The Franciscan Order has always recognised the special call to spread the Gospel message far and wide.  St Francis mentions it specifically in his Rule. This has led friars to leave their home territories and actively seek out new areas of evangelisation.  Now, as the largest missionary Order in the Church, the Franciscans are to be found in almost every country in the world.  Their most precious mission is the Custody of the Holy Land, which can trace its origins back to St. Francis himself, and which was formally committed to the Franciscans by bulls of Pope Clement VI in 1342.  For the British Province in recent times the two main countries which have been associated with our foreign missions are South Africa and India.

The mission to India began in 1925 when three friars from the Province landed at Bombay and moved to Hyderabad, where they were given the area of Bellary as their mission field.  Over the years 33 friars from Britain joined this mission.  The last one was Joachim Tinneny, who joined the mission in December 1956 and died on 22 November 2009, having been the lone survivor in India for the past 23 years. He  worked for many years in Karnataka, South India, running many parish-based ministries and groups.  Bellary has now for some time been a diocese and has an Indian Bishop, and since India became a Province of its own it is now raising its own vocations and is no longer dependent on the British Province. 

Since 1948 Friars of the British Province have been working in South Africa.  The first four to be commissioned for the mission were Frs. Denis Kivlehan, Ronan Scott, Barnabas Mann and Clement Waddington. They were asked to take over a corner of the diocese of Lydenberg in the Transvaal.  Soon after, their numbers were boosted by the arrival of more friars: Cormac, Malcolm, Alexander, Marius, Athanasius, Clement, Paschal Rowland and Christopher Ulyatt. These Friars generally settled into working on parishes.  Pope Pius XII erected a new area, the Prefecture of Volksrust.  It included part of the Transvaal and Northern Natal.  Suddenly this small group of just 12 Friars had to minister to an area the size of Ireland.  Christopher was appointed first Apostolic Prefect and more Friars arrived from Britain.  Bede, who had been working on the mission in India for 27 years, also came to help.

With the presence of the Friars there were new vocations from the local people. It was decided to establish a minor seminary in 1960 to help with the education and formation of those who wanted to give their lives in service of the Church. During this time there was a great upsurge in activity.  Churches were built, an orphanage started, wells dug out and programmes for education, agriculture and faith development all became part of the Friars’ lives.  Between 1962 and 1969 there was a purposeful consolidation of apostolates, adding youth groups, Scouts and leadership training.