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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).

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).

Press photographs (mainly of Capuchin friars and Observant Franciscan friars) compiled for publication in 'The Capuchin Annual'. Some of the photographs are annotated. The file includes the following images:

• The Most Rev. Patrick Collier, Bishop of Ossory, Fr. James O’Mahony OFM Cap. and Fr. Bonaventure Murphy OFM Cap. at celebrations of the tercentenary of the arrival of the Capuchins in Kilkenny in 1948.
• The celebration of Mass at St. Adam and St. Eve’s Church in Dublin.
• Gabriel Fallon (1898-1980) with rosary beads blessed by the Pope for presentation to the actress, Margaret O’Brien.
• The consecration of Fr. Timothy Phelim O’Shea OFM Cap. as Vicar Apostolic of Livingstone at St. Mary of the Angels, Church Street, Dublin, on 8 Sept. 1950.
• The arrival of President Seán T. O’Kelly and Archbishop John Charles McQuaid at St. Andrew’s Church, Westland Row, Dublin, for a Mass commemorating the 1798 Rebellion.
• Fr. James O’Mahony OFM Cap. preaching in St. Francis Church, Kilkenny, in 1948.
• Fr. Ephrem O’Sullivan OFM Cap. (1904-1958).
• The funeral of Chief Superintendent Sean Gantly at the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Merchants' Quay, Dublin, in January 1948. With images of his funeral procession along O’Connell Street.
• Presentation by Fr. Gerald McCann OFM Cap. to Captain Robert Monteith.
• Rev. H. Canon Murray speaking at a Pioneer Total Abstinence Association meeting. Fr. Aloysius Travers OFM Cap. is also in attendance.
• Fr. Virgilius Murtagh OFM Cap. (1896-1972) speaking at a sale of work in aid of the Capuchin Foreign Missions.

Letters from Bishop Bernard Cornelius O’Riley (1868-1956), Vicar Apostolic of the Cape of Good Hope, Western District, and Fr. John Morris, editor of the Southern Cross, to Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap., Fr. Kevin Moynihan OFM Cap., Fr. James O’Mahony OFM Cap., Provincial Ministers, and Fr. Kieran O’Callaghan OFM Cap., Provincial Secretary, regarding the prospects for establishing Irish Capuchin missionary foundations in the Athlone, Parow and Langa parishes in the Cape Province, South Africa. Fr. John Morris wrote: ‘There are only about thirty priests in the whole vicariate. This number includes three Jesuits, two Redemptorists, and some six Salesians. … Alas, there are no Franciscans in South Africa. You will therefore be real pioneers’ (16 May 1927). The Bishop wrote: ‘There are pagans and heathens in abundance in my Vicariate which covers some 17,000 sq. miles and I can assure there is endless scope in the Vicariate for the missionary efforts of your good Fathers’ (30 Mar. 1928). Later, he affirmed that the ‘poor people of “Athlone” (which is the name of the place of your first mission in South Africa) are nearly all coloured, a good simple lot, who have been working hard for some months past in their spare time to build with their own hands school-rooms’ (6 Dec. 1928). Reference is also made to the provision of a school for coloured children at Claremont (16 Feb. 1931) and to the financial state of the Vicariate (20 July 1932). The file includes a memorandum and agreement for sale from Bishop O’Riley to the Irish Capuchins of sites at Claremont, at Athlone, and at Parow (1 Nov. 1931), and a letter from Fr. John Morris requesting the Irish Capuchins supply a priest for the Philippi mission in the Vicariate (17 Mar. 1950).

A volume containing copy correspondence of Fr. Senan Moynihan OFM Cap. Most of the letters are manuscript copies of Fr. Senan’s outgoing letters but the volume also includes some copies of letters received by the friar. A partial alphabetical and page index of correspondents is included at the start of volume. The spine is gilt-titled ‘Minute Book’. Contains personal letters and correspondence relating to the Capuchin Publications Office. Includes correspondence with Peter F. Anson, Fr. Henry Anglin OFM Cap., Séamus Ó Braonáin, Aodh de Blacam, Michael A. Bowles, Frank E. Benner, Captain Charles Brennan, Séamus Campbell (James J. Campbell), Maire Comerford, C.P. Curran, Eugene Collins, Fr. Christopher Crowley OFM Cap., Alice Curtayne, Joseph Connolly (Melford, Westfield Road, Dublin), Fr. Terence Connolly SJ, Archbishop John D’Alton, Bishop John Dignan, Fr. James Enright (Castleisland, County Kerry), Kevin R. Egan, Seán Feehan (Mercier Press), John English & Co. (printers), Patrick Gallagher, Fr. Gerald McCann OFM Cap., Carl Hardebeck, Fr. Hugh Morley OFM Cap., Doran Hurley, Sister M. Gertrude (Missionary Sisters of St. Columban, Cahiracon, Ennis, County Clare), Fr. Jerome Hawes TOSF (Mount Alvernia Hermitage, Cat Island, Bahamas), Fr. James O’Mahony OFM Cap., Seán Keating, Fr. Edward J. Kissane (President, Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth), Delia Murphy, T.J. Kiernan, Richard J. King, D.L. Kelleher, Benedict Kiely, Charles E. Kelly, Frieda Le Pla, Sir Shane Leslie, Dr. George Little, Patrick John Little, Fr. Frank Moynihan, Archbishop Sylvester Mulligan OFM Cap., An tAthair Micheál Ó Sé OFM Cap. (Fr. Michael O’Shea OFM Cap.), Fr. Christopher Mangan (Archbishop’s House, Dublin), Francis McCullagh, Herbert Mackey, Bishop William MacNeely, John McCormack, Lily McCormack, Maud Gonne MacBride, Cardinal Joseph MacRory, Major General Hugo MacNeill, Seumas MacManus, Br. Brendan Neary (Salesian Missionary College, Ballinakill, County Laois), Fr. James T. Nolan, Joseph O’Connor (Seosamh Ó Conchubhair), May O’Connell (Melbourne, Australia), Seán T. O’Kelly (President of Ireland), Art O’Brien, Vincent O’Brien, Archbishop Redmond Prendiville, Jarlath A. O’Connell, Fr. Thomas O’Donnell CM (Rector, All Hallows College, Dublin), Fr. Paschal Robinson OFM (Papal Nuncio to Ireland), Canon Patrick Rogers, Colin Johnston Robb, Máirín Cregan (‘Mrs James Ryan’), Fr. Xavier Reardon OFM Cap. (Cathedral, Simla, India), William Frederick Paul Stockley, Germaine Stockley, Iseult Gonne (‘Mrs Francis Stuart’), Oscar Traynor, Éamon de Valera, Val Vousden (Bill MacNevin), Mrs F.L. Vickerman, Joseph Patrick Walshe (Irish Ambassador to the Holy See), Victor Waddington, Mervyn Wall, Archbishop Joseph Walsh, Joseph B. Whelehan, Eleanor Barnes (Lady Yarrow), and Jack B. Yeats.

Letter from Richard Smyth, 924 Summit Avenue, New York City, to Fr. James O’Mahony OFM Cap., Provincial Minister, regarding a proposal for the reparation of the bodies of Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. and Fr. Dominic O’Connor OFM Cap., the latter from a ‘non-Catholic cemetery in Oregon, USA’. He affirms that ‘it was impossible to make any move before this time, as one or more of the political parties in Ireland would use the occasion to forward their own political interests’.

The file contains the following edition of this local newspaper: 23 Oct. 1948 (Vol. 55, No. 43). The edition carries reports on the celebrations of the tercentenary of the arrival of the Capuchin Order in Kilkenny including a sermon preached by Fr. James O’Mahony OFM Cap. on the history of the Capuchins in the city. The celebrations were attended by the Most Rev. Patrick Collier, Bishop of Ossory, Fr. Bonaventure McCafferty OFM Cap., Fr. Angelus Healy OFM Cap., F.J. McGeary, editor of the Irish Independent and Mr. T.F. De Loughrey, Mayor of Kilkenny.

Fliers, invitations, correspondence, photographs relating to the celebrations of the tercentenary of the arrival of the Capuchins in Kilkenny. Includes copies of the souvenir booklet for the solemn high mass of thanksgiving held in the Friary on 17 Oct. 1948. With a letter from the Corporation of Kilkenny to Fr. Conrad O’Donovan OFM Cap., guardian, offering their congratulations. Includes photographic prints ('Irish Press') of the aforementioned high mass celebrated by the Most Rev. Patrick Collier, Bishop of Ossory (sermon preached by Fr. James O’Mahony OFM Cap.). See also newspaper reports of the celebrations at CA KK/11/21-25.

Report and minutes of meeting between Fr. James O’Mahony OFM Cap., Provincial Minister, and Fr. Timothy Phelim O’Shea OFM Cap., Regular Superior. The meeting was held at the Sancta Maria mission station, Lukulu, Northern Rhodesia. The minutes refer to various decrees, appointments and recommendations made in relation to missionary work in Barotseland, and in South Africa.