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Sat 03 Mar 2010Rescue missions
TV REVIEW:AT THE TURN of the last century, Fr Joseph Shanahan, a Holy Ghost priest from Co Tipperary, set off on a journey to darkest Africa with a clear mission in mind.
He wanted to preach the word of God to the people of Nigeria, and hoped to convert some of them to Catholicism. He used education as his weapon, setting up schools and teaching young Nigerians to read, write and recite the Bible. When he was ordained bishop of southern Nigeria in 1920, he began recruiting young priests, and in 1924 he founded the Missionary Sisters of the Holy Rosary. He died in Nairobi in 1943, but, following a campaign by his former parishioners in Nigeria, his remains were brought back to the town of Onitsha in 1956 and buried there.
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