- IE IJA J/461/7
- File
- 31 December 1941 - 13 July 1944
Part of Irish Jesuits
A file of letters concerning retreats given by Fr John Counihan SJ to the novices in the Society of African Missions.
Part of Irish Jesuits
A file of letters concerning retreats given by Fr John Counihan SJ to the novices in the Society of African Missions.
Part of Jesuit colleges in Ireland
Letters from Fr James Rabbitte SJ, St Ignatius College, Galway to Irish Fr Provincial Thomas V. Nolan SJ concerning his interest in the Sodality of St Peter Claver and his wish to obtain faculties to hear confession.
Rabbitte, James, 1857-1940, Jesuit priest
Part of Irish Jesuits
Letters to the Irish Fr Provincial from Fr Leonard Sheil SJ, various Jesuits and others relating to Fr Sheil’s work in the Jesuit church in Galway. Includes:
– letters from Fr Sheil and the Secretary of the International Catholic Girls’ Protection Society (Veritas House, Lower Abbey Street, Dublin) regarding radio broadcasts for Irish emigrants in England and an appeal for funds for the I.C.G.P.S. (see also J16/6) (7 November 1941 - 6 June 1942, 3 items);
– letters from Fr Hugh Kelly SJ (Rector, Rathfarnham Castle) and Fr Patrick O'Kelly SJ (Director of the Pioneers Association) reporting complaints about Fr Sheil’s behaviour with regard to the content of his lectures to secondary school girls, his running of the Sodalities in Galway and his comments to a young girl who came to him for religious instruction (17 November - 20 December 1942, 4 items);
– letters from Fr Sheil, Fr Hugh Kelly SJ and the Superior of the Presentation Convent, Dundrum, County Tipperary requesting permission for Fr Sheil to give various lectures and retreats and to act as Special Confessor to the nuns of Dundrum Presentation Convent (26 January - 24 May 1943, 3 items) and
– letter from Fr Sheil enclosing a list of his sodality work in Galway, to help his successor, ‘I have tried all these two years to get these works into such order that anyone could carry them on, but I have not had the time. Many details of organization have still to be put into practice. The walls are built but the roof is not yet on. However there is plenty of brains and holiness among the men and women engaged in the work. If I could have any wish where obedience is concerned, I would wish to stay with them’ (8 August 1943, 3pp).
Letters to the Irish Provincial on various matters
Letters to the Irish Provincial on various matters. Includes letters concerning:
Part of Irish Jesuits
Letter to Irish Fr Provincial Cecil McGarry from Sr Mary Regis, Mercy Convent, Doon, County Limerick, following Fr Leonard Sheil's death. Encloses letters sent to her from Fr Sheil over a number of years and press-cuttings relating to him, in the hope they might be useful to the Society when writing Fr Sheil's biography. States ‘I thought I would like to do a little for him after all he did for me.…When he started his missions in England I used to make pictures & pieties to help him & send them to the different addresses. He sent me accounts of these missions…He never thought of himself, his aim was to use everything he could to bring souls to God… I have kept letters of his since 1939 & all the years of the war & until he wrote before Christmas to announce his illness’ (Aug. 1968, 4pp). Encloses seven letters from Fr Sheil, thanking her for sending badges and medals and discussing her health and his missions. Includes letter in which he remarks ‘…thanks so much for all your lovely pictures and things. They are immensely valued over here. Sometimes indeed religion is not valued, but I hope that these pictures etc. will make it impossible for them to forget the lovely things of Our Faith. One little boy brought five Protestant pals, mostly bigger than himself, to the mission at West Hartlepool. I have had many conversions of people years away from Mass and the Sacraments. Many others have rejected me. The [leak]age of the children when they leave school, & have no Catholic school, and no good parents, is frightful. I start missions again on January 8th at Coventry and near Northampton. They will be very tough, so help me with your prayers. I bless each house I enter, put them on their knees, if they don’t refuse, and instal (sic.) a holy picture’ (28 Dec. 19--, 2pp). Also includes photocopies of clippings on Fr Sheil from various English newspapers (n.d., 4 items).
Part of Jesuit colleges in Ireland
A file relating to a petition signed by members of the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary urging the Jesuit Fathers not to close St Ignatius College, Galway.