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A volume containing copy and draft correspondence of Fr. Senan Moynihan OFM Cap. Manuscript annotation on the first page reads ‘Letters from Father Senan OFM Cap. / Private Letters’. The file contains copies of his personal letters and correspondence relating to the Capuchin Publications Office. Includes many references to the financial difficulties experienced by the office. A partial alphabetical index of correspondents is provided at the beginning of the volume. Includes Fr. Senan’s copy letters to Fr. Bosco Lennon OFM Cap., Aodh de Blacam, Frank E. Benner (Fruithill Park, Andersonstown, Belfast), Pádraig De Brún, Fr. Colman Griffin OFM Cap. (Provincial Minister, refers to efforts to alleviate the deteriorating financial situation in the Capuchin Publications Office, 3 Apr. 1951), Frank E. Dubrey, Fr. Cyril Kelleher OFM Cap., John English & Co. (refers to the use of the ‘Annual’ printing blocks for ‘The Father Mathew Record’, his wish to return the ‘Record’ to its former size, and a print for the ‘Record’ of between 12,000 to 15,000 a month, 20 May 1951), Sister M. Kevin (Convent of Mercy, Ardee, County Louth), Archbishop Sylvester Mulligan OFM Cap., John Lloyd, Gertrude O’Brien (Adams Street, Chicago), Joseph O’Connor (Seosamh Ó Conchubhair), Hugh O’Hagan, Michael O’Leary (Sutton, County Dublin), James M.B. Wright, Albert Dryer (Kenyon Street, Fairfield, Sydney), Fr. Cuthbert Gumbinger OFM Cap., Denis O’Shea (Evergreen Street, Cork), Chief Superintendent Harry O’Mara, Adolf Morath (photographer), Fr. Henry Edward George Rope, Fr. Jerome Hawes TOSF (Mount Alvernia Hermitage, Cat Island, Bahamas), Diarmuid Breathnach, Fr. Otto Richter (Jablonec, Czechoslovakia), Fr. Christopher Crowley OFM Cap., John Alvin Feltis (1503 Lincoln Avenue, Toledo, Ohio), Dr. Colm A. McDonnell, John J. Kelly, Doran Hurley, Kevin Egan (The Holy Well, Cairns, County Sligo), Thomas MacGreevy, Sophie Raffalovich O'Brien, Fr. Francis Regis (Bishop’s House, Kumbakonam, India),Fr. George Macarius Korb (Nagoya, Japan), Sister M. Patrick, (The Missionary Sisters of St. Columban, Cahircon, Ennis, County Clare), Michael J. Kennedy (‘Manresa’, Trimlestown Park, Booterstown, Dublin), Mannix Joyce, Pat Lawlor (Wellington, New Zealand), James Comyn (Fountain Court, Temple, London), Fr. Terence L. Connolly SJ, Helen Walker Homan (205 East 70th Street, New York), Eileen Crean, Edward Evans, 1st Baron Mountevans (refers to his intention to publish a lengthy article in the next edition of the ‘Annual’ on Tom Cream, the Antarctic explorer ‘who was a neighbour of mine in Kerry in the old days’, 20 Feb. 1952), Richard King, Seumas MacManus, Mother Mary Martin (Our Lady of Lourdes Convent, Drogheda, County Louth), Fr. Jack Hanlon, Kathleen O’Connell (Government Buildings, Dublin), Ada P. McCormick (editor of the ‘Letter’, Tucson, Arizona), Kevin MacGrath (Mespil Road, Dublin), Hamish Fraser, Aileen O’Reilly, Sister M. Benignus (Presentation Convent, Doneraile, County Cork), J.J. O’Connor (Manager, National Bank, 33 Arran Quay, Dublin, claiming that ‘all our financial difficulties would be resolved if we could succeed in getting a few thousand new life-members for the Association of Patrons’, 5 Apr. 1952), Rev. John O. Buchmann (St. Leo’s Rectory, Irvington, New Jersey), Alice Rynne (née Curtayne) (Downings House, Prosperous, Naas, County Kildare), Fr. Andrew Carew OFM Cap. (Guardian, Ard Mhuire Capuchin Friary, County Donegal), Michael Lennon (Healthfield Road, Terenure, Dublin), Michael P. Reynolds (Abbey Terrace, Ballymote, County Sligo), Alfred White (162 Crumlin Road, Dublin), Margaret Mary Pearse, Owen McCabe (Clones, County Monaghan), Archbishop James Thomas Gibbons Hayes SJ, Archbishop Gerald O’Hara (Apostolic Nuncio to Ireland, seeking permission to read and retain ‘books and periodicals treating of communism and periodicals written or edited by communists’, 22 June 1952), Frieda Le Pla, Fr. Canice Bourke OFM Cap. (refers to Matt Talbot’s prayer book which he lent to Fr. Canice some fifteen years ago and which he would now like returned, 4 July 1952), Séamus Campbell, Winefride Nolan (Aughrim, County Wicklow), and Bishop Daniel Mageean.

Includes a list of subscribers for a charity concert and benefit held in aid of the missionary work of Archbishop Sylvester Mulligan OFM Cap. in India (Oct. 1946), pp 45-54; A letter to Fr. Cyril Kelleher OFM Cap. reads ‘For almost twenty-five years I have been intimately associated with printing in this dear country of ours but never have I found conditions worse than they are at present, fantastic is the only adequate word to describe the increase in the cost of production of both the ‘Annual’ and the ‘Record’. And my only hope of survival is to enrol a few thousand good Americans as members … of the Association of Patrons’. (11 Feb. 1952, pp 93-5); a biographical note and reflection on Bishop William MacNeely (pp 166-8).

A volume containing copy and draft correspondence of Fr. Senan Moynihan OFM Cap. Contains copies of Fr. Senan’s personal letters and correspondence relating to the Capuchin Publications’ Office. Manuscript annotation on the first page reads ‘Letters from Fr. Senan OFM Cap. / Private’. Includes Fr. Senan’s copy letters to Fr. Demetrius Manousos OFM Cap. (Roosevelt Avenue, Flushing, New York), Joseph O’Connor (Seosamh Ó Conchubhair), Doran Hurley, Fr. Bosco Lennon OFM Cap., Maud Gonne MacBride, Sir Gilbert Laithwaite (British Ambassador to Ireland), Liam Ruiséal (The Fountain Bookshop, Oliver Plunkett Street, Cork), Sister Mary Phelan, Fr. Sylvester OFM Cap. (Librarian, San Lorenzo Capuchin College, Rome), Roderick Wilkson (Glasgow, Scotland), Michael A. Bowles, Sister M. Bernard (Lisieux, France), Ann O’Connor (Fossa, Killarney, County Kerry), Pat Lawlor (Wellington, New Zealand), Patrick McDevitt (Glenties, County Donegal), John English & Co. (printers), Fr. Denis Fahy CSSp, Elizabeth Corr, Bishop John Dignan, Thomas MacGreevy, Aodh de Blacam, Robert Monteith, Patrick MacKenna (Maple Avenue, Hartford, Connecticut), Joseph Patrick Walshe (Irish Ambassador to the Holy See), H. Martin Hamilton, Clare Sheridan (sculptor), Fr. Gerard Fassler OFM Cap. (Mahenge Mission, Tanzania), Séamus Campbell, Páraig Ó Caoimh (Patrick O’Keeffe), Fr. Christopher Crowley OFM Cap., Johanna Coakley, Fr. Hugh Morley OFM Cap., Fr. Colman Griffin OFM Cap. (Provincial Minister, referring to the extraordinary success of ‘The Angelic Shepherd’ publication, 20 Sept. 1950), Dr. Colm A. McDonnell, Sister M. Kevin (Convent of Mercy, Ardee, County Louth), Fr. Donal O’Connor, Fr. T.F. Duggan (President, St. Finbarr’s College, Farranferris, Cork), Ellen McCann (15 Tower Hill, Armagh), Fr. Jack Hanlon, Fr. Celsus O’Shea OFM Cap., Eleanor Barnes (Lady Yarrow), Nuala Moran (Editor, ‘The Leader’), Máirín Cregan (‘Mrs James Ryan’), Adolf Morath (photographer), Pádraig De Brún, Dr. Richard Lavelle, Sister Imelda Cassidy (Loreto College, 43 North Great George’s Street, Dublin), Fr. Carmelo Durante of Sessano OFM Cap., Victor Waddington, Sister M. Dolorine (Webster College, Missouri, United States), Seumas O’Brien (sculptor, dramatist, fabulist, 1880-1959), Helena Concannon, Fr. Gilbert OFM Cap. (Provincial Curia, Capuchin Franciscan Friary, Peckham, London), Fr. H. Russell SMA (Society of African Missions, 23 Bliss Avenue, Tenafly, New Jersey), Fr. Michael J. Troy (Kimmage Manor, Dublin), J.A. Power (Blackheath Drive, Clontarf, Dublin), Br. Colmcille Cregan OFM Cap., Sister Mary Berchmans Roche (Medical Missionaries of Mary, Booterstown, Dublin), Fr. Thaddeus MacVicar OFM Cap., (refers to the death of Aodh de Blacam, 15 Jan. 1951), Bishop Daniel Cohalan (John’s Hill, Waterford), Kevin Egan (The Holy Well, Cairns, County Sligo), Kathleen Moloney (District Hospital, Edenderry, County Offaly), William Monk Gibbon, Gary Mac Eoin, Canon J. Harmon (Parochial House, Ardee, County Louth), Margaret Bowles, Fr. Donal Herlihy (Pontifical Irish College, Rome), Fr. Hilary McDonagh OFM Cap., Peter F. Anson, Fr. Jerome Hawes TOSF (Mount Alvernia Hermitage, Cat Island, Bahamas), Monsignor Martin Brenan (President, St. Patrick’s College, Carlow), Fr. Conrad Simonsen Mackey OFM Cap. (Madrid, Spain), Fr. Cuthbert Gumbinger OFM Cap., Paul Martin Dillon (‘The Evening Times’, Cumberland, Maryland, United States), Mannix Joyce, Seumas MacManus, Fr. Terence L. Connolly SJ (Boston College, Massachusetts), Fr. Celsus. O’Connell O.Cist (Mount Melleray Abbey, County Waterford), Professor Leonard Abrahamson, Seamus Murphy (Wellington Road, Cork), Fr. Henry Edward George Rope, Seán Collins, Michael F. Moynihan, Fr. Louis A. Gales (Catechetical Guild, Minnesota), Sir Shane Leslie, Sister Mary Joseph (Director, The Gallery of Living Catholic Authors, Missouri, United States), John Hennig, Sophie Raffalovich O'Brien, Sister Imelda Cassidy (Loreto College, 43 North Great George’s Street, Dublin), Willem Sassen, John Alvin Feltis (Toledo, Ohio), Cormac Breathnach, Alice Rynne (née Curtayne) (Downings House, Prosperous, Naas, County Kildare), Mary Wren, (Servite House, 17 The Boltons, London), Fr. William Purcell CM (Rector, All Hallows College, Dublin), Sr. Bernadette (St. Clare’s Convent, Harold’s Cross, Dublin, refers to the Medical Missionaries of Mary in Massachusetts, 7 Mar. 1951), Chief Superintendent Harry O’Mara, Ida Monahan, Fr. T.J. Walsh, Fr. Andrew Carew OFM Cap., Séamus Campbell, and Michael Lennon (Healthfield Road, Terenure).

Letters of Fr. Casimir Butler OFM Cap. (1876-1958). The correspondents include: Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap., Provincial Minister, Fr. Kieran O’Callaghan OFM Cap.; Fr. Colman Griffin OFM Cap., Provincial Vicar. Most of the correspondence relates to the establishment of missions in South Africa and later in Barotseland, Northern Rhodesia. The subjects include: Fr. Casimir’s first impressions of Cape Province (23 Oct. 1929); the journey to Barotseland (30 May 1930); requesting permission to retain Parow parish (26 Feb. 1931); discussions with Monsignor Bruno Wolnik SJ (1882-1960) to establish a local mission a few miles from Livingstone (16 June 1931); the necessity of wearing a white habit. Fr. Casimir wrote: ‘It is almost impossible to wear brown during the hot weather. The Conventual Fathers at Ndola wear white. The Jesuits wear any old things. I suggest a light cream-coloured habit’ (27 Nov. 1931); the need to speak the language in Barotseland ‘before we can hope to gain the hearts of the natives’. (30 Nov. 1931); on the study of the Lozi language (26 Jan. 1932); suggesting that a foundation be established in Barotseland ‘to which Catholics can look to with pride – a large church and school, sufficient for a fifty-mile area’. (3 May 1932); affirming that ‘mission work in Barotseland is going to be a slow business, the obstacles look insurmountable’. Fr. Casimir added: ‘it is a great consolation to know that it can never become a white man’s country’ (23 May 1932); confirming that the new church at Livingstone will cost £3,500 (6 Sept. 1932); referring to the work of Fr. Declan McFadden OFM Cap. and his father (30 Oct. 1932); arrangements for the impending visitation by Fr. James O’Mahony OFM Cap. (3 Dec. 1934); the activities of the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society. (18 Dec. 1934); Fr. Casimir’s arrangements to travel to Ireland via Marseilles on-board the Italian ship, SS 'Giulio Cesare' (5 May 1938). References are also made to the following Capuchin friars: Fr. Oliver O’Hanlon OFM Cap.; Fr. Killian Flynn OFM Cap.; Fr. Seraphin Nesdale OFM Cap.; Fr. Timothy Phelim O’Shea OFM Cap.; Fr. Declan McFadden OFM Cap. The file includes a letter from Fr. C. C. Martindale SJ to Fr. Cuthbert McCann OFM Cap. offering to collect £100 for Fr. Casimir’s missionary work in Barotseland (16 June 1931).

Letters of Fr. Alban Cullen OFM Cap. (1902-1957). The main correspondent is Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap., Provincial Minister. Other correspondents include Fr. Kieran O’Callaghan OFM Cap. and Fr. Colman Griffin OFM Cap. Provincial Minister. The subjects include: the progress of the Irish Capuchin mission in South Africa, particularly the ‘coloured localities of Athlone, Parrow and Claremont’; arrangements for the opening of the mission in Barotseland, Northern Rhodesia; the language difficulties. Fr. Alban wrote ‘The big drawback of the Church in South Africa has been the dearth of English-speaking priests. Cape Town has them. Port Elizabeth has some. Johannesburg has a few. But almost everywhere else, French, German, Dutch have possession’. (21 Mar. 1931); requests for mass stipends (18 Sept. 1931); information concerning the forty square miles of the Capuchin mission in South Africa including ‘Athlone, Crawford, Jamestown, Belgravia Estate, the Welcome Estate and Langa’. (6 Nov. 1931); the construction of churches, mission schools and orphanages; the establishment of a canonical foundation by the Irish Capuchins in Athlone, Cape Town. (14 Jan. 1932); the deprivations faced by the ‘native population’ in Cape Town. (26 Feb. 1932); the education of the coloured population of Cape Province, South Africa. (18 Mar. 1932); Fr. Alban’s attempts to hire John McCormack, the renowned Irish tenor, to perform in aid of the poor of Athlone Parish, Cape Town. (5 Aug. 1932); on the necessity of holding property in the Athlone Vicariate. Fr. Alban affirms that ‘the Athlone Catholics are poor, miserable coloured native people on the verge of starvation’. (25 Nov. 1932); the building of the Church of St. Mary of the Angels in Athlone, Cape Town. (9 June 1933); Fr. Alban’s work as a missionary since his ordination in 1925. He wrote ‘I have devoted my time exclusively to the missionary life – almost four years with the Californian Indians, and almost five with the coloured and native people of Athlone’. (27 July 1934); the visitation of Fr. James O’Mahony OFM Cap. to South Africa. (6 Sept. 1935); his desire to return to Ireland. He reminds Fr. Colman Griffin OFM Cap., Provincial Minister, that he is ‘the last of the first three [priests] who came here in 1929’. (6 June 1951). The file also includes a letter from Fr. Aloysius Travers OFM Cap. to Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap., Provincial Minister, transmitting news from Fr. Alban re the number of communicants in Athlone parish. (19 Nov. 1931).

Letters of Fr. Fintan Roche OFM Cap. (1898-1953) relating to his experiences as a missionary in Barotseland. The correspondents include Fr. Colman Griffin OFM Cap.; Fr. Kieran O’Callaghan OFM Cap.; Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap., Provincial Minister. Reference is made to the work of Fr. Killian Flynn OFM Cap. who is in ‘some God-forsaken native village about 9 days from here building a school [and to] Fr. Phelim [O’Shea OFM Cap.] and Fr. Seraphin [Nesdale OFM Cap.] in Loanja’. (11 Dec. 1933). Later, Fr. Fintan refers to the establishment of further mission stations around Mongu and ‘other remote centres … where we won’t conflict with already established Protestant missions’. He also affirmed that ‘Barotseland is not “virgin soil”, it is chuck full of Protestant Missions, some of them 30 days by river from Livingstone’ (20 June 1934).

Letters from Bishop Hugh Boyle (1897-1986), Vicar Apostolic of Port Elizabeth, to Fr. James O’Mahony OFM Cap. and Fr. Colman Griffin OFM Cap., Provincial Ministers, requesting that more priests be sent to South Africa to work on local missions in the Vicariate of Port Elizabeth. The file includes correspondence with the Most Rev. Martin Lucas SVD, Apostolic Delegate to South Africa, referring to the urgent need for more missionaries in the district of Peddie, Cape Province.

Letters of Fr. Oliver O’Hanlon OFM Cap. (1902-1957). The correspondents include Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap., Provincial Minister; Fr. Kieran O’Callaghan OFM Cap., Provincial Secretary; Fr. Colman Griffin OFM Cap., Provincial Minister; Fr. Stanislaus Kavanagh OFM Cap.; Fr. James O’Mahony OFM Cap., Provincial Minister. Most of the correspondence relates to missionary activity in the parish of St. Monica’s, Parow, Cape Province, South Africa. The subjects include: arrangements for Fr. Oliver’s journey to South Africa on board the SS Adolf Woermann. (5 Mar.-22 May 1930); a request from Fr. Oliver to ensure that Parow parish is kept in addition to Athlone parish as it ‘contains the biggest coloured school in the vicariate’. (26 Feb. 1931); requests for mass stipends. (15 Jan. 1932); James Carlton Clarkein who wishes to join the Capuchin Order as a lay brother. (3 Mar. 1932); the resignation of Bishop Bernard Cornelius O’Riley, Vicar Apostolic of the Cape of Good Hope. Fr. Oliver wrote: ‘It is the best thing he could have done. He had not the necessary qualities to be a bishop of such vicariate as this’. (22 July 1932); requesting that Matroosfontein parish come under Capuchin ministry. (3 May 1934); the opening of a church in Matroosfontein. (17 Sept. 1935); the future of the Capuchin mission in the Cape Province. (28 May 1940); the difficulties of sending priests to the mission during wartime conditions. (15 Oct. 1940); the opportunity of establishing a mission in the Port Elizabeth Vicariate. (2 Aug. 1949). The file includes a rough sketch map of the Irish Capuchin Mission in the Cape Province. The map also indicates the distances between the various mission stations. With two photographic prints including one of Fr. Oliver O’Hanlon OFM Cap. The other may show his residence at Parow. References are also made to the following Capuchin friars: Fr. Seraphin Nesdale OFM Cap.; Fr. Casimir Butler OFM Cap.; Fr. Timothy Phelim O’Shea OFM Cap.; Fr. Alban Cullen OFM Cap.; Fr. Livinus Keane Cap.; Fr. Fintan Roche OFM Cap.; Fr. Timothy Connery OFM Cap.; Fr. Marcellus Carroll OFM Cap.

Letters of Fr. Agathangelus Herlihy OFM Cap. (1911-1968) referring to his early experiences as a missionary in Northern Rhodesia and later to developments in South Africa (particularly in the Capuchin Vicariate established in Cape Town in 1949). Correspondents include Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap., Provincial Minister; Fr. Colman Griffin OFM Cap., Provincial Minister; Fr. Stanislaus Kavanagh OFM Cap., Provincial Secretary.

Letters of Fr. Alfred O’Mahony OFM Cap. (1912-1988). The file includes letters from teachers and from the local populace to Fr. Alfred relating to his role as principal at mission schools in Sancta Maria Mission (Lukulu), in Malengwa, and later at Maramba. The file also includes letters pertaining to his role as Regular Superior in Livingstone, to Fr. Colman Griffin OFM Cap., Provincial Minister. The subjects include: the possibility of Irish Capuchins working in the Port Elizabeth Vicariate in South Africa; Fr. Agathangelus Herlihy’s desire to return to Ireland. (25 July 1951); enclosing a list of personnel and statistics for both the South African and Northern Rhodesian missions. (16 Oct. 1951); the construction of churches at the Sancta Maria mission, and at Mankoya, and a friary at Kalabo in Northern Rhodesia. (5 Jan. 1952); developments in Athlone parish, Cape Province. (25 June 1953); the ‘education side’ of the mission in Livingstone. (20 Mar. 1954). The file incudes enclosed letters to Fr. Alfred from the Most Rev. Owen McCann (1907-1994), Archbishop of Cape Town. With a letter from Fr. Noel Brennan OFM Cap. enclosing a list of Zambian churches with resident Capuchin friars, and the names of the titular feasts associated with each church. Reference is also made to the activities of the following Irish Capuchin missionaries: Fr. Jerome MacQuillan OFM Cap., Fr. Anslem Griffin OFM Cap.; Fr. Alban Cullen OFM Cap.; Fr. Salvator Quinn OFM Cap.