This Month in the Archives
This month in the Archives – May 2024
From the archive this month, a note on storing documents.
Documents on paper are vulnerable to changing humidity in the environment. The most common problem in Ireland is likely to be excess humidity leading to the ideal conditions for mould growth. You will see this often on the covers of books, as in the first picture below.
But an excessively dry environment can also cause problems. For example, the second picture below shows an old architectural drawing that was stored in a very dry environment and has become extremely brittle. In this condition it is impossible to unroll it without causing further damage, because the paper breaks into pieces.
Both of these problems can be treated by a paper conservator, but the best solution is avoidance. Don’t store your valuable or historic papers in either a damp or arid location!
This month in the Archives – May 2024
Seventy years ago this month, May 1954, there was a rally for the Family Rosary Crusade held in the Sligo show grounds. A Rally leaflet is pictured here, along with a letter from Fr. Patrick Peyton to Bishop Hanly in March of the same year, referring to the coming rally.
Fr. Peyton, known as “The Rosary Priest” was born in Attymass, Co. Mayo in our sister diocese of Achonry.
This month in the Archives – April 2024
Pictured are two documents found in the archive this month.
The first is a pastoral letter from Bishop Edward Doorly in March 1944, 80 years ago, asking for the prayers of the priests and people for the protection of “His Holiness and the Eternal City from the ravages of war and, more especially, from the diabolical destruction and human misery left in the trail of aerial bombardment.”
The second is a booklet entitled “St. Assicus, First Bishop and Patron of the Diocese of Elphin.”, whose feast day is on the 27th April.
This month in the Archives – March 2024
Pictured is a set of oil stocks from the archive. These are containers, made of silver, used for storing the three holy oils. The container for the oil of catechumens, which is used at baptism, is engraved with a “B”. The one for chrism, used at confirmation and ordination, is engraved with a “C”, and the one for the oil of the sick (oleum infirmorum) is engraved with an “I”. The oils are blessed each year by the Bishop at the Chrism Mass during Holy week.
This month in the Archives – February 2024
Found in the archive this month:
- A scrapbook of material from the 1890s and early 1900s. Pictured is a page with a souvenir of laying the foundation stone of the new church in Roscommon on St. Patrick’s Day, 1897
- A wooden item with a leather handle – but what is it? I’m not certain, but could it be a variety of Crotalus (the wooden clapper used in Holy Week instead of the bells)?
This month in the Archives – January 2024
Pictured is a LIBER MORTUORUM – book of the dead. This would be a great resource for genealogists, as it provides for the date of, and age at, death and the date and place of burial. Unfortunately for the family researchers out there, this one was never used.
This month in the Archives – December 2023
Anniversary:
George Joseph Plunkett Browne D.D., Bishop of Elphin, died on the 1st of December 1858, aged 65 years. He is buried in the grounds of the Church of the Sacred Heart, Roscommon, his remains having been moved there from the old church in the town square when the current church opened in 1903.
Found in the archives this month:
Can you spot a familiar name? You won’t know them personally because these are the members of the 1st Vatican Council, which started on the 8th of December 1869. These photographs from the Council may have been brought home by Bishop Gillooly who attended the Council as a representative of the Irish bishops, although he doesn’t appear in them. Other Irish bishops who do feature are the Archbishops of Tuam and of Cashel & Emly and the Bishops of Kerry, Clogher, Clonfert, Ardagh, Galway and Down.
This month in the Archives – November 2023
Found in the archives this month: A student notebook used by Vincent P. Hanly in 1919.
Most Rev. Vincent Hanly D.D., Bishop of Elphin from 1950 to 1970 was born in 1899, so he was 20 years of age when he used this notebook for his student notes. He was a native of Ardnagowna, Elphin, educated at Summerhill College and Maynooth, where he was ordained in 1923. He served in St Mary’s Cathedral parish as a curate and as Administrator, while also teaching in Summerhill College and acting as secretary to Bishop Doorly, his predecessor. On the death of Bishop Doorly in 1950, Vincent Hanly was appointed as Bishop of Elphin. He died in Garden Hill Nursing Home on 9 November 1970 and is buried in the grounds of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Sligo.
This month in the Archives – October 2023
Anniversary this month: Most Rev. John J. Clancy, D.D., Bishop of Elphin, died on 19th October 1912.
John Joseph Clancy was born at Sooey, Riverstown, Co. Sligo on 23 December 1856. He was educated in Summerhill, Athlone and St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth. He was ordained in Maynooth on the 25th June 1882.
Subsequent to his ordination to the priesthood, he taught at Summerhill College, Sligo from 1882 to 1887, and then served as Professor of English at St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth from 1887 to 1895.
He was appointed as Bishop of Elphin on 4 February 1895.
Bishop Clancy was renowned as a preacher and delivered the sermon at the centenary ceremony for Maynooth College. He was strongly nationalist but did his best to discourage agrarian unrest.
He continued the building programme of his predecessor and it was during his term that the new cathedral in Sligo, although already in use, was finally completed and consecrated on 1 July 1897.
The Most Reverend John Joseph Clancy, D.D., Bishop of Elphin, died on the 19 October 1912, following a long illness, aged 56 years. He is buried in the crypt of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Sligo.
The pictures attached are of a letter written to Fr. Clancy (as he was then – 1886) by Bishop Healy regarding his candidacy for the Chair of English at Maynooth College.
This month in the Archives – September 2023
Found in the archives this month: A card containing a prayer for the success of the Vatican Council (Vatican II) – a piece of interesting history in the context of Pope Francis’ call this week for prayers for the success of the Universal Synod.
This month in the Archives – August 2023
Anniversary: This month sees the anniversary of Dominic Conway, D.D., Bishop of Elphin 1970 to 1994, who died on 22 August 1996, R.I.P.
Bishop Conway was a native of Longford, where he was educated at Cloonfree primary school and the De La Salle School before attending Summerhill College, Sligo. He later went to the Irish College in Rome where he was ordained in 1941.
From 1943 to 1948 he spent 5 years with the Kiltegan fathers in the Diocese of Calabar, Nigeria. He taught in All Hallows College, Dublin and at Summerhill College in Sligo, before returning to Rome as Spiritual Director and then Rector of the Irish College. In 1968 he was appointed as Secretary General of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith and then in 1970 he was appointed and ordained as coadjutor Bishop of Elphin.
In December 1975 Bishop Conway presided over the celebration of the centenary of the Cathedral, including the consecration of the new altar at Mass on Sunday 7th December. Pictured is the cover of the commemorative centenary magazine.
After he retired in 1994, Bishop Conway acted as chaplain to St Joseph’s Hospital, Garden Hill, where he died in 1996. He was buried in the grounds of the Cathedral.
This month in the Archives – July 2023
Anniversary: This month sees the anniversary of Bernard Coyne, D.D., Bishop of Elphin 1913 to 1926, who died on 17 July 1926, R.I.P.
The pictures are of correspondence between Bishop Coyne and Mrs. Mary F. McWhorter, President of the Celtic Cross Association, Chicago, regarding donations from the Association for the relief of distress among non-combatant women and children in Ireland in 1921.
This month in the Archives – June 2023
Two related letters came to light in the archive this month. The first is a letter from John McCormack, the famous Irish tenor, to Bishop John Clancy. It was written from Hampstead, London and says that he is sending Bishop Clancy a chalice, made by an Irishman in Dublin, as “a little token of my deepest gratitude for the help you gave me at the most critical period of my life.”
The second letter is dated 21 October 1910 and is from J. J. Kelly, Manufacturing Jeweller and Diamond Setter, Dublin, to Bishop Clancy. It begins “Being the manufacturer of the chalice and paten recently presented to your Lordship by Mr John McCormack, I take the liberty of herewith giving you some particulars of its manufacture and of the material used, as it may be of interest to you.”
This month in the Archives – May 2023
Anniversary: Christopher Jones, D.D., Bishop of Elphin from 1994 to 2014, died five years ago, on the 18th of May 2018, R.I.P.
Found in the archives this month:
For the month of May, this find seems appropriate, a design for a stained-glass window showing Our Lady, Star of the Sea. Unfortunately, there is no date or information on whether the window was ever installed, or where.
This month in the Archives – April 2023
Anniversary: Edward Doorly, D.D., Bishop of Elphin, died on the 5th of April 1950.
Edward Doorly (1868 to 1950) was a native of Clooneenbane, Oran, Co. Roscommon. He was educated in the Francsican College, Farragher, at Summerhill College, Sligo and at St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth. He was ordained in 1895 and served in Scramogue, Lisacul, Oran, Ahamlish and Strokestown parishes as well as in the Cathedral parish. He was appointed as coadjutor bishop in 1923 and succeeded as bishop of Elphin on the death of Bishop Bernard Coyne in 1926. He died in April 1950 and is buried in Sligo cemetery.
He was well loved in the diocese and is commemorated by Doorly Park, a popular recreation area and wildlife habitat on the banks of Lough Gill, renamed in his honour.
The archive item photographed is the cover of a decorative presentation letter to Bishop Doorly from the priests and people of Drumcliff on the occasion of his visit to the parish for a celebration following the renovation of the church.
This month in the Archives – March 2023
Found in the archive this month: a bound volume of the Stations of the Cross.
According to the introductory text, it was created 90 years ago, in 1933, to commemorate the Holy Year. It reproduces the stations of the cross from the church of Mount St. Alphonsus, Limerick.
Displayed here are the cover, the first page of the text and the picture of the tenth station, the crucifixion.
This month in the Archives – February 2023
While boxing items in the archive this month, I came across these Religious Knowledge exam papers for junior cycle students in 1957. Could you answer these questions? I found them very challenging. In a sign of the times, the question on altar servers was for boys only!
This month in the Archives – January 2023
Anniversary: Laurence Gillooly, D.D., Bishop of Elphin, died on the 15th of January 1895.
Laurence Gillooly was a native of Gallowstown, Roscommon. He joined the Vincentian Fathers in Paris in 1844 and was ordained in 1847. He was appointed coadjutor to Bishop George Browne in 1856 and became Bishop of Elphin on the death of Bishop Browne in 1858. He was reported to be reluctant to take the position. On 8 June 1856, Cardinal Paul Cullen, Archbishop of Dublin, writing to Dr. Gillooly about his appointment (see letter below), said “I know pretty well by experience that a mitre cannot be considered to be a crown of roses, but someone must bear the burden and when God calls, it is our duty to obey.”
Bishop Gillooly was responsible for transferring the diocesan college (College of the Immaculate Conception, Summerhill) from Athlone to Sligo and for building the current cathedral. He also moved the residence of the Bishop from Roscommon to Sligo, where it still is today. He attended the First Vatican Council 1869-70 where he was a spokesperson for the Irish Bishops.
Bishop Gillooly died on the 15th of January 1895, having served as Bishop of Elphin for over 38 years. He is buried in the crypt of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Sligo.
