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Newspaper cuttings, ceremonial booklet and other documents relating to the consecration of Monsignor Timothy Phelim O’Shea OFM Cap. as Vicar Apostolic of Livingstone by the Most Rev. Ettore Felici, Apostolic Nuncio, at St. Mary of the Angels, Church Street, Dublin, on 8 September 1950. The attendees included President Sean T. O’Kelly, the Taoiseach, John A. Costello, and Éamon de Valera. The file includes cuttings of photographic prints of the consecration mass, the departure of Bishop O’Shea OFM Cap. from Dublin to return to Africa (with Fr. Colman Griffin OFM Cap., Provincial Minister). Includes cuttings from the 'Dublin Evening Mail' and the 'Irish Press'.

Copy correspondence of Fr. Melchor a Benisa OFM Cap., Fr. Clement Neubauer OFM Cap., and Fr. Paschal Rywalski OFM Cap., General Ministers, to Fr. James O’Mahony OFM Cap., Fr. Conrad O’Donovan OFM Cap., and Fr. Berard Creed OFM Cap., Provincial Ministers, re the status of the Irish Capuchin missions in Africa. Reference is made to the request made by Bishop John Colburn Garner, Vicar Apostolic of Pretoria, seeking more priests to work in South Africa (see CA AMI/1/6/7). Fr. James O’Mahony OFM Cap. wrote: ‘We felt that this arrangement with Bishop Garner will lead to an expansion of our work in South Africa’ (21 Dec. 1948). The possibility of separating the mission in Cape Town from that in Rhodesia is also discussed (31 Oct. 1950). Fr. Clement Neubauer OFM Cap. later referred to the establishment of Cape Town as a ‘separate mission’ and to the appointment of a Regular Superior (25 Nov. 1968). See also CA AMI/2/5/7.

Photostat copy of a diary compiled by Fr. Timothy Connery OFM Cap. covering his experiences as a missionary in Northern Rhodesia. Periodic references are made to the extreme distances travelled between the missions and villages (‘returned by canoe down river’), and to accounts of masses said in the bush. Locations are frequently given in longitude and latitude measurements. It is noted that Fr. Timothy left Africa for Ireland on 24 June 1938 (p. 57).

Copy letters from Fr. James O’Mahony OFM Cap. and Fr. Colman Griffin OFM Cap., Provincial Ministers, to Fr. Clement Neubauer OFM Cap., Minister General, re the Irish Capuchin missions in Africa, elections of Regular Superiors and Discreets, appointments, and arrangements for visitations. The correspondence also refers to the elevation of the Victoria Falls mission to the rank of Vicariate Apostolic. See also CA AMI/1/6/10 and CA AMI/2/5/8.

Copy report on the Victoria Falls Prefecture, Northern Rhodesia, by Monsignor Killian Flynn OFM Cap., Prefect Apostolic, for Fr. Donatus von Welle OFM Cap., Minister General. With a copy cover letter outlining the general progress of the mission under the following headings:
I. General Statistics
Population: 380,000; Catholics: 524; Catechumens: 1,929.
II. Personnel
III. Stations
IV. Schools
The report encloses statistical forms re the personnel of both the Victoria Falls Mission and the Cape Town Vicariate in South Africa. The appendix includes a section titled: ‘Report on the Capuchin Quasi-Parishes in the Cape Town Vicariate’. The Victoria Falls mission stations are listed in the statistical form as: Livingstone; Sichili; Sancta Maria; Mankoya.

Letters to Fr. James O’Mahony OFM Cap. and Fr. Colman Griffin OFM Cap., Provincial Ministers, re the appointment of a Vicar Apostolic of Victoria Falls, Northern Rhodesia. The correspondents include Fr. Agatangelo de Langasco OFM Cap., Commissionary General, and Fr. Cuthbert of Chicago OFM Cap., Vice-Secretary General of the Capuchin Missions. The file includes questionnaires, biographies and other documentation (in Latin) re the three candidates: Monsignor Killian Flynn OFM Cap., Fr. Phelim O’Shea OFM Cap., Regular Superior, and Fr. Cuthbert McCann OFM Cap. Definitor.

Directory of the Diocese of Livingstone (Most Rev. Adrian Mung’andu, Bishop) noting the number of parishes, priests, missionaries, and communicants.

File relating to an abortive attempt to establish an Irish Capuchin missionary presence in the Cape Colony, South Africa. In 1903, Bishop Hugh McSherry (1852-1940), Vicar Apostolic of the Cape of Good Hope (Eastern District), invited the Irish Capuchins to establish missionary foundations in his Vicariate. The large missionary area offered to the friars comprised the civil divisions of Albert, Aliwal North, Herschel and Barclay East collectively known as the Gariep (later Aliwal) territory. The file includes:
• Ecclesiastical return of the numbers of missions and Catholics in the Eastern Vicariate. 30 June 1903.
• Correspondence between Bishop Hugh McSherry and Fr. Peter Bowe OSFC, Provincial Minister.
• Draft report of Fr. Peter Bowe OSFC on his visit to Port Elizabeth to view the proposed territory in March 1904.
• Draft letters to the Capuchin Minister General re the proposed mission.
• Draft memoranda of agreement for the proposed mission stations and properties to be held by the Irish Capuchins in the Vicariate.
• Colour trace map of the Eastern Vicariate showing the locations of the proposed Capuchin mission stations.
Other correspondents include: W.H. Butler, J. Commins, Fr. Lewis B. Gately, Fr. J.J. O’Reilly, St. Mary’s, Cape Town, and Fr. Bernard Christen of Andermatt OSFC, Minister General of the Capuchin Franciscans. On 13 July 1903, Bishop McSherry wrote: ‘I fear it would be practically impossible for me in a letter to convey to you any fair idea of the state of things in this country. Everything here is quite different to what it is at home – climate, season, habits and customs of the people, conditions of travelling, the ways of the natives – everything’. Later, the Bishop explained that the ‘mission district is 175 miles in its greatest length and 75 miles in its greatest width. It contains the important towns of Ailwal and Burghersdorp and the following smaller ones, Jamestown and Barclay East. … There are no Catholic schools in the district. The climate is about the best in South Africa or in the world’. (4 Jan. 1904).

Clippings from the mission pages of 'The Father Mathew Record' pasted into an accounts’ journal. The articles publicise the work of the Irish Capuchin missionaries in South Africa and in Northern Rhodesia. Some of the early articles also refer to missionary work undertaken by foreign Capuchin friars in India and in other parts of Asia. The clippings include articles referring to the work of Fr. Declan McFadden OFM Cap., Fr. Seraphin Nesdale OFM Cap., Fr. Timothy Phelim O’Shea, Fr. Casimir Butler OFM Cap. and Fr. Fintan Roche OFM Cap. The articles are illustrated with numerous photographs.