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This series contains property documents including title deeds, legal correspondence, and memoranda relating to the acquisition of properties in Cork by the Capuchin Franciscan friars. Towards the end of the eighteenth century, Cork experienced a dramatic physical growth. George’s Quay had been built during the second half of the century, making the River Lee navigable for shipping and in 1806 Parliament Bridge had replaced an earlier structure connecting both sides of the city for the flow of commercial traffic. A location below this bridge, near the mercantile and commercial centre of the city, was chosen by Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC as the site for a new church. The foundation stone of what was to become Holy Trinity Church was laid on 10 October 1832. However, the building was not opened for public worship until 1850. The gothic portico and spire were not constructed until 1889-90. Prior to the opening of the new church, the Cork Capuchins had lived in a friary situated on Blackamoor Lane in the South Parish. Following the construction of Holy Trinity Church, the community obtained a lease of 8 George’s Quay in 1855. Later, they moved across the river to a house built by Fr. Cherubim Mazzini OSFC (1831-1906) situated at the corner of Queen Street and Charlotte Quay. Fr. Cherubim Mazzini OSFC, (sometimes referred to as Cherubini in contemporary newspapers and other documents) was a Capuchin friar from Bologna in Italy. The Cork Gas Company later took possession of this site on the quay. It is now occupied by Radió Teilifís Éireann. In the summer of 1884 the Capuchin community took up residence in the present-day friary. The building of this friary was started by a French Capuchin, Fr. Simeon Gaudillot OSFC (1836-1910), and completed by Fr. Seraphin Van Damme OSFC (1820-1887) who became the first Provincial Minister of the newly reconstituted Irish Capuchin Province in 1885.

History of the Capuchin Friary, Father Mathew Quay, Cork, possibly compiled by Fr. Angelus Healy OFM Cap. The notes are described as incomplete, requiring ‘supplementation and possibly correction’. The first section deals briefly with the history of the Capuchins in Cork from 1620 to 1832. At page six Fr. Angelus traces the efforts made by the Capuchins to build a friary adjacent to Holy Trinity Church. This history is divided into distinct sections:
I. 1855: Very. Rev. Vincent McLeod OSFC, guardian.
II. 1866: Very. Rev. Edward Tommins OSFC, guardian. Includes an article from the Cork Examiner (24 Sept. 1866) referring to the laying of the foundation stone of a new friary. This project was later abandoned.
III. 18[ ]: Very Rev. Father Cherubin [Mazzini] OSFC, guardian.
IV. 1877: Very Rev. Father Thomas Sheehy OSFC, guardian.
V. 1878: Very Rev. Father Albert Mitchell OSFC, Custos-Provincial.
VI. 1879-1884: Very Rev. Father Simeon Gaudillot OSFC, Commissary General; Very Rev. Seraphim Van Damme of Bruges, Provincial Minister. (Includes an account from the Cork Examiner (10 June 1884) re the opening of the new Capuchin Friary.
Addenda: Historical notes re the Irish Capuchin Custody, the ‘dismemberment of the Irish Province’, the transfer of the Cork and Rochestown Friaries to the English Capuchin Province, and the re-creation in 1885 of the Irish Capuchin Province.
The final page consists of an incomplete obituary list of Cork Capuchins. The file includes copy typescript extracts from the volume.

Correspondence regarding a legal dispute arising out of a lease of 48 North King Street offered by the Capuchin friars to Patrick Macken. On 14 Dec. 1871, Fr. Daniel Patrick O’Reilly OSFC wrote to Macken offering him a lease of the said premises at the yearly rent of £38. Correspondents include Terence O’Reilly, solicitor, Patrick Macken and Henry Oldham, solicitor, 42 Fleet Street, Dublin. A note from Fr. Seraphin Van Damme OSFC is also included in the file. It reads ‘Make Mr. T. O’Reilly hasten with the maps and valuation of N. King Street properties and N. Brunswick Street to get the faculty from Rome for selling them’.

Assignment from the Munster Bank Ltd. (the vendors) to Fr. Simeon Gaudillot OSFC (1836-1910), Fr. Nicholas Maurice Murphy OSFC and Fr. Bernard Joseph Jennings OSFC, Charlotte Quay, Cork (the purchasers) of the residue of a lease dated Oct. 1781 (see CA HT/2/1/2/4) of premises on Charlotte Quay in consideration of £2,500 – £500 to be paid immediately with the remaining sum to be paid in ‘five instalments of £400 each within five years from the date hereof with interest’. With a deed of covenant from the Bank indemnifying the purchasers in respect of any legacies, law suits, equity claims and demands arising out of the will and codicils of William Clarke on the said premises. The file also includes a copy memorial of an assignment from Fr. Seraphim Van Damme OSFC and others to Henry Sutton Noblet, solicitor, 25 South Mall, Cork, of the residue of the aforementioned lease in consideration of £20 (dated 1882).

‘Return showing the names of persons subscribing towards the repairs of the above-named Church and Convent’ (Cork: Flynn & Company, printers, 66 George’s Street, Cork). A printed appeal on the inside front cover refers to the need for funds to execute the necessary buildings and repairs as ‘with the approach of winter, the Community find themselves literally "without a roof over their heads"’. The account book is incomplete and relates only to the Coburg Street districts. Entries are listed under names, residences and amount of weekly subscriptions. The remainder of the volume contains a history of the vicissitudes of the Irish Capuchins in the late nineteenth century. Includes short biographical notes on Fr. Louis O’Riordan OSFC (Vice-Provincial and later Commissary General), Fr. Simeon Gaudillot OSFC (a Capuchin friar from Lyons, France, who was Commissary General of the Cork and Rochestown houses) and Fr. Seraphin Van Damme OSFC (first Provincial Minister of the reconstituted Irish Capuchin Province in 1885).