Erin stands, with the plaques of Lord Edward Fitzgerald and the Sheares brothers on the pedestal’. The article also refers to the Capuchin chapel on Church Street. It reads ‘In 1720, they [the Capuchins] moved to Church Street, where their chapel in 1749 “had an Altar-piece showing the Crucifixion; though formerly it was a painting of Our Saviour taken down from the Cross, which piece is much esteemed by connoisseurs”. The Capuchin Church, in Church Street, of 1720, was taken down in 1868, and the present church was erected on its site and completed in 1881’.

Bound volume containing numerous newspaper clippings mainly re various anniversaries and commemorations connected with Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC. Many of the clippings also refer to the temperance campaign conducted by the Capuchin friars in the first decade of the twentieth century. The file includes:
• ‘The Father Mathew Memorial Hall / Address by His Grace the Archbishop / Temperance Reform and the New Parliament’, 'Freeman’s Journal', 5 Feb. 1906.
• Printed letter of the Most Rev. Patrick O’Donnell, Bishop of Raphoe, regarding the need for total abstinence. 20 Dec. 1905.
• ‘Temperance / Capuchin Fathers / Archbishop Walsh speaks of their services / Gaelic League’s work’. [Oct. 1905].
• ‘The Temperance Cause / Important Statements by the Bishop of Waterford / His Lordship’s condemnation of Clubs’, 'Cork Examiner', 5 Mar. 1902.
• ‘Total Abstinence Re-Union’, 'The Anglo-Celt', 23 July 1894.
• ‘Lecture by Fr. Nicholas Murphy OSFC in Father Mathew Hall, Dublin’, 12 Apr. 1904.
• ‘The Father Mathew Centenary / Laying the corner-stone of the Memorial Church, Charlotte Quay’, 'Cork Examiner', 7 May 1890.
• ‘The Temperance Question / The Industrial Movement’, 22 Mar. 1904.
• ‘The Father Mathew Centenary / The Celebration in Cork / Mr. John Redmond MP preaches a crusade’, 14 Oct. 1889. Refers to a meeting of the Father Mathew Branch of the League of the Cross held in Halston Street, Dublin, and planning for the centennial celebrations of the birth of Fr. Mathew in 1890.
• ‘The Archbishop of Dublin at Lucan / Blessing of a new cemetery / the temperance movement / Father Mathew’s statue, 'Freeman’s Journal', 12 May 1890. [at p. 26].
• ‘Temperance in Ireland and the Very Rev. P.J. Columbus Maher OSFC’. The file also includes a sketch of the grave-side of Fr. Columbus in Glasnevin Cemetery.
• ‘Diocese of Armidale / Dean Albert Mitchell’s OSFC Installation’.
• ‘The Total Abstinence Movement / St. Finbarr’s West Temperance Club / The Mathew Anniversary’, 'Cork Examiner', 14 Oct. 1902.
• ‘Temperance Cause / Father Mathew Anniversary / Address by Bishop of Achonry’, 'Freeman’s Journal', 10 Oct. 1916.