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This series consists of pamphlets on topics related to Irish political, social and cultural issues published during the revolutionary era. The collection contains pamphlets and publications relating primarily to the political tensions of this period and includes original pamphlets written by Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington, the Most Rev. Edward Thomas O’Dwyer, Bishop of Limerick, William O’Brien, George Noble Plunkett, Cumann na mBan, Darrell Figgis, Frank Gallagher and Ėamon de Valera.

A large collection of newspapers, broadsheets and daily bulletins relating to the independence struggle. The republican newspapers, publicity material and political ephemera collected by the Irish Capuchins are particularly important as they cover a broad spectrum of nationalist political debate. A good number of the Irish Capuchins were privately sympathetic to the republican side and maintained close contacts with many prominent Anti-Treaty figures. Many of the republican newspapers and bulletins accumulated by the friars covered the day-to-day conduct of the Civil War and contain information not found elsewhere in the contemporary press since the daily newspaper titles published little or nothing originating from the Anti-Treaty side.

Following the deaths in exile of Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. (d. 1925) and Fr. Dominic O’Connor OFM Cap. (d. 1935), there were numerous calls to have their bodies returned to Ireland. Prominent republican supporters in the United States and Old IRA men in Ireland frequently petitioned ecclesiastical authorities to have the bodies of the ‘two patriot priests’ repatriated. These calls were initially rejected, and the outbreak of the Second World War prompted a postponement of the campaign. In 1954, a repatriation committee was set up by Cork No. 1 Brigade of the Old IRA to collect the funds necessary to defray the expenses involved in returning the remains to Ireland. Florence O’Donoghue, head of intelligence for the Cork Brigade during the War of Independence, was appointed Honorary Secretary. Cornelius Neenan was appointed the Committee’s representative in the United States. Aside from the financial difficulties, the Committee also had to contend with a certain reluctance on behalf of the church authorities in having the bodies of two priests moved in such an overtly public manner. The reburial was a departure from the normal rule of the Capuchin Franciscan Order. Also, as they were priests, a high religious content would have to be included in any civil ceremonies connected with the repatriation. Having at length gained the approval of both the state and the church, the repatriation took place in 1958. On 13 June, the priests’ remains arrived at Shannon Airport to be greeted by Seán T. O’Kelly, President, Ėamon de Valera, Taoiseach, Fr. Hilary McDonagh OFM Cap., Capuchin Vicar Provincial, and many representatives of the Old IRA. The funeral cortege then proceeded to Cork for a requiem mass in Holy Trinity Capuchin Church. Fr. Albert and Fr. Dominic were interred in the cemetery attached to Rochestown Capuchin Friary on 14 June 1958. The sub-series consists of correspondence, newspaper clippings, printed ephemera and photographs connected with the reparation campaign and ceremony in 1958. The series also includes records relating to the unveiling of a memorial to the two priests on the grounds of the Capuchin Friary in Raheny, Dublin, by veterans of Fianna Éireann in 1959.

The series includes mainly administrative files relating to the ministries undertaken by the Capuchin community in Kilkenny City. The series includes records of masses, internal community records and minute books, correspondence, schedules, and records of appointments and transfers to the Kilkenny house.

This section contains a collection of historical texts which were formerly held in the Library of the Capuchin Friary in Kilkenny. They were transferred to the Irish Capuchin Archives by Fr. Benedict Cullen OFM Cap. in the late 1990s. The collection includes some rare seventeenth century theological works collected by Irish-born friars who were educated in continental seminaries and friaries. Many of these early works include valuable information in the form of annotations, marginalia, and inscriptions. Other volumes include notes and stamps which provide further information about their provenance. Very little is known about the Capuchins in Kilkenny in the eighteenth century, though it must be presumed that, during most of this period, friars were living in the city. It can be said with some degree of certainty that they had a community in Kilkenny in 1757. A volume in this collection bears an annotation on the title page: ‘Ex libris Patris Simonis Eustace, Capucini Conventus Kilkenniensis 1757’. In another volume, he wrote ‘Simon Eustace, Vicar’, and enters the date 1756 (See CA KK/10/14). Aside from theological works touching upon the lives of saints or other aspects of religious devotion, the library also includes books relating to local history and antiquities, medicine, and linguistics. The series includes works published in English, Latin, French, and Dutch. The texts are listed chronologically.

This series contains property documents including title deeds, legal correspondence and memoranda relating to the acquisition of properties in Kilkenny by the Capuchin friars. For the most part, the documents relate to the present-day Friary building situated on Friary Street (formerly known as Walkin Street). The modern Friary consists of two portions, one running parallel to Friary Street, built about 1873-4; the other is a wing built in 1897, situated at a right angle and extending to the adjoining Pennyfeather Lane. The series also contains documents relating to the novitiate building constructed on the site of the Capuchin Friary in Kilkenny in 1959-60.

This series includes various books and journals of account (for example, ledgers of accounts payable, accounts received and cash receipts). The records detail annual audits and routine household and community expenditure. The series also includes records relating to tax returns and bills (property and municipal rates), and insurance policies covering fire, engineering, and public liabilities. Accounts of monies derived from street collections and annual quests are also included in this section.

This series contains records relating to the Third Order of St. Francis religious confraternity (later the Secular Franciscan Order) attached to the Church of St. Francis, Capuchin Friary, Kilkenny.

This series comprises records relating to communications mainly from the Catholic Bishops of Ossory and other ecclesiastical authorities in the diocese. It includes letters regarding appointments as confessors and chaplains, the granting of faculties, notices of religious ceremonies and communications from other religious in the locality.