Fr. Seraphin Nesdale OFM Cap., Fr. Killian Flynn OFM Cap. and Fr. Livinus Keane OFM Cap. with locals at the Loanja mission station in Northern Rhodesia.
Fr. Seraphin Nesdale OFM Cap., Fr. Killian Flynn OFM Cap., Fr. Timothy Phelim O’Shea OFM Cap., Fr. Fintan Roche, and Fr. Christopher Crowley OFM Cap. with locals at the Loanja mission station in Northern Rhodesia.
A collection of black and white photographic prints mostly relating to Monsignor Killian Flynn OFM Cap., Prefect Apostolic of Victoria Falls from 1936-50. Most of the prints have been captioned by his nephew, Fr. Edwin Flynn OFM Cap. and some were published in Mgr. Killian Flynn as seen from his letters (Ndola, 2003). The file includes prints of Fr. Killian: • As a novitiate and student. • With his parents. • With Fr. Timothy Phelim O’Shea OFM Cap. and Fr. Seraphin Nesdale OFM Cap. (1897-1980) probably on a ship during their first voyage to Africa in 1931. • With African porters during a long trek into the bush, 1931-2. • With Fr. Casimir Butler OFM Cap. (1876-1958) celebrating the opening of the first mission church on 30 Oct. 1932. • The exterior of the ‘Stone Police Camp’ at Livingstone, the site of the first mission chapel, 1932. • With Fr. Oliver O’Hanlon OFM Cap., Fr. Alban Cullen OFM Cap., Fr. Jerome MacQuillan OFM Cap. and Fr. James O’Mahony OFM Cap., 1935. • With Paramount Chief Yeta III of Barotseland. • With Cardinal Laurean Rugambwa, Nairobi Cathedral in 1967. • At the first all-African Bishops’ Conference in Kampala, Uganda, in 1969. • At the Zambian Episcopal Conference. • Receiving an MBE in Livingstone. • Greeting Pope Paul VI in Kampala, Uganda. The Pope visited Uganda from 31 July to 2 Aug. 1969 • With Capuchin friars from East and Southern Africa in 1972.
Letters of Fr. Timothy Phelim O’Shea OFM Cap. (1902-1979). The correspondents include Fr. Kieran O’Callaghan OFM Cap., Provincial Secretary; Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap., Provincial Minister; Fr. James O’Mahony OFM Cap., Provincial Minister; Fr. Colman Griffin OFM Cap., Provincial Minister; Fr. Conrad O’Donovan OFM Cap., Provincial Minister., and Fr. Clement Neubauer OFM Cap., General Minister. The subjects include: the progress of the Irish Capuchin mission in Barotseland and Livingstone, Northern Rhodesia; the Silozi catechism; the Loanja station; requests for financial assistance and loans for the Northern Rhodesian mission; missionary activities in Cape Town, South Africa; the recognition of five parishes in the Cape as coming under Irish Capuchin jurisdiction (1946); the Katima Mulilo mission station in the Caprivi Strip (1949); Fr. Phelim’s appointment as Regular Superior of the Victoria Falls Mission; the completion of the church at Langa (1949); the deaths of Fr. Eustace Burke OFM Cap. and Fr. Donatus Aherne OFM Cap. (1949); Educational matters in the missionary territories; the appointment of Fr. Killian Flynn OFM Cap. as Education Secretary General (1949); the need for more missionary sisters (Holy Faith Sisters, Sisters of Mercy, the Irish Sisters of Charity and the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Africa); the opening of the church at the Holy Family Mission, Katima Mulilo. (Mar. 1954); the building of a new convent and girls’ boarding school at Maramba. (July 1953); his proposal to resign as Bishop of Livingstone ‘in line with the gradual Zambianization of the Hierarchy’. (10 Aug. 1969). Reference is also made to the activities of the following Capuchin friars: Fr. Casimir Butler OFM Cap.; Fr. Oliver O’Hanlon OFM Cap.; Fr. Timothy Connery OFM Cap.; Fr. Agathangelus Herlihy OFM Cap.; Fr. Seraphin Nesdale OFM Cap.; Fr. Eltin Daly OFM Cap. The file also includes a manuscript copy of an ‘Approved Prayer for the Conversion of Africa’ and a typescript copy of a ‘Spiritual portrait of Bishop Timothy Phelim O’Shea OFM Cap.’ by Fr. Salvator Quinn OFM Cap. (Livingstone, 1992). 19 pp.
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).
Ledger of loans and monies supplied to the Irish Capuchin missions in Africa compiled by Fr. Kieran O’Callaghan OFM Cap., Provincial Secretary. The ledger includes records of money supplied to Fr. Alban Cullen OFM Cap. and Fr. Oliver O’Hanlon OFM Cap. to build parish churches in Athlone and Parow, Cape Town, in March 1933. £1,700 was given to Monsignor Killian Flynn OFM Cap. to build a friary (14 June 1937), and £1,000 was given to Fr. Casimir Butler OFM Cap. for Livingstone Church in Northern Rhodesia. The accounts also include monies derived from the Seraphic Mass Association (SMA) from Aug. 1931-Jan. 1935. The accounts are signed are by Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap. Provincial Minister, 10 Aug. 1937.
