Item 6 - Copy letter to Fr. Juan Antonio de San Juan en Persiceto OFM Cap., Minister General, from Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. enclosing ‘The Case of Fr. Albert, OSFC’

Copy letter to Fr. Juan Antonio de San Juan en Persiceto OFM Cap., Minister General of the Capuchin Franciscans, from Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap., Capuchin Friary, Rochestown, Cork, referring to the decision to send him to America. He claims that ‘this decision would seem to be part of the penalisation which has been meted out to me, probably because of my activities during the period of hostilities in Dublin, last summer’. Fr. Albert encloses a statement, ‘The Case of Father Albert, O.S.F.C.’, defending his actions and declaring his ‘absolute impartiality’ during the War of Independence and later at the outbreak of Civil War hostilities in Dublin in 1922. Reference is also made in the statement to his previous pastoral work with republicans in the period from 1916. Fr. Albert declared: ‘The war of repression which England waged on Ireland since 1916, did not narrow my vision of duty. My mission as a priest was not to any one section or party, it was to “embrace all in one sentiment of charity”. … When feeling was bitterest against the “G-men” – the secret Police” – I saved one of them from death, and also facilitated the marriage of a member of the British Auxiliaries, who had won for themselves as hated a reputation as had the notorious “Black and Tans”’. Fr. Albert also emphasized his role as an intermediary between the Free State Army and irregular republicans during the attack on the Four Courts and in subsequent actions in Dublin during the initial phases of the Civil War. The copy concludes with a statement that the original document is held in the Capuchin General Archives, Rome (Annus: 1923; Prov. Hiberniae; Section 4). This copy has been made for the convenience of the Archives of the Irish Capuchin Province 'with the permission of the Most Rev. Fr. General, Fr. Benignus of S. Ilario Milanese OFM Cap.’. The certified copy is signed by Fr. Conrad O’Donovan OFM Cap., Definitor General, 28 July 1958.