Sous-fonds /X/H/SHF - Sheffield, UK

In 1853, Saint Vincent’s Mission in Sheffield was founded by Canon Edmund Scully CM with the opening of schools and foundation of an Altar Society. The mission was in response to Irish people fleeing the potato famine in Ireland from 1846, which had resulted in a large Catholic Irish population in Sheffield among other large UK cities. The Bishop of Beverley had invited Canon Scully to lead the mission due to poverty and neglect being experienced by these people.

The foundation stone of the church was laid on 25 March 1856, and the church was blessed on 15 December of that year. The Vincentians had acquired a community house in 90 Garden Street by this time. The first Vincentians on this mission were Michael Burke CM, Thomas Plunket CM, James Kelly CM and John Bradley CM, the latter of whom was not a priest but a lay brother.

For over one hundred years, they managed church, cemetery and schools for the parishioners.