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The Capuchin presence in Kilkenny can be traced to 1643 when two friars, Fathers Peter Nugent OSFC and Thomas Tuite OSFC, came to the town after their residence in Mullingar was destroyed by fire. Following their arrival in Kilkenny they stayed in a rented house near St. Canice’s Cathedral. The Bishop of Ossory, the Most Rev. David Rothe (1573-1650), was favourably disposed to the friars and he subsequently gave them charge of one of the chapels in the cathedral. On 8 March 1648 Bishop Rothe granted the Capuchins a canonical foundation with official rights and privileges to minister in the diocese. Though the Capuchins have had a long association with Walkin Street (later Friary Street) in Kilkenny, it is clear that this was not the location of their original foundation. There are references to at least three other locations where they had previously ministered. It is known that Fr. Sebastian Butler OSFC (d. July 1647) secured a residence and a chapel but its exact location has not been established. In about 1650, the Capuchin community consisted of Fr. Barnaby Barnewall OSFC (d. 1663), Fr. Anthony Nugent OSFC, Fr. Christopher Kearney OSFC (d. 1656), Fr. Gregory Mulchonry OSFC, Fr. Fiacre Tobin OSFC (d. 1656) and Br. John Verdon OSFC. Following the upheavals of the Cromwellian conquest, the Capuchins secured a plot of ground on St. Michael’s Lane, adjoining St. John’s Abbey (a former Augustinian Priory), where they established a hospice and an oratory in which ‘they preached the office of missionaries’.

In 1678 the Capuchins had a community of three in the city. Their friary and chapel continued to be situated near St. John’s Abbey. Fr. Nicholas Cornan OSFC was among the regular clergy of Kilkenny mentioned in the will of Bishop James Phelan in 1693. The Capuchin house adjoining St. John’s Abbey was suppressed in 1697 after the passage of the Act of Banishment which aimed to expel ‘all Regulars of the Popish Clergy out of this Kingdom’. Some of the dispersed friars from St. Michael’s Lane later moved to an alms house on Walkin Street. This alms house or ‘Poor House Chapel’ as it came to be known, was founded by Fr. James Tobin OSFC who was a native of Leyrath (or Lyrath) in County Kilkenny. At the rear of the alms house, a small chapel was built which the Capuchins served. The site of ‘Father Tobin’s Poor House’ is covered by the right wing of the present-day Friary, which runs at right angles to Friary (formerly Walkin) Street, near Pennyfeather Lane. Later, Fathers Thomas Murphy OSFC (c.1744-1817) and William Berry OSFC (c.1742-1822) obtained a small plot of ground beside the alms house on which they built a small church and community residence. When the Capuchins obtained this site the endowment of the alms house was transferred to the houses on the opposite side of Walkin Street. This residence was used by the Capuchins until 1848 when Fr. Peter Joseph Mulligan OSFC (1793-1853) built the present-day Friary Church of St. Francis. Fr. Mulligan, who was the guardian or local superior of the Capuchin community, also obtained a lease of a small plot of ground which enabled him to build an entrance to the church directly onto Walkin Street.

The new church was built over the existing alms house chapel ensuring that there was no interruption to day-to-day religious services. The alms house chapel occupied a portion of the area inside the main arches of the present-day Church of St. Francis. The architects for the new church were Messrs Wright and O’Toole. Additional adornment for the new building was secured in the form of a belfry with two bells (still in use), one of which Fr. Mulligan styled ‘Shiel’, and the other ‘O’Connell’, in honour of two of the great champions of Catholic Emancipation in the first half of the nineteenth century. A large cross (the first to be erected over a Catholic place of worship in Kilkenny since the Reformation) was also installed. Fr. Mulligan died in 1853, leaving Fr. Laurence O’Flynn OSFC (1807-1863) as the only Capuchin friar in Kilkenny until 1855 when Fr. Edward Tommins OSFC (1812-1889) arrived. Fr. Tommins secured pillars, pediments and altar cornices from the old cathedral of St. Mary’s and installed them in the Church of St. Francis when the new Cathedral was being built in the 1850s. On 23 September 1868 a new altar piece was erected, executed by Guardiocini, a celebrated Italian painter. In October 1873 a statue of the Sacred Heart by J. O’Reilly of Cork was installed in the sanctuary. An extension of the friary building was completed towards the end of the nineteenth century. On 15 December 1873 the foundation stone was laid for a new friary residence running parallel to Walkin Street. A novitiate for the Capuchin Order in Ireland was also opened in Kilkenny in 1875. A few years later, in 1884, a Seraphic School was established. In 1889 a lease was obtained for a small garden adjoining the friary and in July 1896 the site of the old alms house was obtained from the Most Rev. Abraham Brownrigg (1836-1928), Bishop of Ossory (see CA KK/2/1/1/1/15). This allowed for the building of an additional wing to the friary in 1897. This new wing was located at right angles to Walkin Street and extended to Pennyfeather Lane, completely covering the site of the earlier Poor House (constructed by Fr. James Tobin) and Fr. Mulligan’s later building. Side chapels were added to the church in 1938. The designs for these chapels were completed by John Joseph Robinson & Richard Cyril Keeffe, architects, and the builders were Messrs W.K. Cleere & Son of Kilkenny. The tercentenary of the arrival of the Capuchins in Kilkenny was marked in 1948 with elaborate religious and civic ceremonies. A Friary Hall (St. Francis Hall) was opened in April 1956 and a new novitiate building, designed by Sylvester Bourke (1928-2009), a local architect, was constructed in the early 1960s.

Collection Content

The fonds consists of records relating to the Capuchin community in Kilkenny City and in particular to the foundation known as the Church of St. Francis situated on Friary Street (formerly Walkin Street). The fonds includes legal records relating to the acquisition, transfer and disposal of church property (such as deeds of title, mortgages and bills of sale), financial records, and material relating to individual members of the Capuchin community in Kilkenny. The collection includes a large number of administrative and community files, financial statements and books of account relating to building construction and structural alterations, correspondence, plans, publicity material, photographs, library books and miscellaneous items of commemorative ephemera connected with Capuchin ministries and apostolates in Kilkenny. The collection also includes unpublished historical writings and biographical material relating to notable members of the Capuchin Order who ministered in Kilkenny. The fonds also includes records relating to the lay religious sodality known as the Third Order of St. Francis (now the Secular Franciscan Order) attached to the Capuchin Church in the city.

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.

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.

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 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.

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 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 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 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 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.