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A history of ‘The Capuchins in Kilkenny 1643-1937 – a compilation of scattered notes’ by Fr. Angelus Healy OFM Cap. Parts I and II. Includes the early history of the Capuchins in the city, notes regarding the Alms house on Walkin Street, and the later construction of the present-day Friary building. With a bound copy (25.5 cm x 20 cm) dated at St. Mary of the Angels, Church Street, Dublin, 1938.

The collection comprises over 300 original glass plate negatives and lantern slides. Prior to the invention of cellulose nitrate film in 1903, photographic emulsions were made on glass supports. These glass supports are typically referred to as glass plate negatives. The term ‘glass plate negative’ refers to two separate formats: the collodion wet plate negative and the gelatin dry plate. Both formats consist of a light sensitive emulsion that is fixed to the glass plate base with a binder. This form of photographic process largely faded from the consumer market in the early years of the twentieth century, as more convenient and less fragile films were introduced. Despite the impracticalities of the medium, glass negative plates were generally considered superior to cellulose nitrate film for high-quality imaging because they were extremely stable and less likely to bend or distort.

The collection also includes several lantern slides. Lantern slides were constructed from a base piece of glass, with the emulsion (carrying the photo or print) on it, then a matte over that, and then a top piece of cover glass. They were then taped all the way around to keep the pieces together and to keep dust out. Occasionally, colour was added by hand, tinting the images (these lantern slides were created before the invention of colour film). The slides were then projected onto a screen using a bespoke lantern slide projector. Lantern glass slides were used by some public speakers until the mid-twentieth century, when they were eclipsed by more economical and practical 35mm colour slides popularised by Kodachrome. Finally, the collection also includes some original glass stereo plates. Stereo cameras used a single glass plate negative to capture images. Prints from these negatives were intended to be looked at with a special viewer called a stereoscope, which created a rudimentary three-dimensional image.

Provenance and Collection Content

Precise information on the provenance of the collection is lacking. The plates were retrieved from a worn leather suitcase bearing the initials ‘F.A.’ which almost certainly refers to Fr. Angelus Healy OFM Cap. (1875-1953). Although Fr. Angelus never considered himself an academic historian, he researched assiduously and transcribed many original documents relating to the history of the Irish Capuchins. His ‘Pages from the Story of the Irish Capuchins’ was published in 1915 to mark the tercentenary of the arrival of the first Capuchin friar in Ireland. It is highly likely that Fr. Angelus was responsible for assembling this glass plate photographic collection and that many of the lantern slides were created specifically for his use.

The image content of the glass plate collection is eclectic and varied. Only a relatively small number of the images are dated but it can be inferred that most of the photographs date to the first or second decade of the twentieth century. Many of the plates show images of scenes around the Capuchin Friary in Rochestown in County Cork. The Capuchins established a community in Rochestown, situated about five miles from Cork city, in 1873. The Irish friars had founded a Seraphic School in 1884 with the primary aim of training young religious. This school originally operated along the lines of a novitiate for students who aspired to join the Capuchin Franciscan Order. In 1887, this school was transferred from Kilkenny to Rochestown. The collection includes many images of novice friars and students attached to the Rochestown house. In addition to photographs of the friary itself, local landmarks, buildings, and scenic locations in the environs of Rochestown feature prominently in some of the images. Several photographs showing other Irish Capuchin houses and foundations such as the Church of St. Francis in Kilkenny are also extant in the collection. The collection also includes some rare images of the Reek Sunday pilgrimage to the summit of Croagh Patrick in County Mayo (CA-PH-1-49-55). The 764-metre-high mountain is traditionally climbed by pilgrims on the last Sunday in July. These images were likely assembled by Fr. Angelus Healy OFM Cap., who was known as the ‘Guardian of the Reek’ in honour of his long association with the pilgrimage. His association with Croagh Patrick lasted from 1906 to 1949, during which he climbed the mountain forty-two times missing only two years, in 1919 due to a railway strike, and in 1922 due to the Civil War.

A seemingly separate series of lantern slides relating to the life and career of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC (1790-1856), a famed nineteenth century temperance campaigner and Capuchin friar, were also deposited in the collection. It is very probable that these slides were used as illustrative aids by the Capuchins for public talks and auditorium lectures on Fr. Mathew’s campaign against intoxicating liquor. Temperance activity was revived in 1905 when the Irish Catholic hierarchy invited the Capuchins to preach a National Crusade. This revival initially elicited widespread public enthusiasm and by 1912 the Capuchins had administered over a million pledges throughout the country. The lanterns slides were, in all probability, used in this campaign. Finally, the collection also includes images of seventeenth century manuscripts and photographs of other original records pertaining to the lives and ministries of several early Irish Capuchins. These were probably acquired by Fr. Angelus Healy OFM Cap. and Fr. Stanislaus Kavanagh OFM Cap. (1876-1965), another prominent Irish Capuchin historian, for research purposes.

Notes compiled by Fr. Angelus Healy OFM Cap. mainly on individual friars comprising the Capuchin community in Cork. The manuscript includes notes on houses and places of residence, a chronology of important events, community lists in the nineteenth century, superiors of the Cork House from 1832-1934, and some general information on historical sources in the Irish Capuchin Archives. The title page reads: ‘This book contains various notes referring to our Cork Convent and taken from various sources. … The notes are entered of necessity in an unconnected way’.

A draft schema for the compilation of the Ard Mhuire Friary archives. The schema was devised by Fr. Angelus Healy OFM Cap. and refers to some of the foundational documents which should be obtained and secured for safe keeping. Reference is made to documents from the Land Commission, correspondence with the Bishop of Raphoe and letters from the Capuchin General Minister re the establishment of a novitiate at Ard Mhuire.

Lists of friars resident in Capuchin foundations in Ireland. The volume was compiled by Fr. Angelus Healy OFM Cap.
It includes the names of friars resident in:
Holy Trinity Friary, Cork:
1885, 1887, 1893, 1901, 1904, 1910, 1913, 1919, 1922, 1925, 1928.
The volume also contains similar lists in respect of the following foundations:
St. Mary of the Angels, Church Street, Dublin:
1885, 1893, 1895, 1901, 1904, 1913, 1919, 1922, 1925, 1928, 1931
Capuchin Friary, Kilkenny:
1885, 1893, 1907, 1913, 1919, 1922, 1925, 1928
Capuchin Friary, Rochestown, County Cork:
1885, 1893, 1901, 1910, 1913, 1919, 1922, 1925, 1928
St. Bonaventure’s Hostel, Cork:
1919, 1922, 1925, 1928.
An index is given at the front of the volume.

Chronology (probably compiled by Fr. Angelus Healy OFM Cap.) of important events associated with the Capuchin presence in Kilkenny dating from 1643 to 1876. Many of the later entries are references from local newspapers.

A note, possibly by Fr. Angelus Healy OFM Cap., on the building by Fr. Peter Joseph Mulligan OSFC of the Capuchin Friary Church in Kilkenny in 1847. Fr. Angelus wrote ‘in the account of the celebration of the Feast of St. Francis in 1847 there is no reference to any change in the Friary Church, which was the Old Poor House Chapel … the new Church was begun between October 1847 and December 1848’.

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.

A history of the Capuchin novitiate in Kilkenny, 1875-77 by Fr. Angelus Healy OFM Cap. Referring to the decision to found a novitiate, Fr. Angelus wrote ‘In the month of May 1875 a visitation of the Irish Custody was made by Very Rev. Arsenius, the Provincial of Paris Province. At the conclusion of the visitation he called the Custos [Fr. Patrick O’Reilly OSFC] and his two assistants [Fr. Edward Tommins OSFC and Fr. Aloysius Hennessy OSFC]. They met in our Convent at Dublin on May 25th. At this meeting it was decided to apply to our Superiors General in Rome, for permission to establish a Novitiate for the Irish Custody’. The novitiate was transferred from Kilkenny to Rochestown on 14 Feb. 1877. Fr. Angelus concludes by noting that the ‘account of the Novitiate in Rochestown from 1877 to 1886, when it returned to Kilkenny may be given in another paper’.