| Description | The volume contains material, chiefly correspondence, relating to the Jesuit mission in Jamaica from the arrival of the first two Jesuits (Fr William Cotham SJ, an Englishman, and Fr James Dupeyron SJ, a Frenchman) in 1837 up to 1872. The English Province of the Society of Jesus had responsibility for Jamaica until 1893, at which point the mission was transferred to the Maryland Province. The volume covers the early years of the establishment of the mission when Cotham and Dupeyron struggled on their own until the arrival of three Italian Jesuits in 1847. The volume covers the period of Fr Cotham as Superior of the Mission, the appointment of Fr Dupeyron as Vicar-Apostolic and the arrival of Fr Joseph Sydney Woollett SJ from the Guiana Mission who succeeded Dupeyron in 1871. The volume also covers the activities of the Jesuits in Belize, British Honduras. Recurring themes in the correspondence include the lack of English Jesuits involved in the mission, a perceived lack of support from the English Province, a general shortage of priests and funds for the mission, the debate over the establishment of a Catholic college in Jamaica and notable events including the 1839 earthquake and the Kingston fire of 1862. There are also several accounts of the history of the mission.
Please contact the Jesuits in Britain Archives for a copy of the calendar of this volume. |