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Scale: 5 miles to 1 inch
Map of the Cape Province, South Africa, by the Roads Branch, Cape Provincial Administration. With mileage table in both Afrikaans and English. Manuscript additions to the map (in pencil) roughly indicate the location of the Irish Capuchin churches in the Cape Province: Langa, Athlone, Parow, the Welcome Estate and Matroosfontein. A distinction is made between locations with both churches and mission schools and areas where only a school is present. A manuscript stamp indicates that the map was sent to Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap., Provincial Minister, St. Bonaventure’s Friary, Cork.

Lectures on the history of the Irish Capuchin missions (primarily in Africa) compiled by Fr. Angelus Healy OFM Cap. The talks were likely prepared for promotional and educational purposes. They include copy documents including a letter from the Most Rev. Bernard O’Riley, Vicar Apostolic of Cape Town, to Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap., Provincial Minister, requesting a Capuchin foundation in his diocese (12 May 1927), and copy letters from Archbishop Carlo Salotti, Secretary of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, to Fr. Melchor a Benisa OFM Cap., Minister General, re the Irish Capuchin mission in Barotseland, Northern Rhodesia (Jan. 1931).

Scrapbook of Fr. Albeus McQuillan OFM Cap. (1912-1989) re the history and personnel of the Irish Capuchin mission in Africa. Fr. Albeus arrived in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) in 1942. The scrapbook includes cuttings from missionary periodicals including 'The Father Mathew Record', hand-drawn maps of mission stations and churches, and personal recollections and memoranda by Fr. Albeus re the Capuchin mission in Africa. The volume contains the following sections:
• Photographic prints of the early Irish Capuchins missionaries: Fr. Casimir Butler OFM Cap.; Fr. Timothy Phelim O’Shea OFM Cap.; Fr. Seraphin Nesdale OFM Cap.; Fr. Killian Flynn OFM Cap.; Fr. Alban Cullen Cap.; Fr. Oliver O’Hanlon OFM Cap.; Fr. Fintan Roche OFM Cap.; Fr. Livinus Keane OFM Cap.; Fr. Jerome McQuillan OFM Cap.; Fr. Christopher Crowley OFM Cap.; Fr. Marcellus Carroll OFM Cap.; Fr. Agathangelus Herlihy OFM Cap.; Fr. Timothy Connery OFM Cap.; Fr. Jarlath Gough OFM Cap.
• List of African missions of the Capuchin Franciscan Order (with the names of mother provinces).
• Calendar of priests in the Irish Capuchin mission to Africa arranged under year, number and total. The calendar runs from 1929-39.
• Personal and mission record (with photographic prints) for Irish Capuchin friars in Africa. Details are given of where the friars were stationed and the duration. Information is given in respect of:
Fr. Casimir Butler OFM Cap. First Superior of African Missions.
Fr. Alban Cullen OFM Cap.
Fr. Oliver O’Hanlon OFM Cap. (with postcard print of the Church at Parow, South Africa, dedicated on 8 Dec. 1935).
Fr. Killian Flynn OFM Cap. (with circular letter from Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap. re the appointment of Fr. Killian as Prefect Apostolic of Victoria Falls).
Fr. Timothy Phelim O’Shea OFM Cap.
Fr. Seraphin Nesdale OFM Cap. (1897-1980)
Fr. Jerome McQuillan OFM Cap.
Fr. Fintan Roche OFM Cap.
Fr. Livinus Keane OFM Cap.
Fr. Christopher Crowley OFM Cap.
Fr. Jarlath Gough OFM Cap. (1902-1983)
Br. Alexius Paolucci OFM Cap. (1898-1983)
Fr. Agathangelus Herlihy OFM Cap.
Fr. Gerard Joyce OFM Cap. (died in Northern Rhodesia in 1944)
• Calendar of Irish Capuchin missionaries in Northern Rhodesia and South Africa from 1929-38 giving details of where stationed and the time spent at each mission station. (pp 42-3).
• ‘The religion of the Blacks’. Manuscript. Sub-title reads: ‘Paper read for the Bonaventure’s Philosophical and Historical Society, Tuesday, January 17th 1937’. (insert at p. 47). The article was possibly compiled by Fr. Declan McFadden OFM Cap.
Maps include:
• Districts of Northern Rhodesia showing density of population. (p. 9)
• Detailed manuscript map showing locations of various Christian missionary stations in Northern Rhodesia. (p. 11).
• Map of Northern Rhodesia showing areas of Tsetse-Fly and Sleeping Sickness infestation (p. 15).
• Map re population and infant mortality in Northern Rhodesia (p. 17).
• Printed map of Cape Town, South Africa (p. 22).
• Manuscript map of the Cape Province, South Africa, showing principal towns and the locations of Capuchin churches at the Welcome Estate, Matroosfontein, Parow, Langa and Athlone. Scale: 2 miles to 1 inch. The key also provides the distances between the aforementioned mission churches. (Insert at p. 27).
• Population map of Barotseland (arranged by district). With information re the number of Protestant schools in the region. (p. 45).
Photographic prints include:
• Fr. Fintan Roche OFM Cap. crossing the River Kafue, Northern Rhodesia, with a truck on a barge. Aug. 1937. (p. 27).
• Fr. Marcellus Carroll OFM Cap. with altar boys. (p. 27).
• St. Louis Mission School at Langa; Fr. Jerome McQuillan OFM Cap. (priest at Langa in 1935); groups of children at Langa, with Sister Romana and Sister M. Vianney. (p. 29).
• Missionary scenes at Livingstone, Northern Rhodesia (p. 33).
• The Friary at Livingstone and Fr. Christopher Crowley OFM Cap. (p. 34).
• Missionary scenes at Loanja, Northern Rhodesia. With Fr. Livinus Keane OFM Cap. and Fr. Seraphin Nesdale OFM Cap. (p. 37).
• Prints from 'The Father Mathew Record' of the ‘first Christians at Loanja, Easter, 1936’; ‘adult Christians at Loanja and a group at St. Francis’s School, Livingstone’. (p. 39).
• Br. Dominick O’Callaghan OFM Cap. (p. 44).
• The three Capuchin churches in Africa: Parow, Livingstone, and Athlone (p. 48).
• Fr. Jerome McQuillan OFM Cap. (full length portrait); Sr. M. Vianney at Langa in 1936; First communion group at Langa, 1936. (p. 49).
• Fr. Albeus McQuillan OFM Cap. (half-length portrait). (p. 50).
• Fr. Alfred O’Mahony OFM Cap. (half-length portrait). (p. 51).
The volume also contains newspaper cuttings re a Capuchin-organised pilgrimage to Knock, County Mayo, organised by Fr. Virgilius Murtagh OFM Cap. and Fr. Maurice Dowd OFM Cap. (p. 66).

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’.

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 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.

Letter from Br. Alexius Paolucci OFM Cap. (1898-1983) to Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap., Provincial Minister, on the progress of building work in Northern Rhodesia. He writes: ‘These buildings of course will be of native constructions, up to the time that the Fathers will have enough bricks made to build good buildings’.

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 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).