Copy letter from Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. concerning Seán Heuston’s execution
Copy letter from Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. The typescript copy notes that the original ‘belongs to L.T. Langley, 164 Iveragh Road, Gaeltacht Park, Whitehall, Dublin. The letter is incomplete, and no indication is given of the person to whom it is addressed’. The letter provides an account of the ‘closing scenes of Sean Heuston’s life’. Fr. Albert contends that ‘shortly after Easter Week, 1916, I gave a rather full account for publication in the Catholic Bulletin, but owing to the Censor’s restri
Details
- Level of description
- Item
- Date
- c.1916
- Reference
- 7
- Extent and medium
- 4 pp; Typescript copy
- Scope and content
- Copy letter from Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. The typescript copy notes that the original ‘belongs to L.T. Langley, 164 Iveragh Road, Gaeltacht Park, Whitehall, Dublin. The letter is incomplete, and no indication is given of the person to whom it is addressed’. The letter provides an account of the ‘closing scenes of Sean Heuston’s life’. Fr. Albert contends that ‘shortly after Easter Week, 1916, I gave a rather full account for publication in the Catholic Bulletin, but owing to the Censor’s restrictions it could not appear in print’. The letter reads: ‘At about 3.45 A.M. a British soldier knocked at the door of the cell and told us time was up. We both walked out together down to the end of the Jail yard; here his hands were tied behind his back, a cloth tied over his eyes and a small piece of white paper, about 4 or 5 inches square, pinned to his coat over his heart’. Reference is also made to Fr. Augustine’s Hayden’s ministry to Ėamonn Ceannt and Michael Mallin.
- Repository
- Irish Capuchin Archives
- Context
- Irish Capuchin Archives > Capuchin Papers relating to the Irish Revolution > The Papers of Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. > 1916 Rising
Annotations
Rights
- Rights
- Copyright held by the respective institution. Contact the archive for reproduction permissions.
Related Items
Extracted Mentions
People, places, and terms identified via handwriting recognition and named entity recognition.
Sample passages
- At 1.30 A.M. a military motor car came for us to Church St., and on our arrival at Kilmainham we were brought to the wing / p.2. of the Jail in which our friends were confined. Fr.…
- At 1.30 A.M. a military motor car came for us to Church St., and on our arrival at Kilmainham we were brought to the wing / p.2. of the Jail in which our friends were confined. Fr.…
- At 1.30 A.M. a military motor car came for us to Church St., and on our arrival at Kilmainham we were brought to the wing / p.2. of the Jail in which our friends were confined. Fr.…
Full Transcript (OCR, 1 pages)
Machine-generated OCR transcript. Handwritten material may contain recognition errors.
Page 1
The following is a copy of a letter (s.d.) written by Fr. Albert from the original which belongs to L.T. Langley 164 Iveragh Road, Gaeltacht Park, Whitehall, Dublin. The letter is incomplete, and no indication is given of the person to whom it was addressed. A Chara ghil. I am glad to be able to comply with your request for "some particulars about the closing scenes of Sean Heuston's life." Shortly after Easter week, 1916 I gave a rather full account for publication in the Catholic Bulletin, but owing to the Censors' restrictions it could not appear in print. The following is a brief summary of what came under my notice. On Sunday night, May 7th, Fr. Augustine and myself were notified that we would be required at Kilmainham Jail the following morning and four of the Leaders in the Rising were to be executed. At 1.30 A.M. a military motor car came for us to Church St., and on our arrival at Kilmainham we were brought to the wing / p.2. of the Jail in which our friends were confined. Fr. Augustine went to Eamon Kent's cell and I to Com. M. Mallin's. I did not remain long as he was on his knees in prayer, with two friends. Having visited Con. Colbert and Eamon Kent I went to Sean Heuston's cell at about 3.20 A.M. He was kneeling beside a small table with his Rosary beads in his hand and on the table was a little piece of candle and some letters which he had just written to his near relatives and friends. He wore his over coat as the morning was extremely cold, and none of these men received those little comforts that are provided for men even the greatest