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Name: HEFFERNAN, John William (Rev. Father)

Birth Date: 11 Sep 1883 Kilmanihan, Co. Kerry

Death Date: 20 Mar 1966 Kimmage

First Date: 1930

Profession: RC missionary

Area: Nairobi

Book Reference: Red 31, Baur

General Information:

Baur - 1937 - Bishop Heffernan
Gazette - Voters List 1936 - Nairobi South - Father J W Hefferman, St Austin's Mission, Box 428, Nbi

11 Sep 1883 Born; 28 Oct 1912 Ordained Priest Priest of Congregation of the Holy Spirit; 15 Mar 1932; AppointedVicar Apostolic of ZanzibarKenya; 15 Mar 1932 Appointed Titular Bishop of Uzippari; 19 Jun 1932; Ordained BishopTitular Bishop of Uzippari; 7 Jun 1945; Resigned Vicar Apostolic of ZanzibarKenya; 20 Mar 1966 Died Vicar Apostolic Emeritus of ZanzibarKenya.

Henry J. Koren, Spiritan East African Memorial, 1994: He entered Rockwell in 1895 and proved to be an excellent student and a keen athlete.  Sent to France, he made his vows at Chevilly on August 28, 1904 and then returned to Ireland for four years of prefecting at Blackrock, while also pursuing a B.A. degree.   While finishing his theology studies at Chevilly, he was ordained there on October 28, 1912. He then spent three years in the sanatorium for tubercular patients in Montana, Switzerland, after which he was appointed for Martinique in 1916.  Soon, however, he transferred to Trinidad and taught there while also being dean of discipline till 1923.  In that year, he had to return to Europe to take care of his weak lungs. In 1925 he could sail for the mild climate of Kenya's high lands.  Bp. Neville placed him there in Nairobi as an assistant at St. Austin's parish.  He was still serving there in that capacity when in 1932 the Holy See named him Vicar Apostolic of the vicariate. He was ordained a bishop on June 19, 1932 at Kimmage, just before the opening of the International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin.

For thirteen years he governed the vicariate that was to become the Archdiocese of Nairobi and put great emphasis on education.  He placed Fr. Michael Witte in charge of opening the Teachers Training College at Kabaa, whose fame would spread all over Kenya; he opened a junior seminary and a second high school. For the children of the many Europeans who had settled in Kenya he founded St. Mary's College. (Later it would enroll also Africans.) At the outbreak of World War Two he released twelve of his priests to take care of the missions that had been served by the Consolata Fathers, who were interned as enemy aliens. He introduced the Legion of Mary to East Africa and secured Carmelite sisters for his vicariate; he also invited Bp. Joseph Shanahan of Nigeria to come and spend his retirement years in Kenya. Ailing again, he resigned in 1945 and spent his remaining years at Blackrock and Kimmage.  Two decades later, he died at a much older age than his weak health would have allowed anyone to predict in his younger years.

 

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