Brother Placidus, O.S.F., (17 April 1948 – 22 January 1997) was an Irish

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Franciscan

Religious Brother A religious brother (abbreviated Br. or Bro. as a title) is a laity, lay male member of a religious institute or religious order who commits himself to following Christ in consecrated life, usually by the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. E ...

and

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

who was shot to death at the mission school he headed in the

Rift Valley Province, Kenya Rift Valley Province () of Kenya, bordering Uganda, was one of Kenya's eight provinces, before the 2013 Kenyan general election. Rift Valley Province was the largest and one of the most economically important provinces in Kenya. It was dominated ...

, in January 1997 by the local police chief.

Early life

He was born Larry Timmons in

Delvin Delvin () is a village in County Westmeath, Ireland; it is located on the N52 road at a junction with the N51 to Navan. The town is from Mullingar (along the N52). The word Delvin comes from Delbhna. That tribe settled in what is present- ...

County Westmeath County Westmeath (; or simply ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It formed part of the historic Kingdom of ...

, Ireland. As a young man he became a member of the Franciscan Brothers of Ireland at

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. Upon entering the

novitiate The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian ''novice'' (or ''prospective'') monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether ...

of that

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he took the name Placidus. As well as being furnished with a

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education, he held a degree from the National University of Ireland at Galway.

Missionary

In 1982, Timmons went to

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

on missionary work, and helped oversee the construction of churches and schools in the Diocese of Nakuru. He was a highly respected

schoolteacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

, and worked for many years to obtain better political rights for his students and parishioners. Shortly before his death, Timmons protested the government's apparent practice of issuing new voting cards preferentially in areas that supported President

Daniel arap Moi Daniel Toroitich arap Moi ( ; 2 September 1924 – 4 February 2020) was a Kenyan politician who served as the second president of Kenya from 1978 to 2002. He is the country's longest-serving president to date. Moi previously served as the thi ...

of the

Kenya African National Union The Kenya African National Union (KANU) is a Kenyan political party that ruled for nearly 40 years after Kenya's independence from British colonial rule in 1963 until its electoral loss in 2002. It was known as Kenya African Union (KAU) from 19 ...

. In the early morning of 22 January 1997, approximately 15 armed burglars raided the secondary school at Lare headed by Timmons, the latest in a series of violent and deadly raids that month on Franciscan establishments. Despite poor rural communication, local police arrived quickly; one of them, Francis Kimanzi Mbaya, was a man whom Timmons had accused of corruption. Mbaya fired repeatedly at Timmons, killing him instantly. The burglars were never found or arrested, and the police maintained that Timmons was shot accidentally. The Nakuru Diocese claimed in the local newspaper that the police had arranged the raid themselves in order to silence Timmons after a confrontation with local officials over

bribery Bribery is the corrupt solicitation, payment, or Offer and acceptance, acceptance of a private favor (a bribe) in exchange for official action. The purpose of a bribe is to influence the actions of the recipient, a person in charge of an official ...

and voting discrimination. The diocese administrator accused the authorities of not giving enough attention to the circumstances of the death or evidence that pointed toward a conspiracy. Mbaya was charged in the incident, but his trial was halted amid requests by

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and the

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for further investigation. The government's investigation ended in December 2000. It found that Mbaya had a chance to recognize Timmons, had not asked Timmons to surrender before firing, and had continued firing after Timmons dropped to the ground and pleaded with him to stop. It further criticized the local police for failing to investigate the incident and releasing suspects improperly. Mbaya was convicted of

manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th ce ...

in July 2004. He was sentenced to ten years in prison.

Legacy

Timmons was buried in his native country on the grounds of the Franciscan

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

. In 2000, a memorial plaque was also erected at the Church of the Assumption in his home town of

External links

Catholic.net article about the Timmons incidentKenya Court Says Policeman Should Be Charged In Missionary Death

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Timmons, Placidus 1948 births 1997 deaths Murder victims from County Westmeath Third Order Regular Franciscans Alumni of the University of Galway Irish Roman Catholic missionaries Roman Catholic missionaries in Kenya Deaths by firearm in Kenya Irish people murdered abroad People murdered in Kenya Missionary educators Irish expatriates in Kenya People from Delvin