Photograph of a group of Capuchin friars and novices. The group includes Fr. Sylvester Mulligan OFM Cap., Fr. Stanislaus Kavanagh OFM Cap., Fr. Pius Duggan OFM Cap., Fr. Virgilius Murtagh OFM Cap., Fr. Eugene Carroll OFM Cap., Br. Livinus Keane OFM Cap., and Br. Nessan Shaw OFM Cap.
Photograph of a large group of Capuchin friars in the garden of the Church Street Friary in Dublin. The photograph was taken during the Eucharistic Congress held in the Irish capital.
Correspondence, estimates, bills of costs and certificates of account concerning various building and improvement projects at the Capuchin Friary, Church Street. Works included plastering the corridors in the Friary, improvements to the boilers and heating systems, new lavatories and basins, the installation of a new shrine, and alterations to candlesticks on the Church altar. Correspondents included John Hughes, builder and contractor, 26a Mt. Eden Road, Donnybrook, A.W. Lyons & Son Ltd., stained glass studios, 20 Westland Row, John L. Robinson, architect, 8 Merrion Square, Maguire & Gatchell Ltd., engineers, contractors and merchants, Dawson Street and C.W. Harrison & Sons, architectural and monumental sculptors, 178 Pearse Street. The file includes a letter from John L. Robinson (8 July 1943) referring to the difficulties in erecting the new shrine as ‘most of the garden is made up of ground with old cellars underneath … and in one corner of the building we came upon an old well over which it was necessary to place a substantial reinforced concrete slab’. Other correspondents include Fr. Charles Brophy OFM Cap., Fr. Brendan O’Callaghan OFM Cap. and Fr. Virgilius Murtagh OFM Cap., guardians of the Church Street community.
Correspondence between John J. Robinson & R.C. Keeffe, architects, 8 Merrion Square, Dublin, Messrs W.K. Cleere & Son, 8 Ormonde Road, Kilkenny, Fr. Ignatius Collins OFM Cap., guardian, and Fr. Virgilius Murtagh OSFC regarding the specification for work on the extension to the Capuchin Friary, Kilkenny. The enclosed plans and alternative ‘schemes’ for the extension to the sacristy are at CA KK/2/3/20.
Correspondence relating to the progress of work on the stairs in the St. Brigid’s Hall extension. Correspondents include Edward Murphy, builder and contractor, E.G. O’Neill, architect, 82 Taney Road, Dundrum, Thomas Garland, consulting engineer, 40 Upper Fitzwilliam Street, and Fr. Virgilus Murtagh OFM Cap. With a specification for the said works.
A photographic print of Fr. Senan Moynihan OFM Cap. and Fr. Gerald McCann OFM Cap., editors in the Capuchin Publications Office, in the garden of the Church Street Friary in Dublin. The group includes Fr. Virgilius Murtagh OFM Cap. and Fr. Henry Anglin OFM Cap.
A photograph of (seated, centre) Fr. Virgilius Murtagh OFM Cap. and (back row) Fr. Henry Anglin OFM Cap. with members of the choir of St. Mary of the Angels, Church Street, Dublin.
A clipping of an article referring to a religious visit to Prineville, Oregon, involving an international reunion of clergy. The text describes a visit by Father Peter Flynn, a parish priest from Te Puke, New Zealand, who stopped in Prineville to visit his old classmate, Father Thomas McTeigue, while returning to New Zealand from a vacation in Ireland. The accompanying photograph captures (left to right) Father Peter Flynn, Bishop Francis P. Leipzig, Very Rev. Virgilius Murtagh, OFM, Cap. (of Dublin), and Very Rev. Thomas McTeigue. The article notes that Fathers Flynn and McTeigue studied together in Ireland at St. Patrick’s College in Cavan and St. Peter’s College in Wexford, where they were ordained. It concludes by mentioning other priests in the Baker Diocese who studied at St. Peter’s during the same era, including Father Peter Duignan of Lakeview and Father Francis McCormack of Ontario. The clipping is taken from the ‘Catholic Sentinel (Baker Edition)’ (14 July 1960).
Letters to Fr. Gilbert Bermingham OFM Cap., President, and Fr. Virgilus Murtagh OFM Cap. from Milward, Jones, Mayne and Knapp, solicitors, 6 Dawson Street, Dublin, concerning negotiations with the Commissioners of Charitable Donations and Bequests for the sale of Father Mathew Hall by the trustees to the Capuchin Order, for £7,000. Gerard O’Rourke wrote to Fr. Gilbert on 12 Nov. 1964 to explain that the ‘Commissioners would not agree to the purchase price of the Hall being used for the reconstruction of the Hall because the Hall would then belong to the Capuchin Order and would cease to be taken as a memorial to Fr. Mathew’. An order from the Courts directing that the assets of the trust be transferred to the Capuchin Order is referred to in a letter 2 July 1968.
Scrapbook of Fr. Albeus McQuillan OFM Cap. (1912-1989) re the history and personnel of the Irish Capuchin mission in Africa. Fr. Albeus arrived in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) in 1942. The scrapbook includes cuttings from missionary periodicals including 'The Father Mathew Record', hand-drawn maps of mission stations and churches, and personal recollections and memoranda by Fr. Albeus re the Capuchin mission in Africa. The volume contains the following sections:
• Photographic prints of the early Irish Capuchins missionaries: Fr. Casimir Butler OFM Cap.; Fr. Timothy Phelim O’Shea OFM Cap.; Fr. Seraphin Nesdale OFM Cap.; Fr. Killian Flynn OFM Cap.; Fr. Alban Cullen Cap.; Fr. Oliver O’Hanlon OFM Cap.; Fr. Fintan Roche OFM Cap.; Fr. Livinus Keane OFM Cap.; Fr. Jerome McQuillan OFM Cap.; Fr. Christopher Crowley OFM Cap.; Fr. Marcellus Carroll OFM Cap.; Fr. Agathangelus Herlihy OFM Cap.; Fr. Timothy Connery OFM Cap.; Fr. Jarlath Gough OFM Cap.
• List of African missions of the Capuchin Franciscan Order (with the names of mother provinces).
• Calendar of priests in the Irish Capuchin mission to Africa arranged under year, number and total. The calendar runs from 1929-39.
• Personal and mission record (with photographic prints) for Irish Capuchin friars in Africa. Details are given of where the friars were stationed and the duration. Information is given in respect of:
Fr. Casimir Butler OFM Cap. First Superior of African Missions.
Fr. Alban Cullen OFM Cap.
Fr. Oliver O’Hanlon OFM Cap. (with postcard print of the Church at Parow, South Africa, dedicated on 8 Dec. 1935).
Fr. Killian Flynn OFM Cap. (with circular letter from Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap. re the appointment of Fr. Killian as Prefect Apostolic of Victoria Falls).
Fr. Timothy Phelim O’Shea OFM Cap.
Fr. Seraphin Nesdale OFM Cap. (1897-1980)
Fr. Jerome McQuillan OFM Cap.
Fr. Fintan Roche OFM Cap.
Fr. Livinus Keane OFM Cap.
Fr. Christopher Crowley OFM Cap.
Fr. Jarlath Gough OFM Cap. (1902-1983)
Br. Alexius Paolucci OFM Cap. (1898-1983)
Fr. Agathangelus Herlihy OFM Cap.
Fr. Gerard Joyce OFM Cap. (died in Northern Rhodesia in 1944)
• Calendar of Irish Capuchin missionaries in Northern Rhodesia and South Africa from 1929-38 giving details of where stationed and the time spent at each mission station. (pp 42-3).
• ‘The religion of the Blacks’. Manuscript. Sub-title reads: ‘Paper read for the Bonaventure’s Philosophical and Historical Society, Tuesday, January 17th 1937’. (insert at p. 47). The article was possibly compiled by Fr. Declan McFadden OFM Cap.
Maps include:
• Districts of Northern Rhodesia showing density of population. (p. 9)
• Detailed manuscript map showing locations of various Christian missionary stations in Northern Rhodesia. (p. 11).
• Map of Northern Rhodesia showing areas of Tsetse-Fly and Sleeping Sickness infestation (p. 15).
• Map re population and infant mortality in Northern Rhodesia (p. 17).
• Printed map of Cape Town, South Africa (p. 22).
• Manuscript map of the Cape Province, South Africa, showing principal towns and the locations of Capuchin churches at the Welcome Estate, Matroosfontein, Parow, Langa and Athlone. Scale: 2 miles to 1 inch. The key also provides the distances between the aforementioned mission churches. (Insert at p. 27).
• Population map of Barotseland (arranged by district). With information re the number of Protestant schools in the region. (p. 45).
Photographic prints include:
• Fr. Fintan Roche OFM Cap. crossing the River Kafue, Northern Rhodesia, with a truck on a barge. Aug. 1937. (p. 27).
• Fr. Marcellus Carroll OFM Cap. with altar boys. (p. 27).
• St. Louis Mission School at Langa; Fr. Jerome McQuillan OFM Cap. (priest at Langa in 1935); groups of children at Langa, with Sister Romana and Sister M. Vianney. (p. 29).
• Missionary scenes at Livingstone, Northern Rhodesia (p. 33).
• The Friary at Livingstone and Fr. Christopher Crowley OFM Cap. (p. 34).
• Missionary scenes at Loanja, Northern Rhodesia. With Fr. Livinus Keane OFM Cap. and Fr. Seraphin Nesdale OFM Cap. (p. 37).
• Prints from 'The Father Mathew Record' of the ‘first Christians at Loanja, Easter, 1936’; ‘adult Christians at Loanja and a group at St. Francis’s School, Livingstone’. (p. 39).
• Br. Dominick O’Callaghan OFM Cap. (p. 44).
• The three Capuchin churches in Africa: Parow, Livingstone, and Athlone (p. 48).
• Fr. Jerome McQuillan OFM Cap. (full length portrait); Sr. M. Vianney at Langa in 1936; First communion group at Langa, 1936. (p. 49).
• Fr. Albeus McQuillan OFM Cap. (half-length portrait). (p. 50).
• Fr. Alfred O’Mahony OFM Cap. (half-length portrait). (p. 51).
The volume also contains newspaper cuttings re a Capuchin-organised pilgrimage to Knock, County Mayo, organised by Fr. Virgilius Murtagh OFM Cap. and Fr. Maurice Dowd OFM Cap. (p. 66).