Letters from the Most Rev. Adrian Mung'andu and the Most Rev. Raymond Mpezele, successive Bishops of Livingstone, to Fr. Bruno McKnight OFM Cap. and Fr. Anthony Boran OFM Cap. re the Franciscan House of Studies in Livingstone, concerns re the Capuchin commitment to ongoing pastoral work in the diocese, and the appointment of Fr. Philip Connor OFM Cap. as Episcopal Vicar in the diocese.
Letters from Fr. Sylvester Mulligan OFM Cap., General Definitor, to Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap., Provincial Minister, re the canonical establishment of the Irish Capuchin mission in Northern Rhodesia. He also asks for a list of potential candidates for the position of Regular Superior.
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).
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 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 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. 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.
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. 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).
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.
