File 11 - Letters from Fr. Herman Walmesley S.J.

6 items; manuscript and printed

Three letters and one supplemental slip from Father Herman Walmesley S.J., at the Collegio Germanico in Rome between January and September 1911. The correspondence primarily details the canon law, administrative protocols, and procedural guidelines required to establish a regular branch of the Sodality of Our Lady (Children of Mary) at Rochestown. Walmesley relies on the expertise of Rome-based sodality authority Father Elder Mullan S.J., to outline permissible avenues of operation. Because establishing an independent branch is restricted without the direct written approbation of the local bishop, the letters propose delegating admissions through existing sodality registries in Dublin. The text of the letters includes references to structural coordination with the editor of the ‘Messenger’ in Dublin, Father Matthew McDonnell S.J., regarding forms of Consecration. The letters also provide updates on Anselm Edward John Kenealy OFM. Cap., the newly appointed Archbishop of Simla in India. The file also includes a letter from Bishop Thomas Alphonsus O’Callaghan appointing Fr. Sebastian O’Brien OFM Cap. director of the sodality in Rochestown.

Father Herman Walmesley S.J. (c.1850-1927) was an English Jesuit priest who played an active administrative role within the Society of Jesus in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Though often indexed with the dates 1850–1928, historical records from the Irish Jesuit Archives and contemporary death records note his passing in March 1927.