Letters to the Irish Fr Provincial Laurence J. Kieran SJ from various Jesuits volunteering to become military chaplains following the outbreak of the Second World War. Includes letters from: Frs Michael J. Morrison SJ (See CHP2/29), Arthur Little SJ, Fr Edward J. Coyne SJ, Joseph Garland SJ, Thomas Shuley SJ, Richard Kennedy SJ (See CHP2/23), Leonard Sheil SJ, James McCann SJ and Michael Pelly SJ (See CHP2/33).

Letters to the Irish Fr Provincial from Fr Matthias Bodkin SJ written during his time as chaplain in the Royal Navy based at R.N. Base, Derry, Northern Ireland (refers to trips to the Arctic Circle and Western Australia) and serving on the battleship H.M.S. Anson in the East. Includes;

• Letter concerning his finances (February 1945, 10pp) and draft of Fr Provincial’s reply (25 February 1945, 2pp);
• Letter from Sergeant Major D.J. Fitzgerald (R.M. Detachment) of H.M.S. Anson describing Fr Bodkin’s activities in Malta (4 June 1945, 3pp);
• Letters describing his trip to Hong Kong, his visit with the Mission there (12 August – 25 October 1945, 12 items);
• News of the various Jesuits in Hong Kong and how they have fared during the occupation;
• Description of Tokyo (December 1945, 2 items); a ‘rough memory draft’ of his expenditure (1p.)
• Draft copy of letter from the Provincial to Fr Bodkin concerning his finances (5 January 1946, 2pp) (letter was never sent).

Letters to the Irish Fr Provincial from various Jesuits in response to Fr Provincial’s letter (16 April 1941, 1p.) seeking volunteers to serve as chaplains: ‘Mgr. Coghlan (an Irishman from the diocese of Meath) who is in charge of the military chaplains has called upon me and informed me that the need of chaplains is acute and urgent, in some areas Catholic soldiers have no priests to look after them’. Includes responses from: John Hayes SJ (See CHP2/18); John Burden SJ (See CHP2/13); Thomas O'Donnell SJ; Cyril Perrott SJ (See CHP2/35); Conal Murphy SJ (See CHP2/30); Thomas P. Kelly SJ; Brendan Lawler SJ; John McCarron SJ; Brian MacMahon SJ; Daniel Shields SJ (See CHP2/37); Maurice Dowling SJ (See CHP2/16); Frank O'Riordan SJ and Joseph Garland SJ.

A file relating to army chaplains. Includes letters and memoranda relating to the non-payment of their salaries to the Hong Kong mission. Includes extracts from letters by Fr Matthias Bodkin SJ, a naval chaplain concerning news of the Irish Jesuits in Hong Kong.

Pamphlets issued by the War Office on ‘The Abolition of flies in camps, billets and hospital. Circular Memorandum No.8.’, 24 June 1916, (7pp) and ‘Roman Catholic Chaplains. Information and Hints. British Armies in France. January 1917’, (21pp), possibly in the possession of Fr Henry Gill SJ. A section of ‘Roman Catholic Chaplains’ is underlined, where the chaplain should live, p.11, ‘with the Transport when the Battalion is in the trenches, unless by arrangement with the Senior Chaplain, it is decided that he shall be in the trenches’. Material hand in by Margaret Doyle, Archivist, Clongowes Wood College, 9 January 2017.