Dossier 5 - Josephin Society Medal

Eleven Silver and Pewter Medals; Diameter: 3-2-5.3 cm

Josephin Society Medal
1821
Diameter: 5.3 cm
Silver Medal
Physical Description:
• Josephin (var. Josephian) Society Medal. The medal is inscribed ‘Josephin Society / Patron / Very Rev. T. Mathew / 1821’. The reverse shows a cleric assisting two young boys with the legend ‘Children come and hear me and I will teach you the fear of the Lord’. The medal is topped with a crucifix.

Temperance Medal
1833
Diameter: 4.5 cm
Pewter Medal
Physical Description:
• Face (front): Man and woman bearing banners with the words ‘Sobriety’ and ‘Domestic Comfort’. The both support a shield with five panels. Above the shield a lamb with a cross rests on a bar from which hangs a pendant with the word ‘Religion’ beneath. Underneath the ‘floor’ upon which the people stand there is a three-part ribbon suspended with the words ‘be thou / faithful / unto death’.
Under the ribbon along the edge are the words ‘Temperance Society’. On the upper edge of the medal are the words ‘Peace on earth and good will to Man’.
Obverse: Outer edge inscription: ‘Temperance Declaration Instituted A.D. 1833. Inner edge: Evergreen leaves and two hands clasped. Centre inscription reads ‘We agree / to abstain from all / intoxicating liquors / except for / medicinal purposes / and religious / ordinances’.

St. Paul’s Temperance Society Medal
1839
Diameter: 4.4 cm
Pewter Medal
Physical Description:
• Face (front): Centre: Man and woman on pedestal on which two children are seated. The adults carry a shield surmounted by a cross, with an angel above. The upper part of the shield has a lamb bearing a banner. The man bears a banner with the words ‘sobriety’. The woman bears a banner with the words ‘Domestic Comfort’. Outer-edge inscription reads: ‘In hoc signo vinces’.
Obverse: Cruciform text of pledge. Outer edge inscription reads: ‘St. Paul’s Temperance Society Very Rev. Yore, President’. Inner rim inscription reads ‘Founded Nov. 3rd 1839’.
An annotation on the covering envelope reads ‘Presented to Fr. Angelus Healy OFM Cap. by Mrs Weldon, Post Office, Rush. She also gave Certificate of Ballbriggan Temperance Society belonging to her grandfather’. For more information on St. Paul’s Temperance Society see the 'Journal of the American Temperance Union', Vols. 1-4 (1837) at p. 78 at https://books.google.ie

Cork Total Abstinence Society Medals
1838
Diameter: 4.3 cm
Three Silver Medals
Physical Description:
• Face (front): Centre: Man and woman on pedestal on which two children are seated. The adults carry a shield surmounted by a cross, with an angel above. The upper part of the shield has a lamb bearing a banner. The man bears a banner with the words ‘sobriety’. The woman bears a banner with the words ‘Domestic Comfort’. Outer-edge inscription reads: ‘In hoc signo vinces’.
Obverse: Cruciform text of pledge. Outer edge inscription reads: ‘Cork Total Abstinence Society, The Very Rev. T. Mathew, President’. Inner rim inscription reads ‘Founded 10 April 1838’.
One of the medals was found in an annotated envelope which reads ‘Rev. Fr. Stanislaus [Kavanagh] OFM Cap. / Silver medal of Fr. Mathew for sale’.

Total Abstinence Society Medals
c.1840-1850
Diameters: 4.4 cm; 3.2 cm
Five silver medals
Physical description:
• Face (front): Centre: Man and woman on pedestal on which two children are seated. The adults carry a shield surmounted by a cross, with an angel above. The upper part of the shield has a lamb bearing a banner. The man bears a banner with the words ‘sobriety’. The woman bears a banner with the words ‘Domestic Comfort’. Outer-edge inscription reads: ‘In hoc signo vinces’.
Obverse: Cruciform text of pledge. Outer edge inscription reads: ‘Total Abstinence Society, The Very Rev. T. Mathew, President’. Inner rim inscription reads ‘Founded 10 April 1838’.

‘Medal of the Josephian Society founded by Fr. Mathew in 1819. The Josephian Society was a religious, educational and charitable society, the precursor of associations like the St. Vincent de Paul. “The young men taught catechism and instructed poor children to read and write. They also visited the sick and relieved their physical wants, as well as read for them and prayed for them”’. John Francis Maguire, 'Father Mathew / A Biography' (1863).