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• Flier from the Father Mathew Centenary Committee seeking subscriptions for a fund for the completion of Holy Trinity (Father Mathew) Memorial Church, Cork. The flier includes a list of subscribers and the amounts given to the fund. March 1889. Printed, 1 p.
• Copy programme for a ‘Grand Vocal and Instrumental Concert in aid of the Father Mathew Centenary Celebration’ performed by the Cork Amateur Orchestral Society in the Opera House, Cork, on 9 Oct. 1889. The programme includes a recital of the Centenary Ode by Fr. Michael O’Flynn, CC, Saint Peter and Saint Paul’s Church, Cork. Copy print, 1 p.
• Copy obedience to Br. Masseo Hyland OSFC (d. 18 May 1908) allowing him to travel to the United States with Fr. Mathew O’Connor OSFC to receive subscriptions for the celebrations of the centenary of the Father Theobald Mathew and the completing of the Church of the Most Holy Trinity in Cork …’. The obedience is signed by Fr. Paul Neary OSFC, Provincial Minister, and is dated at Rochestown, 18 Oct. 1889. With a copy of a similar obedience (in Latin) to Fr. Mathew O’Connor OSFC. Manuscript, 3 pp.
• Notes re the Fr. Mathew ephemera and relics used in the Centenary Exhibition in 1890. The exhibited items included:
A banner painted by a sister from the South Presentation Convent.
A lock of Father Mathew’s hair which was loaned by Frank Driscoll, Garrick Street, Covent Garden, London. It is affirmed that ‘it was given to a Mr Regan, a devoted follower of Fr. Mathew, a few months before he died’.
A pair of heavy silver spectacles.
Temperance medals and cards including ‘the first medal sold in Cork by Fr. Mathew – sold to Wm. Kelly, and sent in by his daughter, Mrs Daly of Evergreen Street’.
A bible lent by Mrs Donegan, Monkstown. It had been given to Fr. Mathew by Mrs Donegan’s Aunt.
The file also includes notes by Fr. Nessan Shaw OFM Cap. on the wider centenary celebrations of Fr. Mathew’s birth in 1890. Many of the extracts appear to have been taken from the 'Cork Examiner'. Manuscript and typescript, 9 pp.
• Copybook containing extracts from 'The Standard' (14 Oct. 1889) and the 'Freeman’s Journal' (25 Oct. 1889) reporting on a meeting of a committee organising the commemorations of the centenary of the birth of Fr. Mathew. The article in 'The Standard' reads ‘As a rule the inhabitants of the sister island find it anything but easy to discover a common ground on which they may meet each other without fear of dispute. The names of famous Irishmen are usually rather emblems of discord than national rallying cries. According as the great men in Irish history were Protestant or Catholic loyal or disloyal men of the North, or men of the South so did they receive the sympathy or dislike of the various sections of the population. Hardly one of them is capable of uniting even for a moment the sentiment of the whole country … . The zealous and single-hearted priest whom the Irish race with its love of picturesque phraseology knows as the “Apostle of Temperance” is one of the very few persons whom the whole country agrees to honour. That Father Mathew was a brave and good man, and that he did his best to succour and to raise the peasantry is a fact which is never disputed in Ireland’. Extensive reference is also made to the plan to erect a statue on O’Connell Street commemorating the temperance campaigner. Manuscript, 23 pp.
• 'The Father Mathew Centenary / by John Francis Maguire / 1890' (Cork: Irish Temperance League, 1890). Printed, 8 pp.
• An article from 'The Shamrock' on the unveiling of the statue of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC on O’Connell Street, Dublin. It reads ‘Father Mathew needs no statue to perpetuate his memory … but it is only proper that in the Capital of his Nation a grateful people should testify by some public memorial their recognition of his services, and should set his image in their streets as a witness of their gratitude. … Father Mathew would never have been suspected of being a clergyman from his dress. He wore no clerical coat or hat. He dressed like a gentleman of the time in a frock coat, hessian boots and a tall hat. Yet it was as a Capuchin Friar he did his marvellous work, and it is quite appropriate that in the statue which has been just unveiled in Dublin he should appear in the habit of that order. The statue is a fine work of art. It is by Irish hand, and the sculptor, to whom we offer our congratulations, is Miss Mary Redmond’. The article includes a sketch of the statue and of Thomastown Castle, Fr. Mathew’s birthplace. Feb. 1893. Printed, 4 pp.

Legal documents arising out of efforts to establish title to the properties known as nos. 138-140 Church Street. The properties consisted of three dwelling houses fronting onto Church Street and four houses in Willis’s Court. In 1886, Fr. Nicholas Murphy OSFC and other Capuchin friars agreed to purchase John Coyle’s interest in a lease of the properties dated 28 May 1856 (See CA CS/2/2/3/2). The Capuchins also intimated an interest in purchasing the interest of John Coyle’s landlord, Frederick Kennedy, whose title derived from a lease of the premises for lives renewable forever at the yearly rent of £27 6s 0 (late Irish currency) dated 2 Oct. 1783. It was resolved that Coyle would take a conveyance of the properties from Kennedy (See CA CS/2/2/3/10) and that Coyle would then convey the interests in both leases to the Capuchins. The transfer of the properties was rendered more difficult by the loss of the original lease of 2 Oct. 1783 and by the absence of registered copies of Kennedy’s renewal leases of 28 Dec. 1815 and 13 June 1856 (See CA CS/2/2/3/1). The file includes legal documents generated in order to prove title to the interests held by both Coyle and Kennedy and to facilitate the transfer of the premises to the Capuchin friars. The documents include:
• Copy memorial of a lease (2 Oct. 1783) from George Kiernan, apothecary, and others to Robert Shutter, merchant, of the above-noted properties for lives renewable forever at the yearly rent of £27 6s 0. Copy made at the Registry of Deeds, 10 Mar. 1883.
• Assignment from John Hanrick and Joseph Bolger of the aforementioned premises to John Coyle in consideration of the sum £220. 2 Apr. 1883. With copies of said assignment.
• Abstract of title of Maryanne O'Brien and the trustees of the will of the late James Willis to houses and premises at 138-140 Church Street with four houses at the rear of 139 Church Street in Willis's Court. 20 Apr. 1883.
• Copy will and probate of John Willis, 139 Church Street, Dublin, 4 Feb. 1865. Willis died on 24 Feb. 1865. The copy will was compiled by Frederick Kennedy, 4 Lower Ormond Quay, c.1886.
• Instructions for Philip White, barrister, to advise on title occasioned by the transfer of nos. 138-140 by John Coyle to Fr. Nicholas Murphy and other Capuchin friars. The instructions refer to the intention of the Capuchin friars to demolish the four houses in Willis’s Court and to sell or demise the three houses fronting onto Church Street for a period of twenty years. White wrote: ‘On the whole I would, having regard to the fact that no other premises will suit the querists’ [the Capuchins] purpose, and to the fact that querists have had the risk of being restrained from pulling down the houses thoroughly explained to them and that they are prepared to run the risk, accept the title shown both to Coyle’s and Kennedy’s interests’. 23 Nov. 1886.
• Abstract of title of Frederick Kennedy to premises on Church Street. The abstract commences with a recital of the lease of George Kiernan and others to Robert Joseph Shutter of a ‘messuage, tenement and dwelling house … situate on the west side of Church Street ... containing in the front to the said street from north to south 55 feet, in the rear 22 feet, and in depth from east to west 185 feet … situate in the parish of St. Michan, for lives renewable forever at the yearly rent of £27 6s 0d. The abstract concludes with reference to an assignment of said premises by Henry Smith to Frederick Kennedy (12 Mar. 1883). The document was prepared by Frederick Kennedy in c.Nov. 1886.
• Conveyance and assignment by John Coyle to Fr. Nicholas Murphy OSFC and others of the aforementioned properties. In consideration of £710. 14 Jan. 1887.
• Conveyance by Fr. Nicholas Murphy OSFC and others to Fr. Paul Neary OSFC and others of the aforementioned properties on Church Street to hold in fee simple. (17 Mar. 1888).

File relating to cures associated with visits to the grave of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC in St. Joseph’s Cemetery in Cork. The file was compiled by Fr. Stanislaus Kavanagh OFM Cap. The file includes:
• Statements from Hannah Keohane regarding her son who was cured through the intercession of prayers at the grave of Fr. Theobald. (18 Mar. 1943).
• Letters to Fr. Stanislaus from Fr. Mel Farrell OFM Cap. and Fr. T.J. Walsh re Annie Nolan, 21 Abbey Street, Cork, who reputedly recovered her sight through the intercession of Fr. Theobald.
• Statements and correspondence re Madge Twomey whose throat condition was cured through visits to the grave.
• Letters relating to Mrs Kathleen Skillington (née Walsh) whose leg was cured following a visit to Fr. Theobald’s grave. The file includes the testimony of Dr D. F. Hegarty, surgeon. 5 Jan 1938.
• Letter from Fr. Paul Neary OFM Cap. to Fr. Stanislaus Kavanagh OFM Cap. referring to the cause of Fr. Mathew. He wrote ‘It is to be regretted that there is no one of ourselves free and willing to take an interest in the cause – as according to rumours a great many things occur at the grave. The people come from a distance. No one has any knowledge of themselves, the favours they have received or where they come from’. 28 Jan. 1932. Manuscript, 2 pp.
• ‘Father Mathew / Leader and Priest / Cures wrought at his tomb’. The text of a speech given by Fr. Aloysius Travers OSFC on the occasion of the 123rd anniversary of the birth of Fr. Mathew. Oct. 1913. Typescript, 8 pp.
• Prayer for the beatification of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC. It is noted that this prayer was submitted to the Most Rev. Daniel Coholan, Bishop of Cork, for ecclesiastical approval in May 1928. Typescript, 1 p.

Correspondence of Fr. Paul Neary OSFC, and Fr. Peter Bowe OSFC, with the Catholic Bishops of Derry, Ferns, Waterford and Lismore, Down and Connor, Dromore, Clogher, Kilmore, the Archbishop of Tuam, the Archbishop of Dublin, and Cardinal Michael Logue, Archbishop of Armagh, re the publication of the Capuchin Franciscan 'Temperance Manual', the establishment of temperance sodalities in the various dioceses, and the general progress of the temperance crusade conducted by the friars. The draft letter from Fr. Paul Neary OSFC to Archbishop William Walsh (1841-1921) refers to the good work Fr. Aloysius Travers OSFC is doing among the trades’ societies and artisan classes in Dublin (10 Apr. 1906).

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 from Mrs Poer Shee [var. Power Shee], Kilmacthomas, County Waterford, to Fr. Paul Neary OSFC, Vicar Provincial, regarding negotiations for the handing over of the Archer Chalice to the Capuchins in Kilkenny. The chalice was originally presented by Walter Archer to the Chapel of the Blessed Mary in the Monastery of St. Francis in Kilkenny in 1606. Fr. Angelus Healy OSFC wrote to Fr. Paul explaining that Miss Poer Shee ‘will hand over the chalice to us in Kilkenny to be held until the Franciscans would get a foundation there, when she would wish it to go there (as being more in accordance with its origins) … . She gives the chalice quite freely and generously’. It is unclear from the correspondence if the agreement handing over the chalice to the Capuchins was ever fulfilled. With a sketch of the chalice. The file also includes a letter from [J.S. Gill], St. Mary’s, Lanark, Scotland, to Fr. Angelus regarding an ‘OFM Chalice’ with a Kilkenny connection dating to 1632 (the letter is dated 20 Feb. 1936), and a clipping from 'The Father Mathew Record', Vol. 39, No. 6 (June 1945) of an article titled ‘The Story of a Chalice’ by Colin Johnston Cobb. The said chalice is inscribed ‘CAPVCINORUM LOCI KILKENIAE’. See also CA KK/8/15.

Correspondence of the Most Rev. Richard Alphonsus Sheehan (1845-1915), Bishop of Waterford and Lismore, with Fr. Paul Neary OSFC, Provincial Minister, re the resolution of the Irish Catholic hierarchy that ‘the Capuchin Fathers be asked to set apart a certain number of their body for the preaching of a Temperance Crusade in the Country’. A manuscript addition on one copy of the letters reads: ‘Copy of above sent to Fr. Finbarr’s, Cork, at his request (Fr. Albert Bibby, 26 Feb. 1918)’. With copy replies to Bishop Sheehan and the Most Rev. Patrick Foley (1858-1926), Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin, and several copies of 'Suggestions for temperance work submitted to the standing committee of Bishops' (January 1906).

Copy power of attorney obtained from the High Court of Justice (Ireland), Chancery Division. The deed specifies that Caroline Sophia Hunt, 17 Clarinda Park East, Kingstown, County Dublin, spinster, aged 67, has appointed Rev. Henry de Vere Hunt, The Rectory, Ahascragh, County Galway, to act as her attorney, allowing him to execute deeds for certain premises situated on Church Street, Middle Abbey Street, Strand Street and Bachelors’ Walk in Dublin. Specifically, the deed allows Rev. Henry de Vere Hunt to execute a fee farm grant (under the provisions of the Renewable Leasehold Conversion Act, 1849) of premises (probably nos. 138-139) on Church Street. Caroline Sophia Hunt was entitled as tenant for life to rents accruing out of the above-noted premises. With a statement showing fee farm rent from Caroline Sophia Hunt to Fr. William (Paul) Neary OSFC and Fr. Nicholas Murphy OSFC of the aforesaid properties on Church Street.

Bound volume containing newspaper clippings providing accounts of the tenement collapse and the subsequent funeral and burial of the seven victims. The clippings also give lists of subscribers to the relief fund established after the disaster. The volume also contains a manuscript list of twenty-seven Capuchin friars at St. Marys of the Angels, Church Street, at Rochestown College, and at Father Mathew’s (Holy Trinity) Church in Cork. The list is headed by Fr. Paul Neary OSFC, ‘the Lord Mayor’s Chaplain’. The list also includes Fr. Joseph Fenlon OSFC, ‘superior of Fr. Mathew’s Church, Cork’, and Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OSFC, President, Rochestown College, Cork. The volume also contains a manuscript list of people with private addresses in the environs of Church Street and North King Street. The list also notes ‘Father Mathew Hall’ for all the signatories. This may be a list of members of a religious sodality or, alternatively, a list of subscribers to the Tenement Disaster fund.