Fr. Casimir Butler OFM Cap. at the rear of St. Theresa's Friary in Livingstone. The original caption reads: ‘In 1910 he left Ireland to help out in Hermiston, Oregon in the United States. Casimir began work and soon he had built a small church. Before he left Hermiston, Casimir built three mission churches. Casimir embarked on a new adventure, going to Cape Town, helping to establish a Capuchin presence there and then Zambia (then called Northern Rhodesia) where the Irish Capuchin Province had established a new mission. The Livingstone government had set aside a plot for a Catholic church and house. Casimir hired a contractor to build a house: ever since known as “217” (PO Box). Casimir was fifty-five years old when he arrived and was not in good health’.
(On the right) Fr. Killian Flynn OFM Cap., Fr. Casimir Butler OFM Cap. (1876-1958) and altar servers outside Maramba Mission Church, Livingstone, Northern Rhodesia. The original caption reads ‘First mission chapel outside the centre of Livingstone, at Police Camp Maramba, opened on the Feast of Christ the King, 1932. A better church opened in Marmaba in 1940’.
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.
Monsignor Killian Flynn OFM Cap. with a group of Capuchin friars at St. Theresa’s Church in Livingstone. The group includes Fr. Casimir Butler OFM Cap., Fr. Jarlath Gough OFM Cap., Fr. Fintan Roche OFM Cap., Br. Alexius Paolucci OFM Cap. and Fr. Christopher Crowley OFM Cap.
Clippings from the mission pages of 'The Father Mathew Record' pasted into an accounts’ journal. The articles publicise the work of the Irish Capuchin missionaries in South Africa and in Northern Rhodesia. Some of the early articles also refer to missionary work undertaken by foreign Capuchin friars in India and in other parts of Asia. The clippings include articles referring to the work of Fr. Declan McFadden OFM Cap., Fr. Seraphin Nesdale OFM Cap., Fr. Timothy Phelim O’Shea, Fr. Casimir Butler OFM Cap. and Fr. Fintan Roche OFM Cap. The articles are illustrated with numerous photographs.
Cutting from 'The Southern Cross' reporting on the opening of the new Church of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, Livingstone, Northern Rhodesia. With a photographic print of the Church. The report notes that the Church, built by the Irish Capuchins, ‘is the only Catholic Church now on the 600 mile stretch of railway between Bulawayo and Broken Hill’. Reference is made Fr. Casimir Butler OFM Cap., Superior of the Mission, Fr. Declan McFadden OFM Cap. and Fr. Killian Flynn OFM Cap.
Letters of Fr. Oliver O’Hanlon OFM Cap. (1902-1957). The correspondents include Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap., Provincial Minister; Fr. Kieran O’Callaghan OFM Cap., Provincial Secretary; Fr. Colman Griffin OFM Cap., Provincial Minister; Fr. Stanislaus Kavanagh OFM Cap.; Fr. James O’Mahony OFM Cap., Provincial Minister. Most of the correspondence relates to missionary activity in the parish of St. Monica’s, Parow, Cape Province, South Africa. The subjects include: arrangements for Fr. Oliver’s journey to South Africa on board the SS Adolf Woermann. (5 Mar.-22 May 1930); a request from Fr. Oliver to ensure that Parow parish is kept in addition to Athlone parish as it ‘contains the biggest coloured school in the vicariate’. (26 Feb. 1931); requests for mass stipends. (15 Jan. 1932); James Carlton Clarkein who wishes to join the Capuchin Order as a lay brother. (3 Mar. 1932); the resignation of Bishop Bernard Cornelius O’Riley, Vicar Apostolic of the Cape of Good Hope. Fr. Oliver wrote: ‘It is the best thing he could have done. He had not the necessary qualities to be a bishop of such vicariate as this’. (22 July 1932); requesting that Matroosfontein parish come under Capuchin ministry. (3 May 1934); the opening of a church in Matroosfontein. (17 Sept. 1935); the future of the Capuchin mission in the Cape Province. (28 May 1940); the difficulties of sending priests to the mission during wartime conditions. (15 Oct. 1940); the opportunity of establishing a mission in the Port Elizabeth Vicariate. (2 Aug. 1949). The file includes a rough sketch map of the Irish Capuchin Mission in the Cape Province. The map also indicates the distances between the various mission stations. With two photographic prints including one of Fr. Oliver O’Hanlon OFM Cap. The other may show his residence at Parow. References are also made to the following Capuchin friars: Fr. Seraphin Nesdale OFM Cap.; Fr. Casimir Butler OFM Cap.; Fr. Timothy Phelim O’Shea OFM Cap.; Fr. Alban Cullen OFM Cap.; Fr. Livinus Keane Cap.; Fr. Fintan Roche OFM Cap.; Fr. Timothy Connery OFM Cap.; Fr. Marcellus Carroll OFM Cap.
