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Minute book of the Committee of the Total Abstinence Sodality, Father Mathew Hall, Church Street. The volume includes various newspaper clippings reporting the laying of the foundation stone (2 Feb. 1890) and the opening of Father Mathew Hall, Church Street (25 Jan. 1891). The volume includes clippings from the 'Catholic Times', the 'Freeman’s Journal' and the 'Daily Sketch'. The volume also includes manuscript and newspaper clipping reports of weekly public meetings of the sodality in the Hall. The minutes report resolutions in respect of financial accounts, general administration and the ministering of the pledge to members. The meetings were ordinarily chaired by Fr. Columbus Maher OSFC, President of the Sacred Thirst Abstinence League. The final pages of the volume contain newspaper clippings reporting on the death of Fr. Columbus on 10 Sept. 1894. The clippings also cover his funeral and the various tributes paid to him for his work in promoting temperance.

Rule book of the Sacred Thirst Sodality attached to the Father Mathew Hall, Church Street. The introduction notes that the mission of Father Mathew ‘demands a nobler monument than a “storied urn or animated bust” and to the wide dissemination of his principles, which this Hall, was founded to foster and perpetuate’. The rule book states that the sodality ‘strengthened by united prayer, frequentation of the Sacraments, holds monthly meets in the Church and weekly meetings in the Father Mathew OSFC Memorial Hall, Church Street, Dublin’. An annotation on page 11 affirms that the constitution vesting the Hall and all other property in six trustees was amended in 1926. ‘See Committee Minutes of the Hall’. The rule book was probably prepared by Fr. Columbus Maher OSFC, President. The front cover has an ink drawing of the Hall fronting onto Church Street.

Statement of monies received by members of the Father Mathew Temperance Hall Committee. The statement includes entries for monies received per Fr. Columbus Maher OSFC from street collections, the sale of various cards and other sources.

Resolution of the Father Mathew Hall Committee admonishing a Mr. Nicolls who ‘has violated the custom of this committee by publishing what purports to be the details of our private deliberations’. The resolution also defends the rights of Fr. Columbus Maher OSFC as President of the Sacred Thirst Sodality and avers that Mr. Nicolls ‘was the only member who ever introduced politics here’.

Letter to Fr. Columbus Maher OSFC from Walter Glynn Doolin, architect and civil engineer, 20 Ely Place, Dublin, regarding the design of the proposed Father Mathew Temperance Hall, Church Street. Doolin referred to Fr. Maher’s ‘instructions to provide a Hall capable of seating 1,000 persons exclusive of a permanent stage’ and submits detailed plans for the dimensions and layout of the Hall. Doolin affirmed that ‘there are upwards of 150,000 cubic feet in the building and I do not see how this amount of work can be done for much under £2,000’.

List of guardians of the Capuchin Friary, Kilkenny, from 1842-1883 compiled by Fr. Angelus Healy OFM Cap. The list includes their dates of office. The file also includes notes by Fr. Angelus re Fr. Edward Tommins OSFC (d. 29 July 1889), Fr. Columbus Maher OSFC (1835-1894) and Fr. Cherubini Mazzini OSFC (1831-1906), guardians from c.1855-68.

Minute book of the committee and public meetings of the Total Abstinence Sodality. The reverse of the front cover is annotated: ‘Temperance Society of the Sacred Thirst of the Lord Jesus Christ attached to the Church of Our Lady of the Angels, Church Street, founded by the Very Rev. Albert Mitchell OSFC, President, Dublin, June 1880, to which was added The Father Mathew Temperance Hall, Halston Street, opened solemnly Monday, 14th February 1881’. The first page contains the rules of the society as laid down by Fr. Albert Mitchell OSFC. The minute book reports the principal decisions and resolutions passed by the committee at their weekly meetings particularly in respect of financial and membership matters and later in relation to the funding for the construction of Father Mathew Memorial Hall on Church Street. The volume includes a copy of the printed 'First Annual Report' of the sodality (see CA HA/1/1/2) and a copy of a letter from Most Rev. Edward McCabe, Archbishop of Dublin, to Fr. Albert Mitchell OSFC, 49 North King Street, commending the work of the Halston Street Temperance Society (22 Feb. 1882). On 14 Feb. 1883, a report noted that ‘we have at present on the roll upwards of 1,130 men and 1,000 women and although some have fallen away from our ranks still it is satisfactory to be in the position to state that a large number have remained faithful to their pledge’. Other newspaper clippings pasted into volume include a report of a large meeting of total abstinence societies at St. Finbarr’s Hall, Charlotte Quay, Cork. With a copy of the agreement with J. T. Russell, Sandford Terrace, Ranelagh, for the lease of 3 Halston Street at the yearly rent of £16 for 31 years in trust for the Temperance Society of the Sacred Thirst (31 Jan. 1881). The minutes were routinely signed by the President, Fr. Albert Mitchell OSFC, and later by his successor, Fr. Columbus Maher OSFC.

Newspaper cuttings referring to Father Mathew Hall, Church Street. The cuttings are mainly from 'The Irish Catholic' and include references to the opening of 'Aonach na Bealtaine', temperance work, membership of the Hall, notices of annual meetings, details of excursions and lectures, and statements of accounts of the Hall Committee. One of the cuttings refers to the work of Fr. Albert Mitchell OSFC in founding the temperance sodality. It reads ‘in 1881 the association was installed in modest apartments in Halston Street … in 1891, the centenary year of Father Mathew, the new fine hall now standing on Church Street was opened during the presidency of Father Columbus Maher OSFC’. Includes two sketches of Fathers Mitchell and Maher. The report of the 23rd annual meeting of Father Mathew Hall contained a short excerpt of a speech by Pádraig Pearse in which he stated that the ‘Irish Ireland movement would be successful only so far and so long as it went hand in hand with temperance and its off-shoot of total abstinence’.