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Minute book of the Committee of the Total Abstinence Sodality, Father Mathew Hall, Church Street. The volume includes various newspaper clippings reporting the laying of the foundation stone (2 Feb. 1890) and the opening of Father Mathew Hall, Church Street (25 Jan. 1891). The volume includes clippings from the 'Catholic Times', the 'Freeman’s Journal' and the 'Daily Sketch'. The volume also includes manuscript and newspaper clipping reports of weekly public meetings of the sodality in the Hall. The minutes report resolutions in respect of financial accounts, general administration and the ministering of the pledge to members. The meetings were ordinarily chaired by Fr. Columbus Maher OSFC, President of the Sacred Thirst Abstinence League. The final pages of the volume contain newspaper clippings reporting on the death of Fr. Columbus on 10 Sept. 1894. The clippings also cover his funeral and the various tributes paid to him for his work in promoting temperance.

Minute book of the committee and public meetings of the Total Abstinence Sodality. The reverse of the front cover is annotated: ‘Temperance Society of the Sacred Thirst of the Lord Jesus Christ attached to the Church of Our Lady of the Angels, Church Street, founded by the Very Rev. Albert Mitchell OSFC, President, Dublin, June 1880, to which was added The Father Mathew Temperance Hall, Halston Street, opened solemnly Monday, 14th February 1881’. The first page contains the rules of the society as laid down by Fr. Albert Mitchell OSFC. The minute book reports the principal decisions and resolutions passed by the committee at their weekly meetings particularly in respect of financial and membership matters and later in relation to the funding for the construction of Father Mathew Memorial Hall on Church Street. The volume includes a copy of the printed 'First Annual Report' of the sodality (see CA HA/1/1/2) and a copy of a letter from Most Rev. Edward McCabe, Archbishop of Dublin, to Fr. Albert Mitchell OSFC, 49 North King Street, commending the work of the Halston Street Temperance Society (22 Feb. 1882). On 14 Feb. 1883, a report noted that ‘we have at present on the roll upwards of 1,130 men and 1,000 women and although some have fallen away from our ranks still it is satisfactory to be in the position to state that a large number have remained faithful to their pledge’. Other newspaper clippings pasted into volume include a report of a large meeting of total abstinence societies at St. Finbarr’s Hall, Charlotte Quay, Cork. With a copy of the agreement with J. T. Russell, Sandford Terrace, Ranelagh, for the lease of 3 Halston Street at the yearly rent of £16 for 31 years in trust for the Temperance Society of the Sacred Thirst (31 Jan. 1881). The minutes were routinely signed by the President, Fr. Albert Mitchell OSFC, and later by his successor, Fr. Columbus Maher OSFC.

List of guardians of the Capuchin Friary, Kilkenny, from 1842-1883 compiled by Fr. Angelus Healy OFM Cap. The list includes their dates of office. The file also includes notes by Fr. Angelus re Fr. Edward Tommins OSFC (d. 29 July 1889), Fr. Columbus Maher OSFC (1835-1894) and Fr. Cherubini Mazzini OSFC (1831-1906), guardians from c.1855-68.

Lease of Fr. Nicholas Murphy OSFC, Fr. Patrick Joseph Columbus Maher OSFC and Fr. James Lonergan OSFC, Old Church Street, Dublin, to Patrick Fegan, 42 Mary’s Lane, Dublin, vegetable dealer, of three dwelling houses known as nos. 138-140, Old Church Street, parish of St. Michan, for 20 years at the yearly rent of one peppercorn. In consideration of £250. A covenant in the lease notes that ‘the said houses and premises are now owing to their age and condition in a bad and unsatisfactory state of repair and in the ordinary nature and course of circumstances they will on the expiration of the term hereby granted be in a much worse and more dilapidated condition … the said lessors hereby agree that they will accept and take over from the said lessee the said houses and premises and condition as they may at the expiration of the term hereby granted wilful waste excepted’. With counterpart.

Lease by John Jameson & Sons, distillers, Bow Street, to Fr. Joseph Bernard Jennings OSFC, Fr. Patrick Columbus Maher OSFC and Fr. Joseph Harkins OSFC, Capuchin Convent, Church Street, of a plot and parcel of land situated on the west side of Church Street as delineated in green on an annexed sketch map, for 90 years at the yearly rent of £13 10s. The sketch plan of the demised premises is drawn at a scale of 20 feet to 1 inch. With a similar lease between the said parties relating to a plot of ground on the east side of Bow Street ‘and a piece of ground at the rear thereof extending along the north side of the premises in the possession of John Jameson & Sons’ as delineated in yellow on an annexed sketch map, for 43 years at the yearly rent of 1s. The lease reserves to the lessor and his workmen ‘full and free liberty in case of necessity to open, repair and inspect the sewer extending from the back of the corn kiln of Messrs John Jameson & Sons and …. a right of entry through the entrance gate in Bow Street to the Chapel Yard at all reasonable times’. The file also includes drafts and copies of the said lease agreements and a copy memorandum of equitable deposit from the Capuchin friars to John Jameson & Sons for £103 as security.

Judgement searches in the Registry of Deeds for acts involving Fathers Daniel Patrick O’Reilly OSFC, Michael Hennessy OSFC, James E. Tommins OSFC, Patrick Joseph (Columbus) Maher OSFC, P.A. Goodwyn Lawless OSFC and Christopher Nangle OSFC affecting a plot of ground on the west side of Church Street, Parish of Saint Michan.

The title page reads: ‘The ledger of the Capuchin Convent, Kilkenny, August 6th 1860 and 1861-1880’. The manuscript title is initialled by Fr. Patrick Joseph Columbus Maher OSFC. Most of the expenditure entries relate to household sundries, wages and expenses incurred for the upkeep of the church and friary. Most of the income derives from monies received at collections at Sunday mass and at vespers. Monthly totals are included. The entry for 14 Aug. 1867 is signed by the Irish Capuchin Commissionary General.

File relating to the commemoration of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC at the 1902 Cork International Exhibition. Proposed by Edward Fitzgerald, Lord Mayor of Cork, this exhibition and fair showcased many facets of the industrial revival in Ireland. The exhibition included a pavilion devoted to the life and work of Fr. Mathew. The installation of a Father Mathew Pavilion at the exhibition was primarily the result of work done by Fr. Thomas Dowling OSFC (1874-1951). The Exhibition Pavilion was designed by James F. McMullen, architect. The file includes:
• Letters relating to the loan of exhibits, temperance souvenirs, personal effects, paintings and mementos displayed in the Father Mathew Pavilion at the exhibition. Correspondents include Fr. Thomas Dowling OSFC, Fr. Paul Neary OSFC, Fr. Mathew’s collateral descendants, J.D. Power, James Nugent, Fr. J. Kane, Parish Priest of Culdaff, Derry, Joshua Baily and William O’Connell.
• Letter from Denis Downey, Dawson Street, Dublin, to Fr. Thomas Dowling OSFC regarding a painting of Fr. Mathew in his possession. Downey adds ‘the late Father Columbus [Maher OSFC] of Church Street with Miss Redmond, the artist, called here and sketched the features for the O’Connell Street Statue, and Father Columbus told me he would purchase the picture as soon as he would be free from debt over the building of the Hall in Church Street’. 24 Jan. 1902.
• Letter from Thomas S. Bowdern, Supreme Council of the Knights of Father Mathew, St. Louis, Missouri, to Fr. Thomas Dowling OSFC thanking him for his kindness in sending ‘souvenirs of the Great Apostle of Temperance’. Bowdern wrote ‘I assure you we appreciate very highly these souvenirs and will hand them down to our successors in the Knights of Father Mathew that in the flight of years they will become even more and more highly prized if such is possible’. Reference is also made to the Knights’ intention to build a statue of Fr. Mathew for the World Fair. ‘As it is the desire to make our statue after the one in Cork I have been asked to write to you to have you inquire whether there is a replica or moulds in existence of the Cork monument’. 24 Feb. 1903.
• Copybook containing notes on the provenance of many of the items displayed in the Pavilion including temperance certificates and medals, Fr. Mathew’s stole, portrait paintings, Fr. Mathew’s piano and a model of the Capuchin chapel on Blackamoor Lane, Cork.
• Caption panels for objects displayed in the exhibition. Includes descriptions and provenance details for commemorative plates, teapots and other artefacts associated with Fr. Mathew. One of the captions reads: ‘The marble chimney-place at present in Refectory was also left in Father Mathew’s house when he left it, and was presented to Community by Mrs Ryan’.
• Visitors’ Book to the Father Mathew Pavilion at the Cork International Exhibition in 1902. The visitors included Cardinal Michael Logue, Archbishop of Armagh. A note on the final page by Fr. Thomas Dowling OSFC reads ‘No. of visitors over 4,500’.
• Copy prints showing Fr. Thomas Dowling OSFC outside the Father Mathew Pavilion at the exhibition in 1902. The other print shows the interior of the Pavilion with various artefacts associated with Fr. Mathew on display.