Father Stafford

A carte-de-visite portrait of a Franciscan monk. A pencilled inscription verso in a period hand reads: ‘Father Stafford / OSF.’

A Roman Catholic newspaper of 1867 mentions him attending ‘a solemn High Mass at St. Monica’s Augustinian Church, Hoxton Square […] Amongst the clergy present were observed the Rev. Father Aloysius Stafford, Penitentiary of the English Franciscan monastery at Jerusalem' (Weekly Register and Catholic Standard, 6 April 1867).

Referring to an article on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem that had recently appeared in Murray’s Magazine, one Irish newspaper reported a story ‘that will be interesting to Wexford people, and especially to the many friends of the late saintly Rev. John Aloysius Stafford, O.S.F., of John-street, Wexford. When the Prince of Wales visited Jerusalem many years ago, the sacred shrine of the Holy Sepulchre was in charge of the Franciscan Fathers, as it still is. The Superior at that time was Father John A. Stafford, O.S.F., one of the most amiable of men, and a very learned and accomplished scholar. Father Stafford was selected as the conductor of the Prince through the various apartments, so sacred to Christians, and His Royal Highness made the good priest an affectionate farewell when leaving the place. Some years afterwards Father Stafford returned to his native Wexford, having been stricken down with paralysis. The Prince of Wales heard of Father Stafford’s return to Ireland, and with a grateful remembrance of the kindness he experienced far away in Palestine, gave a cordial invitation to Father Stafford to visit him in Sandringham, which was accepted. It is only a few years since Father Stafford, who for some time had been very much invalided, died at the residence of his mother in John-street, and his dust mingles with that of the other Fathers of the ancient Convent of his illustrious order who have passed away in Wexford. Father Stafford’s childlike simplicity and amiable disposition endeared him to young and old in Wexford’ (New Ross Standard, 12 September 1891).

‘Rev. John Aloysius Stafford, died April 24th, 1882, aged 48. Father Stafford was a native of John-street, Wexford, and had been for many years in the Holy Land, where the Franciscans have charge of the Holy Sepulchre and other holy relics. He was paralysed for some years and unable to undertake active duty’ (New Ross Standard, 5 June 1908).

According to a much later newspaper article on ‘Irish missionaries in the Holy Land’ (Irish Independent, 8 January 1974): ‘In all, about seven Irish Franciscans are known to have worked in the Custody during the 19th century. Perhaps the most prominent of them was Father Aloysius Stafford, from John St. Wexford, who spent eight years there from 1860, during which he was twice in charge at the Holy Sepulchre.’

Photographed by Adolphus Wing of 48 Piccadilly, London.

Born in Marylebone in or about 1823, Adolphus Henry Augustin Wing appears on the 1861 census living in Brighton with his three sons and four daughters (aged 1 to 12). He gave ‘Artist, Portrait and Miniature Painter’ as his profession. By 1863 he had moved to London. Advertisements that year mention his ‘commodious and well-arranged Studio’ at 48 Piccadilly, where he was available to take ‘every description of Portrait of the highest class.’ The 1871 census shows him living at 91 Churchill Road in Tufnell Park with six children (aged 6 to 15). He died in Hampshire, aged 84, in 1906. His death was registered at Christchurch, Hampshire.