13 - Copy Letter from Fr. Colman Griffin to Fr. Clement Neubauer regarding the juridic status of St. Brigid’s Hospice, Rochestown

13

Copy Letter from Fr. Colman Griffin to Fr. Clement Neubauer regarding the juridic status of St. Brigid’s Hospice, Rochestown

2 pp; typescript

Copy letter from Fr. Colman Griffin OFM Cap., Provincial Minister, to Fr. Clement Neubauer OFM Cap., Minister General, regarding the juridic status of St. Brigid’s Hospice, Rochestown. The letter addresses a complex canon law dispute regarding the canonical status and internal administrative boundaries of St. Brigid’s Hospice at the Capuchin Seraphic College and novitiate convent in Rochestown, County Cork. The text provides an analytical administrative timeline tracing back to the Provincial Chapter of 1940, noting how the original community was partitioned into two separate internal bodies to prevent college faculty from participating in novice-related votations, an action initially sanctioned by Father Brendan of Cork but subsequently rejected by the Holy See in 1945 due to the lack of a formal Papal rescript and the local Ordinary’s written approbation. Citing specialized canon law commentaries, Father Colman submits three distinct jurisdictional options for the General Definitory to determine whether the college community should be recognized as a regular independent convent with chapter representation, remain an autonomous hospice directly subject to the Minister Provincial, or be classified as a dependent branch subordinated to the Guardian of the adjoining novitiate house (‘familia novitiatus’).

ISAD(G) 2nd edition