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William Pearse was born in Great Brunswick Street in Dublin on 11 November 1881. He was the younger brother of Patrick Pearse, the writer, educationalist, and revolutionary. He joined the family sculpting business and ran it following the death of his father James Pearse in 1900. William attended classes at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art between 1897 and 1910 and he seemed destined to embark upon a career as an artist. He later became a full-time art teacher at Scoil Éanna, the Gaelic school founded by his brother in 1908. Although William was more of an artist than a revolutionary, he shared his brother’s interest in the Irish language and Gaelic culture. Like his elder brother, William was also a founding member of the Irish Volunteers in 1913. During the Easter Rising he served as a captain on the headquarters staff and stood alongside his brother as he read the Proclamation of Independence. William Pearse was one of the last, if not the last person, to leave the General Post Office after the evacuation order was given. Following the surrender, he was court-martialled and, contrary to expectations, executed in Kilmainham Jail (4 May 1916). William Pearse was the only one of the executed leaders to plead guilty, though he exercised no real authority during the rebellion and his leadership role was said to be minimal.

The subseries comprises a small collection of papers relating to Aodh de Blacam, an author, journalist, editor, and politician. Aodh de Blacam (Harold Saunders Blackham) was born in London on 11 December 1891. He was born into a prominent Newry Protestant family but later rebelled against his upbringing, converted to Catholicism, and became involved with the Gaelic League in the English capital. In 1914 he moved to Ireland and emerged as a leading propagandist for the nationalist movement. Around this time, he also Gaelicised his name to Aodh Sandrach de Blacam and learned the Irish language. During the War of Independence, he worked as a propagandist for Arthur Griffith and was appointed editor of ‘Young Ireland’, a Sinn Féin newspaper which sought to encourage nationalistic sentiments in Irish children and young adults. He remained remarkably prolific in his journalistic and literary output throughout his life and produced two major two major political manifestos during the revolution: ‘Towards the Republic’ (1918) and ‘What Sinn Féin Stands For’ (1921).

De Blacam opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty and subsequently sided with the anti-Treaty IRA during the Civil War. He was interned by the Free State authorities in 1922. Following his release, de Blacam strongly identified with the political ideals of Éamon de Valera and Fianna Fáil. He continued his journalist career, serving as a book editor for the ‘Irish Times’ and regularly contributing articles to the ‘Irish Press’ and other newspapers and literary journals. De Blacam also wrote extensively for several Catholic periodicals such as ‘The Standard’ and the ‘Irish Rosary. The first edition of ‘The Capuchin Annual’ in 1930 carried two articles by de Blacam who forged a long-lasting friendship with Fr. Senan Moynihan OFM Cap., the founding editor of the periodical. Moynihan was clearly an admirer of de Blacam’s writing and published several of his articles in various Capuchin publications. De Blacam’s major published books included ‘Gaelic literature surveyed’ (1929) and ‘The Black North’ (1938). He died in Dublin on 13 January 1951. His funeral was attended by many notable political figures including Taoiseach John A. Costello and his predecessor Éamon de Valera. He was buried in New Mellifont Abbey in County Louth. De Blacam’s final article, an account of the closing ceremonies of the Holy Year celebrations in Rome, was published posthumously in ‘The Capuchin Annual’ (1950-1).

The material listed here was assembled by Fr. Senan Moynihan OFM Cap. following de Blacam’s death. The subseries includes drafts of de Blacam’s final articles for ‘The Capuchin Annual’ along with biographies, obituaries, tribute articles, correspondence, photographs, and ephemera.

The subseries comprises a small collection of papers relating to the Irish Catholic priest and novelist Canon Patrick Sheehan.

Sheehan was born in Mallow in County Cork on 17 March 1852. He was educated at St. Colman’s College in Fermoy. He studied for the priesthood in St. Patrick’s College in Maynooth, County Kildare (1869-75). Sheehan was ordained on 18 April 1875 for the Cloyne diocese and sent on mission to England, where he served in Plymouth and Exeter. He returned to Ireland in 1877 to take up a curacy in his native Mallow. He was appointed parish priest of Doneraile in County Cork in July 1895. In 1903 he was appointed to the Cloyne diocesan chapter; hence he is most frequently referred to as ‘Canon Sheehan of Doneraile’. He was a prolific and successful author, writing a series of articles and essays on a variety of topics, and several novels, including ‘Geoffrey Austin, student’ (1895) and ‘The triumph of failure’ (1898). His most popular work was ‘My new curate’, published in 1900. Much of his writing centred on the issues faced by priests engaged in parochial work in rural Ireland. Sheehan took a keen interest in promoting modern agricultural methods, especially in tillage and dairy farming. He held weekly meetings with his parishioners in Doneraile and advised them in negotiations with their landlords following the passage of Land Purchase Act (Wyndham Act) in 1903. Sheehan also maintained a life-long friendship with the agrarian agitator William O’Brien (1852-1928). Canon Sheehan was diagnosed as suffering from cancer in 1910. Following a lengthy residence at the South Infirmary in Cork, he died on 5 October 1913. He was buried at the entrance to his church in Doneraile. A bronze statue of Canon Sheehan by Francis William Doyle Jones (1873-1938) was unveiled not far from his grave in October 1925.

Fr. Senan Moynihan OFM Cap., the editor of ‘The Capuchin Annual’, was interested in Canon Sheehan’s literary career. Much of the material listed here was compiled for a special supplement marking the centenary of Canon Sheehan’s birth published in ‘The Capuchin Annual’ in 1952. A good portion of the original material was seemingly acquired by Fr. Senan from Presentation Sisters who resided in Doneraile and who were acquainted with Canon Sheehan during his lifetime.

The subseries comprises a small collection of papers (including photographs) relating to Dom Columba Marmion OSB, an Irish Benedictine abbot and spiritual writer.

Joseph Marmion was born in Dublin on 1 April 1858 to an Irish father and a French mother. On the completion of his secondary studies, he was received at the seminary in Clonliffe College in Dublin in January 1874. He completed his preparation for the priesthood in Rome and was ordained there in 1881. On returning to Dublin, he was appointed professor of philosophy at Clonliffe. On 21 November 1886 he entered the newly founded Belgian abbey of Maredsous, with which, by virtue of the Benedictine vow of stability, he was to be associated for the rest of his life. On commencing his life as a Benedictine, he took Columba as his religious name. The first thirteen years of his monastic life (1886-99) were spent at Maredsous itself. In 1899 he was sent as prior and professor of theology to the abbey of Mont-César in Louvain, Belgium, where he remained for ten years. He was appointed the third abbot of Maredsous in 1909, and he remained there for the rest of his life. He died in Maredsous on 20 January 1923. The first of Marmion’s great spiritual books, ‘Christ, the life of the soul’, was published to considerable acclaim in 1916. This was followed in quick succession by ‘Christ in His mysteries’ (1919), and ‘Christ the ideal of the monk’ (1922). Collectively, these books are seen as classics of Christian spirituality. Dom Columba Marmion OSB was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 3 September 2000.

The subseries comprises a small collection of papers relating to Fr. Michael P. O’Hickey (An tAthair Micheál P. Ó hIceadha), an Irish priest, academic, and Irish language campaigner.

O’Hickey was born in Carrickbeg near Carrick-on-Suir in County Waterford on 12 March 1861. Both his parents knew Irish as did most of the adult population of Carrickbeg, but by the time of his birth Irish was receding rapidly in his locality. However, the young O’Hickey did manage to acquire a certain knowledge of the language. He studied for the priesthood in St. John’s College in Waterford and was ordained in 1884. He ministered on the Scottish mission until 1893. On his return to Ireland, he became an active member and vice president of Conradh na Gaeilge (Gaelic League) and studied under the well-known Irish scholar Seán Pléimeann (1814-1897). O’Hickey also became a member of the Royal Irish Academy. In 1896 he was appointed Professor of Irish in St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth. O’Hickey was convinced that it was possible to revive the use of Irish as a widely spoken language. However, after several clashes with the Catholic hierarchy and the Maynooth College authorities, he was dismissed in 1909 from his position as Professor of Irish, for his conduct in a controversy about making Irish compulsory for matriculation in the newly founded National University of Ireland (NUI). He publicly and repeatedly implied that episcopal members of the senate of the NUI who opposed making Irish compulsory for matriculation were traitors to Ireland and personally corrupt. He received support from several prominent Irish nationalists (including Eoin MacNeill and Patrick Pearse), Irish language activists, and some of his colleagues including Maynooth’s Theology Professor, Fr. Walter McDonald. He appealed his dismissal to the Vatican, but his case was ultimately rejected. O’Hickey subsequently returned to Waterford, and he died in Portlaw on 19 November 1916. He was buried in a family plot in Carrickbeg.

The material listed here was assembled by Fr. Senan Moynihan OFM Cap., the editor of ‘The Capuchin Annual’, and includes a bound volume containing several of O’Hickey’s pamphlets on Irish education published by the Gaelic League. A subscription list for a testimonial established by O’Hickey’s friends and supporters following his dismissal from his position in Maynooth is also extant.

The subseries comprises a small collection of records relating to various Irish landlord defence associations and related loyalist and unionist political organisations in the late nineteenth century. The collection includes mostly printed circulars, fliers, and ephemera sent to members of these organisations. The goal of these interrelated associations was to defend the rights and interests of landed proprietors in Ireland. The organisations were set up in response to the activities of the Land League, a tenant farmer movement, which had as its primary aim the reform and eventual abolition of landlordism in Ireland.

The collection includes records generated by the Property Defence Association (PDA) which was formed in Dublin in December 1880 to assist landlords targeted by the Land League or by rural agitation in general. Led by James Stopford, 5th Earl of Courtown (1823-1914), the association served writs on tenants, provided (often armed) caretakers for evicted holdings, supplied labourers to boycotted landlords, and bought stock and farms at sheriffs’ sales. The Orange Emergency Committee, established by the loyalist Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland, also in December 1880, had similar functions to the Property Defence Association. Both the PDA and Orange Emergency Committee were subscription-based aid organisations. The Irish Landowners' Convention was set up in early 1888 to protect the interests of landowners in the face of agrarian agitation and legislative reforms which enabled tenant proprietorship. James Hamilton , 2nd Duke of Abercorn (1838-1913), was elected its first president and he led the organisation for nearly a decade.

The collection also includes a small number of records relating to the Irish Loyal and Patriotic Union (ILPU), a unionist political organisation, established to oppose the nationalist Home Rule movement. The ILPU was formed in Dublin in May 1885 by a small number of southern businessmen, landowners, and academics. It sought to unite Liberals and Conservatives on a common platform of maintenance of the union between Great Britain and Ireland. The Irish Unionist Alliance was founded in 1891 by ILPU members, which it replaced. The Irish Unionist Alliance (IUA), also known as the Irish Unionist Party, was led for much of its existence by Colonel Edward James Saunderson (1837-1906) and later by William St John Brodrick, 1st Earl of Midleton (1856-1942).

Finally, the collection also includes a small number of fliers and printed ephemera relating to by-elections for the constituency of Trinity College (University of Dublin) in 1875 and in 1887. The college constituency was dominated by a Conservative and Unionist electorate. In January 1875, Edward Gibson, later 1st Baron Ashbourne (1837-1913), was elected for the Conservatives to serve as MP for Trinity College, Dublin. Dodgson Hamilton Madden (1840-1928) was elected Conservative MP for the university in the July 1887 by-election.

Internal evidence suggests that this material was originally assembled by John Ribton Garstin (1836-1917), a landlord and unionist, who served as High Sheriff of County Louth from 1880 to 1881. It has however not been ascertained how these records were acquired by Fr. Senan Moynihan OFM Cap., the editor of ‘The Capuchin Annual’.

The subseries comprises a small collection of material relating to Roger Casement, a humanitarian, diplomat, and revolutionary. Born in Dublin on 1 September 1864, Casement was famous for his reports and activities highlighting human rights abuses in the Congo and Peru. He worked in Africa for commercial interests and later in the British diplomatic service. He was knighted in 1911 for his investigations into colonial atrocities. His consular investigation into crimes in the Congo eventually led him to adopt an Irish republican and radical separatist political outlook. After the outbreak of the First World War, he sought to obtain German military aid for a rebellion in Ireland against British rule. Casement believed that an Irish insurrection would be defeated unless it received substantial assistance from Germany, and when it became clear that adequate military help would not be forthcoming, he decided to travel to Ireland and try to prevent the planned rebellion from taking place. Shortly before the Easter Rising, he landed at Banna Strand in County Kerry. He was quickly arrested by the authorities. Stripped of his knighthood and other honours, he was subsequently convicted and hanged for treason in Pentonville Prison in London on 3 August 1916.

The subseries also includes some material relating to Robert Monteith (1879-1956), a former British army soldier and Irish nationalist. In late 1915 Monteith travelled to Berlin to assist Casement in recruiting an Irish brigade from among Irish prisoners-of-war held in Germany. He accompanied Casement to Ireland in April 1916. Monteith avoided capture and spent six months on the run including a period when he was hidden by Capuchin friars in Rochestown in County Cork. He subsequently escaped to the United States working in disguise as a sailor on a merchant vessel. Montieth returned to Ireland in May 1947. However, his residence in Ireland proved to be a short one. Monteith returned to the United States in 1953 and he died there on 18 February 1956. Fr. Senan Moynihan OFM Cap., the editor of ‘The Capuchin Annual’, was a close acquaintance of Monteith, and the friar seemingly compiled this material for several articles on Casement’s life and career which he published in the periodical.

A collection of mainly legal and financial papers relating to St. Enda’s School (Scoil Éanna), an Irish language college established by Patrick Pearse in Cullenswood House on Oakley Road in Ranelagh, Dublin, in 1908. The school moved to the Hermitage, a former country house in Rathfarnham, in 1910. Pearse founded St. Ita’s School for girls along the same general lines as St. Enda’s in Cullenswood House in 1910, when he moved St. Enda's boys' school to Rathfarnham. Some of the records refer to the precarious financial state of St. Enda’s and to Pearse’s efforts to raise funds to keep the school solvent. The section also contains some miscellaneous notes by Pearse on education-related subjects. Some of the documents listed below are in either Pearse’s hand or are endorsed with his signature.

The subseries comprises a small collection of papers relating to the Irish writer and translator Tadhg Ó Murchadha, who was known by the pseudonym ‘Seandún’.

Ó Murchadha was born in Macroom in County Cork in September 1843. He was baptized on 4 September 1843. His native language was Irish. Before the famine, most of the population of Macroom were Irish speakers. He trained as a tailor and moved to Cork in 1864 where he spent the rest of his life. He learned to read and write Irish and encountered many of those involved in the Irish revival movement. In 1885 he met Donnchadh Pléimionn (1867-1900), a noted Gaelic author and journalist, and it seems that Ó Murchadha’s interest in language matters began in earnest around this time. He was a founder member of the Cork branch of Gaelic League in 1894. Ó Murchadha had a fine appreciation of the flexibility of the Irish language and in his writing, he sought after accuracy and polish and achieved a style that was natural and free from self-consciousness. He emerged as a pioneer in Irish translation at the beginning of the Gaelic revival. His earliest attempt at writing was a translation of Robert Emmet’s ‘Speech from the dock’, and he went on to translate, under the title ‘Toradh na Gaedhilge ar aitheasc agus ar ghréithribh na nGaedhael’ (1905), William O’Brien’s ‘The influence of the Irish language on Irish national literature and character’. Ó Murchadha remains best known for his translations although he did contribute articles to the ‘Cork Weekly Examiner’ and the ‘Gaelic Journal’. He wrote an account of the life of Donnchadh Pléimionn which appeared in the ‘Weekly Examiner’ on 13 September 1900.

He compiled an Irish translation of Daniel Dafoe’s ‘Robinson Crusoe’ under the title ‘Eachtra Robinson Crúsó’ which was published by the Gaelic League in 1909. Tadhg Ó Donnchadha (‘Torna’) (1874-1949), later Professor of Irish in University College Cork, remarked that Ó Murchadha’s ‘Robinson Crusoe’ was the best translation he had ever read. About 1912, when his sight was beginning to fail, Ó Murchadha began to dictate an autobiographical account of his life, which was transcribed by friends and admirers among them Diarmuid Ó Murchadha and Toirdhealbhach Mac Suibhne (Terence MacSwiney), who during the War of Independence prepared a section of it dealing with the years of the Fenian rising for publication in book form under the title ‘Sgéal “Sheandúin”’ (1920). However, Ó Murchadha never saw it in print as he died in Cork on 13 April 1919. The second part of Ó Murchadha’s recollections was edited and published by Br. Senan Moynihan OFM Cap. in the Irish Capuchin periodical ‘The Father Mathew Record’ (July 1924-August 1925). The articles again appeared under the title ‘Sgéal “Sheandúin”’.

Much of the material listed here is associated with Moynihan’s publication of the second part of Ó Murchadha’s memoir. The file includes original material from several associates and admirers of Ó Murchadha including Tadhg Ó Donnchadha (‘Torna’), Terence MacSwiney, and Douglas Hyde. The collection also includes correspondence from Fr. Laurence Dowling OFM Cap. (the editor of ‘The Father Mathew Record’), Máire Nic Shuibhne (Mary MacSwiney), Diarmuid Ó Murchadha, Fr. Augustine Hayden OFM Cap., and Shan Ó Cuiv. Some letters from Frank Ryan, the well-known Irish socialist and republican activist, are also extant in the collection. Ryan seemingly assisted Moynihan in preparing Ó Murchadha’s memoir for publication. The collection also includes Moynihan’s manuscript drafts of ‘Sgéal “Sheandúin”’ along with a copy of Ó Murchadha translation of Robert Emmet’s ‘Speech from the dock’ written by Terence MacSwiney.

Fr. Dominic O’Connor OFM Cap. served as chaplain to Terence MacSwiney and the Cork Brigade of the IRA. He ministered to the Lord Mayor of Cork during his imprisonment in Brixton Prison. The sub-series includes some correspondence associated with MacSwiney’s political career which may have been acquired by Fr. Dominic during the performance of his duties. Of particular interest is a collection of correspondence from notable figures in the republican administration including Richard Mulcahy, Michael Collins, Arthur Griffith and Seán T. O’Kelly.