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Letter from Fr. Joseph Fenelon OFM Cap. to Fr. Angelus Healy OFM Cap., Provincial Secretary, Fr. Fenelon expressing his delight at hearing about the progress being made by the Capuchin mission in South Africa. This aligns with the arrival of the first Irish Capuchin friars in Cape Town in 1929 and their expansion into areas like Athlone and Livingstone around 1931. Father Fenelon refers to the request for ‘Mass Intentions’ (stipends for priests to say Mass for specific intentions). He regretfully notes that they are ‘very straitened out and hard pressed’ in the United States at this time, likely due to the economic impact of the Great Depression. He promises to seek other sources to help the brothers in South Africa.

Letter from Fr. Joseph Fenelon OFM Cap. to Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap., Provincial Minister, referring to the issue of missionary friars wearing bears in the United States. He clarifies that while none of the friars are completely ‘clean shaven’, they have all adopted the style of ‘small beards’ (likely short-trimmed) and are shaving their side faces. Father Fenelon also mentions various personnel changes. Father Fenelon noes that he and Fr. Brendan O’Callaghan will be at St. Anselm’s in Brooklyn from May 5th to the 16th for missionary work.

Fr. Vincent Kerwick OFM Cap. with Fr. Fintan Roche OFM Cap. and other individuals at the ruins of the La Purísima Mission in in Lompoc, California.

Information supplied by Irish Capuchin friars residing in Abbottstown, Pennsylvania, to Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap., Provincial Minister, during his visitation. The document includes a comprehensive log of religious masses said by specific Capuchin priests at Paradise Parish in Abbottstown between August 1919 and June 1921, dedicated to the intentions of the Most Reverend Father General. Includes chronological tallies and specific location notes for individual clergy members – including Fathers Brendan, Benignus, Malachy, Ferdinand, Raphael, Leo, Gabriel, Ambrose, and Vincent – culminating in a ‘Grand Total’ of 103 masses. It also features a structured ledger cross-referencing individual priests against specific intentions, such as ‘Jubilees’, ‘House & Pious’, deceased family members (e.g., ‘Fr. John’s Mother’), and general intercessions like ‘Def. Gen. Eugenio’ and ‘Pro Fid. Def’. Handwritten annotations throughout provide contextual updates on the priests’ movements, indicating whether they arrived late, left for other locations like Lincoln in Nebraska or if a particular mass went unrecorded.

Photograph of Fr. Vincent Kerwick OFM Cap. standing at a doorway in Mission Santa Inés in California. Manuscript annotation on the reverse reads ‘Taken, March 1, 1929 / ‘Vincent’.

Photograph of a group of Capuchin friars on a religious retreat in Bend, Oregon. Manuscript annotation on the reverse of the print reads ‘Retreat, Bend Oregon, 1945, Br. Patrick, Frs Valerian, Venantius (retreat master, American Province), Fr. Vincent and Fr. Urban’.

Fr. Vincent Kerwick OFM Cap. (left) with Fr. Fintan Roche OFM Cap. at the ruins of the La Purísima Mission in Lompoc, California.

Letter from Fr. Joseph Fenelon OFM Cap. to Fr. Peter Bowe OFM Cap., Provincial Minister, discussing the activities of Capuchin friars in California and in Oregon and their interactions with local church leadership. He also refers to the recent visit of the Minister General to the American mission houses. He writes ‘From Ukiah we came to Los Angeles where he stayed the night and next day we proceeded to Roseburg thence to Bend where Fr. Casimir and Vincent came to meet the General. He did not go to Lincoln or Abbottstown, but the Fathers met him on the way. I had to part with him at Bend as I was due for a Retreat here which started at Cathedral Chapel last night. The Father General expressed himself in very happy terms about the condition of our American Houses, but I am sure you will get a detailed account from him later on. He was very amiable and nice in every way, and by my fluency in the Latin tongue helped by the Secretary who speaks English pretty well. I spent a pleasant yet strenuous two weeks with him’. Reference is also made to the possibility of the Capuchins acquiring Santa Inés mission.

A photograph of Fr. Vincent Kerwick OFM Cap. at the door of Mission Santa Inés in California. The wave line design on the door represents flowing water in mission iconography.

Fr. Vincent Kerwick OFM Cap. and Fr. Fintan Roche OFM Cap. and other individuals at Mission Santa Inés in California.