Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- c.1939-1993 (Creation)
Level of description
File
Extent and medium
38 pp; Manuscript, typescript, newspaper cutting and printed
Name of creator
Biographical history
Henry Shaw was born in Dungarvan in County Waterford on 18 May 1915. He joined the Capuchin Order in November 1933 and took Nessan as his religious name. He was ordained a priest on 29 June 1943. As a postgraduate student in University College Cork, he completed a thesis titled ‘The Life and Times of Fr. Theobald Mathew’ for an MA degree in 1939. He retained a life-long interest in the subject and accumulated many documentary sources, publications and notes pertaining to Fr. Mathew and his nineteenth-century campaign against intemperance. Most of his priestly ministry was spent in County Cork and he was a teacher for many years in the Seraphic College in Rochestown. For a brief period in the 1940s he worked as a missionary in Aden which was, as part of the Apostolic Vicariate of Arabia, under the care of the Capuchin friars. On his return to Ireland, Fr. Nessan resumed his priestly duties in Cork. As an avid supporter of Gaelic games, he held several senior administrative positions with various clubs associated with ‘Cumann Lúthchleas Gael’ in Cork. Fr. Nessan edited a collection of essays on the history of the Irish Capuchins in the twentieth century (titled ‘The Irish Capuchins / Record of a Century’) which was published in 1985. The last sixteen years of his life were spent as parish priest in Gurranabraher, a residential suburb on the north-western side of Cork city. He died on 13 July 1997 and was buried in the cemetery attached to Rochestown Capuchin Friary in County Cork.
Baptismal name: Henry Shaw
Religious name: Fr. Nessan Shaw OFM Cap.
Date of birth: 18 May 1915
Place of birth: Dungarvan, County Waterford
Name of father: Herbert Shaw (Baker)
Name of mother: Mary Anne Shaw (née Curran)
Date of parents’ marriage: 16 Oct. 1913
Date of reception into the Capuchin Order: 7 Nov. 1933
Date of first profession: 8 Nov. 1934
Date of solemn profession: 8 Nov. 1937
Date of ordination (as priest): 29 June 1943
Educational attainments: BA, 1937; MA, 2nd class hons., 1939; Higher Diploma in Education
Date of death: 13 July 1997
Place of death: Bons Secours Hospital, Cork
Place of burial: Cemetery, Rochestown Capuchin Friary, County Cork
Repository
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Scope and content
• Letter to Fr. Nessan Shaw OFM Cap. from the Public Record Office of Ireland sending on information in relation to Fr. Mathew’s family history and ancestry. 28 June 1939. Manuscript, 1 p.
• Copy article by the Most Rev. David Mathew titled ‘Father Mathew’s family / The Mathews in Tipperary’, 'The Capuchin Annual' (1956-7), pp 143-52. Copy print, 10 pp.
• An article by Fr. Nessan titled ‘The Mathews of Thomastown’. Typescript, 5 pp.
• Cutting of an article by Padraig Ó Maidin titled ‘“Grand George Mathew” and Thomastown’.
• 'The Father Mathew Record', Vol. 49, No. 1 (Jan. 1957). The publication is a souvenir edition which includes articles covering the Father Mathew centenary celebrations. The cover has a photograph of the Fr. Mathew marble bust by John Hogan.
• Cutting of an article titled ‘Thurles honours Diana’s ancestor’, 'Cork Examiner', 5 Feb. 1990. The article refers to Lady Elizabeth Butler, an ancestor to Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC and supposedly Diana, Princess of Wales.
• Copy of an article by Fr. Nessan titled ‘A Great Irish Capuchin’, published in 'The Capuchin' magazine. The article refers to the celebrations in 1988 of the 150th anniversary of the inauguration of the temperance campaign by Fr. Mathew. With typescript copy, 5 pp.
• The Mathew family tree compiled by Fr. Nessan. Manuscript, 1 p.
• Letter to Fr. Nessan from Rev. Christy O’Dwyer, President of St. Patrick’s College, Thurles, enclosing a copy of an entry in the Skehan Index of Clergy, re Fr. Theobald Mathew (1834-1872), a nephew of the Apostle of Temperance. 8 Feb. 1994. Typescript, 2 pp.
• Copy cutting of an article advertising the Ursuline Convent School in Thurles. The advertisement notes that prospectuses can be obtained from Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC. 'Cork Examiner', 22 May 1844.
• Copy extracts from the archives of the Ursuline Convent, Thurles, re the presentation of Fr. Mathew’s sister as a boarding pupil at the school, and to a donation made by him to the Ursuline Sisters. 1815-45. Copy manuscript, 3 pp.
• Copy newspaper cutting of an article by Nicholas Farrell titled ‘Dickensian litigant quits Bar for the pub’. The article refers to the legal travails of Thomas Mathew, a great-grandson of Sir J.C. Mathew who was a descendant of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC. (1991). Cutting, 1 p.
• Notes by Fr. Nessan on Elizabeth Poyntz (1587-1673) who became Lady Thurles in 1608 when she married Thomas Butler, Viscount Thurles. The notes refer to her genealogical relationship with Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC. Typescript, 3 pp.