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McFadden, Declan, 1901-1979, Capuchin priest Flynn, Killian, 1905-1972, Capuchin priest
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Letters of Fr. Declan McFadden OFM Cap.

Letters of Fr. Declan McFadden OFM Cap. (1901-1979). The correspondents include Fr. Kevin Moynihan OFM Cap. Provincial Minister; Fr. Kieran O’Callaghan OFM Cap., Provincial Secretary. The subjects include: Fr. Declan’s first impressions of the South African mission; negotiations with Bishop Bernard Cornelius O’Riley (1868-1956), Vicar Apostolic of the Cape of Good Hope; Fr. Declan’s efforts to open a mission school in Claremont Parish, Cape Province, South Africa. Fr. Declan also refers to arrangements for the opening of the Irish Capuchin mission in Northern Rhodesia. He wrote ‘Looking at the map it may strike you that the Cape is a long way from N. Rhodesia – it’s nearly two thousand miles. Yet it’s quicker and at least as cheap, if not cheaper, for our men to land at the Cape and rail to N. Rhodesia’. (27 Feb. 1931). Fr. Declan also provides an account of Irish missionary activity for Stanislaus Kavanagh OFM Cap., Provincial Archivist. (25 Sept. 1931). Reference is also made to the missionary activities of Fr. Casimir Butler OFM Cap. and Fr. Killian Flynn OFM Cap. in Barotseland.

McFadden, Declan, 1901-1979, Capuchin priest

Report on the Barotseland Mission

Report by Fr. Declan McFadden OFM Cap. sent to Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap., Provincial Minister, on the progress of the Irish Capuchin mission in Barotseland, Northern Rhodesia. Reference is made to the difficulties encountered by the first missionaries (including Fr. Timothy Phelim O’Shea OFM Cap., Fr. Killian Flynn OFM Cap., Fr. Seraphin Nesdale OFM Cap. (1897-1980) and Fr. Casimir Butler OFM Cap.); the establishment of the Loanja mission; negotiations with government authorities and tribal leaders; the work of other missionary orders including the White Fathers and the Jesuits. Fr. Declan concludes ‘as regards the mission outlook in general in Barotseland, I must candidly state it is going to be a very tough problem. The whole territory is fearfully primitive and undeveloped. The only transport help of a convenient or modern touch that we have as an ally is a spasmodic lumber train which carries us from Livingstone to the Barotse border’.

McFadden, Declan, 1901-1979, Capuchin priest