A volume titled ‘Blocks / Father Mathew Record / The Capuchin Annual / subjects: Capuchins / Saints / Beati / Friars / Friaries / Houses / Colleges’. The volume contains printed copies of block pulls for photographs and illustrations published in 'The Capuchin Annual'. The volume includes the following copy prints: • Fr. Casimir Butler OFM Cap., Fr. Declan McFadden OFM Cap. and Fr. Alban Cullen OFM Cap. • The garden of the Capuchin Friary, Church Street, Dublin. • Certificate of reception of Cardinal Joseph McRory, Archbishop of Armagh, into the Third Order of St. Francis. 11 Mar. 1928. • The Capuchin Friary, Rochestown, County Cork. • Irish Capuchin houses in France in the eighteenth century. • Engraving of Father Mathew Hall, Church Street, Dublin. • Students in Rochestown College, County Cork. • Drawings by Fr. Gerald McCann OFM Cap. • General Chapter of the Capuchin Order in Rome, 1926. • Cardinal Guglielmo Massaia OSFC (1809-1889). • A group of Irish Capuchin students in Rome. • Cartoons by Tom Lalor. • The exterior of the old Capuchin Chapel on Church Street (c.1861). • The Most Rev. Thomas-Louis Connolly OSFC (1814-1876), Archbishop of Halifax. • Views of Dublin life, a collection of drawings by Seán MacManus. • Fr. Sebastian O’Brien OFM Cap. (1867-1931). • A view of Church Street looking northwards towards North King Street. • Mary Redmond (1863-1930), sculptor. • Fr. Augustine Hayden OFM Cap. (1870-1954). • Fr. Dominic O’Connor OFM Cap. (1883-1935) in the United States. • Fr. Stanislaus Kavanagh OFM Cap. (1876-1965). • Depictions of St. Francis and various Capuchin Franciscan Saints. • Capuchin Franciscan bishops.
The Catholic Boys’ Brigade was founded by Fr. Benvenutus Guy OSFC (1860-1927), a Capuchin friar, in March 1894. Mainly composed of impoverished children from the Church Street area, the organisation was initially called St. Joseph’s Boys’ Brigade. The stated objects of the Brigade were ‘to crush vice and evil habits among boys, to instruct them thoroughly in the Christian doctrine … to give them habits of obedience, discipline, and self-respect and love for ecclesiastical authority and holy religion and to promote their moral, physical and temporal well-being’. The idea of forming a Brigade for the Catholic boys of Dublin sprung from the success achieved by the Protestant Boys’ Brigade. The first meeting hall of the Brigade was in a house in Smithfield which was rented at 5s per week. This meeting was held on 24 April 1894 with nine boys in attendance. The organisation grew rapidly. The Brigade Hall was soon relocated to a property (formerly a smelting foundry) at 156 Church Street which was purchased for the sum of £300. The organizing committee also succeeded in obtaining the use of an old vegetable market at the rear of the Hall which was used as a drill yard in 1895. The newly furnished hall and gallery could hold 1,500 attendees. A uniform was supplied to each enrolled boy consisting of a sash, a cap and a badge. An important aspect of the Brigade’s activities was physical exercise and participants routinely trained in ‘physical drilling, figure marching, squad and company drills’. A band was also established under the supervision of Fr. Sebastian O’Brien OSFC (1867-1931). A night-school for instructing illiterate young boys was founded in October 1899 and soon attracted thirty-five students. Religious instruction was supplied by the Capuchin friars. This was initially performed by Fr. Benvenutus Guy OSFC and later by Fr. Paul Neary OSFC (1857-1939). In 1904 the Church Street Capuchins transferred trusteeship of the properties owned by the Catholic Boys’ Brigade to lay stewardship.
A glass stereo plate of what appears to be deceased Capuchin friar in a coffin. This is probably an image of a deceased Fr. Sebastian O’Brien OFM Cap. (1867-1931). A duplicate of this plate is extant at CA-PH-1-36-C.
A stereo plate showing an unidentified deceased Capuchin friar. The scene also shows a nurse and another individual. This is probably an image of a deceased Fr. Sebastian O’Brien OFM Cap. (1867-1931).
General house receipts for 1926 to 1934. Includes bills of costs and receipts associated with the funeral expenses of Fr. Peter Bowe OSFC, former Provincial Minister (d. 24 Nov. 1926), and Fr. Sebastian O’Brien OSFC (1867-1931).
List of members of the Capuchin community, Church Street. Sixteen priests and four lay brothers are noted. The list includes Fr. Peter Bowe OSFC, Provincial Minister, Fr. Paul Neary OSFC, Fr. Augustine Hayden OSFC, Fr. Sebastian O’Brien OSFC, Fr. Aloysius Travers OSFC, Vicar, and. Fr. Angelus Healy OSFC. The debt of the community is stated to be £746 1s 11d. It was noted that this figure represents a decrease on the figure of £1,314 6s 7d referred to in the Provincial Chapter of 1907. The property is listed as ‘church, monastery, garden (about 1 acre)’ with an annual rent of £166 9s 0d. Four lots are held freehold and nine lots under lease. Figures are also supplied in the respect of male and female members of the sodalities attached to St. Mary of the Angels including the Third Order of St. Francis, and the Sacred Thirst and the Scared Heart fraternities.
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
The file comprises: 9 Aug. 1922 (no. 1); 12 Aug. 1922 (no. 3); 15 Aug. 1922 (no. 5). 2 copies; 22 Aug. 1922 (no. 7). 2 copies; 1 Sept. 1922 (no. 10). 2 copies; 5 Sept. 1922 (no. 12); 16 Sept. 1922 (no edition number). Title page has a drawing ‘With the IRA (somewhere in Ireland)’ by Constance Markievicz; 17 Sept. 1922 (no. 15). 2 copies; 27 Sept. 1922 (no. 19); 28 Sept. 1922 (no. 20). Title page has a drawing ‘Free Staters in Action’; 1 Oct. 1922 (No. 21). Title page has a drawing ‘With the Dublin Brigade, IRA’ by Constance Markievicz; 8 Oct. 1922 (no. 23). 2 copies; 22 Oct. 1922 (No. 30); 27 Oct. 1922 (No. 33). The issue of 8 Oct. 1922 is annotated on the reverse ‘G.K. 544 N.C.R., A.F. M. Philips. It was found in an envelope with a manuscript annotation: ‘Rev. Fr. Sebastian [O’Brien OFM Cap.]’.
The series is incomplete but there are multiple copies of some editions extant in the file. Individual (loose) editions: 15 July 1922 (No. 2)-21 July 1922 (No. 6). 7 Aug. 1922 (No. 20)-14 Aug. 1922 (No. 26) 16 Aug. 1922 (No. 28)-26 Aug. 1922 (No. 37) 29 Aug. 1922 (No. 40) 31 Aug. 1922 (No. 43)-1 Sept. 1922 (No. 44) 23 Sept. 1922 (No. 63) 26 Sept. 1922 (No. 65)-29 Sept. 1922 (No. 68). 30 Sept. 1922 (No. 70)-7 Oct. 1922 (No. 76). 10 Oct. 1922 (No. 78)-11 Oct. 1922 (No. 79) 12 Oct. 1922 (No. 80)-17 Oct. 1922 (No. 84). Bound editions: 26 July 1922-5 Aug. 1922 (Nos. 10-19). 18 Aug. 1922-26 Aug. 1922 (Nos. 30-38). 29 Aug. 1922-7 Sept. 1922 (Nos. 40-49). 2 Sept. 1922-11 Sept. 1922 (Nos. 45-52). 8 Sept. 1922-19 Sept. 1922 (Nos. 50-59). 12 Sept. 1922-15 Sept. 1922 (Nos. 53-56). 16 Sept.-25 Sept. 1922 (Nos. 57-64). 20 Sept.-30 Sept. 1922 (Nos. 60-69). 30 Sept. 1922-6 Oct. 1922 (Nos. 70-79). 'The Fenian' was an Anti-Treaty newspaper providing the republican perspective on the course of Civil War hostilities. The paper warns that ‘insidious attempts have been made within the last few days by the English King’s Provisional Ministers to spread the rumour that a truce had been achieved. Under cover of this they hope to weaken the splendid morale of the republican troops and then attack them when off their guard’. The editions were bound together with a note indicating that they belonged to ‘Rev. Fr. Sebastian [O’Brien OFM Cap.], Church Street’.
