Cutting from the Irish Press reporting on the departure of Fr. Seraphin Nesdale OFM Cap., Fr. Killian Flynn OFM Cap. and Fr. Timothy Phelim O’Shea OFM Cap. for Northern Rhodesia.
Letters of Fr. Casimir Butler OFM Cap. (1876-1958). The correspondents include: Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap., Provincial Minister, Fr. Kieran O’Callaghan OFM Cap.; Fr. Colman Griffin OFM Cap., Provincial Vicar. Most of the correspondence relates to the establishment of missions in South Africa and later in Barotseland, Northern Rhodesia. The subjects include: Fr. Casimir’s first impressions of Cape Province (23 Oct. 1929); the journey to Barotseland (30 May 1930); requesting permission to retain Parow parish (26 Feb. 1931); discussions with Monsignor Bruno Wolnik SJ (1882-1960) to establish a local mission a few miles from Livingstone (16 June 1931); the necessity of wearing a white habit. Fr. Casimir wrote: ‘It is almost impossible to wear brown during the hot weather. The Conventual Fathers at Ndola wear white. The Jesuits wear any old things. I suggest a light cream-coloured habit’ (27 Nov. 1931); the need to speak the language in Barotseland ‘before we can hope to gain the hearts of the natives’. (30 Nov. 1931); on the study of the Lozi language (26 Jan. 1932); suggesting that a foundation be established in Barotseland ‘to which Catholics can look to with pride – a large church and school, sufficient for a fifty-mile area’. (3 May 1932); affirming that ‘mission work in Barotseland is going to be a slow business, the obstacles look insurmountable’. Fr. Casimir added: ‘it is a great consolation to know that it can never become a white man’s country’ (23 May 1932); confirming that the new church at Livingstone will cost £3,500 (6 Sept. 1932); referring to the work of Fr. Declan McFadden OFM Cap. and his father (30 Oct. 1932); arrangements for the impending visitation by Fr. James O’Mahony OFM Cap. (3 Dec. 1934); the activities of the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society. (18 Dec. 1934); Fr. Casimir’s arrangements to travel to Ireland via Marseilles on-board the Italian ship, SS 'Giulio Cesare' (5 May 1938). References are also made to the following Capuchin friars: Fr. Oliver O’Hanlon OFM Cap.; Fr. Killian Flynn OFM Cap.; Fr. Seraphin Nesdale OFM Cap.; Fr. Timothy Phelim O’Shea OFM Cap.; Fr. Declan McFadden OFM Cap. The file includes a letter from Fr. C. C. Martindale SJ to Fr. Cuthbert McCann OFM Cap. offering to collect £100 for Fr. Casimir’s missionary work in Barotseland (16 June 1931).
Report on the Conference of Ordinaries of Northern Rhodesia held in Lusaka in April 1945. The attendees included Monsignor Killian Flynn OFM Cap., Prefect Apostolic of Victoria Falls, and Fr. Timothy Phelim O’Shea OFM Cap. For the most part, the conference dealt with issues related to the provision of Catholic education in the country.
Photographic album (titled ‘The Cambrian Album’) containing black and white prints of the early Irish Capuchin missionaries in Northern Rhodesia. Some of the prints were later annotated by Fr. Edwin Flynn OFM Cap. The album includes: • Two views of St. Theresa’s Church, Livingstone. • Postcard print of the consecration of Monsignor Killian Flynn OFM Cap. as Prefect Apostolic, 25 Nov. 1936. • Fr. Agathangelus Herlihy OFM Cap. with local Christians. (Fr. Agathangelus was resident in Northern Rhodesia from 1936-49). • Fr. Timothy Connery OFM Cap., Fr. Christopher Crowley OFM Cap., Fr. Fintan Roche OFM Cap. at Mulobezi. (Fr. Timothy was resident in Northern Rhodesia from 1935-9, Fr. Fintan from 1933-9, and Fr. Christopher from 1933-44). • Fr. Timothy Connery OFM Cap. and Fr. Agathangelus Herlihy OFM Cap. outside a tent; Fr. Timothy Phelim O’Shea OFM Cap. on the banks of the Zambezi River; Fr. Fintan Roche OFM Cap. on the banks of the Zambezi; Fr. Killian Flynn OFM Cap. on horseback. • Fr. Timothy Connery OFM Cap. and Fr. Fintan Roche OFM Cap. inspecting a van with rifles perched against wheel; A view of a barge crossing a river in Northern Rhodesia. • Fr. Timothy Connery OFM Cap. with a fishing rod. • Fr. Timothy Connery OFM Cap. hunting wild game in Northern Rhodesia (including leopards and zebras). • Monsignor Killian Flynn OFM Cap. and Fr. Jarlath Gough OFM Cap. with a large group of worshippers outside St. Theresa’s Church, Livingstone. Fr. Jarlath Gough OFM Cap. was resident in Northern Rhodesia from 1936-49. • Livingstone Church and adjoining school; Fr. Fintan Roche OFM Cap. on the banks of a river; a view of Victoria Falls. • Fr. Fintan Roche OFM Cap. on the veranda of Livingstone Friary; local Christians with a religious sister at a pageant. • The installation of Monsignor Killian Flynn OFM Cap. as Prefect Apostolic (25 Nov. 1936). The photograph includes: Fr. Timothy Phelim O’Shea OFM Cap., Fr. Seraphin Nesdale OFM Cap., Fr. Christopher Crowley OFM Cap., Fr. Casimir Butler OFM Cap., Fr. Oliver O’Hanlon OFM Cap., Fr. Jarlath Gough OFM Cap., Fr. Timothy Connery OFM Cap., Br. Alexius Paolucci OFM Cap. and the Most Rev. Aston Chichester SJ, Archbishop of Salisbury, Rhodesia. • Fr. Timothy Connery OFM Cap. at Sawmills School. • Photographs of early missionary churches and buildings.
Photographic album of Fr. Jarlath Gough OFM Cap. The album contains un-captioned black and white photographic prints. Fr. Jarlath was resident in Northern Rhodesia from 1936-49. The collection includes some views of local worshipers and parishioners (in Northern Rhodesia and in South Africa). Includes prints of Fr. Christopher Crowley OFM Cap., Fr. Luke Sheehan OFM Cap., Fr. Timothy Phelim O’Shea OFM Cap., Fr. Killian Flynn OFM Cap., Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap. (Provincial Minister from 1931-7) with Fr. Paschal Larkin OFM Cap., Fr. Casimir Butler OFM Cap. and others, a group of young friars at St. Bonaventure’s Friary, the voyage of the Union Castle Line ship, RMMV 'Cape Town Castle', in December 1947.
A small album containing photographic negative sheets relating to the work of Irish Capuchin missionaries in Africa. The album has the following index to the negatives: • Sr. M. Vincent and Sr. Bernadine • Maramba Orphanage • Sr. M. Vincent and orphans • Mass at Grotto, Feb. 11th • [Biamba?] and child • Bishop with group at Maramba • First communion at Sawmills • Fr. Peyton • Fr. Peyton with Sawmills children • Mankoya Church • Sichili orphans • Sichili friary and convent • Fr. Killian Flynn OFM Cap. and class • Sr. Theresa in village • Sichili trade school • Fr. Theophilus Murphy OFM Cap. (1928-2006) • Teaching the sign of the cross • Maramba first communion. March 1956 • Maramba baptisms. Easter 1956 • Fr Jarlath Gough OFM Cap. at Sichili Hospital • Paramount Chief at Maramba
Letter from Fr. Kevin Moynihan OFM Cap., Provincial Secretary, to Fr. Bonaventure Murphy OFM Cap., guardian, referring to a request from Monsignor Killian Flynn OFM Cap. for some items which he requires for the missions.
Letters of Fr. Timothy Phelim O’Shea OFM Cap. (1902-1979). The correspondents include Fr. Kieran O’Callaghan OFM Cap., Provincial Secretary; Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap., Provincial Minister; Fr. James O’Mahony OFM Cap., Provincial Minister; Fr. Colman Griffin OFM Cap., Provincial Minister; Fr. Conrad O’Donovan OFM Cap., Provincial Minister., and Fr. Clement Neubauer OFM Cap., General Minister. The subjects include: the progress of the Irish Capuchin mission in Barotseland and Livingstone, Northern Rhodesia; the Silozi catechism; the Loanja station; requests for financial assistance and loans for the Northern Rhodesian mission; missionary activities in Cape Town, South Africa; the recognition of five parishes in the Cape as coming under Irish Capuchin jurisdiction (1946); the Katima Mulilo mission station in the Caprivi Strip (1949); Fr. Phelim’s appointment as Regular Superior of the Victoria Falls Mission; the completion of the church at Langa (1949); the deaths of Fr. Eustace Burke OFM Cap. and Fr. Donatus Aherne OFM Cap. (1949); Educational matters in the missionary territories; the appointment of Fr. Killian Flynn OFM Cap. as Education Secretary General (1949); the need for more missionary sisters (Holy Faith Sisters, Sisters of Mercy, the Irish Sisters of Charity and the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Africa); the opening of the church at the Holy Family Mission, Katima Mulilo. (Mar. 1954); the building of a new convent and girls’ boarding school at Maramba. (July 1953); his proposal to resign as Bishop of Livingstone ‘in line with the gradual Zambianization of the Hierarchy’. (10 Aug. 1969). Reference is also made to the activities of the following Capuchin friars: Fr. Casimir Butler OFM Cap.; Fr. Oliver O’Hanlon OFM Cap.; Fr. Timothy Connery OFM Cap.; Fr. Agathangelus Herlihy OFM Cap.; Fr. Seraphin Nesdale OFM Cap.; Fr. Eltin Daly OFM Cap. The file also includes a manuscript copy of an ‘Approved Prayer for the Conversion of Africa’ and a typescript copy of a ‘Spiritual portrait of Bishop Timothy Phelim O’Shea OFM Cap.’ by Fr. Salvator Quinn OFM Cap. (Livingstone, 1992). 19 pp.
Letters of Fr. Seraphin Nesdale OFM Cap. (1897-1980). The correspondents include Fr. Kieran O’Callaghan OFM Cap.; Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap., Provincial Minister. Reference is made to the activities of Fr. Declan McFadden OFM Cap., Fr. Killian Flynn OFM Cap., Fr. Oliver O’Hanlon OFM Cap. and Fr. Casimir Butler OFM Cap. The subjects include efforts to establish missionary stations in Northern Rhodesia and to the difficulties and frustrations with on-going work in the parishes of Parow and Athlone in Cape Town, South Africa. Fr. Seraphin also refers to the need for mass stipends and funds and to the physical hardships in adjusting to the African climate, customs and languages. He recounts Fr. Killian Flynn’s efforts to ‘discover which is the language most commonly used in our territory around Livingstone’ (25 Dec. 1931).
