Jackie Kennedy’s Letters Taken Off the Auction Block --- BOSTON — It was an unlikely friendship, between a shy, 21-year-old American socialite and a 73-year-old Irish priest. But in 1950, they began an extraordinary correspondence in which the American revealed her private thoughts as she dated, then married, then witnessed the assassination of the president of the United States. Now the fate of their letters, which had been headed for the auction block, is in question. -- While Jacqueline Bouvier was being courted by John F. Kennedy, she wrote, she came to see that he was consumed with ambition, “like Macbeth.” She discussed his roving eye, describing him as someone who “loves the chase and is bored with the conquest.” -- The letters were uncovered in April at a financially strapped college in Ireland, which had planned to sell them at auction as part of a plan to raise money. But earlier this week, the auction was called off, and on Friday, officials at the college, All Hallows in Dublin, said they had learned that the institution did not own the letters after all, and announced that it was closing its doors. -- It seems doubtful that the Kennedy family, which stepped in to object to the auction, even knew of the letters’ existence until excerpts were published earlier this month in newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic. The letters’ recipient, the Rev. Joseph Leonard, a Vincentian priest, lived for many years at All Hallows. Phillip Sheppard, the head of the auction house that planned to conduct the sale, told news outlets that a “private source,” whom he has not identified, had brought the letters forward. -- Mr. Sheppard estimated that the letters from the famously private former first lady might fetch as much as $5 million. As they were being prepared for auction, excerpts were made available to The Irish Times and The Boston Globe, igniting interest around the world. -- Mrs. Kennedy first met Father Leonard on a visit to Ireland in 1950. Through their correspondence, they forged a bond that extended over 14 years, until Father Leonard died at the age of 87. In elegant black script, Mrs. Kennedy shared her thoughts and fears. -- In 1952, a year before she married Mr. Kennedy, she wrote: “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. I saw how that nearly killed Mummy.” -- After her husband’s assassination, she wrote of being “bitter against God,” adding, “God will have a bit of explaining to do to me if I ever see Him.” -- On Wednesday, the auction was abruptly called off, and the college said that the Kennedy family had stepped in. A further twist emerged Friday, when the college announced that Father Leonard had bequeathed the letters in a will to his religious order, the Vincentian Fathers. The will, which had been presumed lost, had been discovered in recent days, the college said. -- Irish news outlets reported that the members of the order were in talks with the Kennedy family on how best to preserve and curate the archive. The family has not made any public comment. Officials at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston declined to comment. -- Whether the letters will ever become public remains unclear. The revelation of candid thoughts written to a priest, with the likely expectation that they would remain confidential, has roiled an age-old debate over privacy and the obligations of public figures to illuminate the historical record. -- “I don’t think they belong in the public domain unless her daughter, who is the copyright holder under U.S. law, felt they belonged there,” said Ellen Fitzpatrick, a historian at the University of New Hampshire who recently compiled a book of letters written to Mrs. Kennedy. She added, “As a historian, I would hope they would become part of Mrs. Kennedy’s papers at the John F. Kennedy Library, where they might be conceivably available at some point in the future to researchers.” - KATHARINE Q. SEELYE, NYTimes, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/24/us/jackie-kennedys-letters-taken-off-the-auction-block.html?hp&_r=0