Copy letter from Fr. Aloysius Travers OFM Cap. to the editor of the 'Irish Catholic' protesting against the ‘obvious and unkind suggestion’ made in relation to Thomas MacDonagh in a recent edition of the paper. Fr Aloysius declared: ‘I feel bound to emphatically assert that his preparation for his last moment manifested a depth of Catholic Faith and a tenderness of piety most edifying and impressive and that he received the rites of his Church with a devotion which not easily be forgotten by The Priest who assisted him’
Letter from Brian O’Higgins, Detention Barracks, Stafford, c/o Chief Postal Censor, to Fr. Aloysius Travers OFM Cap., regarding the conditions of his detention. He writes: ‘We are all in good health and in the best of spirits; we are treated very kindly and have little to complain of. We have the Rosary in public – the whole lot of us together …’. He also asks Fr. Aloysius ‘to call at 117 Capel St. and see if Mrs Doyle and her children are being looked after? Her husband asked me to give this favour of you …’.
Letter from Patrick J. MacNally, Commandant, Collins’ Barracks, Cork, to Fr. Aloysius Travers OFM Cap. enclosing a typescript copy of his unfinished account of the Easter Week Rising. Comdt. MacNally also encloses a rough sketch of the Church Street area upon which he asks Fr. Aloysius to ‘mark roughly the positions of any barricades you saw … [and] houses that were occupied’. He also attaches ‘a sketch of the Bride Street area … to enable you to fix the corner where you stood at the surrender of Eamonn Ceannt’.
Letter from ‘Jimmy B’, prisoner no. “Q 161”, to Fr. Aloysius Travers OFM Cap. expressing his gratitude to Fr. Aloysius for his ‘two cards [and] also the Xmas card which were as rays of sunshine from Church St. to me in my exile’. He also adds ‘Eoin McNeill desired me to thank you for his Christmas message which he received alright and Gerard Crofts sends his best respects to you’.
Two admission tickets to the first meeting of Dáil Éireann which took place in the Round Room of the Mansion House on 21 January 1919. In Irish: ‘Permit or ticket allowing bearer (unnamed) to attend the first assembly of Dáil Eireann on Tuesday 21 January 1919’. The tickets are signed by George Noble Plunkett.
Postcard to Fr. Aloysius Travers OFM Cap., Church Street, from ‘E. Ní F’ (Eibhlín Ní Fhoghludha) declaring that a ‘very small room for your friend’ is ready in August. The author also affirms that ‘we have had a very quiet time in Rinn but you know we are very much behind the times’. The photographic print of the postcard shows refurbishment work on Liberty Hall after its destruction in the 1916 Rising. The banner across the façade of the hall reads: ‘James Connolly murdered May 12th 1916’.
Newspaper cuttings book compiled and annotated by Fr. Stanislaus Kavanagh OFM Cap. Printed stamp on inside front cover: ‘Franciscan Capuchin Library, Church Street, Dublin’. The pages have been numbered by Fr. Stanislaus. The cuttings includes (at pp 94-5) clippings of photographic prints of relating to the imprisonment of republican prisoners in Mountjoy Jail. One of the prints shows Fr. Augustine reciting the Rosary outside the Jail. 'Irish Independent', 15 Apr. 1920. Another print shows Fr. Augustine announcing the release of republican prisoners. 'Cork Examiner', 17 Apr. 1920.
A letter from Fr. Augustine Hayden OFM Cap. to Elizabeth O’Farrell recounting the events of the Easter Rising. The letter is dated 7 February 1953 and reads: ‘… I was very pleased to read your very accurate account of when and where you met Father Columbus [Murphy] at that time when I happened to be Guardian (superior) of our Friary at Church Street. It will interest you to learn that actually I did not hear of the surrender at the GPO, nor at the Four Courts until the following (Sunday) morning at 6.55 when Fr. Columbus returned to the Friary and told me when I was waiting to say the 7 o’clock Mass. For some reason or other the military concealed both surrenders from me though I had been speaking to them twice that afternoon and evening. I actually spoke to our grand boys from the street where North King Street crosses Church Street above the Father Mathew Hall where I had been all that afternoon. I actually got a truce until the following morning [between] the boys and the military each promising not to fire if the other did not fire. …’.
Photocopies of letters from Capt. Rev. Dominic O’Connor OFM Cap., 21 Stationary Hospital, Salonika Forces, M[acedonian] E[xpeditionary] F[orce], and the Capuchin Friary, Fr. Mathew Quay, Cork, to his sister, [Sister Constantine O’Connor?], explaining his reasons for becoming an army chaplain. He wrote: ‘Well someone had to do the work and when those who had done all the recruiting were too cowardly to go there was nothing left except to have us who were anti-recruiters go and help the souls of the soldiers the others had sent out’. He later referred to conditions for the troops he is ministering to: ‘We have had more than half the troops down with malaria, dysentery, sandfly fever etc. and it is fortunate that there was no fighting here’. [c. 1915]. In reference to the political situation he later wrote: ‘There is no use in saying anything about the political situation. England seems set upon forcing conscription on us. And the Irish Nation is equally or rather more determined to oppose it. God protect us!’.
Letter from Seán Tomás Ó Ceallaigh (Sean T. O’Kelly) to Terence MacSwiney referring to the occasion of the beatification of Blessed Oliver Plunkett. A delegation consisting of Count O’Byrne, Professor Stockley and Art O’Brien went to Rome on behalf of the Dáil to represent the Government of the Republic at the beatification ceremonies. Sean T. O’Kelly and Mr. D. Hales, Consul in Italy, were also part of the delegation. In Irish
