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Capuchin Archives, Ireland

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Provincial Archivist Irish Capuchin Provincial Archives

Address:
Capuchin Friary,
Church Street,
Dublin 7. The entire collection is currently being processed.

Telephone: +00353 (0)1 8730599 (ext. 25)

Email: [email protected]

Website: http://www.capuchinfranciscans.ie/

Enquiries to: Provincial Archivist

Access: 10.00-13.00, 14.00-17.00, Mon.-Fri., by advance appointment only. Major Collections

The archives contain the records of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin in Ireland from 1615 to circa 1980, with the bulk of the papers relating to individual Capuchin Franciscans, Capuchin administration in the Irish Province, sermon and retreat notes and various sodalities and tertiaries. The collection is divided into two sections – historical (pre-provincial) and contemporary (dating to the post-1885 period and the re-establishment of the Irish Capuchin Province). Principal collections include:

Records relating to Capuchin houses in the dioceses of Dublin, Cork, Ossory and Raphoe and to overseas missions undertaken by Irish Capuchins in New Zealand (Wellington and Auckland), Australia (New South Wales) and the United States (thirteen houses in California and one house in Oregon), and in Africa (fourteen houses in Zambia and one house in South Africa). Correspondence between the Minister General of the Order, congregations of the Roman Curia, the Holy See and the Irish Province
Provincial and General Chapter meetings. Novitiate registers and papers. Material on studies and formation. Records of sodalities including the Third Order of St. Francis; Total Abstinence Association; Guard of Honour of the Blessed Sacrament; Sacred Heart Sodality; Archconfraternity of St. Anthony of Padua; Confraternity of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Personal papers and polemical writings of Fr. Arthur O’Leary, OFM Cap. and Fr. Theobald Mathew, OFM Cap., the ‘Apostle of Temperance’. Correspondence and papers of Fr. Albert Bibby, OFM Cap., Fr. Dominic O’Connor, OFM Cap., and other Capuchins involved in ministering to court-martialed insurgent leaders following the Easter Rising. This collection includes contemporary republican pamphlets, newspapers, handbills, photographs, correspondence and other documents relating to the War of Independence, the Treaty and the Civil War. Rare books (including incunabula) written by Capuchins or of interest to the Order, reference works, books by members of the Irish Province and publications by the Order in Ireland (including full series of The Father Mathew Record and The Capuchin Annual). Works of art (including original works by Richard King). Artefacts (including a large collection of printing blocks, framed historical banners and seventeenth- and eighteenth-century chalices and devotional objects). Maps and plans of properties held by the Capuchin Order in Ireland from the seventeenth century onwards. Photographic collections.

30/10/2026

‘An Gluaisteán Sídhe’ (The Ghost Car), 1945

While the skeleton at the wheel on the cover of Cathal Ó Sándair’s 1945 novel ‘An Gluaisteán Sídhe’ (The Ghost Car) fits right into the upcoming Halloween season, the text itself reflects a watershed moment in modern Irish-language publishing.

Cathal Ó Sándair (1922-1996) was arguably the most prolific Irish-language children’s writer in the twentieth century. He wrote roughly 160 books across various genres. Before his arrival, Irish-language reading material heavily favoured localized folklore, rural memoirs, and classical translations. Ó Sándair (a customs official by trade) recognized that Irish-speaking schoolchildren needed fast-paced, contemporary stories they actually wanted to read.

Borrowing heavily from English pulp magazines and American comics, ‘An Gluaisteán Sídhe’ was an early example of his work, blending classic whodunit mechanics with high-stakes international intrigue (featuring mysterious visitors from the fictional land of ‘Salonia’ descending upon the Gaeltacht). Ó Sándair later expanded into Westerns (the ‘Captaen Toirdhealbhach’ series) and even science fiction. Published during a period when the Irish state was pushing to expand reading material in modern Irish, Ó Sándair’s played a critical role in expanding the vocabulary and literacy of generations of Irish-speaking schoolchildren

‘An Gluaisteán Sídhe’ forms part of a library collection assembled by the editors of ‘The Capuchin Annual’. (Identifier: https://catholicarchives.ie/index.php/an-gluaistean-sidhe)

29/10/2026

A Clerical Voyage, Cobh, 1926

This archival newspaper clipping from October 1926 (exactly a century ago) captures a group of Irish priests departing from Cobh (Cove) for the United States aboard the German liner SS ‘Bremen’. Among the travellers is Fr. Gabriel Harrington OFM Cap., a Capuchin friar from Cork, who was embarking on a journey to boost the order’s missionary foundation in Watts, Los Angeles, California. Just a few years earlier in 1923, the Capuchins had answered a request from the Irish-born Bishop of Los Angeles, John Joseph Cantwell, to establish a parish and school in the expanding community of Watts.

During this interwar period, Ireland became a major source of Catholic vocations, sending thousands of priests and religious sisters abroad to meet the spiritual, educational, and social needs of rapidly growing Irish American communities across the United States.

The priests are shown next to Captain Winpts, who is described as the ship’s ‘popular’ master. The name ‘Winpts’ is likely a minor misspelling of Captain R. Wurpts, the commander of the Norddeutscher Lloyd (North German Lloyd) liner, the SS ‘Bremen’, during the mid-1920s. Historical records note that Captain Wurpts helmed the vessel on transatlantic voyages between Germany and New York, with stops in Cobh and Halifax, throughout 1926 and 1927.

The newspaper clipping is taken from a collection of records relating to the Irish Capuchin mission in the United States in the early twentieth century. (Record Identifier: https://catholicarchives.ie/index.php/irish-priests-on-board-the-ss-bremen)

28/10/2026

Remembering Winifred ‘Úna’ Stack, 1950

An interesting ‘In Memoriam’ article for Winifred Stack (Úna Bean de Staic) published after her death in Dublin on 3 October 1950. Born Winifred ‘Úna’ Cassidy in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, in 1878, the article illustrates the multifaceted roles women played in the struggle for independence, navigating spaces that spanned from public health activism with the Infant Aid Society in Dublin’s tenements to transforming her home into a vital safehouse for high-profile republicans like Cathal Brugha and J.J. Walsh.

The memoriam also refers to her political imprisonment in Kilmainham Gaol during the Civil War (where she voluntarily slept on a straw cell floor to care for fellow female republicans on hunger strike). The obituary was authored under the initials ‘H.C.’, most likely Helena Concannon, a Fianna Fáil politician and historian who specialized in commemorating prominent Irish women.

From a historiographical perspective, the rhetorical framing of the obituary is significant as it attempts to reconcile Cassidy’s radical, frontline militancy and subversive wartime escapes with traditional mid-twentieth-century ideals of Catholic piety, domestic devotion, and her status as a political widow.

The memoriam was published in ‘The Father Mathew Record’, an Irish Capuchin periodical, in December 1950.

27/10/2026

A 1920s Snapshot of Cork’s River History

This photograph captures what appears to be a riverside bathing location along the River Lee in Cork, dating to around the 1920s. The photograph features a barefoot local resident standing alongside a Capuchin friar outside a wooden bathing hut. Below them, there seems to be a timber slipway providing access to the river.

The unidentified friar is shown holding what appears to be a spring chest expander. A hallmark of late Victorian and Edwardian physical-culture movements, these portable spring exercisers retained their popularity as standard fitness equipment well into the 1920s and 1930s.

This informal riverside setup reflects a time when public swimming in Cork relied heavily on makeshift tidal spots and early twentieth-century municipal bathhouses. This was before the large, open-air municipal Lee Baths complex was built downstream on the Carrigrohane Road in 1934. Perhaps someone will be able to pinpoint the exact location of this photograph.

23/10/2026

A Monument in Miniature: Father Mathew’s Church Cigarette Card

An original cigarette card from the extensive ‘Irish View Scenery’ series, titled ‘No. 60: Father Mathew’s R.C. Church, Cork’. Issued by the prominent Gallaher Cigarette Company between 1908 and 1910, this item belongs to a 600-card set designed to encourage brand loyalty through collecting while documenting Ireland’s landscape and historic monuments. It offers a nice example of how local heritage was packaged as a collectible commodity at the turn of the twentieth century.

To source these architectural views, Gallaher utilized the work of two legendary pioneers of Irish photography: Belfast documentary photographer Robert John Welch and Dublin studio owner William Lawrence. Card No. 60 depicts the Neo-Gothic facade of Holy Trinity Church along the historical Charlotte Quay. Popularly known as ‘Father Mathew’s Church’, the building stands as a monument to Father Theobald Mathew, the renowned Capuchin friar and ‘Apostle of Temperance’ who launched his total abstinence campaign from Cork in the 1830s.

(Record Identifier: https://catholicarchives.ie/index.php/gallaher-cigarette-cards)

22/10/2026

Journey to Dalkey, 1922

An interesting article titled ‘From the City to Dalkey – Historical Spots on the Way’ penned by the topographical writer M. J. Freney and published in the ‘Evening Telegraph’ on 20 May 1922.

Taking his readers down a well-frequented route, Freney highlights several crucial landmarks of the era like Merrion Square and the Mount Street bridge, while observing that Beggar’s Bush Barracks had recently been handed over from the British Auxiliaries to the regular I.R.A. As the journey moves further south through the historic bathing resorts of Booterstown and Blackrock, the article shifts focus to the medieval landscape of Dalkey. The article features architectural profiles and illustrations of Dalkey Castle (celebrated as one of the seven historic castles that fortified the area when it served as the chief port of Dublin) alongside the seventh-century ruins of St. Begnet’s Church and the folklore-rich Our Lady’s Well tucked away near the Loreto Convent.

The article is taken from a collection of historical newspaper and magazine clippings assembled by the editor of ‘The Capuchin Annual’.

21/10/2026

The 1880 Memoirs of a Dublin Magistrate

A slightly weathered copy of Frank Thorpe Porter’s ‘Twenty Years’ Recollections of an Irish Police Magistrate’ published in 1880. Frank Thorpe Porter (1801-1882) was an accomplished barrister and magistrate who spent over twenty-five years overseeing the Head Office of the Dublin Police force.

Following his retirement from active bench duties, Porter channelled his massive wealth of case notes and personal memories into writing, originally publishing his observations under the title ‘Gleanings and Reminiscences’ in 1875. Rather than functioning as a dry legal text, the book offers researchers an invaluable micro-history of nineteenth-century law enforcement, detailing everything from minor street squabbles to brutal felonies and murder trials during an era defined by deep social divisions and rising nationalist sentiment.

This particular 1880 printing (the 10th edition) showcases the iconic pictorial boards typical of Victorian mass-market ‘yellow-back’ literature, with a cover illustration depicting a magistrate addressing an assembly from a stone balcony to emphasize the public-facing nature of municipal justice. The Internet Archive has digitized the entirety of the text which can be read online at https://archive.org/details/twentyyearsreco00portgoog/mode/2up

Our copy of the text forms part of a rare book collection assembled by the editors of ‘The Capuchin Annual’.

20/10/2026

A 1932 Wedding at Rochestown Friary Chapel, County Cork

A nice image of a wedding party at Rochestown Capuchin friary in County Cork in 1932. A manuscript annotation on the reverse identifies the groom as P. O’Regan (dressed in a very sharp maritime service uniform) and the bride as Ann Hourihan. Standing behind the bride’s left shoulder is the Capuchin friar Fr. Justin Hyland OFM Cap. (1894-1977). Born William Hyland in Longford, Father Justin joined the Capuchin Order in 1912 and spent much of his ministry in County Cork, serving as Master of Novices and a lector of theology at Rochestown during the 1930s.

Marriages at the Rochestown friary chapel were atypical, as Catholic weddings in Ireland historically occurred within the bride’s home parish church. Because the Capuchin friary in Rochestown was a monastic community and an educational college chapel, it did not serve as a standard parish church and couples who married there usually required special dispensation from the Bishop of Cork and Ross. When weddings were celebrated in Rochestown chapel, it was almost always due to an exceptional circumstance. Typically, this meant the couple either had a close relative serving within the Capuchin Order or held deep spiritual ties to the community, such as being long-standing members of a lay religious confraternity.

This photograph is preserved as part of the personal papers of Father Justin Hyland OFM Cap. (1893-1977).

19/10/2026

‘A Son of St. Patrick’, Father Michael Bergin, Great War Chaplain

A rare copy of ‘A Son of St. Patrick: Memoir of Father Michael Bergin SJ’, published in 1932 and authored under the pseudonym ‘Sister S’. Born in Fancroft near Roscrea in County Tipperary in 1879, Father Michael Bergin was an Irish Jesuit priest who served as a chaplain in the First World War.

Expelled from his Syrian mission by Ottoman forces at the outbreak of the war, he fled to Egypt, where he crossed paths with the newly arrived Australian Imperial Force (AIF). Desperate to serve the troops but lacking an official appointment, he was unofficially dressed in an Australian uniform by the men and landed at Gallipoli disguised as a trooper and stretcher-bearer. He was eventually commissioned as an official military chaplain, earning the distinct historical honour of being the only member of the Australian forces during the Great War to have never actually set foot on Australian soil.

Father Bergin was killed by German shellfire on 11 October 1917, during the Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele), making him the only Catholic chaplain serving with the AIF to die from enemy action in the war. He was posthumously awarded the Military Cross for his valour.

‘A son of St. Patrick’ forms part of a library collection assembled by the editors of ‘The Capuchin Annual’ (Identifier: https://catholicarchives.ie/index.php/a-son-of-st-patrick-memoir-of-father-michael-bergin-s-j)

16/10/2026

Centenary of a Blessing: Brother Aidan Byrne’s 1926 Apostolic Certificate

A highly ornamental Apostolic Blessing certificate issued exactly one century ago, on this day, 16 October 1926, to Brother Aidan Byrne, a Wexford-born Capuchin friar. These decorated documents were issued by the Vatican to convey the Pope’s personal blessing and a spiritual promise of a plenary indulgence to a specific recipient, often to comfort them at the hour of their death. This certificate features a photographic portrait of Pope Pius XI (1857-1939) framed by traditional Catholic iconography and circular vignettes of prominent Roman basilicas.

The text, written in English and stylized with illuminated capital initials, records a formal petition on behalf of Brother Aidan. It requests the Apostolic Benediction and a plenary indulgence to be applied at the hour of death, contingent upon contrition, even if the recipient is unable to receive the last rites or confession.

The lower portion of the document features a handwritten Latin inscription confirming its registration in Rome, followed by the signature of Archbishop Carlo Cremonesi, the Papal Almoner, a Vatican official responsible for managing and signing Apostolic Blessing certificates issued to the faithful.

Address

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Monday	10am - 5pm
Tuesday	10am - 5pm
Wednesday	10am - 5pm
Thursday	10am - 5pm
Friday	10am - 5pm

Telephone

+35318730599

Website

https://churcharchives.ie/capuchin/

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