• Photocopies of newspaper cuttings and papers re Fr. Mathew taken from Cork City and County Archives. The file includes:
‘Father Mathew’s tour to Lisbon for his health’, 'Cork Examiner', 21 July 1982.
‘Temperance’, Refers to the state of the temperance movement following Fr. Mathew’s death.
‘Anniversary of the birth of the Apostle of Temperance’, 'Cork Examiner', 13 Oct. 1847.
‘Progress of Temperance / Meeting in St. Patrick’s’, 9 Feb. 1849.
‘Tributes to Fr. Mathew’, 'Cork Examiner', 3 Jan. 1852.
Mathew-Annuity Fund. The printed flier relates to a fund to relieve Fr. Mathew of his debts. The flier is taken from the Dowden Papers in the Cork City and County Archives.
An address of the Friends of Temperance held at the Mayor’s Office, Paradise Place, Cork, on Monday, the 18th day of July 1848. (Dowden Papers, Cork City and County Archives).
‘Father Mathew’s Farewell Address to the Americans’.
‘Father Mathew and his biographer, John Francis Maguire’. The article refers to Fr. Mathew’s ‘pecuniary difficulties’. (1864).
• Notes by Fr. Nessan relating to the numbers of pledge-takers in various parts of Ireland during Fr. Mathew’s temperance campaign from 1839-40. Manuscript, 6 pp.
• A letter from Walter McGrath to Fr. Nessan enclosing a copy of 'Africa / St. Patrick’s Missions', May 1982, which includes an article on the history of the trams in Cork and an early photograph of the Father Mathew Statue on St. Patrick’s Street. The letter is dated 24 Apr. 1982. Manuscript and printed, 18 pp.
Letters to Fr. Nessan Shaw OFM Cap. mostly seeking research assistance on the life of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC. The file includes letters from Edmond J. O’Neill, Anthony Lorraine, Fr. Ignatius McCormick OFM Cap., Dr. Kevin O’Brien, Colm Kerrigan, Robert Thompson, Donal O’Cahill, Fr. Benignus-Jan Sosnowski OFM Cap., Michael Foy, John Comerford, John F. Quinn, Fr. Eustace McSweeney OFM Cap., and Fr. Gregorio Smutko OFM Cap.
This subseries contains research into the ancestry and family history of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC. Fr. Mathew was born in Thomastown Castle near Golden in County Tipperary in October 1790. His father James Mathew was steward on the Thomastown estate which belonged to his relative, Francis Mathew (1738-1806), who was created Earl Landaff in 1797. There is some uncertainty about the parentage of James Mathew. One account, repeated by Fr. Mathew himself, affirmed that he was the child of an undocumented second marriage of Lord Landaff’s great uncle, James Mathew of Borris. Another account, which enjoyed some currency at the time, suggested that he was the natural son of Earl Landaff’s father Thomas Mathew. The files include research notes, genealogical tables and other information relating to Mathew family history.
• Notes re Fr. Theobald Mathew’s family. It is stated that John Francis Maguire in his 'Father Mathew / A Biography' affirms that Fr. Mathew’s parents had twelve children, 9 boys and 3 girls. The notes were compiled by Fr. Stanislaus Kavanagh OFM Cap. Typescript, 1 p.
• Excerpts from ‘The life of Fr. Theobald Mathew’ by Dr. P. Rogers, The Father Mathew Record, 31, no. 4 (Apr. 1938). The notes refer to the genealogy of Fr. Mathew and were compiled by Fr. Stanislaus Kavanagh OFM Cap. Manuscript, 3 pp.
• Copy letter of Fr. Stanislaus Kavanagh OFM Cap. to Rev. M.J. O’Dwyer, The Presbytery, Anacarty, County Tipperary, seeking information re a memorial tombstone for Fr. Mathew’s mother (Anne Whyte, a daughter of George Whyte of Cappawhyte). 5 Nov. 1938. Typescript, 1 p.
• Copy letter of Fr. Stanislaus Kavanagh OFM Cap. to ‘Cyril’ re Fr. Mathew’s genealogy. He writes: ‘I have no information regarding the date of death of either the father or mother of Father Mathew. There was in the Public Record Office, Four Courts, Dublin, prior to the destruction of the records, a collection of Wills from the Probate Court of the Diocese of Cashel & Emly. Only the catalogue of these Wills now exists, and this catalogue mentions a will of James Mathew of Rathcloheen dated 1810’. 8 July 1953. Typescript, 2 pp.
• Information about Thomastown Castle and Father Mathew given to Fr. Stanislaus Kavanagh OFM Cap. by William Pike. It is noted that Pike was born in Thomastown in 1846 and he worked there until 1885. The Pike family were intimately connected with the Mathews and his grand-aunt, Hannah McGrath, was Father Mather’s foster mother. The notes refer to the history of the Mathews at Thomastown, to the ultimate fate of estate and house following its sale in 1875, and to local traditions associated with the temperance campaigner. Some of the notes are dated 16 July 1930. Typescript, 19 pp.
• ‘Particulars from the Thomastown Registers’ re the genealogy of the Mathews family. The notes were compiled by Fr. Stanislaus Kavanagh OFM Cap. Manuscript, 1 p.
• Extract from John Francis Maguire’s 'Father Mathew / A Biography' re Mathew family genealogy. Fr. Stanislaus Kavanagh OFM Cap. also makes reference to Fr. David Mathew’s (Fr. Theobald’s grand-nephew) account of family history. Typescript, 1 p.
• Notes by Fr. Stanislaus Kavanagh OFM Cap. on the genealogy of the Mathew family. Manuscript, 3 pp.
• Letter from Willie Doyle, Bank Place, Tipperary, to Fr. Stanislaus Kavanagh OFM Cap. asking for his impressions of the Father Mathew Statue at Thomastown Cross in County Tipperary. He also encloses notes re Mathew family genealogy and transcripts of monuments for James White (d. 1763), Paul Mathew (d. 1835) and his brother Thomas Mathew (d. 1838) found in the graveyard of Donohill Church, County Tipperary. 10 July 1930. Manuscript, 6 pp.
The subseries includes research on St. Joseph’s Cemetery, Cork. In February 1830 Fr. Mathew secured a lease of the Botanic Gardens which became the city’s first Catholic cemetery. A portion of the ground was also set aside for the free burial of the poor, whose bodies had previously been left outside their dwellings until sufficient money was collected for their internment.
The subseries contains material assembled with a view to undertaking a beatification process for Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC. The files include evidence and investigations into cures attributed to the intercession of prayers at Fr. Mathew’s grave in St. Joseph’s Cemetery in Cork.
• Flier for the Dublin Total Abstinence Society advertising its work and various events. It reads ‘The Dublin Total Abstinence Society was the oldest Society in the City, and the late James Haughton Esq., was the President. … It is a pleasing fact, and worthy of record, that still the friendship exists between the Haughton family and the Society; and the donation of £150, which the Society has received from the four legatees of the late Miss Lizzie Haughton, proves the interest the family still take in the principles which their father advocated for many years in the city’. Reference is made to the three ‘coffee palaces’ and to two large temperance halls (one in Dublin and one in Kingstown). The flier dates to 1885. The reverse of the flier reprints a ‘Great Temperance Procession Poster’ of March 1841. Printed. 2 pp.
• Notebook containing newspaper clippings relating to the League of the Sacred Thirst attached to St. Mary of the Angels, Church Street, Dublin’. An annotation on the first page reads ‘I began this League of the “Sacred Thirst” in June [1880] in our Church of the Lady of the Angels, Church Street, the men meet on Mondays and the women on Wednesday evenings. Fr. Albert Mitchell OSFC’. The clippings date from 10 Sept. 1880 to 23 Sept. 1881 and report meetings of this Temperance Sodality in Church Street and in the temperance hall on Halston Street. Some annotations and comments by Fr. Mitchell are added to the notebook. Clippings, 20 pp.
• Clipping referring to an endowment of $25,000 from the Catholic Total Abstinence Union of America for the establishment of the ‘Father Mathew Chair of Psychology’ at the Catholic University of America, Washington. [c.1930]. Clipping, 2 pp.
• Copy flier for The Father Mathew Hall, Church Street, Dublin, which ‘aims at promoting sobriety and providing instruction and healthful amusement for boys and men’. c.1935. Printed, 1 p.
Account book with details of receipts from the sale of temperance medals, manuals, certificates and crosses by the Irish Capuchin friars. Reference is made to certificates sold by Fr. Thomas Dowling OSFC (1874-1951) and Fr. Luke Sheehan OSFC (1873-1937). It is noted that Fr. Luke was a missionary at Steamer Point in Aden in 1903. The latter portion of the volume was subsequently used by Fr. Denis Corkery OFM Cap. (1914-1997) as a notebook for transcribing material (mostly in Irish and French). The dates of these entries are c.1970.
The print shows Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC (in a black frock-coat) administering the pledge to a large crowd with a church dome in the background. The print is titled ‘Father Mathew administering the pledge of temperance’. Printed by W. Kohler, lithographer, 22, Denmark St., Soho, London. Published by William Spooner, 377, Strand, London.
• Copy print of a portrait of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC. The reverse has a letter to An tAtair Micheál Ó Se OFM Cap. from Fr. Dermot O’Reilly OFM Cap. regarding a retreat in County Cork. Printed, 1 p.
• Postcard print of the People’s Café Hotel Dining Room, Trimgate Street, Navan, County Meath. The premises presumably served as a meeting-room for a local temperance association. 13.5 cm x 9 cm.
• Photographic prints of Thomastown Castle, the childhood home of Fr. Mathew, and Ratheloheen House, County Tipperary. See also Glass Plate Negative at CA PH-1-21. Print size: 11.5 cm x 9 cm; 10.5 cm x 8 cm.
• Postcard print of a bust of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC in Father Mathew Hall, Dublin. The bust has the following inscription: ‘Fra. Theobald Mathew / Ord. Cappuccin / J. Hogan fecit, 1834’. 2 copies.
• Photographic copies of the pledge of the Father Mathew Total Abstinence Association. 2 pp.
• Postcard print of a portrait of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC titled: ‘For happy homes, for Ireland, for God / Fr. Mathew OSFC, Apostle of Temperance’. 20 copies.
• Photographic print of the Father Mathew statue on O’Connell Street, Dublin. Black and white print, 25.5 cm x 19 cm.
• Negative photographic print showing Fr. Theobald Mathew’s house at No. 8 Cove Street, Cork. An annotation on the covering envelope reads: ‘Negative of a photo of Fr. Mathew’s House, No. 8 Cove Street – as it was in 1902 / The roof has since then been altered / Fr. Stanislaus Kavanagh OFM Cap., Aug. 20, 1928’. With two (positive) photographic prints of the same image. 3 prints.
• Copy portrait print (on card) of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC. 25 cm x 20 cm.