A collection of records mostly relating to the Temperance Sodality of the Sacred Thirst attached to St. Mary of the Angels, Capuchin Friary, Church Street, Dublin.
This sub-series contains plans, drawings and architectural or engineering specifications and blueprints for properties and premises acquired by the Capuchins in Kilkenny. The section includes many drawings for the extension to the Friary, designed by Samuel F. Hynes (1854-1931), and completed in 1897. It all also includes plans (by the architect Sylvester Bourke) for the extension to the Capuchin novitiate at the Kilkenny Friary which was completed in 1960.
The sub-series contains an important collection of original temperance society medals. Most of the medals in the collection are associated with Fr. Mathew’s campaign but some relate to temperance activities before and after him. The Cork Total Abstinence Society’s medals were important because they served as important reminders of the pledge, and also as miniature temperance catechisms for the many illiterates who took the pledge. Fr. Mathew’s medals were large and inscribed with familiar religious symbolism. Most were of pewter, although some silver and gold medals were also available for particularly distinguished members. Generally, one side had the words of the pledge within a shining cross, together with Fr. Mathew’s name and the Society’s founding date (10 April 1838). The reverse depicted a well-dressed man, carrying a banner, ‘prosperity’, and a woman, ‘domestic comfort’, stood next to a lamb, surmounted by a cross and an angel. This scene was overlaid by the Latin phrase, In hoc signo vinces (‘by this sign shall you conquer’).
This sub-series contains wills, executors’ accounts, solicitors’ correspondence and related legal documents re legacies, bequests, and other forms of donations to the Capuchin community in Kilkenny. The material is arranged chronologically. The Mass Intentions’ Ledger Book at CA KK/1/1/3/5 contains a list of mass bequests from c.1930-60.
The sub-series includes research chronicling the life and temperance crusade of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC. Much of the research focuses on narratives of Fr. Mathew’s campaign.
