Letter from Sr. Bernard Heuston to Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap.

Letter from Sr Bernard Heuston OP (1889-1960), Dominican Convent, Galway (a sister of Seán Heuston), to Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. thanking him for his remembrance of her brother as the first anniversary of his execution approaches. The letter reads: ‘Dear Fr. Albert Thank you for your long & interesting letter & above all for your promise of the Mass for poor Jack on Tuesday. I knew that you would not forget him. I can scarcely believe that that awful time is only a year ago & yet in another se

Details

Level of description: Item
Date: 6 May 1917
Reference: 6
Extent and medium: 4 pp; Manuscript
Scope and content: Letter from Sr Bernard Heuston OP (1889-1960), Dominican Convent, Galway (a sister of Seán Heuston), to Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. thanking him for his remembrance of her brother as the first anniversary of his execution approaches. The letter reads: ‘Dear Fr. Albert Thank you for your long & interesting letter & above all for your promise of the Mass for poor Jack on Tuesday. I knew that you would not forget him. I can scarcely believe that that awful time is only a year ago & yet in another sense it seems decades away! There seems to be a great many anniversary masses, indeed they seem to have been kept up during the year & I am sure the dear dead ones will obtain many graces for the land they gave their lives for. The number of conversions certainly proves the excellent religious foundation of their patriotism. I think it does my mother good to have a little chat about Jack sometimes – you sympathise with the cause for which he dies. I am hoping that when the sad memories of the anniversary have faded somewhat, she will brighten up again – the wound of such a loss will never completely heal. My mother sent me a list of anniversary Masses – certainly they have got more prayer than most people can dare to expect. The spirit still lives on. A letter from the Archbishop of Adelaide [the Dublin-born Dominican friar, Robert Spence, 1860-1934] came here yesterday. It was written in or about St. Patrick’s Day & he said that all the meetings held in honour of the Feast were unanimous in their condemnation of the treatment meted out to the Irish by the English government – feeling is strong there. You must be very pleased by the evident thoroughness of the Countess’ [Markievicz’s] conversion. I shall pray to get prayers for her & for all the others in whom you are interested. Should you be in the west any time during the summer I am sure you will call. I shall be very pleased to see you. With all kind regards & grateful thanks, Very sincerely yours Sr Bernard’
General note: A blog post written by a former student of Sr Bernard Heuston OP and published by the library at NUI Galway provides some further detail on the impact of her brother’s death and on her subsequent life as a Dominican sister. See https://hardimanlibrary.blogspot.com/2016/05/1916-and-sisters-private-grief-sean.html
Repository: Irish Capuchin Archives
Context: Irish Capuchin Archives > Capuchin Papers relating to the Irish Revolution > The Papers of Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. > Correspondence > Correspondence with Wives and Relations of Republican Prisoners

Annotations

Rights

Rights: Copyright held by the respective institution. Contact the archive for reproduction permissions.

Extracted Mentions

People, places, and terms identified via handwriting recognition and named entity recognition.

People

Day(1)
Patrick(1)
Long(1)
BERNARD(1)
May(1)
Little(1)
ENGLISH(1)

Sample passages

Mr. Patrick's Day & he said that
Mr. Patrick's Day & he said that
long & interesting letter - & above

Full Transcript (OCR, 1 pages)

Machine-generated OCR transcript. Handwritten material may contain recognition errors.

Page 1

DOMINICAN CONVENT, GALIVAY. 6th May '17 Dear Gr. Albert Thank you for your long & interesting letter - & above all for your promise of the liers for poor Jack on Tuesday. I knew that you would not forgething I can scarcely believe that that ongoing time is only a year ago & yet in another sense it seems decades away! There seem to be a great many Anniversary Masses. indeed they have been kept up during the year. & I DOMINICAN CONVENT GALIVAY. Am sure are dead & dead ones will obtain many graces for the Cand they gave them lives for the number of conversions certainly proves the excellent religious foundation of their patriotism I think it does my Mother good to have a little chat about Jack sometimes - you sympathize with the cause for which he dies. I am looking that when the sad memories of the anniversary have faded somewhat she will brighten up again - the wound of such a loss will never completely heal. My Mother sent me a lost of the anniversary Masses - certainly they have got more prayer than most people can dare to lapsech. The spirit still lives on. A letter from the Archbishop of Adelaide came here yesterday it was written in or about Mr. Patrick's Day & he said that all the meetings held in honour of the Least. were unanimous in their condemnation of the treatment meeted out to the Joist by the English government. - feeling is strong there. You must be very pleased & thankful about the Evident thoroughness of the Counter's conversion. I shall pray & yet prayers for her & for all the others in whom you are interested. Should you be in the Death any time during the Summer. I am sure you will call. I shall be very pleased to see you. With all kind regards & gratify thanks Very sincerely yours Gr. Bernard.