Joyce, Gerard, 1906-1944, Capuchin priest

Thomas Joyce was born near Urlingford in County Kilkenny on 15 June 1906. He joined the Capuchin Franciscans in October 1926 and took Gerard his religious name. He enjoyed a brilliant academic career in Rome (gaining a Licentiate in Canon Law) and in Ireland (a Higher Diploma in Education from University College Cork). He was ordained to the priesthood at Ard Mhuire Capuchin Friary in County Donegal in June 1933. In 1937 he travelled to the Prefecture of Victoria Falls in Northern Rhodesia (later Zambia) and ministered in the region around Sihole for seven years. He died of blackwater fever at the mission outpost of Kalabo on 12 July 1944 at the age of just thirty-five. Fr. Capistran Singleton OFM Cap., a fellow missionary friar, ministered to him in his final hours while Br. Alexius Paolucci OFM Cap. made his coffin with some wooden planks intended for the new church.

Baptismal name: Thomas Joyce
Religious name: Fr. Gerard Joyce OFM Cap.
Place of birth: The Islands, Urlingford, County Kilkenny (Diocese of Ossory)
Date of birth: 15 June 1906
Name of father: Patrick Joyce (Farmer)
Name of mother: Mary Joyce (née Hennessy)
Date of reception into Capuchin Order: 4 Oct. 1926
Date of first profession: 5 Oct. 1927
Date of final profession: 5 Oct. 1930
Date of ordination (as priest): 29 June 1933
Educational attainments: BA (1930); LIC (Rome, 1933-6); returned from Rome in 1936 to prepare for missionary work in Africa
Missionary activities: Travelled to the Prefecture of Victoria Falls, Northern Rhodesia (later Zambia), in 1937
Date of death: 12 July 1944
Place of death: Kalabo, Northern Rhodesia (died of Blackwater Fever). Fr. Capistran Singleton OFM Cap. was with him.

A description of Fr. Gerard Joyce’s death is given in Fr. Owen O’Sullivan OFM Cap., ‘Zambezi Mission / a history of the Irish Capuchins in Zambia, 1931-1981’ ([Zambia, 1982]), pp 118-9. See http://owenosullivan.ie/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/zambezi_mission.pdf