A collection of personal and emotional letters written by Jacqueline Kennedy to an Irish priest detailing her thoughts about marriage, religion and the sudden death of her husband, President John F. Kennedy, will no longer be sold at auction, reports CNN.
Kennedy and Rev. Joseph Leonard met in Dublin in 1950 when she was 21 and he was 73. Over the course of 14 years, the former First Lady sent Leonard more than two dozen letters about deeply personal topics, clearly illustrating the intensity of their bond. “If he ever does ask me to marry him, it will be for rather practical reasons—because his career is this driving thing with him,” she wrote in one letter.
“He’s like my father in a way—loves the chase and is bored with the conquest—and once married needs proof he’s still attractive, so flirts with other women and resents you,” she mused in another. “I saw how that nearly killed Mummy.”
The detailed writings were originally put up for auction by All Hallows College in Dublin, but were recently removed by Sheppard’s Irish Auction House. “Sheppard’s is in the process of returning the archive, and items related to the archive, which had been consigned to the auction, to the vendor,” the auction house announced via its website.
Though it’s unclear as to why the trove of letters were removed, the college told the Catholic News Service that it is working with the Kennedy family to figure out the outcome of the letters. “Representatives of All Hallows College and the Vincentian Fathers are now exploring with members of Mrs. Kennedy’s family how best to preserve and curate this archive for the future,” the university said in a statement.
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