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Born in Sheastown in County Kilkenny, Michael Butler entered the Capuchin novitiate on 25 September 1896 taking Casimir as his religious name. He was ordained a priest in September 1903 and was subsequently appointed to the teaching staff of the Seraphic College in Rochestown in County Cork. In 1910 he was among the first Irish friars to undertake missionary work in the United States. His first appointment was in Hermiston in Oregon which was then a desolate railroad settlement. The task awaiting him was daunting as Fr. Thomas Dowling OFM Cap. noted: ‘whoever is appointed to Hermiston must be prepared for a lonely, self-sacrificing life’. The Servite Fathers who had arrived in Hermiston in early 1909, left the diocese in January 1910. Casimir began work immediately in Hermiston and completed a small church with a second-floor dwelling reached by an outside ladder. In 1912, with the assistance of Fr. Malachy Hynes OFM Cap., a new location was secured from the Maxwell Land and Irrigation Company. Fr. Brendan O’Callaghan OFM Cap. replaced Fr. Malachy in 1913 and Fr. Seraphin O’Reilly OFM Cap. arrived the following year. Together the friars built a new church which was consecrated on 24 October 1915. Before he left Hermiston, Casimir had built three mission churches including the Church of St. Patrick at Umatilla in Oregon. From Hermiston he went to the Old Mission Santa Inés in California where he and Fr. Stephen Murtagh OFM Cap. took charge following the death of Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. on 14 February 1925. In 1929 Casimir joined the newly established Irish Capuchin mission in Cape Town, South Africa. In January 1932 he was appointed the first Superior Regular of the Irish Capuchin mission in Africa. He also ministered for some years in the pioneering Capuchin mission in Barotseland in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia). Ill-health forced his return to Ireland from Africa in December 1946. He died in Dublin on 18 January 1958 and was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery.

Baptismal name: Michael Butler
Religious name: Fr. Casimir Butler OFM Cap.
Date of birth: 12 Oct. 1876
Place of birth: Kilkenny, Diocese of Ossory
Name of father: Tobias Butler
Name of mother: Catherine Butler (née Murphy)
Date of reception into the Capuchin Order: 25 Sept. 1896
Date of first profession: 4 Oct. 1897
Date of solemn profession: 2 Aug. 1902
Date of ordination (as priest): 13 Sept. 1903
Educational attainments: BA (RUI), 1901
Missionary assignments: Travelled to Hermiston, Oregon in 1910; Travelled to South Africa in 1929; Returned to Ireland in December 1946
Leadership positions: Superior Regular Foreign Missions in Africa (1932)
Date of death: 18 Jan. 1958
Place of death: Church Street, Dublin
Place of burial: Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin

Henry Shaw was born in Dungarvan in County Waterford on 18 May 1915. He joined the Capuchin Order in November 1933 and took Nessan as his religious name. He was ordained a priest on 29 June 1943. As a postgraduate student in University College Cork, he completed a thesis titled ‘The Life and Times of Fr. Theobald Mathew’ for an MA degree in 1939. He retained a life-long interest in the subject and accumulated many documentary sources, publications and notes pertaining to Fr. Mathew and his nineteenth-century campaign against intemperance. Most of his priestly ministry was spent in County Cork and he was a teacher for many years in the Seraphic College in Rochestown. For a brief period in the 1940s he worked as a missionary in Aden which was, as part of the Apostolic Vicariate of Arabia, under the care of the Capuchin friars. On his return to Ireland, Fr. Nessan resumed his priestly duties in Cork. As an avid supporter of Gaelic games, he held several senior administrative positions with various clubs associated with ‘Cumann Lúthchleas Gael’ in Cork. Fr. Nessan edited a collection of essays on the history of the Irish Capuchins in the twentieth century (titled ‘The Irish Capuchins / Record of a Century’) which was published in 1985. The last sixteen years of his life were spent as parish priest in Gurranabraher, a residential suburb on the north-western side of Cork city. He died on 13 July 1997 and was buried in the cemetery attached to Rochestown Capuchin Friary in County Cork.

Baptismal name: Henry Shaw
Religious name: Fr. Nessan Shaw OFM Cap.
Date of birth: 18 May 1915
Place of birth: Dungarvan, County Waterford
Name of father: Herbert Shaw (Baker)
Name of mother: Mary Anne Shaw (née Curran)
Date of parents’ marriage: 16 Oct. 1913
Date of reception into the Capuchin Order: 7 Nov. 1933
Date of first profession: 8 Nov. 1934
Date of solemn profession: 8 Nov. 1937
Date of ordination (as priest): 29 June 1943
Educational attainments: BA, 1937; MA, 2nd class hons., 1939; Higher Diploma in Education
Date of death: 13 July 1997
Place of death: Bons Secours Hospital, Cork
Place of burial: Cemetery, Rochestown Capuchin Friary, County Cork

John Hayden was born in Gowran, County Kilkenny, on 7 November 1870. His parents were William Hayden, a railway station master, and Mary Hayden (née Morrissey). On 8 December 1884, he was among the first five pupils to be admitted to the recently opened Seraphic School at Rochestown in County Cork. He took Augustine as his religious name upon entering the Capuchin Order in November 1885. Towards the end of his clerical studies his health deteriorated and he was forced to spend two years in Switzerland. He was ordained a priest in the Augustinian Church on Thomas Street in Dublin in November 1893. On 3 August 1896, Fr. Augustine was appointed rector of Rochestown College, replacing Fr. Francis Hayes OFM Cap. He held this position from 1896 to 1907. He later returned to Dublin and was guardian (local superior) of the Church Street Friary from 1913-6. He cultivated a strong interest in the Gaelic Revival and in particular preserving the Irish language. He was associated with Shán Ó Cuív (1875-1940) in establishing the Irish Language College at Ballingeary, County Cork in 1904, the first college of its kind. He was also a regular correspondent with Fr. Peadar Ua Laoghaire (1839-1920), a noted figure in Conradh na Gaelige, and for many years conducted missions in Gaeltacht areas of Counties Kerry and Donegal. In the immediate aftermath of the 1916 Rising, Fr. Augustine accompanied Fr. Aloysius Travers OFM Cap. in visiting Patrick Pearse and James Connolly. He was instrumental in securing the surrender of Thomas MacDonagh at the Jacob’s Factory and was present at Ėamonn Ceannt’s surrender at the South Dublin Union. He also ministered to Ceannt in the hours before his execution. Like the other Capuchin friars of the Dublin community, Fr. Augustine later committed his memories of Easter Week to writing (CA IR-1-4-1). In 1917, he was the celebrant at the wedding of Terence MacSwiney to Muriel Murphy and he was also the celebrant at the marriage of McSwiney’s daughter in Cork in 1940. He authored a number of devotional texts including 'Ireland’s Loyalty to the Mass' (1933) and 'Ireland’s Loyalty to Mary' (1952). Fr. Augustine died on 6 February 1954 in the Bon Secours Hospital in Cork, and was laid to rest in the cemetery adjoining the Capuchin Friary in Rochestown in County Cork.

James Doogan was born in Dublin in 1841. He was received into the Capuchin Order in their novitiate in Bologna in 1860 and remained in Italy following his ordination. He arrived in India in about 1867 and was appointed principal of St. George’s School in Mussoorie in the northern state of Uttarakhand. The school had been founded by the Capuchin fathers in 1853. Doogan remained principal until 1873 when the school was entrusted to the care of the Society of the Brothers of St. Patrick (the Irish Patrician Brothers). Afterwards, he was appointed a military chaplain with British forces stationed in India. He served in Nusseerabad (also known as Nasirabad) where he contracted cholera but recovered. He served with distinction during the Anglo-Afghan War (1878-80) and returned to India at the conclusion of the hostilities. He was a life-long temperance campaigner and wrote several pamphlets on the dangers of intoxicating liquor. He contracted influenza in May 1899 which led him to be hospitalised in the Military Station Hospital in Chakrata in Uttarakhand. He died there on 29 July 1899. He was given a ceremonial military funeral by the British Army.

Denis Field was born in Kilcrea in County Cork on 16 November 1883. He was the son of a farmer and was educated at Kilbonane National School and later at the Capuchin College in Rochestown, County Cork. He was received into the Capuchin Order at Rochestown (taking Thaddeus as his religious name) in October 1905. He studied philosophy at Rochestown College and received a BA degree from the Royal University, Cork, in 1911. He was ordained to the priesthood in Holy Trinity Church, Cork, on 5 July 1914. Shortly after his ordination, Fr. Thaddeus was appointed to the teaching staff at the Seraphic College in Rochestown. Most of his religious life was spent in Rochestown and for many years he served as Vice-Rector of the College. Fr. Thaddeus also held other offices in the Irish Capuchin Province. At various times he was Guardian (local superior) of the Rochestown community, Vicar and Vice-Master of Novices in the Kilkenny foundation, and President of Father Mathew Temperance Hall in Cork city. His later years in Rochestown were affected by recurring bouts of ill health. He died in Cork on 9 December 1962 and was buried in the cemetery adjoining Rochestown Friary.

Baptismal name: Denis Field
Religious name: Fr. Thaddeus Field OFM Cap.
Date of birth: 16 Nov. 1888
Place of birth: Kilcrea, County Cork
Name of father: Denis Field (Farmer)
Name of mother: Ellen Field (née Murphy)
Date of reception in the Capuchin Order: 1 Oct. 1905
Date of first profession: 4 Oct. 1906
Date of final profession: 21 Jan. 1912
Date of ordination (as priest): 5 July 1914
Educational attainments: BA, (RUI) 1911
Date of death: 9 Dec. 1962
Place of death: Lindville Hospital, Cork
Place of burial: Cemetery, Rochestown Capuchin Friary, County Cork

Daniel Roche was born in Newcastle West in County Limerick on 30 July 1898. He was educated in the local primary school in Newcastle West and later at the Capuchin College in Rochestown, County Cork. He entered the Capuchin Order in August 1914 and took Fintan as his religious name. He made his solemn profession as a friar in 1920. He graduated with a philosophy degree from University College Cork and studied theology at Rochestown. He was ordained a priest by Bishop Daniel Cohalan in Holy Trinity Church, Cork, on 29 June 1923. Shortly after his ordination, in October 1923, he travelled to the United States as a missionary friar. Ten years later, he became one of the pioneering missionaries in the newly established Capuchin mission territory in Barotseland in Northern Rhodesia. While in Africa, he contributed regularly to ‘The Father Mathew Record’, a popular monthly publication of the Irish Capuchins which promoted the Order’s overseas’ missions (particularly in Africa). He returned to Ireland in 1940 to engage in fundraising activities to support the Order’s missionary endeavours. A decision was made to send Fr. Fintan back to the United States in January 1944. However, he suffered a serious accident during his transatlantic passage when the ship he was travelling on encountered a severe storm. He continued to suffer from ill-health in the years following his return to America. He spent some years as Pastor in McKenzie Bridge, a picturesque if isolated region located about halfway between Roseburg and Bend in Oregon on the American Pacific coast. In 1950, he described his life in McKenzie Bridge as ‘nothing strange, weeding and Mass every day and peace’. However, his health continued to decline and following several heart attacks he left his remote rural abode in Oregon to reside in California. He died in the Capuchin Friary in Flintridge, north of Los Angeles in California on 9 May 1953.

Baptismal name: Daniel Roche
Religious name: Fr. Fintan Roche OFM Cap.
Date of birth: 30 July 1898
Place of birth: Newcastle West, County Limerick
Name of father: James Roche (Shopkeeper)
Name of mother: Anne Roche (née Downey)
Date of reception into the Capuchin Order: 27 Aug. 1914
Date of first profession: 8 Sept. 1915
Date of final profession: 21 Mar. 1920
Date of ordination: 29 June 1923
Educational attainments: BA, 1919
Missionary activities: Travelled to the United States on 14 Oct. 1923; Travelled to Africa in 1933; Returned to Ireland in 1940; Travelled to the United States in January 1944
Date of death: 9 May 1953
Place of death: Flintridge, California

Nicholas Brophy was born in Sandymount in Dublin on 13 October 1895. He entered the Capuchin novitiate in Kilkenny in 1917 and took Charles as his religious name. He later attended the Capuchin College in Rochestown in County Cork and obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from University College Cork in 1921. He was ordained to the priesthood in June 1925. The entirety of his priestly ministry was spent in Dublin. He was President of Father Mathew Temperance Hall in the capital from 1928 to 1934 and was guardian (local superior) of the Church Street Capuchin community from 1934 to 1940 and from 1946 to 1949. He also served as Provincial Definitor from 1937-40 and from 1946-9. He founded the Retreat House in Raheny in Dublin and became its first director in 1957. He was well-known for his enclosed retreats in Raheny and for his missionary and preaching work particularly in his native Dublin which continued until his health deteriorated in his later years. He died in Jervis Street Hospital on 13 May 1976 and was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin.

Baptismal name: Nicholas Brophy
Religious name: Fr. Charles Brophy OFM Cap.
Date of birth: 13 Oct. 1895
Place of birth: Sandymount, Dublin
Name of father: Peter Brophy
Name of mother: Catherine Byrne (née Byrne)
Date of parents’ marriage: 15 Nov. 1894
Date of reception into the Capuchin Order: 17 Sept. 1917
Date of first profession: 29 Sept. 1918
Date of final profession: 29 Sept. 1921
Date of ordination (as priest): 29 June 1925
Educational attainments: BA, 1921
Leadership positions: Provincial Definitor (Councillor), 1937-40, 1946-9; Custos General, 1940-3, 1943-6
Date of death: 13 May 1976
Place of death: Jervis Street Hospital, Dublin
Place of burial: Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin

Michael Joseph Dowling, the son of Michael and Catherine Dowling (née Byrne), was born in Kilkenny on 13 March 1874. John Dowling, a younger brother, joined the Capuchins in 1888 and took Laurence as his religious name. Michael followed in his brother’s footsteps and joined the Order in Kilkenny a year later in September 1889. He took Thomas as his religious name and he was solemnly professed as a friar in October 1894. He was ordained a priest in Kilkenny on 21 December 1896. Fr. Thomas was a professor at Rochestown Capuchin College in Cork, and later served as guardian (local superior) of the Capuchin Friary in Dublin. He visited Oregon in the United States in 1910 to select a suitable mission parish for the Irish Capuchins in Baker City. In this period, he held several senior administrative positions in the Order and served as definitor (councillor) from 1907-10 and was Provincial Minister of the Irish Capuchins from 1910-3. He was also guardian of Holy Trinity Friary in Cork in 1920.

He emerged as a prominent public figure in Cork because of his high-profile campaigning on social and political issues. He was active in the Anti-Conscription campaign in the city in 1918 and was elected Honorary President of the Cork and District Trades and Labour Council. During the First World War, there was widespread economic distress in Cork as wages failed to keep pace with rising prices. The result was numerous strikes and general worker unrest. Dowling had studied social reform and he threw himself wholeheartedly into the task of industrial dispute mediation. His interventions were accepted by employers and trades unions alike. He presided over negotiations between tramway workers and their employers in a crucial wage dispute and was instrumental in securing a settlement between the two sides in 1919. He was awarded the freedom of Cork in 1920 in recognition of his invaluable services in preserving the peace of the city and for his role in successfully resolving industrial disputes. He also received an honorary degree (an LL.D. or a Doctor of Laws) from Professor P.J. Merriman (1877-1943), President of University College Cork. The award was given on account of his ‘invaluable services’ in ensuring peaceful and harmonious social relations in the city. The Cork Trades’ Council later donated a stained-glass window to Holy Trinity Church to mark his contribution in securing workers’ rights.

His ministries as a Capuchin friar centred on preaching missions and retreats and he was also an enthusiastic promoter of the temperance cause (he was instrumental in organising the Father Theobald Mathew Pavilion at the Cork International Exhibition in 1902). In 1926 Fr. Thomas offered to travel to the United States to work as a missionary friar. The Irish Capuchins had established a mission custody on the American Pacific Coast in 1910. His first appointment was in Our Lady of the Angels Church and Capuchin Friary in Burlingame near San Francisco. He was appointed Pastor of St. Lawrence of Brindisi Church situated in Watts in South Los Angeles in 1937. In the following years he succeeded in paying off the considerable debt on both the church and the adjoining school. He served as Custos (Superior) of the Western American Capuchin Mission from 1940-6. He died on 7 January 1951 and was buried in Calvary Cemetery in Los Angeles.

John Fenlon was born in the village of Ballinakill, Queen’s County (Laois), on 31 May 1875. He joined the Capuchin Order in February 1892 and took Joseph as his religious name. He was ordained to the priesthood in Dublin on 21 September 1901. Soon after his ordination he begun his ministry in Cork and was made guardian (local superior) of Holy Trinity Church and Friary in 1907. During his term as guardian the extension of the Church as a memorial to the late Fr. Bernard Jennings OFM Cap. was completed and formally opened. In 1913 he was made President of Father Mathew Hall in Cork, and at the subsequent Provincial Chapter in 1916 he was elected guardian of the Capuchin Friary in Kilkenny. In 1919 he moved to Dublin and was appointed President of Father Mathew Hall on Church Street. In 1922 he was appointed superior of the Irish Capuchin mission in the United States. Soon after his arrival he took charge of the parish of the Most Holy Redeemer in Watts, Los Angeles. One of his first acts was to have the name of the church changed to St. Lawrence of Brindisi (a Capuchin Franciscan saint). Fenlon constructed a parochial school and began to conduct novenas and parish missions in Watts and further afield (including in Bakersfield and in Sacramento). On 15 November 1924 he preached at the installation of Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. as the first Capuchin pastor of Santa Inés Mission in Santa Barbara County, north of Los Angeles. In 1930 Fenlon was appointed the first Capuchin pastor of St. Francis parish in Los Angeles. Five years later he moved to the Irish Capuchin foundation at Wilmington in Delaware and as vicar supervised the building of the first novitiate of the Irish Capuchins in the United States. The novitiate wing at St. Patrick’s Friary in Wilmington became a centre for the education and training of friars until the foundation was transferred to the care of New Jersey Capuchins in 1963. Fr. Stephen Murtagh OFM Cap. replaced Fenlon as superior of the Irish Capuchin mission in 1937. Fenlon returned to Ireland in 1948 and took up residence in Holy Trinity Friary in Cork. He remained active in ministry and mission work until his death on 20 April 1963. He was laid to rest in the cemetery adjoining the Capuchin Friary in Rochestown, County Cork.

Baptismal name: John Fenlon
Religious name: Fr. Joseph Fenlon OFM Cap.
Date of birth: 31 May 1875
Place of birth: Ballinakill, County Laois (Diocese of Kildare & Leighlin)
Name of father: Thomas Fenlon (Farmer)
Name of mother: Johanna Fenlon (née Redmond)
Date of reception into the Capuchin Order: 7 Feb. 1892
Date of first profession: 20 Mar. 1893
Date of final profession: 25 Dec. 1897
Date of ordination (as priest): 21 Sept. 1901
Missionary assignments: Travelled to California in Nov. 1922; Returned to Ireland in July 1948;
Date of death: 20 Apr. 1963
Place of death: Bon Secours Hospital, Cork
Place of burial: Cemetery, Rochestown Capuchin Friary, County Cork

Peter Quinn, the son of Thomas and Teresa Quinn, was born in Rhode, King’s County (Offaly), on 3 December 1888. He joined the Capuchin Order in the novitiate at Rochestown, County Cork, in August 1906, taking Raphael as his religious name. His degrees were taken at the National University of Ireland, and he also spent some time studying in the Gregorian University in Rome. Following the completion of his ecclesiastical studies in Rochestown, he was ordained to the priesthood in Holy Trinity Church, Cork, on 5 July 1914. After working for some years in Kilkenny, he travelled to the United States in 1919. He was appointed Pastor in Ukiah, California, in 1922. Here his energy was devoted to the building of St. Mary’s Church and supervising improvements to the adjoining presbytery. The church was opened and blessed by the Most Rev. Edward J. Hanna, Archbishop of San Francisco, on 25 March 1924. Fr. Quinn was also responsible for the building of St. Anthony’s Parish Church in Willits (just north of Ukiah) in Mendocino County, California. Aside from his parochial duties, he was also well known for his ministry to Native Americans (most notably the Pomo Indians of California). In 1925 he was elected Pastor and Superior of Sacred Heart Parish in Lincoln, Nebraska. He remained in Lincoln for nine years, building a new parish church and school. He was also responsible for bringing the Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary from Dubuque (Iowa) to teach in the local parochial school and served as chaplain in the state penitentiary. In 1932 a fire (caused by a faulty radio) engulfed the Lincoln parish rectory building. Adam Sassenberger, the parish caretaker who was staying at the house at the time, perished in the blaze. Raphael Quinn suffered serious injuries in the incident from which he never fully recovered. He returned to Ukiah in 1934 and remained there until his death (following a long illness) on 6 February 1940. He was buried in the Catholic Cemetery in Ukiah.

Baptismal name: Peter Quinn
Religious name: Fr. Raphael Quinn OFM Cap.
Date of birth: 3 Dec. 1888
Place of birth: Rhode, County Offaly (Diocese of Kildare & Leighlin)
Name of father: Thomas Quinn
Name of mother: Teresa Quinn (née Dunne)
Date of reception into the Capuchin Order: 26 Aug. 1906
Date of first profession: 17 Sept. 1907
Date of final profession: 21 Jan. 1912
Date of ordination (as priest): 5 July 1914
Educational attainments: BA, 1911
Missionary assignments: Travelled to the United States in Nov. 1919
Date of death: 6 Feb. 1940
Place of death: Ukiah, California