Item 30 - Letter from Fr. Joseph Fenelon

3 pp; typescript

Letter from Fr. Joseph Fenelon OFM Cap. to Fr. Peter Bowe OFM Cap., Provincial Minister, giving a detailed account of the various problems and issues at the funeral of Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. in Mission Santa Inés in California. The majority of the letter is taken up with expressions of Father Fenelon’s intense dissatisfaction with how Fr. Albert’s burial was handled. Against his specific instructions for a simple burial, a metallic/steel casket was placed over the coffin. This was requested by a Mr. Murray on behalf of the Irish Society in Los Angeles. Fr. Joseph attempted to countermand this order, but upon arriving at the undertaking parlor, he found the body already sealed in the steel casket, which the undertaker claimed could not be removed without ‘blowing the seal’.

Fr. Joseph had instructed that the grave be dug behind the Sacristy at the Santa Inés Mission. However, he arrived to find the grave already started in a different location, near the old Tower. The justification given was that the original site was part of an old burial ground containing ‘a number of Indians’. He affirms that Fr. Dominic O’Connor OFM Cap. was master of ceremonies at the funeral service and that Fr. Gabriel Harrington OFM Cap. sang the Mass. The Watts Choir travelled to provide music and Father Fenelon said a few words at the conclusion of the service.