Clipping of a photograph of Fr. David Kelleher OFM Cap., Ard Mhuire Friary, with members of the St. Michael’s Centre of the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association, Creeslough, County Donegal.
Note by Fr. Stanislaus Kavanagh OFM Cap. re the existence of an apartment in the Ards House called ‘the Friar’s Room’. It reads: 'The morning after the building and property were taken over from the Land Commission Holy Mass was celebrated in the portion of the building assigned an oratory. In the course of the day one of the fathers remarked to the steward “I expect this is the first time Mass was said here”. The steward was doubtful and mentioned a tradition prevalent … [that] one of the apartments is called “The Friar’s Room”. The explanation given is that about 100 or 150 years ago a friar was accustomed to visit the family and inhabited that room. The steward presumed that when he came, he said Mass in the building'.
A draft schema for the compilation of the Ard Mhuire Friary archives. The schema was devised by Fr. Angelus Healy OFM Cap. and refers to some of the foundational documents which should be obtained and secured for safe keeping. Reference is made to documents from the Land Commission, correspondence with the Bishop of Raphoe and letters from the Capuchin General Minister re the establishment of a novitiate at Ard Mhuire.
A letter from Dermot MacIntyre to Fr. David Kelleher OFM Cap. referring to the history of the former Stewart-Bam residence in Ards. An extract from the letter reads: 'In regard to Ards and Ards House, I have just found an old notebook of my father’s. He used to jot down bits and pieces on anything to hand and in this old notebook he has an entry dated, Friday, December 30, 1910. He writes: "Was at a dance in Ards House last night given by Sir Pieter Bam. Charlie Coll and I played for them. Bam came in about 9 o’clock. I did not like it all but would rather be in the poorest thatch house in Doe, with the Gaelic sounding round me, than in the midst of it all. Bam does his best to unbend, but it is plainly an effort and he seems to know himself that it won’t be successful. His wife is outrageously proud. She sat all the time like an incarnate goddess and noticed no one. Such pride is a sin against Heaven. You would think the ordinary people were less than dogs to her. Her sister is not one whit better"'. Further extracts from his father’s journal refer to the landlord’s relationships with the workers and tenants on the Ards estate, to the histories of various local churches, to a Feis at Doe Castle in 1910, and to the building of the Lough Swilly railway in Donegal.
Letter from Colette Gallagher to Fr. Eustace McSweeney OFM Cap., guardian, Ard Mhuire Friary, conveying a local tradition re the existence of a ‘half-way house between Ards Friary and Rossnowlagh’.
Copy report by Fr. James O’Mahony OFM Cap., Provincial Definitor, on the canonical visitation of the Irish Capuchin missions in the Cape Province, South Africa, and in Barotseland, Northern Rhodesia. The report is divided into the following sections for both respective mission territories: I. Personnel: ‘which gives a brief account of the Fathers on the mission’. II. Material Development: ‘which is intended to mark the external development of districts under our charge’. III. Financial Account: ‘which will indicate the expenses incurred and sources of income’. IV. Spiritual Development: ‘which will show spiritual growth of districts’. V. Regular Observance: ‘which will point out the means I have taken to ensure the religious and Franciscan spirit of our missionaries’. VI. Suggested Ordinances: ‘which will include ordinances which need to be made or emphasised by the Provincial Minister and General Definition’. A brief history of both the missions in the Cape Province, South Africa, and in Livingstone and Barotseland, Northern Rhodesia, is given in the report.
A report on Irish Capuchin missions in the Cape Province at Parow, Matroosfontein, Athlone, and Langa. Reference is made to the building and staffing of churches, friaries, schools, and halls at these locations.
Return of mission personnel in Northern Rhodesia (St. Therese) Livingstone; Sancta Maria (Lukulu, Mongu); St. Fidelis (Sichili); St. Joseph (Mankoya) and in Cape Town, Church of the Immaculate Conception (Parow parish); St. Mary of the Angels (Athlone parish).
