Letter from Paddy Holahan to Fr Albert, Church Street, 10 July 1916 Letters 1916-1923 Paddy Holahan

This work was originally published by Maynooth University in Ireland in 2017. In 2026 this data, stored in a relational database was extracted and converted into this TEI/XML document.

 Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities Vienna, AT 2026

This is an open access work licensed under Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC 4.0).

Paddy Holahan was interned in Frongoch following his involvement in the fighting in the Four Courts area. He writes this letter to Fr Albert, a Capuchin priest based in Church Street. Holahan describes the difficulty in receiving 'the Sacraments' in Frongoch prison as they have only one priest. Holahan also mentions Fr Albert's presence at Seán Heuston's (1891-1916) execution, writing that it is 'delightful to see our leaders converted to the Catholic faith.'The Capuchin priests were very involved with na Fianna Éireann and Irish Volunteers before, during and after 1916. They cared for the wounded and administered the last rights to the leaders of the Rising in Kilmainham jail during Easter Week.

 Irish Capuchin Provincial Archives https://letters1916.ie/item/695 English Paddy Holahan 1916-07-10 Frongoch Reverend Father Albert Dublin Male Easter Rising Ireland 1916

The data in these XML files was generated based on a data dump from the Magellan database (https://github.com/Maynooth-Center-for-Digital-Humanities/Magellan). Each database record has been converted to a JSON file (https://github.com/letters1916static/letters-data/tree/main/json). The element section of the JSON file contains the TEI-encoded contents of the letters. The TEI XML has been cleaned and made well-formed using a Python script (https://github.com/letters1916static/letters-data/tree/main/src).

 Patrick Holahan 975 Irish Prisoner Hut 2 Upper Camp Frongoch Bala North Wales 19 July 1916 Dear Father Albert, I have just got this small piece of paper and I am using it for to thank you for not forgeting me. All the Boys that you know are all here now with the exception of Liam Stanes and Rennie Neary who are in the lower camp. We are all in the best of health and spirits and all hope to be soon home again in Dear old Dublin. Dear Father it is not so handy getting to the sacraments here as it was in the prison as we only have one priest and he can only hear our confession on Sunday and then we have to wait till the following Sunday. Will you please call on my mother and see that she is alright as I got a letter saying that she was sick and you know that the brother and I are her only support. I was glad to hear that you were with Heuston when he died as I was very fond of him. It is delightfull to see all our leaders being converted to the catholic faith. We say the rosary every night in our huts in Irish and we also say the litany. Good Bye for the present. I Remain, your obed servant Patrick Holahan Rev. Father Albert Franciscan Capuchin Friary Church Street Dublin OPENED BY CENSOR. Dublin Letter from Edward H. Andrews to Lord Clonbrock, 7 November 1916Letter from Patrick Hayes to Anna O'Rahilly, 23 August 1916Letter from John Brennan to Robert Chalmers, 27 May 1916Letter from John J. Farrell et al. to Robert Chalmers, 18 May 1916Letter from the Local Government Board to Emily J. Slocock, 11 March 1916Letter from Paddy Holahan to Fr Albert, Church Street, 10 July 1916Postcard from Gerard B. Crofts to Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, 31 January 1916Letter from James Tyrrell to his wife Nora Tyrrell. 23 May 1916 from Wakefield prisonNote from the Chief Crown Solicitor to Sir Matthew Nathan, 16 February 1916Christopher Walsh lettersCard to the Hon. Secretary from Mary Bourke Dowling, 8 November 1915Letter from Clair Ní Modhráin to her brother Eamonn in prison in England [May 30, 1916]Letter from Samuel Murray Power to Thomas Kirkpatrick, 15 June 1918Letter from Mr R. Desmond to Sir Matthew Nathan (Chief Secretary's Office), 15 April 1916.Letter from Patrick O'Loughlin to Ellen O'Loughlin, 23 August 1916Postcard from Louis Moran to his brother Eamonn Frongoch Letter from Paddy Holahan to Fr Albert, Church Street, 10 July 1916 Paddy Holahan Letter from Paddy Holahan to Fr Albert, Church Street, 10 July 1916