Records relating to the archival heritage of the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Apostles, Ireland, their members, communities, ministries, and institutions, as well as records of related entities.
The Irish Province is a self-governing part of the OLA institute under the authority of a provincial superior and provincial council of which she is a member. According to Canon 621 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law, "A grouping of several houses which constitutes an immediate part of the same institute under the same superior and has been canonically erected by legitimate authority is called a province." According to OLA Constitutions 1985, revised edition (1995), Section 133, “A Province is the union of several communities which together form from a direct part of the Institute and which has been canonically erected by the General Chapter (Can. 621 - Constitutions n° 621 -Constitutions n° 95). / It is under the authority of a Major Superior (Can. 620).'
The Irish Province was founded by a decree of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith on 25 November 1930, and comprised of the OLA houses in Ireland, the Vicariate of Benin and the Vicariate of Niger, the latter two in present day Nigeria. Sometime between 1930 and 1938 the OLA communities in the Gold Coast (modern day Ghana) were included in the Irish Province.
The Irish Province includes the OLA communities on the island of Ireland and Tanzania. It formerly included the OLA communities in England, the United States and in Zambia until these missions were discontinued. It formerly included the OLA communities in Nigeria and Ghana up until the OLA communities in these countries formed their own respective provinces in 1990 and 1996 respectively.
In 2024 the Irish Province transitions, becoming an District.
