In 1925, the first Holy Ghost Father from the United Kingdom to go overseas was Fr. Henry Parkinson, who went to Sierra Leone in West Africa. As numbers grew, more followed him there, and then others began to go to Southern Nigeria and Mauritius, while a few went to east Africa and the Caribbean.

In 1947, Rome entrusted to the English Province the Prefecture of Makurdi in Northern Nigeria, an area almost the size of England. Ever since most of our Fathers, a total of 97, have worked there.

They first concentrated on education in primary schools, and then opened colleges for boys, and with the help of the Holy Rosary Sisters, for girls too. In 1975, the Government took over the schools and the missionaries were now free to pay more attention to the adults, using the new Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA). The response was tremendous. Bishop Murray, CSSp. invited in other Religious Societies, of both men and women, and many new parishes were opened as well as clinics and hospitals.

From the beginning, following Fr. Libermann's advice, the missionaries encouraged local vocations who would eventually take over the area. A Junior Seminary was opened in Keffi as early as 1956 and students from there went on to the Senior Seminary in Jos. The first Diocesan priest for Makurdi diocese was ordained on the 1st January 1970, to be followed each year by an ever-increasing number. With the diocesan clergy assured, young men were now encouraged to join the Holy Ghost Fathers and there are now 45 professed members from the diocese and the surrounding area, including 13 priests.

Today there are close on a million and a half Catholics in the original prefecture area, which is now split into four diocese, Idah, Otukpo, Makurdi and part of Jalingo, each with its own Nigerian Bishop and clergy.

The Province continued its links with Sierra Leone since the arrival of Fr. Parkinson, and always had fathers working there up to and during the recent brutal and horrendous civil war which ran from 1991 to 2000.

After Vatican II, there is a much greater involvement in international projects and the English Province is at the forefront of this missionary commitment with British confreres serving on international teams in Angola, Australia, Cameroon, Gabon, Pakistan, South Africa and Vietnam.

As we begin our third century of service, British Spiritans are to be found in over a dozen countries around the world, working alongside our brothers in the Lord from over 40 Nations.