This collection contains Father Cuthbert Dunne's collection of papers related to the death of Oscar Wilde and consist of his memoirs of officiating at Wilde's deathbed conversion, correspondence, and transcriptions of newspaper accounts.

Father Cuthbert Dunne, C.P. was an Irish Passionist priest born in Dublin, Ireland in 1869. In 1900, he was officiating at St. Joseph's Church on Avenue Hoche in Paris, when Robert Ross came to request a priest to visit Oscar Wilde's bedside at the Hotel d'Alsace. Father Dunne baptised Wilde, and adminstered the last rites before his death; he also later officiated at Wilde's funeral. Dunne did not speak publicly about Wilde's death until 1945, when he finally responded to inaccurate portrayals of Wilde in a pamphlet titled "The Pure of Heart" by Rev. Daniel A. Lord. Dunne died in Dublin November 4, 1950.

1 box (5 linear inches)

Copyright has not been assigned to the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, UCLA. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Clark Librarian. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, UCLA as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.