Our Lady of Angels Western American Province Information Booklet

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CAPUCHIN FRANCISCANS Our Lady of Angels Western American Province 1924 – Ukiah, California, (Mendocino County) a gathering of friars. 1st Row: Frs. Joseph, Peter, Thomas, Sebastian 2nd Row: Frs. Anthony, Ambrose, Urban, Br. Seraphim and Fr. Raphael. 1950 – The third church built for St. Joseph's parish, Roseburg, Oregon. St. Peter's Church, Echo – a mission church of Our Lady of Angel's Church, Hermiston, Oregon. The arrival of the Capuchin Franciscans in the west could be termed a divine accident. Bishop Charles O'Reilly of the Baker Diocese, Oregon, visited Ireland on his way home from Rome, where he had visited the Holy Father. Because the Bishop of Cork was ailing, Bishop O'Reilly was asked to consecrate new altars at Holy Trinity, the Capuchin Church in Cork City. He was also asked to ordain a young Capuchin to the priesthood. Having few priests in his own diocese, Bishop O'Reilly invited the Irish Capuchins to come work with him. Thus began the association of the Irish Capuchins with Oregon and California, an association that has endured for sixty-nine years. This relationship has finally led to establishing a Capuchin Franciscan province. It is the new Western American Province under the patronage of Our Lady of Angels. Father Luke Sheehan was the first friar sent to Oregon from the Irish province of St. Patrick in 1910. His devotion, hard work and sacrifices led to such successes that it brought many other young Capuchins to this pioneer country. His territory was roughly comparable to half of Ireland. His assigned mission sites were spread over two hundred miles. As times changed, Father Luke and his confreres traveled on horseback, by horse and buggy, and in an automobile from Our Lady of Angels, his first parish, in Hermiston, Oregon to St. Francis of Assisi parish in Bend, Oregon. These two cities became permanent parish sites, the others, mission satellites. The Irish Capuchins were soon invited to the city of Roseburg in the neighboring Portland diocese in 1913. How quickly these pioneer friars established apostolic centers! In 1913, a halfway house friary between the mother province in Ireland and the new west was purchased in Abbotstown, Pennsylvania. This friary also served as home for friars who traveled to various churches in the east for preaching engagements. Meanwhile, requests from other bishops were directed toward the Father Provincial in Ireland. A friary in Lincoln, Nebraska opened in 1918 at the request of Bishop O'Reilly who had been transferred there. Then in 1920 the friars said "Yes" to replacing the English Capuchins in Mendocino County in northern California. The English friars were being called to strengthen their mission in India and left behind six mission stations to the care of the Irish Capuchins.