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About SMA

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The Society of African Missions is an international community of Catholic missionaries who serve the people of Africa and people of African descent around the world. SMA stands for our official name: Society of African Missions. People often ask, then why SMA and not SAM? The initials refer to the name in Latin: Societas Missionum ad Afros.
SMA was founded at Lyons (France) in 1856 by Mgr Melchior de Marion Brésillac. We celebrated 150 years in 2006.
Where we come fromThe 944 members of the Society come from Africa, America, Asia and Europe and work in a number of African countries as well as Europe, the Americas, Asia and Oceania.
The SMA members from Africa and Asia are our more recent foundations.

African members come from Benin, Central Africa, Congo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Togo and Zambia.

Asian members come from India and the Philippines.

American members come from Argentina, Canada and the USA.

European members come from Belgium, Britain, France, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland and Spain.

The Society welcomes all who agree to work for its aim and accept the style of life it proposes. The Society is organized into Provinces, Districts and Delegations, with a central administration based in Rome… more…
See below for further articles on the Society of African Missions and their work.

Fr John Dunleavy SMA – Funeral homily

Fr John Dunleavy, SMA, died on Friday, 14 April 2023 in the St Theresa’s Nursing Unit, African Missions, Blackrock Road, Cork. He was 86...

Late Fr John Dunleavy SMA

Fr John Dunleavy, SMA, died peacefully on Friday, 14 April 2023, in the African Missions, Blackrock Road, Cork. Fr John was 86 years old...

Fr Fintan Daly, SMA – Obituary

Fr Fintan Daly, SMA - Obituary When the Venerable Bishop Melchior de Marion Brésillac founded his Society of African Missions on the 8th of...

Fr Fintan Daly SMA – Funeral Homily

Fr Fintan Daly died peacefully on Ash Wednesday, 22 February 2023, in the African Missions, Blackrock Road, Cork. His Funeral Mass was celebrated on...

Late Fr Fintan Daly, SMA

The Archbishops, priests, religious and the faithful of the Archdiocese of Ibadan, Nigeria, along with his family and confreres in the Society of African...

Fr Michael Nohilly SMA [RIP] – Obituary

Fr Michael Augustine Nohilly SMA died peacefully in the Cork University Hospital on Tuesday, 27 September 2022, aged 76 years. Fr Nohilly was buried...

Month of the Holy Souls – November 2022

November, beginning with the Feasts of All Saints and All Souls, is traditionally the month in which the Church remembers the dead and in...

Fr Michael Nohilly SMA [RIP] – Funeral Mass Homily

Fr Michael Nohilly SMA died peacefully in the Cork University Hospital on Tuesday, 27 September 2022, aged 76 years. Fr Seamus Nohilly SMA,...