Medals for:
Prefect of the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St Ignatius, Galway;
Congregation of the Holy Angels;
Sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St Ignatius, Galway for R. Fr[ancis] Mullery, 2nd July 1871.

Retreat and sermon notes attributed to Fr William Flynn SJ in the main. One document refers to Easter Sunday, 1 April 1866, [Fr.] James Butler [SJ]. References to sermons at St Beuno's, Wales, Mungret, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Galway.

Handwritten register of the Boy’s Sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St Ignatius, Galway. Details that ‘there is no record…of the date or circumstance of its establishment’ however ‘there is in existence a recording of the Sodality during 1887-1888 and subsequent years’. Includes member’s names and signatures and notes from meetings.

Handwritten register of the Apostleship of Prayer and of the Crusaders of the Blessed Sacrament, St Ignatius College, Galway. Details list of classes, Spiritual Directors, President, Secretary, Treasurer, Promoter and members. Includes loose inserts of notes on; the Apostleship of Prayer; souvenir of reception for the Crusaders of the Blessed Sacrament; certificate of membership of the Apostleship of Prayer; list of members of the Apostleship of Prayer Cumann Brigid 1946.

Bound handwritten register of the female and male members of the Apostleship of Prayer and Confraternity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Includes lists of promoters; inserts of a Certificate of Enrolment to the Apostleship of Prayer of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (1877); list of books in library used for different subjects: Latin, Greek, Theology, Physics, German, Jesuitica, Mathematics. English Literature, Periodicals and Religion (1633-1918).

With signatures and practice handwriting by Daniel Leap[e], Bolart, Clara, King's County, 9 October 1912 and James Dolan, Roscommon.

Register of Men's Sodality of the Blessed Virgin, Mary and St Aloysius, St Ignatius, Galway which details names, address and remarks of different guild members.

Register for the Holy League of the Sacred Heart, Daily Mass, at St Ignatius Church, Galway giving name and address.

Register for Apostleship of Prayer, St Ignatius Church, Galway giving names, address and date.

Pray leaflet entitled ‘Aspiration and Prayers for a happy death’ for the Arch - Confraternity of the Bona Mors, St Ignatius Church, Galway.

Photographic album by Fr Stephen Bates SJ. The photographs depict Jesuits and outdoor scenes such as on villa at:

• Ballytrent, Wicklow (1929 and 1930);
• Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin (1928);
• Gormanstown (1928);
• Clydagh, County Galway (1926, 1927);
• the play 'Pinafore', Mungret College, Limerick (1931);
• Lough Bray, Wicklow (1928);
• Aloysus Dando, Donald Roset and John Moran, Jersey (17 March 1929);
• Milltown (1928);
• Cliffs of Moher (1933);
• Ballydavid, Kerry (1935);
• Kilkee, Clare (1933);
• Killarney, Kerry (1932 and 1945);
• Waterville, Kerry (1931 and 1932);
• Caragh Lake, Kerry (1932);
• Clongowes Wood College, Kildare (1932);
• Clane, Kildare;
• Prosperous, Kildare;
• Maynooth, Kildare;
• Mount Brandon, Kerry;
• Killaloe, Clare (1943 and 1945);
• Keeper Hill, Tipperary (1944 and 1945);
• Quin Abbey, Clare (1944);
• Lough Derg;
• Sacred Heart Church, Limerick;
• Long Avenue, Limerick;
• Manister Abbey, Limerick;
• Junior Rugby Team, Crescent, Limerick (1944 and 1945);
• Dromore Lake, Limerick (1945);
• aeroplanes at Rineanna, Clare (1946);
• Tramore, Waterford (1946);
• new College extension at Crescent (January 1946);
• Crescent rugby City Cup winners (1946) and match at Mardyke, Cork (1947);

Black and white photograph taken in the Sodality Room, St Ignatius, Galway with Fr Edward Masterson SJ and six other pupils seated
around a table. 17th century pictorial map of Galway City in background.

Group of twenty-three boys dressed formally, with medals on lapel. In four rows, taken outdoors by Keogh Bros. Ltd. Names are printed. Some boy appears to be wearing shamrocks [St Patrick's Day]. Senior sodality members, St Ignatius, Galway.

Group of thirteen boys dressed formally, with medals on lapel. In three rows, taken outdoors by Keogh Bros. Ltd. Names are printed.

A file relating to a petition signed by members of the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary urging the Jesuit Fathers not to close St Ignatius College, Galway.

Notebooks with handwritten entries related the minutes of committee meetings of Our Lady’s Girls’ Club. The insertions details expenses for 1951. Includes two black and white photographs of girls’ club members at an outing at the beach.

Minutes of Committee meetings of Cumann Teresa, part of Our Lady’s Girls’ Club, for girls of 14-18 years of age who have left school. Givens names of President, Secretary and Treasurer. Insertions detail attendance: removals, full, partial and low. Minutes cover topic such as annual reports, rules, appointments, finance, duties, attendance and punctuality for example.

Letter to Irish Fr Provincial Cecil McGarry from Sr Mary Regis, Mercy Convent, Doon, County Limerick, following Fr Leonard Sheil's death. Encloses letters sent to her from Fr Sheil over a number of years and press-cuttings relating to him, in the hope they might be useful to the Society when writing Fr Sheil's biography. States ‘I thought I would like to do a little for him after all he did for me.…When he started his missions in England I used to make pictures & pieties to help him & send them to the different addresses. He sent me accounts of these missions…He never thought of himself, his aim was to use everything he could to bring souls to God… I have kept letters of his since 1939 & all the years of the war & until he wrote before Christmas to announce his illness’ (Aug. 1968, 4pp). Encloses seven letters from Fr Sheil, thanking her for sending badges and medals and discussing her health and his missions. Includes letter in which he remarks ‘…thanks so much for all your lovely pictures and things. They are immensely valued over here. Sometimes indeed religion is not valued, but I hope that these pictures etc. will make it impossible for them to forget the lovely things of Our Faith. One little boy brought five Protestant pals, mostly bigger than himself, to the mission at West Hartlepool. I have had many conversions of people years away from Mass and the Sacraments. Many others have rejected me. The [leak]age of the children when they leave school, & have no Catholic school, and no good parents, is frightful. I start missions again on January 8th at Coventry and near Northampton. They will be very tough, so help me with your prayers. I bless each house I enter, put them on their knees, if they don’t refuse, and instal (sic.) a holy picture’ (28 Dec. 19--, 2pp). Also includes photocopies of clippings on Fr Sheil from various English newspapers (n.d., 4 items).

A file of lists of members of the following guilds connected to St Ignatius, Galway:
St. Francis;
St. Joseph;
Sacred Heart;
St. Peter;
St. Nicholas;
St. Bridget;
St. Ignatius;
St. Brendan;
St. Aloysius;
Blessed Virgin Mary.

Letters to the Irish Provincial on various matters. Includes letters concerning:

• Polish scholastics coming to Ireland to study;
• the censuring individual scholastics;
• financial matters of the late Fr Henry Browne SJ;
• the taking of villas during wartime;
• a report on Irish theologians in Hong Kong;
• the question of censorship of various publications (See also ADMN/3/1 and 23);
• the question of Jesuit support for the Catholic Association for International Relations;
• a proposal by Fr Patrick J Connolly SJ to open a Jesuit school in Dartry;
• the Secret Instruction of the Holy See: Normae Quaedam De Agendi Ratione Confessariorum Circa VI Decalogi Praeceptum;
• the prohibition of female characters in plays produced by scholastics;
• comments on Director’s Service from Sodality reports of summer 1944 (See also ADMN/3/65 and 74);
• the publication of a book entitled Selected Writings of Father Ledochowski (See also ADMN/3/44);
• an invitation to the Irish Fr Provincial to the inauguration of President Seán T. Ó Ceallaigh (see also ADMN/3/43 and 76) in June 1945, signed by Taoiseach Éamon de Valera;
• relations with the Confederación Nacional de Congregaciones Marians;
• the proposal to purchase Crawfordsburn Estate, County Down (see also ADMN/3/6);
• the Chair of Education in University College, Dublin and
• some suggestions about choirs in the Province.

Letters to the Irish Fr Provincial from Fr Leonard Sheil SJ, various Jesuits and others relating to Fr Sheil’s work in the Jesuit church in Galway. Includes:
– letters from Fr Sheil and the Secretary of the International Catholic Girls’ Protection Society (Veritas House, Lower Abbey Street, Dublin) regarding radio broadcasts for Irish emigrants in England and an appeal for funds for the I.C.G.P.S. (see also J16/6) (7 November 1941 - 6 June 1942, 3 items);
– letters from Fr Hugh Kelly SJ (Rector, Rathfarnham Castle) and Fr Patrick O'Kelly SJ (Director of the Pioneers Association) reporting complaints about Fr Sheil’s behaviour with regard to the content of his lectures to secondary school girls, his running of the Sodalities in Galway and his comments to a young girl who came to him for religious instruction (17 November - 20 December 1942, 4 items);
– letters from Fr Sheil, Fr Hugh Kelly SJ and the Superior of the Presentation Convent, Dundrum, County Tipperary requesting permission for Fr Sheil to give various lectures and retreats and to act as Special Confessor to the nuns of Dundrum Presentation Convent (26 January - 24 May 1943, 3 items) and
– letter from Fr Sheil enclosing a list of his sodality work in Galway, to help his successor, ‘I have tried all these two years to get these works into such order that anyone could carry them on, but I have not had the time. Many details of organization have still to be put into practice. The walls are built but the roof is not yet on. However there is plenty of brains and holiness among the men and women engaged in the work. If I could have any wish where obedience is concerned, I would wish to stay with them’ (8 August 1943, 3pp).

Letters from Fr James Rabbitte SJ, St Ignatius College, Galway to Irish Fr Provincial Thomas V. Nolan SJ concerning his interest in the Sodality of St Peter Claver and his wish to obtain faculties to hear confession.

A file of letters concerning retreats given by Fr John Counihan SJ to the novices in the Society of African Missions.

Copy letter from the Sodality of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St Ignatius and St Aloysius to sodality members, concerning the centenary of the Mens’ Sodality of Our Lady, St Ignatius Church, Galway and seeking contributions in order to present a special altar to the church.

Letter from John MacHale, Archbishop of Tuam, to Irish Fr Provincial Joseph Lentaigne SJ. Refers to the latter's letter, which announced that Fr O’Reilly was being sent to MacHale’s diocese to conduct a retreat for the clergy on 20 August. Expresses his gratitude.

Letter from Fr Fergal McGrath SJ (Superior), St Ignatius College, Galway to Irish Fr Provincial Thomas Byrne SJ concerning a school site the Bishop of Galway wishes to obtain from the Corporation. Remarks that the Bishop asked that all Sodalities pass a resolution supporting his position. Refers to the situation as very difficult. Remarks 'We all disliked the proposal (that all Sodalities pass a resolution) supporting his position intensely, but felt that we must yield to the Bishop's wishes.'

Letter from Dr. John Healy, Bishop of Clonfert, to Irish Fr Provincial. Hopes that the latter can provide him with one of his priests to conduct the annual clerical retreat at St Joseph's College, Ballinasloe.

Letter from Dr John Healy, Archbishop of Tuam to Fr William Ronan SJ. Asks the latter to organise a retreat for clergy in Loughrea, and to send him two priests to conduct a retreat for the people of Portumna.

Leaflet on 'The Men’s Sodality of Our Lady' and the Jesuits in Galway (1630-1768) and (1869-1969) which gives background history. Published by the Connacht Tribune.

Jesuit villa group, Rossleague House, Letterfrack, Galway. Back row: Bernard Page, Frank Browne, James McCann, John Mary O'Connor and Robert Dillon-Kelly. Front row: Frs James Whittaker, Lambert McKenna and Frederick Gill;.

File of group photographs and negatives belonging to Fr Pádraic Ó Brólcháin SJ. Includes:

• Juniors Villa, Gormanstown Castle, County Meath, 1930;
• Juniors 1932;
• Juniorate 1933;
• Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin, 1933;
• Irish speaking villa to Roundstone, County Galway [1935] and [1936];
• Clongowes Wood College villa in Glengarriff, County Cork, 1938;
• Milltown Park, Dublin [1940 - 41].

All photographs include Fr. Pádraic Ó Brólcháin S.J.

Obituary for Fr Thomas Shuley SJ from the 'Irish Province News' (July 1965) and small photographic album belonging to Fr Shuley with thirteen images of the west of Ireland while on villa [1916-1930].

Minutes of council meetings of the Men's Sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St Ignatius, Galway. Refers to retreats and retreat directions, details members present and those proposed for membership.

28 September 1890-1 December 1912;
13 December 1912 - September 1937;
April 1946 - November 1951;
14 May 1961-14 January 1974;

Register for the Confraternity of the Bona Mors at St Ignatius Church, Galway giving names, address and date.

Volume of candidates (male) proposed and received into the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary and various guilds. Handwritten entries divided by name, occupation, date when admitted, residence, guild and remarks.

Copy book attendance registers, with Fr Peader O'Higgins SJ as master. Includes aspirant names for the Sacred Heart Guild, Blessed Virgin Mary Guild, Mary Immaculate Guild, Realt na Maidne Guild, Mother of Good Counsel Guild, Mother of Christ Guild, Our Lady of the Rosary Guild, Our Lady of the Wayside Guild, Star of the Sea Guild, Our Lady of Lourdes Guild, Mother of Mercy Guild, St Aloysius Guild, Our Lady of the Perpetual Succour Guild, Holy Name of Jesus Guild, St Francis Xavier Guild, St Ignatius Guild, St John Guild, Seat of Wisdom Guild, St Nicholas Guild, St Patrick Guild, Queen of Heaven Guild, Good Shepherd Guild, St Brigid Guild.

Anonymous paper on ‘The Mens’ Sodality of Our Lady and the Jesuits in Galway’.

‘Prayer to Guardian Angel & Certificate of Membership’ card from the Sodality of the “Holy Angels”, St Ignatius College, SJ, Galway.