A small collection of prints relating to the South African mission assembled by Fr. Benjamin O’Connell OFM Cap. (1938-2010) for historical research purposes. The file includes: • The exterior of St. Theresa’s School in the Welcome Estate, Cape Town, South Africa. The annotation reads: ‘This part was built in 1933. Two moveable partitions made it one large room for Mass (3 classrooms). The third room (back part) added to the original 2 classrooms’. • Capuchin friars with Fr. James O’Mahony OFM Cap. on the occasion of his visitation to South Africa in 1957. The friars include Fr. Jerome McQuillan OFM Cap., Fr. Carthage Ruth OFM Cap., Fr. Damascene McKenna OFM Cap., Fr. Raphael Curran OFM Cap., Fr. Agathangelus Herlihy OFM Cap. and Fr. Didacus McGrath OFM Cap. • The exterior of Parow Church and Presbytery in Cape Town. • Fr. Raymond Dillane OFM Cap., Fr. Albert Hayes OFM Cap. (1915-2005) and Fr. Bernard Cronin OFM Cap. in the Welcome Estate, Cape Town, in c.1980. • Fr. Albert Hayes OFM Cap. and Br. Kees Thönissen OFM Cap. in the Welcome Estate, Cape Town, in c.1980.
Report by Fr. Timothy Phelim O’Shea OFM Cap., Regular Superior, on missionary work in the Cape Province, South Africa. The report asses the work of the Irish Capuchin friars in Parow parish (Fr. Oliver O’Hanlon OFM Cap. and Fr. Casimir Butler OFM Cap.); Matroosfontein (Fr. Marcellus O’Carroll OFM Cap.); Athlone (Fr. Terence Anglin OFM Cap. 1900-1947); the Welcome Estate (Fr. Damascene McKenna OFM Cap., 1913-1967); Langa (Fr. Christopher Crowley OFM Cap.).
Letters of Fr. Killian Flynn OFM Cap. (1905-1972). Correspondents include Fr. Kieran O’Callaghan OFM Cap., Provincial Secretary; Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OFM Cap., Provincial Minister; Fr. Colman Griffin OFM Cap., Provincial Minister; Fr. James O’Mahony OFM Cap., Provincial Minister. Most of the correspondence relates to developments in the Irish Capuchin mission in Northern Rhodesia and to a lesser extent in the Cape Province, South Africa. The subjects include: the arrival of Fr. Jerome MacQuillian OFM Cap. and Fr. Marcellus Carroll OFM Cap. in Northern Rhodesia. (18 Aug. 1935); the establishment of the Lukulu Station in Barotseland. (1 Sept. 1935); Fr. Casimir Butler’s desire for chaplaincy work in Parow Parish, South Africa. (10 Dec. 1935); co-operation with the Holy Cross Sisters. (20 Dec. 1935); work on the Sancta Maria (Lukulu) training school and the need for each Rhodesian Mission Station to have spiritual books for ‘retreats and ordinary reading’; arrangements for the arrival of Fr. Jarlath Gough OFM Cap. and Br. Alexius Paolucci OFM Cap. (5 May 1936); the establishment of a Prefecture for the Barotseland Mission (13 July 1936); enclosing a copy of the annual report on the Irish Capuchin Mission in Northern Rhodesia. (28 July 1936); the appointment of Fr. Killian as Prefect Apostolic of Victoria Falls. (11 Aug. 1936); Fr. Killian’s investiture as Prefect Apostolic (25 Nov. 1936); negotiations with the Paris Missionaries regarding the limits of the Sancta Maria Mission at Lukulu. (1 Jan. 1937); enclosing a copy of the 1937-8 report for the Victoria Falls Prefecture. (14 Sept. 1938); the boundaries of the Parow and Athlone parishes, Cape Town, South Africa. (6 Nov. 1939); the health of Fr. Livinus Keane OFM Cap. (9 Nov. 1939); an outbreak of the bubonic plague at Sancta Maria Mission and the dangers of transferring priests from Europe to South Africa due to the U-Boat threat (18 Mar. 1940); the proposed new status for the Irish Capuchin houses in the Cape Province, South Africa. (13 Oct. 1940); the position of interned ‘alien priests’ in Northern Rhodesia (25 Apr. 1941); the arrival of Polish refugees in Livingstone. (12 Aug. 1941); the ill-health of Fr. Damascene McKenna OFM Cap. in Northern Rhodesia (5 June 1942); the provision of doctors in Catholic Mission Centres. (23 June 1944); the Katima Muliho mission station. (11 Dec. 1944); copy report on the state of the Northern Rhodesia mission sent to the Prefect of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith. (28 Jan. 1945); a proposal to circulate a local mission magazine. (19 May 1945); the jubilee letters of Fr. Phelim O’Shea and Fr. Oliver O’Hanlon (24 June 1945); extending an invitation to the Irish Sisters of Charity to establish a ‘foundation for coloured work in this Prefecture’ (31 Dec. 1948); the pressing need for more priests to be sent to the Northern Rhodesian Mission (28 Aug. 1949); the arrival of Fr. Colga O’Riordan OFM Cap. and Fr. Carthage Ruth OFM Cap. (22 Nov. 1949); on the need for priests to take ‘sociological courses’ before departing for Africa. Fr. Killian wrote ‘I am becoming more and more convinced that not by Baptisms alone is Africa going to be converted and that priests must be thoroughly versed in sociological principles. How can anyone keep the Commandments in a modern African compound hut?’ (11 Feb. 1952).
