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Copy circular letter from Fr. Kevin Moynihan OFM Cap., Provincial Minister, announcing the purchase of Ards House by the Capuchin Order. The letter reads:

'It is more than 350 years since the Franciscans laboured “for the glory of God, and the honour of Erin” in the historic Abbey of Donegal. Now they are returning and let us hope that this new Friary of the Order will be a centre of spiritual force, the influence of which will be felt, not only in Tirconaill, but in the whole of the north of Ireland'.

He also expresses his gratitude to Fr. Aloysius Travers OFM Cap. whose ‘untiring energy’ ensured the acquisition of the property. A note (added by Fr. Angelus Healy OFM Cap.) states that a meeting of the Provincial Definitory on 5 Mar. 1930 confirmed the plan to purchase of Ards House for a canonical foundation. It is also noted that Fr. Colman Griffin OFM Cap. was appointed guardian of the new foundation.

Copy extract from a letter by Harry O’Hanrahan to his mother and sisters. The letter is in the hand of Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. He refers to his detainment in Richmond Barracks and to detectives selecting ‘out about 14 including the 2 Cosgraves, T. Mac Donagh, Kent, ourselves etc …’. He also refers to the fighting in Jacob’s Biscuit Factory.

A typescript copy letter from Daniel Crowley, Royal Irish Constabulary, Ballyheihue (Ballyheigue), Tralee, County Kerry to the editor of the ‘Constabulary Gazette’ re his recollections of the Casement landing and the ‘Aud incident’. The letter is dated 21 April 1917. The letter reads ‘On Thursday the 20th April 1916 I was on patrol duty (five miles away) and noticed at about 2 pm a vessel far out to sea, a steamer, I watched her for some time, became suspicious, and on my return to Barracks I sent a constable to Kerry Head to watch her and report her to the Coast-Guard here if she was suspicious. He did so’.

Copy letter from Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. The typescript copy notes that the original ‘belongs to L.T. Langley, 164 Iveragh Road, Gaeltacht Park, Whitehall, Dublin. The letter is incomplete, and no indication is given of the person to whom it is addressed’. The letter provides an account of the ‘closing scenes of Sean Heuston’s life’. Fr. Albert contends that ‘shortly after Easter Week, 1916, I gave a rather full account for publication in the Catholic Bulletin, but owing to the Censor’s restrictions it could not appear in print’. The letter reads: ‘At about 3.45 A.M. a British soldier knocked at the door of the cell and told us time was up. We both walked out together down to the end of the Jail yard; here his hands were tied behind his back, a cloth tied over his eyes and a small piece of white paper, about 4 or 5 inches square, pinned to his coat over his heart’. Reference is also made to Fr. Augustine’s Hayden’s ministry to Ėamonn Ceannt and Michael Mallin.

Copy letter from Fr. Aloysius Travers OFM Cap. to the editor of the 'Irish Catholic' protesting against the ‘obvious and unkind suggestion’ made in relation to Thomas MacDonagh in a recent edition of the paper. Fr Aloysius declared: ‘I feel bound to emphatically assert that his preparation for his last moment manifested a depth of Catholic Faith and a tenderness of piety most edifying and impressive and that he received the rites of his Church with a devotion which not easily be forgotten by The Priest who assisted him’

A copy letter from Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap. to the Most Rev. Daniel Cohalan, Bishop of Cork, claiming that he knew nothing of Fr. Dominic O'Connor's appointment as chaplain to the IRA until his attention was drawn to a report in the local newspapers.

Photocopy of a letter from Fr. Michael O'Shea OFM Cap., Capuchin Franciscan College, Rochestown, County Cork, to Winifred Etheridge, c/o Major F. Etheridge DSO, Broadway Cottage, Littleham, North Exmouth, Devon. The letter (27 January 1923) provides a detailed, eyewitness description of an engagement between Free State soldiers and irregular republicans near Rochestown College in August 1922. Winifred Etheridge was a sister of Ian McKenzie Kennedy, a Scottish-born republican, who died during the battle. The file also includes a photocopy of a letter (26 August 1922) from Nora Lucey, 3 Pembroke Street, Cork, to Mrs McKenzie Kennedy providing further detail on the skirmish and on the death of her son, Ian McKenzie Kennedy. A copy sketch map (drawn by Fr. Michael O'Shea OFM Cap.) showing details of the battle between Free State forces and Anti-Treaty irregulars around Rochestown is also extant in the file.

Copy letter from Jack B. Yeats (1871-1957) to Fr. Senan Moynihan OFM Cap. Yeats refers to a 'loan exhibition' which Fr. Senan wants to organize for the artist. Yeats writes 'I am afraid that such an exhibition would be against the sale of my paintings. The suggestion might come to people that I had retired'. A later letter from Yeats in the volume states that he would be in favour of such an exhibition to be held in 1945.

Copy letter from James Pearse to Charles Bradlaugh. The letter reads ‘The fact is I am extremely disgusted with what I read in this morning’s papers, especially the action of the ungrateful Irish Party’.

Copy letter from James Pearse to Charles Bradlaugh. The letter reads ‘I am placed in a very paradoxical position – an image maker by profession and an image breaker by inclination’. He adds ‘I have been dangling – to use a scriptural phrase – between Hell and Heaven for the last twenty five years of my life: only that I reverse the meaning of the words: - everything appertaining to ecclesiasticism I regard as the former; and to be free of which, I regard as the latter’.