Letters of Fr. Killian Flynn OFM Cap. (1905-1972). Correspondents include Fr. Kieran O’Callaghan OFM Cap., Provincial Secretary; Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap., Provincial Minister; Fr. Colman Griffin OFM Cap., Provincial Minister; Fr. James O’Mahony OFM Cap., Provincial Minister. Most of the correspondence relates to developments in the Irish Capuchin mission in Northern Rhodesia and to a lesser extent in the Cape Province, South Africa. The subjects include: the arrival of Fr. Jerome MacQuillian OFM Cap. and Fr. Marcellus Carroll OFM Cap. in Northern Rhodesia. (18 Aug. 1935); the establishment of the Lukulu Station in Barotseland. (1 Sept. 1935); Fr. Casimir Butler’s desire for chaplaincy work in Parow Parish, South Africa. (10 Dec. 1935); co-operation with the Holy Cross Sisters. (20 Dec. 1935); work on the Sancta Maria (Lukulu) training school and the need for each Rhodesian Mission Station to have spiritual books for ‘retreats and ordinary reading’; arrangements for the arrival of Fr. Jarlath Gough OFM Cap. and Br. Alexius Paolucci OFM Cap. (5 May 1936); the establishment of a Prefecture for the Barotseland Mission (13 July 1936); enclosing a copy of the annual report on the Irish Capuchin Mission in Northern Rhodesia. (28 July 1936); the appointment of Fr. Killian as Prefect Apostolic of Victoria Falls. (11 Aug. 1936); Fr. Killian’s investiture as Prefect Apostolic (25 Nov. 1936); negotiations with the Paris Missionaries regarding the limits of the Sancta Maria Mission at Lukulu. (1 Jan. 1937); enclosing a copy of the 1937-8 report for the Victoria Falls Prefecture. (14 Sept. 1938); the boundaries of the Parow and Athlone parishes, Cape Town, South Africa. (6 Nov. 1939); the health of Fr. Livinus Keane OFM Cap. (9 Nov. 1939); an outbreak of the bubonic plague at Sancta Maria Mission and the dangers of transferring priests from Europe to South Africa due to the U-Boat threat (18 Mar. 1940); the proposed new status for the Irish Capuchin houses in the Cape Province, South Africa. (13 Oct. 1940); the position of interned ‘alien priests’ in Northern Rhodesia (25 Apr. 1941); the arrival of Polish refugees in Livingstone. (12 Aug. 1941); the ill-health of Fr. Damascene McKenna OFM Cap. in Northern Rhodesia (5 June 1942); the provision of doctors in Catholic Mission Centres. (23 June 1944); the Katima Muliho mission station. (11 Dec. 1944); copy report on the state of the Northern Rhodesia mission sent to the Prefect of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith. (28 Jan. 1945); a proposal to circulate a local mission magazine. (19 May 1945); the jubilee letters of Fr. Phelim O’Shea and Fr. Oliver O’Hanlon (24 June 1945); extending an invitation to the Irish Sisters of Charity to establish a ‘foundation for coloured work in this Prefecture’ (31 Dec. 1948); the pressing need for more priests to be sent to the Northern Rhodesian Mission (28 Aug. 1949); the arrival of Fr. Colga O’Riordan OFM Cap. and Fr. Carthage Ruth OFM Cap. (22 Nov. 1949); on the need for priests to take ‘sociological courses’ before departing for Africa. Fr. Killian wrote ‘I am becoming more and more convinced that not by Baptisms alone is Africa going to be converted and that priests must be thoroughly versed in sociological principles. How can anyone keep the Commandments in a modern African compound hut?’ (11 Feb. 1952).
Circular from the Apostolic Delegate, Pretoria (the Most Rev. Martin Lucas SVD), to Fr. Timothy Phelim O’Shea OFM Cap., Regular Superior, outlining the relevant canon regulations and formalities involved in the alienation of ecclesiastical goods including property.
Photographic prints of Irish Capuchin missionaries in Northern Rhodesia. The prints are extant on loose cards taken from a photographic album (CA AMI/2/10/1/2). Most of the prints have been annotated: Capuchin friars at the Maramba mission station. Fr. Timothy Phelim O’Shea OFM Cap. at the Livingstone Capuchin Friary. Confirmations at the Maramba mission station. Fr. Colga O’Riordan OFM Cap. Fr. Agathangelus Herlihy OFM Cap. in Cape Town, South Africa, in 1940. ‘Fathers, Sisters and girl boarders, Easter 1941’. The mission car in 1941. A trek to a mission station in 1937. ‘Hoisting a roof on a mission hut’. A local cook with his wife at an Irish Capuchin mission station. The building of the first Capuchin mission church in 1938. The interior of a mission church in 1939. Local game shot outside the mission grounds. Preparations for an eight-week trek through the bush. The Capuchin community in Sichili in 1937 (Fr. Christopher Crowley OFM Cap., Fr. Agathangelus Herlihy OFM Cap. and Fr. Fintan Roche OFM Cap.). A local teacher and altar servers. The building of the father’s dwelling at a mission station. Scenes on the way to Sesheke (including the local chief’s hut). The Parish Church and Capuchin Friary in Livingstone.
Photographic prints assembled by Fr. Alfred O’Mahony OFM Cap. (1912-1988) relating to missionary work in Northern Rhodesia (later Zambia). Fr. Alfred ministered in Africa from 1942-73. The file also includes some prints of missionary friars in South Africa. Most of the prints have not been annotated. The file includes images of: Fr. Maurice Dowd OFM Cap. Fr. Anthansius (Noel) Winston OFM Cap. St. Matthew’s Church, Bonteheuwel, South Africa. The wedding of two teachers at Sancta Maria Mission School in Lukulu. Fr. Seán Cahill OFM Cap. in Cape Town on the occasion of his silver jubilee in Nov. 1982. Fr. Raymond Dillane OFM Cap. Friars in Northern Rhodesia on the occasion of Fr. Alfred’s silver jubilee. Religious sisters with local children and parishioners. Bishop Timothy Phelim O’Shea OFM Cap. with local religious sisters and parishoners. Victoria Falls. Local weddings. Mission churches and buildings. Fr. Agathangelus Herlihy OFM Cap. Dr John Roche in Sichili in Sept. 1964. Scenes along the Zambezi River.
Photographic print of a group of Capuchin friars with Fr. Conrad O’Donovan OFM Cap. probably taken during his visitation in Africa in 1963. The photograph is annotated on the reverse giving the names of those present: ‘front row, left to right, Fr. Christopher Crowley OFM Cap., Fr. Alexander Halligan OFM Cap., Fr. Conrad O’Donovan OFM Cap., Bishop Timothy Phelim O’Shea OFM Cap., Fr. Alfred O’Mahony OFM Cap. (Regular Superior), Fr. Salvator Quinn OFM Cap. Back, from left to right: Fr. Albert Hayes OFM Cap., Fr. Hugh Murphy OFM Cap.; Fr. Raymond Dillane OFM Cap., Fr. Bartholomew Prendiville OFM Cap., Fr. Eltin Daly OFM Cap., Fr. Albeus McQuillan OFM Cap., Fr. Donatus McNamara OFM Cap.’.
(Left) Fr. Timothy Phelim O’Shea OFM Cap. with Sr. Angela Mary, Sr. Patrick and Sr. Constance at the mission station in Katima Mulilo, Caprivi Strip, South West Africa (now Namibia).
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.
Detail of Bishop Timothy Phelim O’Shea OFM Cap. giving his blessing to the laity following his consecration as Vicar Apostolic of Livingstone at St. Mary of the Angels, Church Street, Dublin.
