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An image of a large group of Capuchin friars. A cover annotation reads: ‘Fr. Edwin and students’. Identifiable individuals include:
Second row, second from the right: Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap. (1874-1938)
Second row, third from the right: Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. (1877-1925)
First row, second from the right: Fr. Ignatius Collins OFM Cap. (1885-1961)
Third row, first from the right: Fr. Colman Griffin OFM Cap. (1886-1971)
Third row, third from the right: Fr. Bonaventure Murphy OFM Cap. (1880-1968)
Third row, fifth from the right: Fr. Dominic O’Connor OFM Cap. (1883-1935)

A group of Capuchin friars and students at Rochestown Friary, County Cork, in c.1928. The group includes (first row, third from the right) Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap. (1874-1938) and (front row, second from the left) Fr. Bonaventure Murphy OFM Cap. (1880-1968).

Letter from Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. to Fr. Bonaventure Murphy OFM Cap., referring to his arrival in Pennsylvania. He states that he ‘is trying to settle down – but my heart is ever pining to be back. However I’ll stick it until the decree of banishment is revoked. Those who sent me out here gave me the heaviest blow it was possible to give me’. He expresses his joy on hearing of the release of De Valera and Austin Stack. He also refers to Éamon de Valera’s address and concludes that he is a great man. He affirms ‘I never before thought so much of Dev as I do now’. He also refers to his hope that he will meet with Captain Robert Monteith in Detroit.

Letter from Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. to Fr. Bonaventure Murphy OFM Cap., suggesting that a person of the calibre of Seán French (1889-1937) should be in America as he would ‘heal the wounds and bitterness caused by divisions of the past few years’. Bibby also refers to his ill-health and remarks that he dreaded the idea of 'being buried with the Penn[sylvania] Dutch over 3,000 miles from dear old Ireland '. He also makes some caustic remarks in relation to Fr. Peter Bowe, the Irish Capuchin Provincial Minister, who is on a visitation to the the Western United States mission. He suggests that the Provincial is 'in no hurry – making most of every hour and every place – he has made his journey one joy ride, all the way and all the time. Everywhere you hear he is out for a good time. What an ideal!'.

Letter from Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. to Fr. Bonaventure Murphy OFM Cap., referring to his poor health and his imminent departure for Santa Inés, ‘one of the old Franciscan missions in Los Angeles – somewhere about 40 miles from Santa Barbara'. Bibby adds 'The Bishop, Dr. [John Joseph] Cantwell, is giving it to our people, and I’m to run it …’. He also refers to prominent members of the Irish American community and to his meeting with Seán T. O’Kelly, Sinn Féin envoy to the United States. Bibby writes ‘He [O'Kelly] has a tough job before him, as hard as ever a man faced. Even had our people played the game – it would be difficult owing to [the] sinister influence of [Daniel Florence] Cohalan and [John] Devoy’.

Letter from Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap., St. Francis Hospital, Santa Barbara, California, to Fr. Bonaventure Murphy OFM Cap. referring to his declining health. He writes 'Tis a desperate fight I'm making for life. ... I was more a corpse than alive when brought in here [hospital]. I have anaemia & ulceration of stomach. Though [the] former more serious, the latter would almost kills a bull'. Bibby adds 'When I think of Fr. Peter and his 4 Def[initors] I find it hard not to be bitter, but I try as best to have patience and offer up this suffering in expatiation of my sins’. He also refers to on-going work at the mission in Santa Inés.

Letter from Margaret 'Aggie' Bibby to Fr. Bonaventure Murphy OFM Cap. She writes that she has met ‘friends of poor Tomás [Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap.] who had just come from America. Immediately after his death the leaders of A.A.R.I.R. made a request on superior Fr. Joseph [Fenlon] to be allowed ship his body to Ireland as Tomás wished. He cabled to Fr. Peter [Bowe]. Reply came two days later: "Bury Fr. Albert in Santa Inez in the usual way". She later notes that care was taken to ensure that Fr. Albert's body was buried in a ‘metal casket hermetically sealed’. She concludes by expressing the hope that her brother's ‘bones will rest in the land he loved so well. Never shall we forget the Franciscan tyrants’.

Photographic print of Terence MacSwiney, Lord Mayor of Cork, Fr. Bonaventure Murphy OFM Cap., Rector of Rochestown College; Fr. Berchmans Cantillon OFM Cap.; Fr. Colman Griffin OFM Cap., Superior, Rochestown Capuchin Friary; Fr. Francis Hayes OFM Cap. The original print is pasted onto card with the title: ‘Terence MacSwiney, Lord Mayor of Cork at the College, May 1920’. With three later reproductions.