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Short history of the Sisters of St. Joseph Chamber in Ireland and Wales. These two countries shared the same province.

History of the Welsh and Irish Mission, with a background history of both countries as an introduction.

The note reads: ‘The General Officer Commander in Chief directs that every facility be given to his Revered Father Albert [Bibby] OSFC to visit rebel prisoners at any of the places of detention or internment, to hear confessions and administer the rights of his Church, at all times’. With typescript copy.

Letters from D. O’Callaghan, prisoner no. q 128, Portland Prison, to Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap., Church Street, referring to his health. The official letter states that O’Callaghan is in ‘bad health’ and notes that if he behaves well, shall ‘be allowed to write another letter about 19 Jan. 1918’. A letter M.H. Smith, medical officer, Portland Prison, reports that O’Callaghan ‘is in his usual health’. With cover

Notes from Frank Cullen, prisoner no. 135, to his brother Tom and to his mother, mostly referring to prison conditions. He informs his brother that a photograph of ‘poor John J. Heuston which his sister Theresa sent me about a fortnight ago’ was confiscated. ‘I was told that the photograph was of one of the men executed in Dublin and they could not give it to me … you see we are not allowed to have the photograph of an Irishman in our cells who gave his life for his country’. He asks both his brother and mother to remember him to his various friends at home.

Letters from D. O’Callaghan, Lewes Prison, to Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. concerning his prison conditions and to kindness shown to him by a Sister Bridget. He adds: ‘Duggan and Beasely were glad to hear from her and sends best wishes’. He later refers to his actions during Easter Week: ‘ … I done my best to conduct things to the best advantage for all, and if done a great deal of damage to property, it had to be done to insure the safety of the men that were in my charge. But I certainly say no unnecessary damage was done by us’. Reference is also made to his fellow prisoners G. Grofts and Jimmy Brennan. With an undated letter [c. Apr. 1917] from O’Callaghan referring to the deteriorating conditions endured by republican prisoners: ‘On Wednesday, the 9th some of the young fellows started kicking a rag ball at exercise and warder Birch picked it up most abruptly on the fooling day he had Boland charged with using insolent language. Boland got severely punished and on the following day we struck work. … Our experience is that the warders are incapable of making a correct statement about us. McEntee and I were charged with insubordination simply because we spoke on behalf of our comrades’.

Letters from Nannie O’ Rahilly (wife of ‘The O’Rahilly’), to Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap., expressing her regret that a mass in honour of the rebels of 1916 could not be held in Church St. Friary ‘as you did so much for the men who died’. Later she added ‘Thank God we had the Mass at Mt. Argus, it was most touching and edifying and as you say the spirit was splendid, without any outward demonstration. So the priests who refused us might easily have had more courage’.

Letters from Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. to Fr. Augustine Hayden OFM Cap., referring to journey to the United States, from New York to Santa Barbara, California, his declining health and to the consolation he has found as his death approaches. On 25 Jan. 1925 Fr. Albert wrote: ‘I am gradually getting weaker and am preparing for end. … Fr. Dominic O’Connor OFM Cap. came here last night and will remain with me to the end. Tis a great comfort and joy to have him. He will do for me what he did for Terry McSweeney in Brixton Jail’. With a newspaper cutting from the Santa Barbara Daily News (21 Jan. 1925) containing an article with (photographic prints) of the Old Mission of Santa Ynez and ‘Padre Albert’.

Letters from Brigid E. Whelan, Staplestown Rd., Carlow, to Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap., regarding a subscription from local people ‘to have a Mass said in the Cathedral, Carlow, for the repose of the soul of the I[rish] V[olunteers] who died in connection with the 1916 Rising which proposal was refused by the administrator ’. (2 May 1916). She later reprobates the ‘clergy [who] had abandoned the cause of their motherland’. She added ‘Thank God that there are such men as you and your “Beloved Brethren”’. (4 May 1917).