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Fee farm grant of Caroline Sophia Hunt, 31 Clarinda Park, Kingstown, County Dublin, to Fr. Paul Neary OSFC and other Capuchin friars, Church Street, Dublin, of a messuage, tenement, dwelling houses and yards situated on the west side of Church Street at the yearly fee farm rent of £25 5s 2d.

File relating to the commemoration of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC at the 1902 Cork International Exhibition. Proposed by Edward Fitzgerald, Lord Mayor of Cork, this exhibition and fair showcased many facets of the industrial revival in Ireland. The exhibition included a pavilion devoted to the life and work of Fr. Mathew. The installation of a Father Mathew Pavilion at the exhibition was primarily the result of work done by Fr. Thomas Dowling OSFC (1874-1951). The Exhibition Pavilion was designed by James F. McMullen, architect. The file includes:
• Letters relating to the loan of exhibits, temperance souvenirs, personal effects, paintings and mementos displayed in the Father Mathew Pavilion at the exhibition. Correspondents include Fr. Thomas Dowling OSFC, Fr. Paul Neary OSFC, Fr. Mathew’s collateral descendants, J.D. Power, James Nugent, Fr. J. Kane, Parish Priest of Culdaff, Derry, Joshua Baily and William O’Connell.
• Letter from Denis Downey, Dawson Street, Dublin, to Fr. Thomas Dowling OSFC regarding a painting of Fr. Mathew in his possession. Downey adds ‘the late Father Columbus [Maher OSFC] of Church Street with Miss Redmond, the artist, called here and sketched the features for the O’Connell Street Statue, and Father Columbus told me he would purchase the picture as soon as he would be free from debt over the building of the Hall in Church Street’. 24 Jan. 1902.
• Letter from Thomas S. Bowdern, Supreme Council of the Knights of Father Mathew, St. Louis, Missouri, to Fr. Thomas Dowling OSFC thanking him for his kindness in sending ‘souvenirs of the Great Apostle of Temperance’. Bowdern wrote ‘I assure you we appreciate very highly these souvenirs and will hand them down to our successors in the Knights of Father Mathew that in the flight of years they will become even more and more highly prized if such is possible’. Reference is also made to the Knights’ intention to build a statue of Fr. Mathew for the World Fair. ‘As it is the desire to make our statue after the one in Cork I have been asked to write to you to have you inquire whether there is a replica or moulds in existence of the Cork monument’. 24 Feb. 1903.
• Copybook containing notes on the provenance of many of the items displayed in the Pavilion including temperance certificates and medals, Fr. Mathew’s stole, portrait paintings, Fr. Mathew’s piano and a model of the Capuchin chapel on Blackamoor Lane, Cork.
• Caption panels for objects displayed in the exhibition. Includes descriptions and provenance details for commemorative plates, teapots and other artefacts associated with Fr. Mathew. One of the captions reads: ‘The marble chimney-place at present in Refectory was also left in Father Mathew’s house when he left it, and was presented to Community by Mrs Ryan’.
• Visitors’ Book to the Father Mathew Pavilion at the Cork International Exhibition in 1902. The visitors included Cardinal Michael Logue, Archbishop of Armagh. A note on the final page by Fr. Thomas Dowling OSFC reads ‘No. of visitors over 4,500’.
• Copy prints showing Fr. Thomas Dowling OSFC outside the Father Mathew Pavilion at the exhibition in 1902. The other print shows the interior of the Pavilion with various artefacts associated with Fr. Mathew on display.

Draft report (28 Feb. 1907) by Fr. Paul Neary OSFC (1857-1939), Provincial Minister, on the work of the first year of the National Temperance Crusade led by the Capuchin friars. The report was compiled for Fr. Bernard Christen of Andermatt OSFC, Minister General of the Capuchin Order in Rome. With a cover letter (21 May 1907) from Fr. Paul and a manuscript copy of Fr. Bernard’s reply. The report reads:
‘The Irish Bishops confided this National Crusade to us in October 1905 … but the preaching of the Crusade did not practically begin before January 1906. … The preaching of this Temperance Crusade was specially carried out by twelve of our Fathers, who have been almost constantly engaged during the time. Their labours in the parishes partook much of the character of short missions or spiritual exercises, sometimes for three days, other times a week, and not infrequently a fortnight’.
The report also includes testimonials from various Irish bishops and other prominent figures commending the work of the Capuchin friars in leading the temperance crusade.

Abstract of title of Mary Craven, widow and administratrix of John Kelly, late of 55 Church Street, broker, to two houses numbered 2 and 3 situated on Thunder’s Court at the rear of Church Street. The abstract commences with a recital of a lease (dated 24 June 1858) by Michael Clarke to John Kelly of the said premises for 93 years at the yearly rent of 2d and in consideration of £40 (See CA CS/2/2/6/1). The abstract concludes with a reference to letters of administration granted under Probate (18 Dec. 1883) to Mary Craven (formerly Mary Kelly of 141 Church Street) for the administration of the personal estate and effects of the said John Kelly (d. 18 Jan. 1865). The file also includes:
• Letters of administration of John Kelly (18 Dec. 1883).
• Assignment by Mary Craven (widow of John Kelly) to Fr. Paul Neary OSFC and other Capuchin friars of the aformentioned premises in consideration of £225. (16 Jan. 1889).
• Letters of administration granted to Elizabeth Kelly, a daughter of Mary Craven (died 5 Mar. 1889) for the administration of her mother’s personal estate and effects. 22 Mar. 1889.
• Draft statement of account given by Elizabeth Kelly of the personal estate and debts of her late mother Mary Craven. The account notes that the amount of money owing from the estate was £107 17s 3d. 10 Apr. 1889.
See also CA CS/2/2/6/5.

• 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).

Deed of assignment from Fr. Richard Dominick Clarke OSFC to Fr. Paul Neary OSFC, Fr. Nicholas Murphy OSFC, Fr. Columbus Maher OSFC and Fr. Bernard Jennings OSFC of his interest in premises on Bow Street (formerly nos. 22 and 23 and the premises at no. 25 on the said street) for the residue of the terms specified in the original leases. In consideration of 10s.

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.