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Subscription book containing a list of subscribers and guarantors for the fund for paying off the debt incurred on the construction of St. Mary of the Angels. Entries are listed under name, address and amount subscribed. Some entries are listed under the title of: ‘persons visited by Fr. Paul [Neary] and companion for meeting on 27 Feb. 1899’. A newspaper cutting from the 'Freeman’s Journal' [c.8 Mar. 1897] is pasted onto the reverse of the first leaf. The cutting contains a list of contributors towards the aforementioned fund. A monthly mass register record is extant on five pages at the end of the volume. Several manuscript and newspaper cutting inserts have been removed from the volume and placed in CA CS/2/3/7-8.

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.

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.

Notice of decree to Fr. Paul Neary OSFC, President, Catholic Boys’ Brigade, Church Street. The notice refers to enquires to be held by the High Court, Chancery Division, into the disposal of the estate of John Green, late of 20 St. Alphonsus Road, Dublin, merchant.

Letters expressing satisfaction with the excellent discipline and work of the Boys’ Brigade of Church Street. Many of the letters are from employers seeking boys to perform paid work. Correspondents include John. J. White, Cork Factory & Warehouse, Dublin, 'The Irish Rosary', St. Saviour’s Priory, Dominick Street, Fr. Paul Neary OSFC, Church Street, and P.D. Hartnett, grocer, 71 Great Strand Street, Dublin.

Correspondence relating to the transfer of properties on Church Street (nos. 155-157) to lay trustees of the Catholic Boys’ Brigade. Correspondents include, Thomas J. Furlong, solicitor, 11 Eustace Street, Dublin, Fr. Fiacre Brophy OSFC, Fr. Paul Neary OSFC, Provincial Minister, William Mooney & Son, solicitors, 16 Fleet Street, Dublin, Michael Murphy, solicitor, 44 South Mall, Cork, and John Jameson, Bow Street Distillery, Dublin. Most of the correspondence relates to instructions to be given to solicitors with respect to the drawing up of a conveyance for the above-mentioned properties and to the need for approval of the deed which allows Fr. Matthew O’Connor OSFC and Fr. Peter Bowe OSFC to retire from their trusteeship. John Jameson assured Fr. Fiacre that ‘this company would be very reluctant to put up a building that would be objectionable to your community. … I thought there was no likelihood of the neighbourly relations which have always existed between this company and yourselves being interrupted’. On 20 Dec. 1904 Fr. Paul Neary OSFC stated that the ‘members of our Order who are trustees of the Church Street premises of the Boys’ Brigade have no desire to continue their trusteeship and are willing to hand it to any persons to whom they can do so, without breach of their trust’.

Letters of the Most Rev. William J. Walsh, Archbishop of Dublin, to the Provincial Ministers of the Irish Capuchins (Fr. Matthew O’Connor OSFC, Fr. Peter Bowe OSFC and Fr. Paul Neary OSFC) regarding the establishment and functioning of the Catholic Boys’ Brigade in Dublin. Walsh wrote to Fr. Matthew on 2 May 1895: ‘I should be glad if you could see your way to letting one of your fathers take it in hand. Of course, the rules should be approved in detail so that at any time we could withdraw our connection and our sanction if things were going wrong’. He later averred (27 May 1895) that the ‘organisation ought to be a useful one, if it is well looked after, and good provision for this seems to be made in the Rules’. He later referred (21 June 1895) to an article in the draft rules of Brigade: ‘In par. X, it seems to be left open to Protestants to have a voice in the management. This, of course, would not work in a Catholic organisation for Catholic Boys only’. On 27 Feb. 1900 Walsh wrote: ‘Our religious communities in Dublin are actively engaged in carrying on many good works, works which undoubtedly could not be carried on at all but for them. But I think it is generally understood that as I am exceedingly careful to avoid anything like interference, or bordering on interference, in the affairs of religious bodies, it is far better that I should not be in any connected with their good works’. He later referred to the Capuchin friars’ decision to discontinue work with the Brigade: ‘I observe there is a special point insisted on by the critics of the Boys’ Brigades – that such Brigades are really training schools for the army. On the whole, it may be just as well that your good fathers have got clear of the work’ (15 June 1902). In 1904, Walsh affirmed that he ‘had always remained aloof the organisation’ and claimed that it was not possible for him to interfere ‘in any way [with] the question as to the holding of the trust property’.

Letters from Jonathan J. Fitzgerald, 26 Lower Stephen Street, Dublin, to Fr. Paul Neary OSFC, Church Street, recommending a play titled ‘Dick Whittington’ for performance by the Boys’ Brigade. He later commends the Brigade for the ‘exquisite programmes’ rendered. Aloysius Johnson, 1 Glenarin Villas, Drumcondra, asks Fr. Paul if he intends holding Brigade troop meetings during the summer months.