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.
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.
Draft recollections of deceased Irish Capuchin friars compiled by an unknown author (but certainly by another friar). The texts are titled ‘Some who have gone before’ and ‘Predecessors / A Capuchin Reverie’. The text includes personal recollections of:
Fr. Leonard Brophy OFM Cap. (1869-1930)
Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. (1877-1925)
Fr. Matthew O’Connor OFM Cap. (d. 27 Apr. 1930)
Br. Felix Harte OFM Cap. (d. 11 Jan. 1935)
Fr. Fidelis Neary OFM Cap. (d. 22 June 1932)
Fr. Sebastian O’Brien OFM Cap. (1867-1931)
Fr. Paul Neary OFM Cap. (d. 20 June 1939)
The text also refers to several friars who have been given pseudonyms such as ‘Philemon’, ‘Junius’, and ‘Marcion’. The text includes references to Fr. Albert’s role in the 1916 Rising and in the later revolutionary period. It reads: ‘He felt, as few did, the piercing griefs of the young widows of Easter Week. Often would he visit them of an evening. … He made friends with the wistful little son and daughter who were orphaned by the bullets that took [Thomas] MacDonagh’s life away, and who were made motherless by the cruel waves that closed over the drowning body of the patriot’s bride [Muriel MacDonagh drowned in the sea off Skerries, County Dublin, on 9 July 1917]. For them he had a special corner in his affections. All his heart went out to that wee pair, so tragic, so utterly lonely’. The file also includes an attached clipping referring to the re-interment of the bodies of Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. and Fr. Dominic O’Connor OFM Cap. in Rochestown Capuchin Cemetery on 14 June 1958
A studio photograph of Fr. Leonard Brophy OFM Cap.
Requisitions on title on behalf of the trustees of the Cork Assembly Rooms relating to rents payable under the lease of certain premises on Queen Street dated 1 Jan. 1846 (see CA HT/2/1/1/9). The requisitions also ask for negative searches in the Registry of Deeds against Fr. Thomas Matthew O’Connor OSFC, Fr. Michael Leonard Brophy OSFC and Fr. Michael Fidelis Neary OSFC. Prepared by Gregg, Jermyn & Sons, solicitors, Cork.
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’.