Letter from Fr. Albert Bibby, St. Benedict’s Rectory, 320 West End Street, New York, to Fr. Bonaventure Murphy OFM Cap., re his arrival in New York and to his meeting with Fr. Solanus Casey OFM Cap. He describes Casey as ‘a New Yorker, a great worker in the cause and a grand Friar of genial but somewhat ascetic type. He speaks at meetings, writes in [the] Press, and is the friend and trusted confidant of the right people’. Fr. Albert also refers to divisions in the Irish community in New York and notes that ‘our friends are split up into pieces – too bad. I’m speaking with a grand type of man who with tears in his eyes spoke of Liam M[ellows] … English gold and English diplomacy is at work in sowing the seeds of discord here’. He concludes that ‘the more I see here the greater my appreciation of Ireland’.
A note from Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. to Fr. Bonaventure Murphy OFM Cap. referring to his preparations for his departure for the Santa Inés mission in California. Bibby remarks that he arrived in New York City 'almost a wreck' but leaves it in 'pretty good form'.
Letter from Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap., St. Francis Hospital, Santa Barbara, to Fr. Bonaventure Murphy OFM Cap., referring to his weakening condition and suggesting that the end is near. He writes ‘I know my dear mother and sisters will feel my death – won’t you write and console them’. He asks to be remembered in a lengthy list of family members and friends. Bibby writes 'Remember me to all the brethren – for no one have I the smallest particle of bitterness, though alas I have often said bitter things for which I in heartily sorrow'.
Letter from Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. to Fr. Martin Hyland OFM Cap. referring to the decay of the old mission buildings and gardens at Santa Inés in California. He also notes that ‘we have a huge parish with a total of 80 Catholic families of almost every nationality under the sun ...’.
Letter from Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. to Fr. Peter Bowe OFM Cap., Provincial Minister, referring to his weakened condition and his closeness to death. He asks for 'forgiveness and pardon for all my faults, and for all the disedifications I have given, as well for all the violations of [the] Rule, Constitutions and Regulations of which I have been guilty'. Bibby asserts that he wishes 'to die a loyal member of the Irish Province'. He encloses a newspaper cutting from the 'Santa Barbara Daily News' (21 Jan. 1925) containing an article with (photographic prints) of Mission Santa Inés and ‘Padre Albert’. With a cover and copies.
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. …’.
A letter from Fr. C. O’Neill, St. Peter’s Presbytery, Milford Street, to Fr. Canice Bourke OFM Cap., a Capuchin friar, referring to the effects of bombing raids during the Belfast Blitz in April 1941. He writes ‘A great disaster has befallen this city and I have lost a few very saintly tertiaries. Many people have left, for the houses are not habitable; others have fled in fear. But no-one on the Falls Road area was injured. The Catholic Church in the city was damaged save for a few panes of glass. The disaster will affect our Triduum somewhat, but I think it is better to have it, all the same. It would never do to give up on prayer and the people are saying the Rosary in the streets every night in this parish. The horror of an air-raid is inconceivable until one has seen it’.
Letter from Fr. Laurence Dowling OFM Cap., Father Mathew Hall, Church Street, Dublin, to Br. Senan Moynihan OFM Cap. thanking him for his offer of Irish language material for ‘The Father Mathew Record’. Fr. Laurence wrote ‘You can write on any subject you like, and we shall rely entirely on your own good judgement. If you think some simple lessons in the Irish language would be popular, you may of course do them’.
Letter to Br. Senan Moynihan OFM Cap. from Fr. Laurence Dowling OFM Cap., Parochial House in Windgap, Callan, County Kilkenny, re an article about postage stamps in aid of the foreign missions. Reference is also made to contributions to ‘The Father Mathew Record’ seemingly by Frank Ryan.
Letter from Fr. Laurence Dowling OFM Cap., Father Mathew Hall, Church Street, Dublin, to Br. Senan Moynihan OFM Cap. re advertising and the publication of photographs in ‘The Father Mathew Record’.
