O’Riordan, Colga, 1920-2003, Capuchin priest

Baptismal name: John O’Riordan
Religious name: Fr. Colga O’Riordan OFM Cap.
Date of birth: 6 Jan. 1920
Place of birth: Cork
Name of father: Matthew O’Riordan
Name of mother: Hannah O’Riordan (née Kidney)
Date of reception into the Capuchin Order: 3 Oct. 1939
Date of first profession: 4 Oct. 1940
Date of final profession: 4 Oct. 1943
Date of ordination (as priest): 5 June 1947
Educational attainments: BA, 2nd class hons. (1943)
Missionary activities: Transferred to the Prefecture of Victoria Falls, Northern Rhodesia (later Zambia), on 24 Dec. 1947. Transferred to the newly established Australian Capuchin Mission on 8 Aug. 1956. Returned to Ireland in 1967.
Date of death: 6 Oct. 2003
Place of burial: Cemetery, Rochestown Capuchin Friary, County Cork
Observations: Fr. Colga O’Riordan OFM Cap. was Novice Master in Australia in the 1950s and in the 1960s. He was also twice elected to the position of assistant to the Custos General of the Australian Capuchin friars. He had been invited to Australia for the formal establishment of the Australian Assumption Capuchin Province in 1956. He was later appointed the first parish priest in Priorswood in Dublin (1974-81). He was appointed guardian (local superior) of Raheny Capuchin Friary in Dublin in April 1981.
Note: An image of Fr. Colga O’Riordan OFM Cap. with novices at the newly built seminary in Plumpton, New South Wales, Australia, in January 1966 is extant at https://blacktownmemories.recollect.net.au/nodes/view/7582