An image of the first group of students at the Seraphic School in Rochestown, County Cork, in 1886. The individuals in the image include Fr. Matthew O'Connor OFM Cap., Guardian, Br. Leonard Brophy OFM Cap., Benedict MacDonald, and John Hayden (later Fr. Augustine Hayden OFM Cap.). Most of the individuals in the photograph (including Br. Canice Rice, Br. Jarlath Hynes, Br. Bonaventure Halvey and Br. Finbarr Sullivan) would go on to become solemnly-professed Capuchin friars.
A short account detailing the early days of the Irish Capuchin mission in Oregon.
The Mission’s Origins: Reference is made to Fr. Thomas Dowling OFM Cap. returning to Ireland to report his and Father Luke’s investigations into this ‘neglected portion of the Lord’s Vineyard’.
Official Acceptance (1910): The text records that at a Provincial Chapter held at St. Mary of the Angels in Dublin in 1910, the work in Oregon was officially accepted by the Irish Capuchins.
The First Three Missionaries: Three priests (all from Kilkenny) were chosen to join Father Luke in Bend:
Father Leonard (Brophy)
Father Benignus (Brennan)
Father Casimir (Butler)
Letter from Fr. Luke Sheehan OFM Cap., Bend, Oregon, to Fr. Thomas Dowling OFM Cap., Provincial Minister, acknowledging a ‘very welcome St. Patrick’s gift’ (money) and mentions that another £100 would help ‘straighten us out fairly well for the time being’. He mentions a ‘St. Patrick’s ball’ organized by the local ladies’ altar society, which is expected to raise at least $50. Father Luke discusses the Archbishop’s interest in a ‘city parish’ and the ‘Harrisburg question’.
Newspaper cuttings book compiled and annotated by Fr. Stanislaus Kavanagh OFM Cap. Printed stamp on inside front cover reads: ‘Franciscan Capuchin Library, Church Street, Dublin’. The volume includes:
A public meeting in Father Mathew Hall of the Dublin Vigilance Committee in furtherance of the movement for the suppression of evil literature ('Freeman’s Journal', 2 May 1910).
Letters to the 'Freeman’s Journal' re the influence of elements of the Gaelic League on the Father Mathew Feis in Dublin. Includes a letter from Eoin MacNeill (14 Mar. 1912).
Report of the annual retreat of Father Mathew Hall Total Abstinence League of the Cross (c.1914).
‘The Church in America’, an illustrated lecture in Father Mathew Hall by Fr. Leonard Brophy OSFC ('Evening Telegraph', 10 Jan. 1914).
Father Mathew Feis. Statement by Fr. Alphonsus at prize distribution ('Evening Telegraph', 3 July 1919).
Father Mathew Feis Concert ('Irish Independent', 30 Apr. 1919).
Photographic print of the Graignamanagh Temperance Band, County Kilkenny, winners of the first prize at the annual Father Mathew Feis in Dublin in 1913 and in 1914. (See digital image above).
The opening of the Father Mathew Feis in Dublin with a report of the speech given by Fr. Canice Bourke OFM Cap., Vice-President of the Feis (5 April 1920).
Results at the Father Mathew Feis in Dublin, 1920.
A studio photograph of Fr. Leonard Brophy OFM Cap.
Letter from Fr. Luke Sheehan OFM Cap., Baker City, Oregon, to Fr. Thomas Dowling OFM Cap., Provincial Minister, referring to the number of prayer intentions the mission has received and the physical expansion of the church in the Umatilla region. Father Luke reports that they are opening the church in Hermiston this coming Sunday ‘with a flourish of trumpets’.
Letter from Fr. Luke Sheehan OFM Cap., Bend, Oregon, urging the Provincial Minister to tell Father Benignus that he is doing ‘great work’ and is ‘the man in the gap’. He believes this validation would help Bernard ‘cheer up’, feel appreciated, and ‘forget to complain’. Reference is also made to Father Leonard Brophy’s well-being.
A clipping of a review article on ‘The Capuchin Annual’ (1936) published in ‘The Catholic Bulletin’ periodical. Reference is made in the article to various Capuchin friars including Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. (‘whose body lies in a leaden casket in a graveyard away in South-Western California’), and to Fr. Dominic O’Connor OFM Cap. who ‘lies amid the snows of the North West’.
Newspaper clipping of a photograph of a group of Capuchin friars with Fr. Venancio de L'Isle-en-Rigault OSFC, Minister General, in the garden of Holy Trinity Friary in Cork. The printed title reads '"Cork Weekly Examiner" and "Weekly Herald Supplement", July 1st 1916 / The Capuchin Fathers, Cork, with the Superior-General of the Order / Standing: Brother Aidan, Brother Angelus, Rev. Father Angelus, Rev. Father Joseph, Rev. Dr. Edwin, Rev. Father Bernardine, Rev. Father Clement, Brother Egedius, Rev. Father Leonard, Rev. Father Finbarr; Sitting: Very Rev. Father Matthew, Guardian, Cork, Very Rev. Father Aloysius, Provincial; Most Rev. Father Venantius, Minister General, Minister General; Very Rev. Father Bernardine, English Provincial Minister, Father Fredigand, secretary to Superior General’.
Photographer/Studio: 'Cork Examiner'.