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The file includes a letter from Fr. Albert to Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap., Minister Provincial [Dec. 1922], referring to his time in the parish. He declares that the priests there have no interest in Ireland. ‘It doesn’t count here apparently’, and added, ‘unemployment [is] very serious. The “Daily News” urges the setting up “unemployment committees” …’. Later, Canon Palmer, Ilford, Essex, wrote to Fr. Peter Bowe OFM Cap., Provincial Minister, Church Street, Dublin, seeking to have Fr. Albert come over to cover for one of his clerical assistants who is unwell. On 11 Oct. 1923 Fr. Palmer wrote: ‘I would gladly give him all accommodation and he could help us. In strict confidence with yourself I wish to say at the same time that if there is any radical objection to his coming or having facilities. I would not presume to ask you at all’. With letter from Fr. Peter Bowe to Fr. Albert granting permission to ‘absent yourself from the Province for the benefit of your health, and to go to Very Rev. Canon Palmer of Ilford … to help in Parochial Work during the absence of the Senior Curate, until the end of February 1924’. The file also includes a letter from Fr. Sylvester Mulligan OFM Cap. to Fr. Peter Bowe OFM Cap., regarding the sending of Fr. Albert to Ilford, Esssex. Some political references are made by Fr. Albert in a letter to Fr. Stanislaus Kavanagh OFM Cap. (4 Mar. 1924). He wrote: ‘I am able to follow the events pretty well. Tis an awful pity that the being in power of the Labour Party is not availed of to scrap or modify the Treaty – a united body at home could now get anything – not that Labour is pro-Irish. It is not, but … because of the support on which it depends it could not turn down a united Ireland – or a large section demanding it’

Letters to Fr. Peter Bowe OSFC, Provincial Minister, Fr. Angelus Healy OSFC, and other Capuchin friar, regarding requests for parish missions and retreats. The file includes letters requesting missions in Letterkenny (Donegal), Avoca (Wicklow), Bere Island (Cork), Dunleer (Louth), Bray (Wicklow), Ashbourne (Meath), Virginia (Cavan), Westport (Mayo), Ennis (Clare), Kilmaine (Mayo), Ahascragh (Galway), Tuam (Galway), Kilrooskey (Roscommon), Loughrea (Galway), Sligo, Rathmines (Dublin), Spiddal (Galway), Carrick-on-Shannon (Leitrim), Frenchpark (Roscommon), Ballinasloe (Galway), Birr (King’s County), Clonmel (Tipperary), Gweedore (Donegal), and Omagh (Tyrone).

Correspondence (including many copies) regarding the protracted negotiations with the Rev. Andrew Craig Robinson, to secure the conveyance to the Capuchin friars of two houses on Walkin Street (See CA KK/2/1/1/3/13). Correspondents include Rev. Andrew Craig Robinson, Ballymoney Rectory, Ballineen, County Cork, Fr. Berchmans Cantillon, Fr. Peter Bowe, W. Carrigan, John R. Peart, conveyancing counsel, Nicholas Shorthal, solicitor for the Capuchin friars, and Michael Buggy, solicitor. Robinson noted that the said premises were mortgaged to Michael Buggy, that he was a joint owner with his sister-in-law and nephew, and that they would seek £625 for the outright purchase of the holding. One of the copy letters (8 Jan. 1916) from the Rev. Robinson to Nicholas Shorthal notes that he has received a letter from Lord Ormonde’s agent ‘saying that in consequence of a fire by which a valuable number of documents were lost they have no maps of the property in Kilkenny in the eighteenth century’. The file includes letters mainly referring to emendations to the draft conveyance of the properties, to negotiations over the purchase price, and to a dispute over the bill of costs for securing the conveyance and to the amount of tithe rentcharge payable out of the said premises. On 1 July 1917 John R. Peart wrote to Nicholas Shorthal affirming that they had ‘certainly had trouble in this case out all proportion to the purchase money and to the scale of fees involved’. Fr. Bowe wrote on 28 Dec. 1917 ‘we had patience so long with Rev. Mr. Robinson I suppose we must keep it up to the end’. One of Shorthal’s correspondents, James F. Reade, acknowledged the receipt of £3 3s 0d and referred to the air raids in London in June 1918 as ‘most damnable experiences. … One never gets used to these raids, the noise of the bombs falling, guns firing, shells singing and exploding and machine guns etc. make an infernal row’.

The file includes letters from various American Associations for the Recognition of the Irish Republic to Fr. Peter Bowe OFM Cap., Provincial Minister, re the Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. Includes:
Letter from Mrs John Flanagan, Secretary, Liam Mellows Council of the American Association for the Recognition of the Irish Republic, Portland, enclosing a resolution protesting against the exiling of Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. and other Capuchin Priests. With annotated cover: ‘Not Answered, F[ather] P[eter]. Deserves none except mind own business’. 25 Mar. 1925.
Letter from Martin Howard, American Association for the Recognition of the Irish Republic, 3 East 42nd Street, New York, enclosing a resolution condemning the ‘victimization’ of Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. and other Capuchin priests who merely expressed ‘a deep rooted love of their motherland, Ireland … and were therefore looked on as a menace to the so-called Free State Government in Ireland …’. 21 Apr. 1925.
Letter from Loretta A. Ryder, Secretary, Kevin Barry Council of the American Association for the Recognition of the Irish Republic, enclosing a resolution condemning ‘the unchristian conduct of the Superiors of the Capuchin Order of Priests in Ireland in exiling Father Albert and other Priests of their Order because they had the courage to stand up for Ireland’s rightful independence’. 4 May 1925

A notebook containing extracts from letters received from parish priests and other individuals (mostly religious) referring to retreats and temperance missions given by Capuchin friars from 1913-19. The volume was compiled by Fr. Albert Bibby OSFC, Provincial Secretary. Most of the letters refer to requests for friars to conduct missions and (in some cases) to the need for the priests to converse in Irish. The volume includes:
• A letter from Fr. Innocent Ryan, Parish Priest, Fethard, County Tipperary, affirms that the local men ‘have safely ridden the storm of temptation that blew over the place on the occasion of the “old fair” on Friday last. Bucket fulls of coffey [sic] were consumed; and even Bovril (Friday and all!) was, under false ideas of permission, brought into requisition’. Nov. 1913.
• A letter from Rev. Phelan, Parish Priest, Glenmore, County Waterford, to Fr. Augustine Hayden OSFC, notes that the ‘harvest was threshed without drink and the farmers and labourers were perfectly happy. Only in two cases out of possibly 200 threshings was an attempt made to break through the pledge’. (17 Jan. 1914).
• A letter from Rev. J. Flavin, Parish Priest, Arklow, County Wicklow, to Fr. Peter Bowe OSFC, Provincial Minister, refers to his desire to have Fr. Laurence Dowling OSFC for a mission. He added ‘I did not mind who came with him provided he was not a Sinn Feiner’. (28 Dec. 1917).

File of newspaper clippings mainly re various anniversaries and commemorations connected with Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC and the temperance campaign. Some of the clippings refer to the unveiling of a Father Mathew statue in his native Thomastown, County Tipperary. The file includes:
• ‘Memoir of Father Mathew by William Howitt’, 'The People’s Journal', 15 Aug. 1846. The copy article refers to Fr. Mathew’s ancestry.
• Clipping of an article titled ‘The Life and Labours of Father Mathew’ from the 'Irish Penny Readings'. The article reports a speech by John Francis Maguire MP at a public meeting held in the Cork City Courthouse in January 1857 to inaugurate a ‘movement for the erection of a monument in Fr. Mathew’s memory’. 121-5 pp.
• ‘Apostle of Temperance in USA’, 'The Standard', 14 Jan 1955.
• ‘Fr. Mathew / One of the Great Men of History, 'Cork Examiner', 15 Nov. 1956.
• ‘Archbishop Mathew’s Tributes to his Illustrious Kinsman’, 'Cork Examiner', 15 Dec. 1956.
• ‘Myles na Gopaleen’ (Brian O’Nolan, 1911-1966), ‘Father Mathew’, 'Irish Times', 18 Dec. 1954 and 13 Jan. 1955. A negative pen-portrait of Fr. Mathew and his temperance campaign.
• Denis Gwynn, ‘Now and then / Father Mathew’s Grave / The Botanic Gardens’, 'Cork Examiner', 15 June 1956.
• ‘Apostle of Temperance Honoured / Kinsman Unveils Memorial at Birthplace / Tipperary Tribute’, 'Irish Independent', 26 June 1939.
• ‘Tipperary Honours the Noble Name of Mathew / Government urged to preserve Thomastown Castle as national monument’, 'The Tipperary Star', 1 July 1939.
• ‘Kilkenny honours Father Mathew / Great Temperance Rally’, 'Kilkenny Journal', 16 July 1938.
• ‘The Memory of Father Mathew / Speeches by Rev. Father Peter Bowe OSFC and the Most Rev. Dr. Kelly, Bishop of Ross’, 'Cork Examiner' [1902].
• ‘Where Fr. Mathew was threatened / Incident at Cootehill’.
• Newspaper cutting re the history of Holy Trinity (Father Mathew Memorial) Church, Cork, and Fr. Mathew’s association with the building. 'West Cork Eagle and County Advertiser', Dec. 1883. The article gives considerable detail about the interior decoration of the building. It reads: ‘There are six confessionals built of pine to correspond with the choir and gallery, and handsomely carved. The Stations of the Cross are in alto relievo, cast in composite material from designs by one of the Italian Friars who were in charge of the Church some years ago They are genuine works of art. The organ, it may not be generally known, is the instrument which was built for the Cork Exhibition of 1852 by Mr. Murphy, and is at present in as good tone as when it peals lifted up the hearts of thousands more than thirty years ago’.
• Special supplement to the 'Cork Examiner' on the Centennial Celebrations, 11 Oct. 1890.

Letters to Fr. Peter Bowe OSFC, Provincial Minister, Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OSFC, Fr. Sylvester Mulligan OSFC, Fr. Laurence Dowling OSFC, Fr. Fiacre Brophy OSFC and other Capuchin friars regarding parish missions and retreats. Many of the requests from religious congregations and institutions. The letters refer to retreats in the South Parish (Cork), Eyrecourt (Galway), the Convent of the Poor Clares, Lynton (Devon), Our Lady of Sorrows Capuchin Friary, Peckham (London), Kilrooskey (Roscommon), Crosshaven (Cork), Athy (Kildare), Kinsale (Cork), the Sisters of Mercy Convent, Thurles (Tipperary), the Capuchin Friary, Pantasaph (Wales), Saint Alban’s Convent, Pontypool (Wales), Curragh Army Camp (Kildare), Dunfanaghy (Donegal), Dunmore East (Waterford), Bundoran (Donegal), Mooncoin (Kilkenny), Ballyshannon (Donegal), Sisters of Charity Convent (Dublin), Carmelite Convent, Tallaght (Dublin), Catholic Truth Society (Kerry), Loreto Convent, Navan (Meath), St. Joseph’s Daughters of the Cross Convent, Donaghmore (Tyrone), and the Little Sisters of the Poor Convent (Waterford).

Specification and contract of agreement with Alex Chestnutt & Company, organ builders, Manor Street, Waterford, for the installation of a ‘two-manual organ’ at the Capuchin Friary, Kilkenny. The agreement (dated 28 July 1914) with Fr. Peter Bowe OSFC, guardian, notes that the consideration money for the installation of the organ was £580. The file includes letters from Alex Chestnutt to Fr. Peter Bowe OSFC in which the former notes that ‘owing to this unfortunate war there is very little doing in the organ building trade … and having many bills to meet now at the end of the year I have no other course to take but to ask if you will kindly oblige me with another £100’. (30 Dec. 1914). With letters to Fr. Pius Duggan OSFC, guardian, regarding an estimate from the cleaning and overhaul of the organ (8 Feb. 1930).