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Letters from An tAthair Peadar Ó Laoghaire, Castlelyons, County Cork, to Fr. Augustine Hayden OFM Cap. The letters include references to O’Leary’s Irish language activism, his thoughts on the teaching of Irish (including its use in religious instruction), his publications and translations, and grammatical issues in the day-to-day use of the language. Other subjects include O’Leary’s difficult relationship with the Gaelic League, and his enthusiasm for the temperance crusade. A letter (3 Mar. 1902) reads ‘Is it not a comical thing that the Dublin Gaelic League would not allow me to be the best judge of my own work!’ In another letter (20 March 1903), O’Leary wrote ‘Several years ago I had to cease writing for the official organs of the Gaelic League because they would insist on being allowed to mutilate my work. It was then that myself and a few friends got up the Irish Book Company. Ever since that time the working body of the Gaelic League in Dublin have been doing their big best to obstruct us directly and indirectly. … The Gaelic League is supposed to be non-sectarian. They could not, for example, get my Gospels printed at the expense of the League. There would be an outrage. If they were to print Gospels for me, how could they refuse to print Gospels for a Protestant minister!’ References are also made to both Norma Borthwick (1862-1934) and Mairéad Ní Raghallaigh, the founders of the Irish Book Company. In another letter (12 Oct. 1903), he referred to the inefficiency of constantly organising Irish language meetings. He added ‘If every person in Cork, or every third person, was studying the language in that way, Cork would be thoroughly “organised”, even though there were no meetings. The whole purpose of “organisation” is to get people to learn the language’. Referring to the Munster Feis, O’Leary wrote ‘I used to be mad when I used to see the citizens of Cork profiting by the Feis and contributing next to nothing to the cost of the Feis’ (22 Jan. 1904). In another letter, he refers to a conversation with Fr. Richard Henebry (1863-1916). O’Leary wrote ‘I was speaking some time ago to Dr. Henebry. He told me how, among the common people in America, a person dare not use the word “Bull”. His heavens would be “shocked”. He must say “gentleman cow”’ (15 June 1904). In another letter, O’Leary claims that ‘English is certainly the devil’s language! It is a terrible thing that even the prayers in it are so full of self-complacency. They are always looking around for the applause of fellow creatures’. In an undated letter, O’Leary wrote ‘It is unfair to be asked to translate into Irish expressions which are meaningless in English. The idea of a “sectional meeting” is one impossibility. If it be a meeting, how can it be sectional. If it is only a section, how can it be a meeting. How can a book be called a reader!’ In a letter dated 21 May 1919, he noted that it is better to write in English ‘in order not to be putting the censor to trouble’ and referred to a request to translate ‘the song for the Pope, the Royal Pope’ into Irish. In a letter dated 23 Oct. 1919 he affirmed that ‘in my early youth it was not an uncommon thing for a marriage to take place of a man and a woman neither of whom had any word of English’. Some of the undated correspondence seemingly relates to Father Augustine’s communications with O’Leary regarding the translation of temperance manuals and associated prayers and documentation.

Letters from Archbishops Arthur Hinsley, Antonio Riberi, David Mathew and James Robert Knox, successive Apostolic Delegates in Mombasa, Kenya, to Fr. Casimir Butler OFM Cap. and Fr. James O’Mahony OFM Cap., Provincial Minister. The letters refer to the work of the Irish Capuchin missionaries in Northern Rhodesia. Archbishop David Mathew also refers to his hope that the Irish Capuchins may be prevailed upon to take charge of the College of St. Louis in the Seychelles (23 Apr. 1947). Archbishop Knox expresses his hope that an assistant will be appointed for Monsignor Killian Flynn OFM Cap. to assist in his work with the Conference of Northern Rhodesian Bishops (24 May 1957).

Letters from the Most Rev. John Colburn Garner (1907-1993), Archbishop of Pretoria, to Fr. James O’Mahony OFM Cap. and Fr. Colman Griffin OFM Cap., Provincial Ministers, offering missionary work to the Irish Capuchins in the Archdiocese. The Archbishop offers the district of Rustenburg (5 Nov. 1948); Zeerust, near the boundary with Bechuanaland. He encloses a copy of an agreement between the Archdiocese and the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptortists) re work in the township of Rustenburg (5 Apr. 1953); the district of Groblersdal (1 Aug. 1955).

Letters from the Most Rev. Owen McCann (1907-1994), Archbishop of Cape Town, to Fr. James O’Mahony OFM Cap., Fr. Conrad O’Donovan OFM Cap., Fr. Berard Creed OFM Cap. (1923-2004) , Fr. Eustace McSweeney OFM Cap., Provincial Ministers, and Fr. Jarlath Gough OFM Cap. (1902-1983) reporting on the missionary efforts of the Irish Capuchins in Parow (Parish of the Immaculate Conception); Matroosfontein (Parish of the Holy Trinity); Athlone (St. Mary of the Angels); Welcome Estate (St. Theresa’s); Langa (St. Anthony’s). The Archbishop also requests that an Irish Capuchin priest (Fr. Jarlath Gough OFM Cap.) be sent to St. Helena and Ascension Island – part of the Cape Town Archdiocese. He writes: ‘There are 5,000 persons on [St. Helena] Island but only 3 to 4 Catholics at present … the prospect of conversions is uncertain. The Anglicans are well established. The schools are under the Government, as also the hospital’. Reference is also made to an application of Ronald Hinrichsen, a convert from the Dutch Reformed Church, to join the Capuchin Franciscan Order (24 Sept. 1952); to the death of Fr. Oliver O’Hanlon OFM Cap. and the resulting vacancy in Parow parish (16 Aug. 1957); to a draft agreement with the Capuchins re Belgravia parish which has been separated from Parow (1 July 1961); to the need for new priests to meet the growing population in the Cape Flats district (20 June 1966); to Archbishop McCann’s desire to see Fr. Carthage Ruth OFM Cap. return to South Africa (4 Nov. 1968). Later, Archbishop McCann expresses his condolences on hearing of the death of Fr. Christopher Crowley OFM Cap. (22 Mar. 1984).

Letters from the Most Rev. Anthony McFeely, Bishop of Raphoe (1909-1986), to Fr. Nicholas O’Brien OFM Cap. and Fr. Berard Creed OFM Cap. thanking the Capuchin friars for placing Ard Mhuire at the disposal of diocesan priests for their annual retreats. Bishop McFeely also refers to the plans for the Friary. He writes: ‘We understand, of course, that the future of Ards presents you with a difficult problem; we only hope that the Fathers can remain’.

Letters from Bishop Bernard Cornelius O’Riley (1868-1956), Vicar Apostolic of the Cape of Good Hope, Western District, and Fr. John Morris, editor of the Southern Cross, to Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap., Fr. Kevin Moynihan OFM Cap., Fr. James O’Mahony OFM Cap., Provincial Ministers, and Fr. Kieran O’Callaghan OFM Cap., Provincial Secretary, regarding the prospects for establishing Irish Capuchin missionary foundations in the Athlone, Parow and Langa parishes in the Cape Province, South Africa. Fr. John Morris wrote: ‘There are only about thirty priests in the whole vicariate. This number includes three Jesuits, two Redemptorists, and some six Salesians. … Alas, there are no Franciscans in South Africa. You will therefore be real pioneers’ (16 May 1927). The Bishop wrote: ‘There are pagans and heathens in abundance in my Vicariate which covers some 17,000 sq. miles and I can assure there is endless scope in the Vicariate for the missionary efforts of your good Fathers’ (30 Mar. 1928). Later, he affirmed that the ‘poor people of “Athlone” (which is the name of the place of your first mission in South Africa) are nearly all coloured, a good simple lot, who have been working hard for some months past in their spare time to build with their own hands school-rooms’ (6 Dec. 1928). Reference is also made to the provision of a school for coloured children at Claremont (16 Feb. 1931) and to the financial state of the Vicariate (20 July 1932). The file includes a memorandum and agreement for sale from Bishop O’Riley to the Irish Capuchins of sites at Claremont, at Athlone, and at Parow (1 Nov. 1931), and a letter from Fr. John Morris requesting the Irish Capuchins supply a priest for the Philippi mission in the Vicariate (17 Mar. 1950).

Letters from Bishop Francis Henneman SAC (1882-1951), Vicar Apostolic of the Cape of Good Hope, Western District, later Vicar Apostolic of Cape Town, to Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap. and Fr. Colman Griffin OFM Cap., Provincial Ministers. The letters refer to requests for the Irish Capuchins to take over missionary outstations including those at Matroosfontein and in the Welcome Estate.

Letters from Bishop Hugh Boyle (1897-1986), Vicar Apostolic of Port Elizabeth, to Fr. James O’Mahony OFM Cap. and Fr. Colman Griffin OFM Cap., Provincial Ministers, requesting that more priests be sent to South Africa to work on local missions in the Vicariate of Port Elizabeth. The file includes correspondence with the Most Rev. Martin Lucas SVD, Apostolic Delegate to South Africa, referring to the urgent need for more missionaries in the district of Peddie, Cape Province.