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’.
The exterior of the Capuchin Friary at Sihole, Zambia. The original caption notes that Fr. Killian Flynn OFM Cap. and Fr. Timothy Phelim O’Shea OFM Cap. walked through the district of Kalabo in 1942 to find a site. Fr. Gerard Joyce OFM Cap. and Br. Alexius Paolucci OFM Cap. were later assigned there.
Hendrik Verwoerd (later Prime Minister of South Africa) with Bishop Timothy Phelim O’Shea OFM Cap. during his visit to the mission station at Katima Mulilo in the Caprivi Strip, South West Africa (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.
A complete copy of the 'Livingstone Mail', 17 July 1968 (63, No. 7639), containing a photographic print of Fr. Berard Creed OFM Cap., Provincial Minister, Bishop Timothy Phelim O’Shea OFM Cap. and Fr. Brian Browne OFM Cap. celebrating Mass at Mongu.
Fr. James O’Mahony OFM Cap. (seated on left) with Fr. Casimir Butler OFM Cap., (seated on right), Fr. Timothy Phelim O’Shea (standing on left) and Fr. Christopher Crowley (standing on right) in Livingstone.
A group of Capuchin friars in Livingstone. The group includes Bishop Timothy Phelim O’Shea OFM Cap., Fr. Albeus McQuillan OFM Cap., Fr. Salvator Quinn OFM Cap., Fr. Ultan Weldon OFM Cap., Fr. James O’Mahony OFM Cap., Provincial Minister, Fr. Alfred O’Mahony OFM Cap., Fr. Agathangelus Herlihy OFM Cap., Fr. Albert Hayes OFM Cap., and Fr. Capistran Singleton OFM Cap.
