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Letter from Fr. Timothy Connery OFM Cap. (1908-1996) to Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap., Provincial Minister, affirming that his health has improved and thanking him for his kind words of encouragement. The file includes a copy medical report affirming that Fr. Timothy is ‘quite unfitted for work in the bush’ (28 Apr. 1938). With a letter from Fr. Killian Flynn OFM Cap. referring to Fr. Timothy’s medical examination in Cape Town and thanking him for his three years’ work in Africa (24 June 1938).

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).

Draft and copy letters of Fr. James O’Mahony OFM Cap. relating to the Irish Capuchin missions in Africa. The file includes copy letters to Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap., Provincial Minister, Fr. Sylvester Mulligan OFM Cap., General Definitor, and Fr. Maurice Dowd OFM Cap., and a letter from Fr. Hilary McDonagh OFM Cap. On 21 May 1948, Fr. James wrote ‘We feel that there is great future for the Irish Province in South Africa where the Irish Capuchins were the first, and still stand alone, in their mission to pure natives in the Langa Compound’.

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).

Letters of Fr. Alban Cullen OFM Cap. (1902-1957). The main correspondent is Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap., Provincial Minister. Other correspondents include Fr. Kieran O’Callaghan OFM Cap. and Fr. Colman Griffin OFM Cap. Provincial Minister. The subjects include: the progress of the Irish Capuchin mission in South Africa, particularly the ‘coloured localities of Athlone, Parrow and Claremont’; arrangements for the opening of the mission in Barotseland, Northern Rhodesia; the language difficulties. Fr. Alban wrote ‘The big drawback of the Church in South Africa has been the dearth of English-speaking priests. Cape Town has them. Port Elizabeth has some. Johannesburg has a few. But almost everywhere else, French, German, Dutch have possession’. (21 Mar. 1931); requests for mass stipends (18 Sept. 1931); information concerning the forty square miles of the Capuchin mission in South Africa including ‘Athlone, Crawford, Jamestown, Belgravia Estate, the Welcome Estate and Langa’. (6 Nov. 1931); the construction of churches, mission schools and orphanages; the establishment of a canonical foundation by the Irish Capuchins in Athlone, Cape Town. (14 Jan. 1932); the deprivations faced by the ‘native population’ in Cape Town. (26 Feb. 1932); the education of the coloured population of Cape Province, South Africa. (18 Mar. 1932); Fr. Alban’s attempts to hire John McCormack, the renowned Irish tenor, to perform in aid of the poor of Athlone Parish, Cape Town. (5 Aug. 1932); on the necessity of holding property in the Athlone Vicariate. Fr. Alban affirms that ‘the Athlone Catholics are poor, miserable coloured native people on the verge of starvation’. (25 Nov. 1932); the building of the Church of St. Mary of the Angels in Athlone, Cape Town. (9 June 1933); Fr. Alban’s work as a missionary since his ordination in 1925. He wrote ‘I have devoted my time exclusively to the missionary life – almost four years with the Californian Indians, and almost five with the coloured and native people of Athlone’. (27 July 1934); the visitation of Fr. James O’Mahony OFM Cap. to South Africa. (6 Sept. 1935); his desire to return to Ireland. He reminds Fr. Colman Griffin OFM Cap., Provincial Minister, that he is ‘the last of the first three [priests] who came here in 1929’. (6 June 1951). The file also includes a letter from Fr. Aloysius Travers OFM Cap. to Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap., Provincial Minister, transmitting news from Fr. Alban re the number of communicants in Athlone parish. (19 Nov. 1931).

Letters of Fr. Agathangelus Herlihy OFM Cap. (1911-1968) referring to his early experiences as a missionary in Northern Rhodesia and later to developments in South Africa (particularly in the Capuchin Vicariate established in Cape Town in 1949). Correspondents include Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap., Provincial Minister; Fr. Colman Griffin OFM Cap., Provincial Minister; Fr. Stanislaus Kavanagh OFM Cap., Provincial Secretary.

Letters from Fr. Sylvester Mulligan OFM Cap., General Definitor, to Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap., Provincial Minister, re the canonical establishment of the Irish Capuchin mission in Northern Rhodesia. He also asks for a list of potential candidates for the position of Regular Superior.

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).

Letters from Fr. Jarlath Gough OFM Cap. (1902-1983) to Fr. Kieran O’Callaghan OFM Cap. and Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap., Provincial Minister, describing his arrival in South Africa and his impressions of the ‘truly astonishing’ work being done by the Irish Capuchins in Northern Rhodesia.

Letters of Fr. Fintan Roche OFM Cap. (1898-1953) relating to his experiences as a missionary in Barotseland. The correspondents include Fr. Colman Griffin OFM Cap.; Fr. Kieran O’Callaghan OFM Cap.; Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap., Provincial Minister. Reference is made to the work of Fr. Killian Flynn OFM Cap. who is in ‘some God-forsaken native village about 9 days from here building a school [and to] Fr. Phelim [O’Shea OFM Cap.] and Fr. Seraphin [Nesdale OFM Cap.] in Loanja’. (11 Dec. 1933). Later, Fr. Fintan refers to the establishment of further mission stations around Mongu and ‘other remote centres … where we won’t conflict with already established Protestant missions’. He also affirmed that ‘Barotseland is not “virgin soil”, it is chuck full of Protestant Missions, some of them 30 days by river from Livingstone’ (20 June 1934).