2 - Canonical Visitation Report for 1946

2

Canonical Visitation Report for 1946

17 pp; typescript

Canoncial visitation report compiled by Fr. Stephen Murtagh OFM Cap. for the Irish Capuchin custody in the United States. The report includes extensive commentary on the spiritual, physical and financial condition of various churches and friaries in Oregon, California, and Delaware. Father Murtagh details severe staffing crises and diplomatic delays hindering the expansion of the Irish Capuchin mission in America. The custody transferred its students to Old Mission Santa Inés to revive the site as a center of learning, while simultaneously opening a high school at Flintridge. However, expected replacement teachers from Ireland were blocked because the United States Consul in Dublin refused to grant visa priority, forcing parish priests to remain as full-time teachers and causing local parish work to suffer. The situation was particularly dire at Santa Inés, where the only resident teacher was an invalid suffering from progressing multiple sclerosis who could no longer say Mass publicly. Furthermore, Flintridge’s debut as a Seraphic School attracted only one local student, forcing the friars to accept day boys to keep it operational while maintaining high academic and moral standards to foster future vocations.

ISAD(G) 2nd edition