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Following the deaths in exile of Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. (d. 1925) and Fr. Dominic O’Connor OFM Cap. (d. 1935), there were numerous calls to have their bodies returned to Ireland. Prominent republican supporters in the United States and Old IRA men in Ireland frequently petitioned ecclesiastical authorities to have the bodies of the ‘two patriot priests’ repatriated. These calls were initially rejected, and the outbreak of the Second World War prompted a postponement of the campaign. In 1954, a repatriation committee was set up by Cork No. 1 Brigade of the Old IRA to collect the funds necessary to defray the expenses involved in returning the remains to Ireland. Florence O’Donoghue, head of intelligence for the Cork Brigade during the War of Independence, was appointed Honorary Secretary. Cornelius Neenan was appointed the Committee’s representative in the United States. Aside from the financial difficulties, the Committee also had to contend with a certain reluctance on behalf of the church authorities in having the bodies of two priests moved in such an overtly public manner. The reburial was a departure from the normal rule of the Capuchin Franciscan Order. Also, as they were priests, a high religious content would have to be included in any civil ceremonies connected with the repatriation. Having at length gained the approval of both the state and the church, the repatriation took place in 1958. On 13 June, the priests’ remains arrived at Shannon Airport to be greeted by Seán T. O’Kelly, President, Ėamon de Valera, Taoiseach, Fr. Hilary McDonagh OFM Cap., Capuchin Vicar Provincial, and many representatives of the Old IRA. The funeral cortege then proceeded to Cork for a requiem mass in Holy Trinity Capuchin Church. Fr. Albert and Fr. Dominic were interred in the cemetery attached to Rochestown Capuchin Friary on 14 June 1958. The sub-series consists of correspondence, newspaper clippings, printed ephemera and photographs connected with the reparation campaign and ceremony in 1958. The series also includes records relating to the unveiling of a memorial to the two priests on the grounds of the Capuchin Friary in Raheny, Dublin, by veterans of Fianna Éireann in 1959.

A file containing postcards sent to Fr. Richard Henebry. The correspondents include Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. and Vicar A. Suppiger (Solothurn, Switzerland). Some of the cards seemingly relate to the cause of the sixteenth and seventeenth century Irish martyrs presented to the ecclesiastical authorities in Rome. Most of the images on the postcards depict scenes from the continent (including various sites in Rome). One of the postcards shows the Father Nicholas Sheehy Demonstration in Clogheen, County Tipperary, 1898. The card from Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. shows the interior of the Church of St. Francis in Kilkenny (May 1905). The cards are extant in an elaborate leather pouch.

Copies of letters of An tAthair Peadar Ó Laoghaire to Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. and ‘Sister Joseph’. The copies are on ‘The Capuchin Annual / Church Street / Dublin’ headed paper and were probably compiled by Fr. Senan Moynihan OFM Cap. The letter to Fr. Albert (17 Sept. 1906) reads ‘The word “léighean” comprises every sort of literary speech as distinguished from oral speech, i.e., books of all sorts, whether written or printed’.

Letters from An tAthair Peadar Ó Laoghaire, Castlelyons, County Cork, to Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. The letters relate to instruction in the Irish language (particularly for children), and translations of prayers and other religious material from English into Irish. In a letter (9 Nov. 1918) O’Leary expresses his hope that Bibby, Father Augustine, and Brother Bernard have all escaped the flu and ‘are all keeping free from that plague’. In another letter (Dec. 1918) O’Leary wrote ‘20 years ago people used to write to me and say “An tAthair Peadar”’. He also states that he is in good health and feels blessed ‘to have much energy in my 80th year’. In another letter (27 Feb. 1919) he argued that ‘the writers of religious poetry in English should all be gathered together and taken out and shot! Why do they take it for granted that because poetry is religious it may be nonsense!’. He later claimed that ‘those English religious hymns are really absurd’ (Mar. 1919). In another letter (23 Mar. 1919) O’Leary wrote ‘if you want to be sure of the real sound of the words get a real native speaker to say the words for you’. In December 1919 O’Leary invited Fr. Albert to Cork and to stay for a fortnight as he wanted to talk about ‘those little hymns of mine’. The file includes notes and some Irish language extracts and translations of mostly religious material.

A file containing an Irish language manuscript titled ‘An Craos-Deamhan’ (with English translation) by An tAthair Peadar Ó Laoghaire. The manuscript (with the accompanying translation) was seemingly sent for serial publication in the ‘Cork Sun’ newspaper. The newspaper ran from 18 April 1903 to 1905. The text was sent to Máire Ní Shíthe, the Irish-language editor of the ‘Cork Sun’ (43 Grand Parade, Cork). The text relates to Cathal mac Finguine (died 742). The tale was edited in Irish with an Irish-English glossary by Ó Laoghaire in 1905. It was published by An tAthair Peadar as ‘An Craos–Deamhan ó’n seana–sgéal 'Aislinge Meic Con Glinne' (Dublin, 1905). An envelope in the file is annotated in the hand of Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. and reads: ‘The original manuscript of ‘An Craos-Deamhan’ by an tAthair Peadar Ó Laoghaire with his own English translation’.