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Face (front): Profile view of the head of Fr. Mathew. Along outer edge: ‘The Father Mathew OSFC Total Abstinence Association’.
Obverse: Cruciform formula of pledge: ‘From the / Great Glory of God/ and the/ Salvation / of souls / in honour of / the sacred thirst and agony of Jesus / and the sorrowful Heart of Mary / I promise / to abstain from all / intoxicating drinks during / my life / and thus / discourage / their use / in others’.
Images in the four corners of the cross, clockwise, beginning with upper left: Heart surmounted by cross, entwined by crown of thorns, with drops of blood, Heart a fire pierced by sword, with drops of blood; harp; 3 shamrocks.
Two of the medals have green ribbon and pin attachments.

• Transcript from the 'Limerick Reporter', 3 Sept. 1841, referring to the appointment of Fr. Mathew to the ‘High Office of Commissary Apostolic’. The extract reads ‘Proud indeed may Father Mathew be, that his vast toils, are thus recognised by the venerable Pope Gregory XVI. … We congratulate the Apostle of Temperance …’. Typescript, 1 p.
• Inscription on the Gong presented by Fr. Mathew to the South Presentation Convent in Cork. It reads: ‘May each sound of the bell be accompanied to the mercy seat by a pious supplication for the conversion of sinners of whom I am the chief / Theobald Mathew’. Manuscript, 2 pp.
• 'Dublin University Magazine', June 1849, containing a biography of Fr. Mathew and a description of his temperance campaign. Printed, pp 694-706.
• Copy letters of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC to John Maher, Mrs. C. Hall, Rev. T. Fitzgerald, Hugh Green, and Richard Scully, c.1846-7. Subjects include the Famine, the Ursuline Convent in Thurles, and his precarious financial situation. Typescript, 5 pp.
• Lyrics for a song celebrating Fr. Mathew’s temperance crusade. The first lines read:
‘Ye teetotallers all both great and small
Of every rank and station
Once rally around this clergyman
The pride of Erin’s Nation’.
Manuscript, 2 pp.
• Copy letters of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC. The copies were made by Fr. Stanislaus Kavanagh OFM Cap. An annotation on the first page suggests that some of the originals ‘are held in the Cork Museum’. Another annotation indicates that they were copied into an archival source book by Fr. Stanislaus. The notebook includes:
Copy letter from Fr. Mathew to Elizabeth O’Connor (16 Sept. 1849).
Copy letter from Cardinal Paul Cullen to Fr. Mathew (10 Oct. 1841).
Copy will of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC (21 Nov. 1849). The witnesses are noted as David O’Meara and Cornelius R. Mahony.
Copy extract from Social Notes / concerning social reform, social requirements and social progress, editor, S.C. Hall FSA, Part 7 (Sept. 1878). The extract provides a biography of Fr. Mathew. The copy notes give a transcription date of 3 Oct. 1923.
Manuscript, 18 pp.

• Poem titled ‘Fr. Mathew’s Cornet’. Manuscript, 1 p.
• Poem by ‘A Parish Boy’ titled ‘Capashine [sic] Fathers’. The first lines read:
‘Oh God bless the Capashine [sic] Fathers
For their hard and toilful strife
By which they’ve raised our city
To its present state of life …’.
Manuscript, 3 pp.
• Copy letter of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC to H. Sharp re a visit to a Mr. Brabason. 3 Nov. 1841. Typescript, 1 p.
• Copy extract from the 'Saunder’s News-Letter' referring to Fr. Mathew administering the pledge to nearly five thousand people at the Custom House in Dublin. 31 Mar. 1840. Typescript, 1 p.
• Copy poem by Seaghan Ó Laoghaire titled ‘Glory be to Whiskey’. Manuscript, 1 p.
• Copy letter from Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC to Dr. Shiel, Ballyshannon, County Donegal, referring to his visit to state prisoners and his attitude towards William Smith O’Brien. 26 Aug. 1844. Typescript, 1 p.
• Copy letter from Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC to Rev. George Whitmore Carr, New Ross, County Wexford, 8 Dec. 1839. Reference is also made to Fr. Mathew’s visit to New Ross. The extract is from an obituary of Rev. George Whitmore Carr (1779-1849). Printed, 9 pp.
• William O’Connell, ‘Three documents relating to Father Mathew / A famous Irish Chancery action of 1839’, 'Journal of the Cork Historical & Archaeological Society', XLVI (1951), 5 pp. An offprint presented to Fr. Stanislaus Kavanagh OFM Cap.
• Poem by J.E. Murphy titled ‘Lines suggested by seeing the beloved Apostle of Temperance, returning from the Charity Sermon preached at the Cathedral, Cork, 17th April 1852’. Manuscript, 1 p.
• A note affirming that Fr. Mathew entered Maynooth Seminary ‘as a student from Cashel’ in 1807. Manuscript, 1 p.
• Extract from the annals of the South Presentation Convent in Cork re the celebration of the golden jubilee of Mother Clare O’Callaghan at which Fr. Mathew attended in January 1845. Manuscript, 1 p.
• Copy letter of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC to Richard Foley, 37 Francis Street, Kilrush, thanking him for his kind gift of £5. The letter reads: ‘It has graciously pleased the Almighty to smite me with general Paralysis, which fixed particularly in my right arm, consequently I write with difficulty and almost illegibly. My exertions in America, preaching temperance to the expatriated Irish, in that vast Republic, exhausted my strength’. 31 May 1854. Typescript, 1 p.
• Copy articles from 'The Constitution or Cork Advertiser' reporting on the death and funeral of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC. 9 Dec. 1856-13 Dec. 1856. Manuscript, 3 pp.

• Newspaper cutting of a letter from Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC dated at Cork, 31 March 1847. It reads ‘We shall ever regard America as our deliverer in the hour of bitter calamity. The immense supply of Indian corn, wafted into the Cove of Cork, the last few days, and the Free-Gift cargoes, daily expected, have had an unexpected effect on the Corn Market’. The letter was reprinted from the 'Albany Evening Journal'.
• 'Manual of tablets of maxims, eulogies &c in prose and poetry reciting descriptively the blessings and benefits arising to the members of the Very Rev. T. Mathew’s Temperance Society' (Dublin, 1840). Printed, 36 pp.
• Letter of the Most Rev. Daniel O’Connor OESA, Titular Bishop of Saldae (1786-1867), John Street, Chapel House, Dublin, to James Roche, Cork, re his support for the ‘completion of the Church of my excellent friend, Father Mathew’ in Cork. 4 Nov. 1848. Manuscript, 1 p.
• 'Sermon delivered by the Very Rev. T. Mathew on Sunday last in Marlborough St. Chapel. 29 Mar. 1840'. Printed. 2 pp.

• Notes from the register of the Dublin Capuchin community re novitiate arrangements in the early nineteenth century. It reads ‘Fr. Celestine Corcoran, Provincial Minister, in a letter to the Fr. General on Sept. 2nd 1815 mentions that he had arranged with the “Patre Provinciale Baeticae” to send young men to be received in that province. Six young men were received in the Convent of Seville, Spain, on Sunday, November 19th 1815, and were professed there on November 24th 1816. … At the request of Fr. Mathew in accordance with a decree of the Sacred Congregation of Regular Discipline of Dec. 20, 1825, the Convent of Frascati was appointed as a novitiate for Irish novices. … Irish friars were received also in Convents in Italy, and in Fr. Mathew’s time (1850) four were received in Bruges, Frs. Tommins, Dillon, Mitchell, and O’Reilly, and in the following year (1851) five entered in Frascati, Frs. Muldoon, Rourke, Dunne, Knaresboro and Maher’. The file also includes notes relating to Fr. Mathew taken from the Capuchin General Archives in Rome. The notes refer to the appointment of Fr. Mathew as Provincial Minister of the Irish Capuchins from c.1813-52. ‘In a letter to the Fr. General dated Sept. 2nd 1815, he signs himself “Provincialis Hiberniae”’. Also includes a copy of the decree by which the Irish Capuchins were permitted to have a novitiate in their houses in Ireland dated 29 May 1808. It is noted that a copy of this decree is preserved in the Franciscan Library, Merchants’ Quay, Dublin. Typescript, 3 pp.
• Extracts from the account book of the Capuchin Friary in Cork relating to the building of Holy Trinity (Father Mathew Memorial) Church. The extracts were compiled by Br. Nessan Shaw OFM Cap. The notes refer to the difficulties in securing funding for the completion of the church. It reads ‘During the great excitement of the temperance movement Fr. Mathew was pressed from many parts of Ireland to allow the church to be finished by subscriptions of teetotallers but would not allow the matter to be accomplished’. The following statement of accounts is also given in the notes:
‘Mr. Anthony, contracting architect received £13,000
Sir Thomas Deane & Co. received £1,000
Since 1848 to various parties £2,500
Total: £16,500
Collection made in 1854: £500
Total: £17,000’
Manuscript, 3 pp.
• Copy letter of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC to David O’Meara, his secretary, affirming that he is attending to his sick brother in Kenmare, County Kerry. 30 Jan. 1848. Typescript, 1 p.
• Copy letter of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC to Larry Egan, Herbert Park, Gardiner’s Hill, Cork, regarding his life assurance which he has assigned to William Rathborne of Liverpool, merchant. 11 May 1849. Manuscript, 1 p.
• Copy letter from Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC to Symon Carew, 96 Lower Mount Street, Dublin, re his brother’s (Charles) illness and the payment of rent. He writes ‘The persons who at present hold the land are no tenants of mine, neither have I any control over them. The will continue to keep possession and pay no rent’. 5 Feb. 1848. Typescript, 1 p.
• Copy letters of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC from Maurice Denham Jephson, 'An Anglo-Irish Miscellany / Some Records of the Jephsons of Mallow' (Dublin: Allen & Figgis, 1964). The three copy letters are from Fr. Mathew to Lady Browne and Sir Denham Jephson-Norreys, (1799-1888), MP for Mallow, and date from 2 July 1844-5 Nov. 1844. Printed, 4 pp.
• Copy letter from Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC to Mrs Cronin re an Altar Stone consecrated by the late Pope Gregory XVI which he is happy to forward on to her. 24 July 1846. A note appended to the letter reads ‘The original [letter] is in the South Presentation Convent, Douglas Street, Cork / The original, from which I typed this copy, is in the hand of one of the secretaries of Fr. Mathew, David O’Meara’. Typescript, 1 p.
• Copy letter from Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC to the Rev. Guardian [possibly Fr. Vincent McLeod OSFC] re an accusation that Fr. Laurence O’Flynn OSFC (1807-1863) had ‘repeatedly hunted upon and destroyed game’ on the lands of Reginald Greene. Fr. Mathew writes ‘That a member of the Capuchin Order should subject himself to such a charge, and partake of such amusements, must fill a religious mind with horror. You will Rev. Father Guardian deliver the enclosed obedience to the Rev. Father O’Flynn, and take care that my mandate shall be strictly obeyed’. The letter is dated at Cork, 20 Sept. 1846. With a typed copy of the letter in Italian held in the Capuchin General Archives in Rome. Typescript, 2 pp.

• 'The Catholic Register' (1857) containing a biographical sketch of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC at pp 248-54. Also contains biographical notes re the Right Rev. Dr. Egan, Bishop of Kerry, the Right Rev. Dr. Murphy, Bishop of Ferns, and the Right Rev. Dr. Murphy, Bishop of Cloyne. Printed, 11 pp.
• Copybooks containing ‘A sermon preached on Sunday, 14th of June 1840 at the Consecration of the new Catholic Church at Maynooth / Dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary by the Very Rev. Theobald Mathew’. Copied from 'The Catholic Luminary and Ecclesiastical Repository', Vol. 1, 20 June 1841. 2 copies. Manuscript, 114 pp.
• Copy letter from Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC to Mrs Carville regarding the ‘sacred cause’ of temperance. The letter is dated 11 Oct. 1844. Typescript, 1 p.
• Copy letter from Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC, Nashville, Tennessee, to Sr. Magdalen, South Presentation Convent, Cork, affirming that ‘the excessive labour attendant on my mission has enfeebled me’. 28 Apr. 1851. Typescript, 1 p.
• Copy letters of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC to Mr Dowden and to Miss [Kinaghan?] referring to the harsh sentence handed down to a sailor at a court martial in Cove Harbour and the disposition of Indian Meal for the relief of the destitute in Cork during the famine. 12 June 1847. Typescript, 5 pp.
• 'A Letter to Irish Temperance Societies concerning the present state of Ireland, and its connexion with England by S.C. Hall Esq.' (London, 1843). Published in the 'Dublin University Magazine', No. CXXVII, Vol. XXII (July, 1843), pp 748-52.
• ‘Rev. Theobald Mathew / Born 1790 – Died 1856’. Biographical sketch of the temperance campaigner. Printed, 4 pp.
• Notes from the South Presentation Convent Annals re the death of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC on 8 Dec. 1856. It reads ‘He was Superior and Confessor to this Community for several years and always entertained for the Sisters a sincere respect and esteem’. It is noted that these Annals were written by Mother de Pazzi who knew Fr. Mathew personally. Reference is also made to Mother Aloysius Nagle ‘who was brought by Father Mathew to the South Presentation Convent, and was a relative of his. She celebrated her Golden Jubilee in 1911, and died in 1914’. The notes were compiled by Fr. Angelus Healy OFM Cap. in July 1928. Typescript, 2 pp.
• Notes from the Ursuline Annals, Cork, re the death of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC on 8 Dec. 1856. Typescript, 1 p.
• Account from Sr. M. Ignatius Moore, Presentation Convent, Mountmellick, County Laois, re the blessing given to her sister by Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC in 1841. It is noted that Sr. Ignatius was ‘born in the same year and is still living’. Typescript, 1 p.

• Photostat copy a Memorial to Thomas Hamilton, 9th Earl of Haddington, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, from Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC, re ‘a loan, not to exceed £4,000, towards finishing a Catholic place of worship’ in Cork. The memorial is dated 19 Aug. 1834. The copy was obtained from the original in the Chief Secretaries’ Office. The reference number is CSORP/1834/3428. Copy print, 3 pp.
• Photostat copy a ‘Memorial of Revd. Theobald Mathew respecting payment of a loan made by the Commission of Public Works for a Chapel at Cork’. The document reads ‘That memorialist expended of his own private resources, in the erection of such building over £4,500, and obtained from benevolent individuals of all persuasions (including the loan of £1,000 hereinafter mentioned about £9,000, all of which was expended on the building which, is in a very advanced state, having been roofed in. The memorial seeks a loan of £4,000 to enable him to complete the building. The memorial is dated 21 Jan. 1840. The copy was obtained from the original in the Chief Secretaries’ Office papers now held in the National Archives of Ireland. The reference number is CSORP/1840/W1044. Copy print, 10 pp.
• Copy documents relating to the ‘Father Mathew Annuity Fund’. The documents refer to the work of a committee established to secure a sum of £7,000 ‘to procure a Life-Annuity of £800 for the Rev. Theobald Mathew, in order to enable him to continue, during his mortal life the great Temperance Movement …’. The file includes lists of subscribers to the fund. 1843-8. Copy print, 12 pp.

• Copy letters from Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC to Cornelius Maxwell, Chairman of the United Total Abstinence Societies of Kilkenny, re his attendance at a temperance banquet in Kilkenny. 2 Dec. 1842-10 Dec. 1842. Typescript and manuscript, 7 pp.
• Copy letter of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC to the editor of the 'Dublin Monitor' regarding his attitude to William Smith O’Brien. 27 Aug. 1844. Typescript, 1 p.
• Note re a charity sermon preached by Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC in Tipperary town on 23 Feb. 1845. Manuscript, 1 p.
• Copy letter from Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC dated at Cork, 7 Aug. 1846. Fr. Stanislaus Kavanagh OFM Cap. notes that the letter was published in the 'Irish Independent' under the title of ‘The Black Famine of 1847 / A Father Mathew Letter’. It reads ‘… I passed from Cork to Dublin, and with an occasional exception, this doomed plant appeared most luxuriant. Returning on 3rd inst. I beheld with sorrow one vast scene of rottenness. In many places the wretched people were seated in the fences of their decaying gardens, wailing bitterly the destruction that has left them foodless’. Manuscript, 2 pp.

• Flier titled 'Father Mathew’s Advice! / Keep away from the Public House'. Includes various exhortations to ‘Keep away from the Public House’ and ‘Judge Hale on Whiskey Drinking’. The flier concludes with a warning from Fr. Mathew to ‘his beloved Teetotallers not to be duped by persons who sell poisons falsely called “Temperance Cordials” – Whiskey is the principal ingredients in all these Cordials’. [c.1840]. Printed, 1 p.
• 'Rules of the Committee Rooms of the Total Abstinence Society, Cork'. The rules are dated at Cork, 24 Aug. 1839. Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC is named as the President of the Association. Printed, 1 p.
• Copy appeal on behalf of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC. The appeal was made at a meeting of the ‘friends of temperance’ held in the Lord Mayor’s Office, Paradise Place, Cork, on 18 July 1848. It reads ‘it is essential that he [Fr. Mathew] should be relieved from the pressure of the pecuniary difficulties necessarily incurred in the operations of his great mission, and that therefore exertion should be made to realise the subscriptions hitherto promised …’. The appeal is signed by William Lyons, Lord Mayor of Cork, and Francis A. Walsh, barrister. Printed, 1 p.