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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.

Telegrams to Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap., Provincial Minister, concerning the death of Fr. Dominic O’Connor OFM Cap. in Bend, Oregon.

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).

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).

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’.

Letter from Fr. Dominic O’Connor OFM Cap., Hermiston, Oregon, to Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap., regarding the disposition of Stanfield Church and the progress of building works on other churches in his ministry in Oregan. He wrote: ‘As soon as the weather moderates I will begin the building of the Church at Pilot Rock. I intended to call it Santa Clara but I will get a donation of $1,000 if I call it Saint Agnes. What’s in a name? I’ve been called many names myself, few of them as complimentary in the change as this one’.

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.