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Letters from Bishop Bernard Cornelius O’Riley (1868-1956), Vicar Apostolic of the Cape of Good Hope, Western District, and Fr. John Morris, editor of the Southern Cross, to Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap., Fr. Kevin Moynihan OFM Cap., Fr. James O’Mahony OFM Cap., Provincial Ministers, and Fr. Kieran O’Callaghan OFM Cap., Provincial Secretary, regarding the prospects for establishing Irish Capuchin missionary foundations in the Athlone, Parow and Langa parishes in the Cape Province, South Africa. Fr. John Morris wrote: ‘There are only about thirty priests in the whole vicariate. This number includes three Jesuits, two Redemptorists, and some six Salesians. … Alas, there are no Franciscans in South Africa. You will therefore be real pioneers’ (16 May 1927). The Bishop wrote: ‘There are pagans and heathens in abundance in my Vicariate which covers some 17,000 sq. miles and I can assure there is endless scope in the Vicariate for the missionary efforts of your good Fathers’ (30 Mar. 1928). Later, he affirmed that the ‘poor people of “Athlone” (which is the name of the place of your first mission in South Africa) are nearly all coloured, a good simple lot, who have been working hard for some months past in their spare time to build with their own hands school-rooms’ (6 Dec. 1928). Reference is also made to the provision of a school for coloured children at Claremont (16 Feb. 1931) and to the financial state of the Vicariate (20 July 1932). The file includes a memorandum and agreement for sale from Bishop O’Riley to the Irish Capuchins of sites at Claremont, at Athlone, and at Parow (1 Nov. 1931), and a letter from Fr. John Morris requesting the Irish Capuchins supply a priest for the Philippi mission in the Vicariate (17 Mar. 1950).

Letters from Bishop Francis Henneman SAC (1882-1951), Vicar Apostolic of the Cape of Good Hope, Western District, later Vicar Apostolic of Cape Town, to Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap. and Fr. Colman Griffin OFM Cap., Provincial Ministers. The letters refer to requests for the Irish Capuchins to take over missionary outstations including those at Matroosfontein and in the Welcome Estate.

Letters from Bishop Hugh Boyle (1897-1986), Vicar Apostolic of Port Elizabeth, to Fr. James O’Mahony OFM Cap. and Fr. Colman Griffin OFM Cap., Provincial Ministers, requesting that more priests be sent to South Africa to work on local missions in the Vicariate of Port Elizabeth. The file includes correspondence with the Most Rev. Martin Lucas SVD, Apostolic Delegate to South Africa, referring to the urgent need for more missionaries in the district of Peddie, Cape Province.

Letters from Fr. Albert Hayes OFM Cap. (1915-2005) to Fr. Stanislaus Kavanagh OFM Cap. thanking him for sending on mass stipends and referring to his arrangements for travelling from Northern Rhodesia to Ireland. Reference is also made to the health of Fr. Salvator Quinn OFM Cap. who is suffering from sciatica (21 June 1953).

Letter from Fr. Brian Browne OFM Cap. (1919-2015) to Fr. Berard Creed OFM Cap., Provincial Minister. The letters include references to the establishment of a preparatory seminary for postulants in Zambia (8 Oct. 1969); developments at the various Irish Capuchin mission stations (25 Nov. 1969); the election of a delegate for the Capuchin General Chapter (14 Mar. 1970); a former Dutch Reform Church which is for sale in Livingstone, and which could be used as a new foundation for the Capuchins (6 Sept. 1971). Reference is also made to the following Irish Capuchin missionaries: Fr. Vianney Holmes OFM Cap., Fr. Flavian Helsted OFM Cap., Fr. Theophilus Murphy OFM Cap., Fr. Macartan Hyland OFM Cap. and Br. Hugh Davis OFM Cap.

Letters from Fr. Callistus Lopinot OFM Cap. (1876-1966), a Capuchin friar from Geispolsheim, Germany, Capuchin General Curia, Vice-Secretary of the Missions, to Fr. Kevin Moynihan OFM Cap. and Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap., Provincial Ministers, re the appointment of a Regular Superior for the Irish mission in Northern Rhodesia.

Letters of Fr. Fintan Roche OFM Cap. (1898-1953) relating to his experiences as a missionary in Barotseland. The correspondents include Fr. Colman Griffin OFM Cap.; Fr. Kieran O’Callaghan OFM Cap.; Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap., Provincial Minister. Reference is made to the work of Fr. Killian Flynn OFM Cap. who is in ‘some God-forsaken native village about 9 days from here building a school [and to] Fr. Phelim [O’Shea OFM Cap.] and Fr. Seraphin [Nesdale OFM Cap.] in Loanja’. (11 Dec. 1933). Later, Fr. Fintan refers to the establishment of further mission stations around Mongu and ‘other remote centres … where we won’t conflict with already established Protestant missions’. He also affirmed that ‘Barotseland is not “virgin soil”, it is chuck full of Protestant Missions, some of them 30 days by river from Livingstone’ (20 June 1934).

Letters from Fr. Jarlath Gough OFM Cap. (1902-1983) to Fr. Kieran O’Callaghan OFM Cap. and Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap., Provincial Minister, describing his arrival in South Africa and his impressions of the ‘truly astonishing’ work being done by the Irish Capuchins in Northern Rhodesia.

Letters from Fr. Ronald Grace OFM Cap. (1931-1984) to Fr. Berard Creed OFM Cap., Provincial Minister, re the election of a superior and councillors for the Cape Town mission, South Africa.

Letters of Fr. Seraphin Nesdale OFM Cap. (1897-1980). The correspondents include Fr. Kieran O’Callaghan OFM Cap.; Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap., Provincial Minister. Reference is made to the activities of Fr. Declan McFadden OFM Cap., Fr. Killian Flynn OFM Cap., Fr. Oliver O’Hanlon OFM Cap. and Fr. Casimir Butler OFM Cap. The subjects include efforts to establish missionary stations in Northern Rhodesia and to the difficulties and frustrations with on-going work in the parishes of Parow and Athlone in Cape Town, South Africa. Fr. Seraphin also refers to the need for mass stipends and funds and to the physical hardships in adjusting to the African climate, customs and languages. He recounts Fr. Killian Flynn’s efforts to ‘discover which is the language most commonly used in our territory around Livingstone’ (25 Dec. 1931).