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An image of a wedding party leaving a church in Cape Town, South Africa.

Photographs showing the visit of Dr. Hendrik Verwoerd (1901-1966), Minister of Bantu Affairs in the South African government (he was later Prime Minister), to the Holy Family Mission at Katima Mulilo in the Caprivi Strip (situated in present-day Namibia but then under South African control). A typescript note is extant in the file. It reads: ‘The purpose of his visit to the Mission was to assess the possible implications of implanting the infamous Bantu Education Act into the Caprivi where, at the time, all the schools were administered by the Capuchins with the aid of a very meagre subsidy from the S.A. government. Dr. Verwoerd (the “architect of apartheid”, was assassinated during his reign as Prime Minister) enforced the Bantu Education Act, in the late 1950s, as a means of preventing black South Africans from receiving an education anywhere near the standard enjoyed by other ethnic groups, e.g. whites and coloureds’. One of the photographs shows Verwoerd (identified with an 'X') with various religious including Bishop Timothy Phelim O’Shea OFM Cap. and Fr. Bartholomew Prendiville OFM Cap., superior of the Katima Mulilo Mission. See also CA AMI/2/10/3/110.

An image of traditional African huts, probably in Barotseland, Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia).

Cutting from the 'Cork Examiner', 20 Oct. 1938, reporting on the opening of a bazaar in Father Mathew Hall, Cork, to aid the work of the Capuchin African missions.

Report on the Irish Capuchin mission in South Africa. It is noted that ‘much of the Fathers’ time is taken up with convert work, pre-nuptial courses and teaching Christian Doctrine to children attending the public schools’. Statistical information (population, racial composition, and number of priests) is given in respect of the friars’ work in Parow, Athlone, the Welcome Estate, Belgravia and Langa. It is affirmed that the ‘bulk of the non-white people, i.e. the poorest of this diocese, is attended by the Capuchin Fathers’.

Building a temporary church at the Mankoya mission station in Northern Rhodesia.

A view of Table Mountain as seen from the bell tower of the Church of St. Mary of the Angels, Athlone, Cape Town, South Africa.

An image of the students and staff of St. Theresa's Primary School, Welcome Estate, Athlone, Cape Town, South Africa.

The exterior of St. Theresa’s School, Welcome Estate, Cape Town, South Africa. An annotation on the reverse reads ‘This part was built in 1933. Two moveable partitions made it one large room for Mass (3 classrooms). The third room (back part) added to the original 2 classrooms’.

An image of the fountain in the centre of St. Stephen's Green in Dublin.