Letters to Fr. Peter Bowe OSFC, Provincial Minister, Fr. Paul Neary OSFC, and other Capuchin friars, regarding requests for parish missions and retreats. The file includes letters requesting missions in Letterkenny (County Donegal), Dungarvan (Waterford), Newry (Down), Kingwilliamstown (Ballydesmond, Cork), Ballymahon (Longford), Frenchpark (Roscommon), Fermoy (Cork), Drumshanbo (Leitrim), and Abbeylara (Longford).
Letters to Fr. Peter Bowe OSFC, and Fr. Paul Neary OSFC, Provincial Minister, requesting parish missions and retreats. The file includes letters requesting missions in Burtonport (Donegal), Dungloe (Donegal), Westport (Mayo), Ballygar (Galway), Achill Island, and Athleague (Roscommon).
Letters to Fr. Aloysius Travers OSFC, Provincial Minister, and Fr. Paul Neary OSFC regarding parish missions and retreats. The letters refer to retreats in County Galway, Glenmore (Waterford), Castlebellingham (Louth) and Ballygawley (Tyrone).
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.
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’.
Walsh, William Joseph, 1841-1921, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin
Letters from the Most Rev. Patrick O’Donnell (1856-1927), Bishop of Raphoe, to Fr. Paul Neary OSFC, Provincial Minister, re the progress of temperance work in County Donegal.
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.
Letters from Fr. Dominic O’Connor OFM Cap. to Fr. Paul Neary OFM Cap. reporting on his research on the early Irish Capuchins in continental archives including repositories in Troyes and Charleville, ‘home of the Irish Friars of former days’. Fr. Dominic affirms that ‘further communications would be safer if addressed to c/o Mr. Seán T. O Ceallaigh, Grand Hotel, Place de l’Opera, Paris’ (3 Dec. 1919).
Letters to Fr. Paul Neary OSFC, Provincial Minster, requesting parish missions and retreats. The letters are mostly from local clerics. Some of the letters provide information on religious practices and temperance activities in the locality. The file includes letters requesting missions in Louisburgh (Mayo), Clare Island (Mayo), Westport (Mayo), Carrick-on-Suir (Tipperary), Newport (Mayo), Clonmel (Tipperary), Waterford and Cahir (Tipperary). The file also includes some copy replies from Fr. Paul.
