Part 61 - C.M. Somali / Devine service in the Jungle

Postcard print

A postcard print of divine service in rural Somalia. A manuscript annotation on the right of the card records that ‘the priest saying Mass is Fr. Luke [Sheehan], an Irish Capuchin’. The postcard (no. 17) was part of a series published by the Catholic Mission of Somaliland.

The Cork-born friar, Fr. Luke Sheehan OFM Cap. (1873-1937), volunteered for missionary work in Africa and Arabia in 1902. He spent most of his time working as a military chaplain in the strategically important port city of Aden which at the time was under British colonial rule. While stationed in Aden he was taken ill with fever and was forced to return to Ireland to recuperate. Before he had fully recovered the priest who replaced him succumbed to the harsh climatic conditions prevailing in that part of the world. Fr. Luke offered to return to Arabia, and he remained there until 1908. Father Sheehan also conducted missions in the British-controlled protectorate of Somaliland on the southern coast of the Gulf of Aden.