Letters to Fr. Benedict Cullen OFM Cap. from Gaffney Halligan & Co., solicitors, Artane Roundabout, Dublin 5, requesting information to enable the purchase of the freehold interest in 128 Church Street, and 1, 1A and 6 Nicholas Avenue, Dublin 7. The solicitors note that the Capuchin friars did not appear to ‘own the freehold of the above properties, as their title appears to be leasehold held under a lease from Samuel Worthington who in turn held his interest from the Merchant Tailors’ School’.
Letters from Frank Ryan (Proinsias Ó Riain), An Cumann Gaelach, University College Dublin, to Br. Senan Moynihan OFM Cap. re Irish language content in 'The Father Mathew Record' and corrections and emendations to the serial publication of ‘Scéal “Sheandúin”' (by Tadhg Ó Murchadha) in the periodical.
Letters from Fr. Sylvester Mulligan OFM Cap., General Definitor, to Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap., Provincial Minister, re the canonical establishment of the Irish Capuchin mission in Northern Rhodesia. He also asks for a list of potential candidates for the position of Regular Superior.
Letters of Fr. Seraphin Nesdale OFM Cap. (1897-1980). The correspondents include Fr. Kieran O’Callaghan OFM Cap.; Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap., Provincial Minister. Reference is made to the activities of Fr. Declan McFadden OFM Cap., Fr. Killian Flynn OFM Cap., Fr. Oliver O’Hanlon OFM Cap. and Fr. Casimir Butler OFM Cap. The subjects include efforts to establish missionary stations in Northern Rhodesia and to the difficulties and frustrations with on-going work in the parishes of Parow and Athlone in Cape Town, South Africa. Fr. Seraphin also refers to the need for mass stipends and funds and to the physical hardships in adjusting to the African climate, customs and languages. He recounts Fr. Killian Flynn’s efforts to ‘discover which is the language most commonly used in our territory around Livingstone’ (25 Dec. 1931).
Letters from Fr. Ronald Grace OFM Cap. (1931-1984) to Fr. Berard Creed OFM Cap., Provincial Minister, re the election of a superior and councillors for the Cape Town mission, South Africa.
Letters from Fr. Jarlath Gough OFM Cap. (1902-1983) to Fr. Kieran O’Callaghan OFM Cap. and Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap., Provincial Minister, describing his arrival in South Africa and his impressions of the ‘truly astonishing’ work being done by the Irish Capuchins in Northern Rhodesia.
Letters to Fr. Henry Rope from Fr. James Routledge (St. Dunstan’s, Bluestone Road, Moston, Manchester). Many of the letters refer to political developments in Ireland during the revolutionary period with some references to Routledge’s thoughts regarding Arthur Griffith, Michael Collins and Éamon de Valera.
Letters from Fr. Ignatius Collins OSFC, guardian, Capuchin Friary, Kilkenny, to Fr. Peter Bowe OSFC, Provincial Minister, regarding the installation of a new staircase in Mrs O’Reilly’s house. Fr. Ignatius notes that these premises are ‘held with special permission from Rome, obtained on the grounds that the houses were necessary for the enlargement of the Monastery ….’. He also affirms that Sir Lionel Harty has ‘promised to give of all the premises we require’.
Letters from Fr. Henry Rope, Venerable English College, Rome, and Mount Carmel Lodge, Quidenham, Norwich, to Fr. Senan Moynihan OFM Cap. Rope affirms that he has ‘searched everywhere for the letters of Count Plunkett. He promises that he will send the same to Fr. Senan once he has retrieved them. He also confirms that he will send the letters written to him by Professor William Frederick Paul Stockley and his wife Germaine. He notes that he had ‘the great privilege of being their guest in October or November 1927 at Woodside, Tivoli, Cork’. He also refers to some letters of Professor William Stockley which he suggests Fr. Senan might like for the Capuchin Order’s archives. The file also includes a partial (two-page) listing of some of Father Rope's material deposited in the Irish Capuchin Archives.
Letters of Fr. Fintan Roche OFM Cap. (1898-1953) relating to his experiences as a missionary in Barotseland. The correspondents include Fr. Colman Griffin OFM Cap.; Fr. Kieran O’Callaghan OFM Cap.; Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap., Provincial Minister. Reference is made to the work of Fr. Killian Flynn OFM Cap. who is in ‘some God-forsaken native village about 9 days from here building a school [and to] Fr. Phelim [O’Shea OFM Cap.] and Fr. Seraphin [Nesdale OFM Cap.] in Loanja’. (11 Dec. 1933). Later, Fr. Fintan refers to the establishment of further mission stations around Mongu and ‘other remote centres … where we won’t conflict with already established Protestant missions’. He also affirmed that ‘Barotseland is not “virgin soil”, it is chuck full of Protestant Missions, some of them 30 days by river from Livingstone’ (20 June 1934).
