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Material originating from or addressed to the Superior General and the General Council of the Sisters of Our Lady of Apostles. Includes documentation from General Chapters, and correspondence and reports regarding the Irish Province.

The archive contains letters, minutes, accounts, secondary sources and photographs regarding the Sheffield presence of the Vincentians.

CONTENTS

Reference Title

CMI/X/H/SHF(1&2)/1 Sheffield Vincentian History

CMI/X/H/SHF(1)/1/1 Summary of History of Saint Vincent’s, Sheffield, 1853-1926
CMI/X/H/SHF(1)/1/2 History of Saint Vincent’s Schools, 1853-1985
CMI/X/H/SHF(1)/1/3 History of Saint Vincent’s, Sheffield
CMI/X/H/SHF(1)/1/4 History of Saint Vincent’s, Sheffield
CMI/X/H/SHF(1)/1/5 ‘Sheffield History of Vins’
CMI/X/H/SHF(1)/1/6 History of Saint Vincent’s, Sheffield
CMI/X/H/SHF(1)/1/7 ‘A Detailed History of St. Vincent’s Church, Sheffield, 1846-1955’
CMI/X/H/SHF(2)/1/8 ‘St. Vincent’s: History of a Parish 1853-2003’
CMI/X/H/SHF(2)/1/9 ‘St. Vincent’s, Sheffield’ by EJ Cullen, 1933
CMI/X/H/SHF(2)/1/10 Extract regarding Saint Vincent’s, Sheffield
CMI/X/H/SHF(2)/1/11 Events leading to Foundation in Sheffield
CMI/X/H/SHF(2)/1/12 ‘A History of Saint Maries’s Mission and Church’
CMI/X/H/SHF(2)/1/13 Former Saint Joseph’s Church, Walkley, Howard Hill, Sheffield
CMI/X/H/SHF(2)/1/14 ‘The History of St. Joseph’s Home and Hospital’
CMI/X/H/SHF(2)/1/15 Saint Joseph’s School at Walkley
CMI/X/H/SHF(2)/1/16 ‘Saint Michael’s Cemetery, Sheffield’
CMI/X/H/SHF(2)/1/17 ‘Saint Vincent’s Church, Sheffield’
CMI/X/H/SHF(2)/1/18 ‘St. Vincent’s Catholic Church – A Short History’
CMI/X/H/SHF(2)/1/19 ‘The Illustrated Guide to Sheffield and the Surrounding District’

CMI/X/H/SHF(2&3)/2 Sheffield Correspondence

CMI/X/H/SHF(2)/2/1 Copies of Documents in CM Curia Archives, Rome
CMI/X/H/SHF(2)/2/2 Documentation until early 1900s
CMI/X/H/SHF(2)/2/3 Buildings, Lands and Accounts of Sheffield Property
CMI/X/H/SHF(3)/2/4 Saint Vincent’s and Saint Joseph’s Schools
CMI/X/H/SHF(3)/2/5 Saint Michael’s Church and Cemetery, Rivelin
CMI/X/H/SHF(3)/2/6 Dispute regarding Parish Boundaries
CMI/X/H/SHF(3)/2/7 Compulsory Purchase Order and Housing Confirmation Order
CMI/X/H/SHF(3)/2/8 Sheffield Vincentian Property and News
CMI/X/H/SHF(3)/2/9 Refurbishment of Saint Vincent’s Hall, Church and Caretaker’s House
CMI/X/H/SHF(3)/2/10 Sheffield Property, Finances and Change of Roles
CMI/X/H/SHF(3)/2/11 Closure of Saint Joseph’s School and some other topics
CMI/X/H/SHF(3)/2/12 Vincentian Sheffield Property
CMI/X/H/SHF(3)/2/13 Vincentian Sheffield Finance
CMI/X/H/SHF(3)/2/14 Eyre Trust
CMI/X/H/SHF(3)/2/15 Plans of Properties; Notice of Entry; Compulsory Purchase Order
CMI/X/H/SHF(3)/2/16 Finances relating to Sheffield Properties
CMI/X/H/SHF(3)/2/17 Vincentian Sheffield Finance and Property

CMI/X/H/SHF(4&5&6)/3 Sheffield House & Parish

CMI/X/H/SHF(4)/3/1 Groups and Societies
CMI/X/H/SHF(4)/3/2 Notebooks of Minutes, Missions, Visitations and Masses
CMI/X/H/SHF(5)/3/3 Photographs
CMI/X/H/SHF(5)/3/4 Legal
CMI/X/H/SHF(5)/3/5 Booklets and Leaflets
CMI/X/H/SHF(5)/3/6 Various regarding House, Church and Parish
CMI/X/H/SHF(6)/3/7 New Church Project

CMI/X/H/SHF(6)/4 Sheffield Research

CMI/X/H/SHF(7)/5 Sheffield Files from Provincial Office

CMI/X/H/SHF(7)/5/1 Sheffield Finance
CMI/X/H/SHF(7&8)/5/2 Sheffield Properties
CMI/X/H/SHF(8)/5/3 Sheffield Trusts

The premises at Castleknock were purchased in 1834 by the Vincentians, who were at that time running a school in Usher’s Quay. They initially continued teaching in Usher’s Quay in the morning and went over to Castleknock in the afternoon, but this management of both institutions could not be carried on very long, so the Vincentians gave up the school in Usher’s Quay in 1839.

The seminary at Castleknock, for second and third level boys, was founded by the early Irish Vincentians just after they had officially joined the Congregation of the Mission. These Vincentians were Fathers James Lynch CM, Michael Burke CM, Roger Kickham CM and Thomas MacNamara CM.

Saint Vincent’s College was a Vincentian major (i.e. third level) seminary from 1835 until the purchase of Saint Joseph’s, Prospect House, Temple Road, Blackrock, in 1875 when it moved there.

It was also a minor (i.e. second level) seminary for Vincentian and also originally for Dublin Diocese students, until the Dublin Diocese moved its seminary to Holy Cross College in Clonliffe in 1859. After the move of the Diocesan seminary, Castleknock College became more lay than ecclesiastical in nature, but even with many lay pupils attending, most of them appear to have decided to join the priesthood, and most of these joined the Congregation of the Mission.

The school is still in existence as Castleknock College, but since 2006 it has only been for day pupils. It has also been a lay school since 1859 when the Diocesan seminary moved to Clonliffe. 3 September used to be the standard day to join the Vincentian Community for those starting the novitiate, as it was the start of term.

A collection of published material collected by the Sisters of Our Lady of Apostles. Includes papal publications, SMA publications, books published on the subject of the OLA or their founder, and more.

The Capuchin presence in Kilkenny can be traced to 1643 when two friars, Fathers Peter Nugent OSFC and Thomas Tuite OSFC, came to the town after their residence in Mullingar was destroyed by fire. Following their arrival in Kilkenny they stayed in a rented house near St. Canice’s Cathedral. The Bishop of Ossory, the Most Rev. David Rothe (1573-1650), was favourably disposed to the friars and he subsequently gave them charge of one of the chapels in the cathedral. On 8 March 1648 Bishop Rothe granted the Capuchins a canonical foundation with official rights and privileges to minister in the diocese. Though the Capuchins have had a long association with Walkin Street (later Friary Street) in Kilkenny, it is clear that this was not the location of their original foundation. There are references to at least three other locations where they had previously ministered. It is known that Fr. Sebastian Butler OSFC (d. July 1647) secured a residence and a chapel but its exact location has not been established. In about 1650, the Capuchin community consisted of Fr. Barnaby Barnewall OSFC (d. 1663), Fr. Anthony Nugent OSFC, Fr. Christopher Kearney OSFC (d. 1656), Fr. Gregory Mulchonry OSFC, Fr. Fiacre Tobin OSFC (d. 1656) and Br. John Verdon OSFC. Following the upheavals of the Cromwellian conquest, the Capuchins secured a plot of ground on St. Michael’s Lane, adjoining St. John’s Abbey (a former Augustinian Priory), where they established a hospice and an oratory in which ‘they preached the office of missionaries’.

In 1678 the Capuchins had a community of three in the city. Their friary and chapel continued to be situated near St. John’s Abbey. Fr. Nicholas Cornan OSFC was among the regular clergy of Kilkenny mentioned in the will of Bishop James Phelan in 1693. The Capuchin house adjoining St. John’s Abbey was suppressed in 1697 after the passage of the Act of Banishment which aimed to expel ‘all Regulars of the Popish Clergy out of this Kingdom’. Some of the dispersed friars from St. Michael’s Lane later moved to an alms house on Walkin Street. This alms house or ‘Poor House Chapel’ as it came to be known, was founded by Fr. James Tobin OSFC who was a native of Leyrath (or Lyrath) in County Kilkenny. At the rear of the alms house, a small chapel was built which the Capuchins served. The site of ‘Father Tobin’s Poor House’ is covered by the right wing of the present-day Friary, which runs at right angles to Friary (formerly Walkin) Street, near Pennyfeather Lane. Later, Fathers Thomas Murphy OSFC (c.1744-1817) and William Berry OSFC (c.1742-1822) obtained a small plot of ground beside the alms house on which they built a small church and community residence. When the Capuchins obtained this site the endowment of the alms house was transferred to the houses on the opposite side of Walkin Street. This residence was used by the Capuchins until 1848 when Fr. Peter Joseph Mulligan OSFC (1793-1853) built the present-day Friary Church of St. Francis. Fr. Mulligan, who was the guardian or local superior of the Capuchin community, also obtained a lease of a small plot of ground which enabled him to build an entrance to the church directly onto Walkin Street.

The new church was built over the existing alms house chapel ensuring that there was no interruption to day-to-day religious services. The alms house chapel occupied a portion of the area inside the main arches of the present-day Church of St. Francis. The architects for the new church were Messrs Wright and O’Toole. Additional adornment for the new building was secured in the form of a belfry with two bells (still in use), one of which Fr. Mulligan styled ‘Shiel’, and the other ‘O’Connell’, in honour of two of the great champions of Catholic Emancipation in the first half of the nineteenth century. A large cross (the first to be erected over a Catholic place of worship in Kilkenny since the Reformation) was also installed. Fr. Mulligan died in 1853, leaving Fr. Laurence O’Flynn OSFC (1807-1863) as the only Capuchin friar in Kilkenny until 1855 when Fr. Edward Tommins OSFC (1812-1889) arrived. Fr. Tommins secured pillars, pediments and altar cornices from the old cathedral of St. Mary’s and installed them in the Church of St. Francis when the new Cathedral was being built in the 1850s. On 23 September 1868 a new altar piece was erected, executed by Guardiocini, a celebrated Italian painter. In October 1873 a statue of the Sacred Heart by J. O’Reilly of Cork was installed in the sanctuary. An extension of the friary building was completed towards the end of the nineteenth century. On 15 December 1873 the foundation stone was laid for a new friary residence running parallel to Walkin Street. A novitiate for the Capuchin Order in Ireland was also opened in Kilkenny in 1875. A few years later, in 1884, a Seraphic School was established. In 1889 a lease was obtained for a small garden adjoining the friary and in July 1896 the site of the old alms house was obtained from the Most Rev. Abraham Brownrigg (1836-1928), Bishop of Ossory (see CA KK/2/1/1/1/15). This allowed for the building of an additional wing to the friary in 1897. This new wing was located at right angles to Walkin Street and extended to Pennyfeather Lane, completely covering the site of the earlier Poor House (constructed by Fr. James Tobin) and Fr. Mulligan’s later building. Side chapels were added to the church in 1938. The designs for these chapels were completed by John Joseph Robinson & Richard Cyril Keeffe, architects, and the builders were Messrs W.K. Cleere & Son of Kilkenny. The tercentenary of the arrival of the Capuchins in Kilkenny was marked in 1948 with elaborate religious and civic ceremonies. A Friary Hall (St. Francis Hall) was opened in April 1956 and a new novitiate building, designed by Sylvester Bourke (1928-2009), a local architect, was constructed in the early 1960s.

Collection Content

The fonds consists of records relating to the Capuchin community in Kilkenny City and in particular to the foundation known as the Church of St. Francis situated on Friary Street (formerly Walkin Street). The fonds includes legal records relating to the acquisition, transfer and disposal of church property (such as deeds of title, mortgages and bills of sale), financial records, and material relating to individual members of the Capuchin community in Kilkenny. The collection includes a large number of administrative and community files, financial statements and books of account relating to building construction and structural alterations, correspondence, plans, publicity material, photographs, library books and miscellaneous items of commemorative ephemera connected with Capuchin ministries and apostolates in Kilkenny. The collection also includes unpublished historical writings and biographical material relating to notable members of the Capuchin Order who ministered in Kilkenny. The fonds also includes records relating to the lay religious sodality known as the Third Order of St. Francis (now the Secular Franciscan Order) attached to the Capuchin Church in the city.

The Capuchin Franciscans have worked in Ireland since the seventeenth century. From the middle of the nineteenth century the Irish Capuchins manifested a missionary zeal which took them from home to the furthest corners of the globe. Irish friars have undertaken overseas missions in the United States, Africa, New Zealand, and South Korea. Well over one hundred Irish Capuchins have ministered in Africa since the first friar arrived in South Africa in 1929, and in Zambia (formerly Northern Rhodesia) in 1931.

South Africa

In 1927 the Vicar Apostolic of Cape Province in South Africa, the Most Rev. Bernard O’Riley (1868-1956), invited the Irish Capuchins to open a mission. The friars responded positively to this request and in 1929 Fr. Casimir Butler OFM Cap. (1876-1958), Fr. Alban Cullen OFM Cap. (1902-1957) and Fr. Declan McFadden OFM Cap. (1901-1979) began missionary work in the Cape Flats on the outskirts of Cape Town. From the outset, the friars ministered among the marginalized black and ‘coloured’ (or mixed-race) populations of the area. Two foundational parishes were initially assigned to the Capuchins at Athlone (St. Mary of the Angels) and at Parow (Immaculate Conception). Parow is located eleven miles from the centre of Cape Town. The parish included the townships of Elsies River and Vasco located in the greater Cape Town municipality. The racial composition of Parow was mixed with both white and ‘coloured’ inhabitants. Athlone is located six miles from Parow and about twelve miles from Cape Town and has a predominately mixed-race population. In 1935 the Athlone foundation expanded to incorporate ministries at other locations including Langa and the Welcome Estate. Additional ministries were commenced in Matroosfontein (1933), Tiger Valley (1951), Belgravia (1954), Bridgetown (1967) and Elsies River (1979). All these parishes are situated in the Archdiocese of Cape Town. Within five years of arriving in South Africa, the Capuchins had built churches at Athlone and at Parow. Presbyteries, schools, and training colleges followed.

Of necessity, the Capuchins in Cape Town worked chiefly as parish priests offering public masses, attending sick calls, and promoting the cause of temperance. Other duties included evangelisation, organising lay religious sodalities, ministry to coverts, pre-nuptial courses, retreats, prison ministry, and promoting vocations and formation work for new friars. Despite the violent political unrest provoked by the system of racial discrimination known as apartheid, the Irish friars continued to labour among the poorest and most segregated in South African society. The work of the Capuchins with the ‘coloured’ population of Cape Flats and in the townships continued despite the frequent and fierce repression of the white minority government. In the seven parishes served by the Capuchins in South Africa in the 1980s, five were in the so-called ‘coloured’ areas, one in the African area, and one which straddled a racially mixed district. Education was a key element of missionary work within the Capuchin parishes and schools were established with the assistance of the Holy Cross Sisters, the Christian Brothers, and other religious congregations. The Capuchin Custody of South Africa remains under the jurisdiction of the Irish Capuchin Province and Irish friars continue to work in a variety of religious and social ministries in the country alongside missionary friars from Tanzania and India.

Zambia

In 1930 another field of missionary activity was offered to the Irish Capuchins. They were invited into vast area of 168,000 km2, comprising the Livingstone district and Barotseland, the western province of what was then called Northern Rhodesia (now the Republic of Zambia). Before 1931 there was no resident priest in the whole area from Livingstone to the Angolan border in the north. Prior to the arrival of the Irish Capuchins in 1931, the Barotseland mission was nominally under the control of the Prefect Apostolic of Broken Hill (now Kabwe), a town nearly four hundred miles north of Livingstone. The territory was effectively virgin-soil for Catholic missionary work. The only previous attempt at evangelization in Barotseland was unsuccessful. In 1881, the Jesuits had entered the territory and received permission from the local Paramount Chief but the presence of the Protestant missionary association, the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society ('Société des missions évangéliques de Paris'), disrupted their work in the district.

In 1931 three Irish Capuchins arrived in Livingstone with the intention of opening a new mission. Fr. Casimir Butler OFM Cap. set about constructing a friary in Livingstone. Fr. Declan McFadden OFM Cap. and Fr. Killian Flynn OFM Cap. (1905-1972) arrived in October 1931, with Fr. Timothy Phelim O’Shea OFM Cap. (1902-1979) and Fr. Seraphin Nesdale OFM Cap. coming in February 1932. Soon afterwards, the Capuchins began exploring the interior of Barotseland establishing a centre at Loanja, about one hundred and fifty kilometres north of Livingstone. The missionaries encountered many difficulties. There were no roads, and the friars travelled on foot or in canoes and on barges on the Zambezi River. Lions, leopards, and crocodiles posed some threat but more harmful to health were the smaller creatures such as tsetse flies and mosquitoes which carried a significant risk of malaria and other diseases. The friars also had to acquire knowledge of the local language of Lozi. Within two months of arriving at Loanja in 1932, the friars had built houses for themselves and their workers as well as a church and a school. These were simple structures with the walls supported by poles set into the ground interwoven with wattles and plastered with mud. The roofs were thatched. However, Loanja proved to be less than an ideal location as it was situated in a desert area and with a widely dispersed and small population. In 1936 the friars moved to Sichili. In the meantime, the friars worked diligently on acquiring an understanding of the local language and customs. The catechism was translated and printed in 1933 and this was followed by a translation of the New Testament. The influence of the Protestant missionary groups in the area continued to be a serious impediment as they laid to claim to vast swathes of the territory as their ‘sphere of influence’ to the definite exclusion of Catholic missionaries. Despite these difficulties, the Irish friars succeeded in opening a new mission station at Lukulu in December 1935.

In May 1936 Fr. Killian Flynn OFM Cap. was appointed the first Prefect Apostolic of Victoria Falls. Under his guidance, the provision of education and medical services became spearheads of mission development as new stations were opened at Mankoya (1938), Sihole (1943) and Katima Mulilo (1944) located in the Caprivi Strip in what was then South West Africa (now Namibia), and later at Malengwa (1947). A total of twenty-one Capuchin missions were established throughout Barotseland. Each friary, besides being a residence for the missionaries, acted as a base for outreach for evangelization and development in the surrounding districts. In March 1950 the Prefecture was raised to be the Vicariate Apostolic of Livingstone with Fr. Timothy Phelim O’Shea OFM Cap. consecrated as Vicar Apostolic in September 1950. In August 1959 the mission territory of the Vicariate of Livingstone was erected into the Diocese of Livingstone and the Most Rev. Timothy Phelim O’Shea OFM Cap. was installed as Bishop. He remained Bishop of Livingstone until the nomination of Monsignor Adrian Mung’andu (c.1920-2007) in 1974.

Additional mission stations were opened throughout the 1960s. Churches were built in each Boma or administrative centre, in Nalionwa (1960), Senanga (1966), Mongu (1966), Sesheke (1967) and at St. Conrad’s Friary in the capital, Lusaka. At this time the decolonization of Africa was continuing apace, and Zambia achieved independence from British rule in October 1964. Support for the Irish missionaries came in 1965 with the arrival of American friars from the New Jersey Capuchin Province. They were allocated the northern section of the Livingstone Diocese and they opened a new mission station at Kambompo (1966). This built upon the work of other religious congregations primarily in the fields of education and health care. The Holy Cross Sisters had worked in the country since 1936. This congregation was founded by a Swiss Capuchin priest, and the sisters devoted themselves to teaching and to the care of the sick (especially leprosy victims). An orphanage was opened in Sichili and later the sisters established secondary schools in Lukulu and in Malengwa. An emphasis was placed on the education of women and a female teacher-training college was also opened by the Holy Cross Sisters. The Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood arrived in 1946 and established a hospital in Kasaba. From the late 1940s, they worked alongside the Irish friars in running hospitals in Mangango, Sesheke and Chinyingi. In 1967 the Irish Christian Brothers took over the running of secondary schools in Katongo and in Livingstone. Many lay people (from Ireland and elsewhere) came to Zambia to work as teachers, nurses, doctors and development workers at the Capuchin mission stations.

The rapid progress in the building of schools, hospitals and health-care centres in these years was remarkable, since the colonial government had made little or no provision for such services. These developments were largely due to the generous financial support offered by the Capuchins in Europe and in North America and through public fund-raising efforts of Capuchin mission offices and lay associations. In 1974, a total of two hundred and twenty primary schools were handed over by the Diocese of Livingstone to the government, which hereafter had responsibility for their administration. The provision of assistance to Angolan refugees became a major focus of the work of the Irish Capuchins in Zambia in the 1980s. Fr. Benignus Buckley OFM Cap. was the principal co-ordinator at the Sioma mission dealing with the huge numbers of refugees fleeing the civil war in Angola who were accommodated in various camps in Namibia and in Zambia. While there was an emphasis on education and health care services in the Zambian mission, the friars also strove to promote their own Capuchin way-of-life. A major weakness was identified in the lack of local vocations. Ad-hoc efforts were made to promote vocations and develop a novitiate programme before the establishment in 1983 of the Franciscan House of Studies just outside Lusaka to provide training for men aspiring to become friars. In 1992 the Franciscan House of Studies became St. Bonaventure’s College, a formation centre for the Franciscan Orders. In July 2007 a dedicated Capuchin novitiate was opened at Camerino near Lusaka.

Over one hundred Irish friars and nearly twenty American Capuchins have ministered in Zambia since the start of missionary work in the country. The numbers peaked in the late 1960s when there were sixty-two missionary friars in the country. Today, in the territory originally assigned to the Irish Capuchins, eighteen different religious congregations have a presence. There are approximately thirty-one parishes with various apostolic groups responding to the many spiritual and social needs of the local populace. Working alongside members of other religious congregations and lay professionals, the friars have had an immeasurable impact on the lives of many impoverished Zambians. The Capuchin Custody of Zambia remains under the jurisdiction of the Irish Capuchin Province. Irish friars are still working and ministering in Zambian continuing an unbroken ninety-year record of service on the continent.

Collection Content

The African mission collection in the Irish Capuchin Archives includes correspondence, visitation records, financial reports, diaries and journals, oral histories, publications, newspaper clippings and photographs (in albums, loose files and born-digital format) relating to the many years of Irish Capuchin missionary activity on the African continent. The collection comprises material sent back to the Irish Province and to the Capuchin Foreign Mission Office by Irish Capuchins in Africa from the 1930s onward. The papers chronicle the life and work of the Irish Capuchins since their arrival in South Africa in 1929 and in what was then known as Northern Rhodesia (later Zambia) in 1931. The files of correspondence between the missionary friars and their Provincial Ministers in Ireland illustrate the areas or spheres in which they laboured: parish work, education, health-care, social development and evangelization. Geographically, this work took place primarily in Cape Town, South Africa, and in Barotseland, later the western province of Zambia. The records reflect the impact of the Irish Capuchin missionary presence particularly in the building and management of parishes, and in the fields of education, health-care provision, and socio-economic development.