Samson Rickard Stuttaford

Samson Rickard Stuttaford born in Helston, Cornwall, July 1833 and died in April 1914 London, England, departmental store pioneer, was the son of humble Cornish parents, Samson Pote Stuttaford and his wife, Anne.After attending school in Plymouth, Samson worked as a retail shop assistant in London before immigrating to the Cape in 1854 and three years later began a retail business in Cape Town. Here he opened his own draper’s shop in Harrington Street, moving to Darling Street three years later, where he was joined by his brother, William Foot Stuttaford. In 1867, when Prince Alfred – Queen Victoria ‘s youngest son – paid an official visit to the Colony, S.R. Stuttaford and Co. were appointed to supply goods to the royal party. In 1872 the firm moved again, this time to a portion of the Adderley Street site which it still occupies, and a Welsh immigrant, William Thorne, was taken in as a partner. At the same time a buying office was opened in London.

Over the next few decades Stuttaford greatly expanded the firm’s range of products to include ladies’ fashion goods, bicycles, cameras, and optical instruments; mail-order operations also were greatly extended and in 1894 the Stuttaford catalogue ran to over 700 pages. Meanwhile, a year earlier the firm had opened a branch in Pritchard Street, Johannesburg.

In November 1898 Stuttaford’s became a public company, with a share capital of £350 100. By that time William Foot had withdrawn from the enterprise; Thorne became chairman and Samson took up permanent residence in England as London director; his eldest son Richard who was born 13th June 1870 was appointed managing director in Cape Town.

After that Samson also became the owner of the well-known English men’s clothing business of Isaac Walton (London and Newcastle), and gained a major interest in Charles Baker, men’s and boys’ ready-to-wear clothiers of London.

Stuttaford's Store Adderley Street

In 1909, five years before his death, Stuttaford arranged for 3 000 preference shares in Stuttafords Ltd. to be donated to the South African College for ‘library purposes’; this gift was to play a major role in building up the library of what was to become the University of Cape Town. He married Elizabeth Bawden on 16th April 1858 in Cape Town.

Below is a list of staff members, who in 1957, had worked at Stuttafords for 20 years or more:

Source: Dictionary of South African Biography

Cape Town in its early days clustered snugly around the slopes of Lion’s Head Mountain and Signal Hill, and only when overcrowding forced it did the White population begin to build homes on the slopes of Devil’s Peak.

District Six

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, visitors to the Cape would complain of the insalubrious canals, once clear water-channels to the sea, which had become rubbish-filled and sluggish eyesores. The Capel Sloot was one; it reached Keisergracht (now Darling Street) near the spot now known as Castle Bridge, where a bridge crossed the Castle moat. To get to the area known today as District Six it was necessary to cross several of these canals, which explains the District’s old name: Kanaldorp.

In the 1860′s Cape Town began to rid itself of these canals and bridges. The stream which once ran down Adderley Street, for example, now flows beneath traffic-crowded macadam. It was a period of impoverishment and social distress. Streets were without lights because the civic authorities lacked finance, and it was suggested that the lamp-poles be removed to save people from colliding with them in the dark.

If lights were missing, so were street cleaners. The Press reported neglected courts and thoroughfares filled with rubbish. It is significant that, when District Six was named, in 1867, as one of the six municipal areas, parts of it were already overcrowded and dirt-strewn, conditions which were born in 1835, after the slaves had been emanci¬pated. More than 5,000 slaves, previously housed by their masters, were liberated, and most of them moved into dwellings previously occupied by Europeans-a reversion of housing which went on until recently.

In 1867 the police chief, Inspector John King, complained about Harrington Street and Glynn’s Square. “One of those horrid pest holes which cannot be exceeded by anything in Seven Dials or Petticoat Lane,” he snorted, and added that many pre-mises were destitute of any convenience. A Cape Argus reporter, writing of conditions in Primrose Square, off Harrington Street, referred to “constant scenes of saturnalia”; to “prostitutes and thieves of the worst description, while of drainage there is none; of water not a drop”. It was not surprising when, eight years later, a typhus epidemic broke out in this unsavoury area.

None the less, District Six has always had its solid core of law-abiding citizens, both White and non-White. During most of the nineteenth century and up to the ‘twenties of this century, the area round Caledon and Constitution streets was a respectable suburban locality, and many of Cape Town’s rapidly increasing European middle class built modest homes there, to be within easy reach of the city. On nearby fields and farmlands, merchants and officials also built houses, mostly two-storeyed, and terraced in typical Victorian style.

It was then the custom to give numbers to the various Cape Town districts. Plates bearing these numbers were fixed at appropriate points on walls or light-standards. District Six is the only one to be left with a number and not a name, but of all the areas of Cape Town this is the one best-known throughout the world-wherever sailors, soldiers and the more venturesome globe-trotters meet. In the 1940′s one of the numbered plates was still to be seen on the wall of a building in Buitenkant Street, near the old Caledon Square Customs House.

Respectable and respected citizens were pleased to live in this area, so convenient to the city. Within living memory Constitution Hill, which ran up the slopes of Devil’s Peak from Harrington Street, was a good residential area where lived a number of prominent Capetonians-including two of the city’s mayors, and several members of parliament.

In 1861, the cosmopolitan character of District Six was already notable. Its Coloured and Malay inhabitants lived, for the most part, on the upper reaches of the District, beyond Tennant Street, while the lower parts were mainly European pre-serves. A Frenchman writing in The Monthly Magazine of that year, describes the suburb and observes:

Eastward up Caledon Street and its parallels towards Zonnebloem, you pass through an entire settlement in which the brogue of the Emerald Isle, the Doric of the North Briton and the “language of Cockaigne” have utterly supplanted and rooted out the patois Dutch.

It is a rambling, untidy locality. The houses and streets have a newly settled appearance; and the prevailing idea suggested is that of a busy, striving, energetic population having thrown themselves upon the soil, converted into bricks all but a small portion of it, and built houses of every shape and kind on the narrow remainder. Of streets there cannot be accurately said to be any; drains there are positively none, unless it be allowable to regard the whole surface of the earth in that light.

It is emphatically the quarters of English immigrants too busy and too much in a hurry just now to think of anything beyond working and building, to which they devote themselves with feverish energy, but with little system or order, while a feeble and paralysed local government is powerless to enforce the most ordinary regulations necessary for the well-being of a rapidly-growing town.

District Six – until the building of De Waal Drive after World War I – was an isolated area through which beautiful streams flowed. Their courses have been filled-in today, or covered over and led to the sea through tunnels. In years gone by the waters of these streams were used by Malay washer-women who stretched their washing on the rocks to dry. At the turn of the century the Mother City’s population was swollen by an influx of refugees from the Transvaal, on the outbreak of the South African War. Then came great building activity in District Six. The old two-storey buildings and flat-roofed houses with stoeps in Caledon Street, Hanover Street and Constitution Hill gave way to two- and three-storey blocks of flats built in a curious variety of architectural styles, with urns, gargoyles, faces of comedy and tragedy, scroll-gables, and ornamental balconies. Ventilators on the roof of one building simulated knightly helmets, while its tower had a scaled roof, like medieval chain armour. Time and again the Star of David was part of the ornamentation. These decorations remain today on many buildings, which have lost their original spruceness, but still retain a vagrant charm.

On 31 January 1901, bubonic plague broke out in Cape Town, to rage for more than a year and cause widespread mortality. In March of that year, Sir Thomas Graham, the Plague Director, ordered that many slum structures in District Six be demolished. People were ordered to leave within hours, and dwelling after dwelling came down in the campaign to eliminate rodent-hosts of the fleas causing the plague. The evacuated people were placed in camps near what is now known as Pinelands, on the Cape Flats.

As time passed, however, other buildings were erected on the sites of the old, and more people arrived to work in the docks, the market, and on the railways. The tene¬ments of the White refugees were vacated and non-Whites took over. Europeans now moved in large numbers from District Six, following the transfer of capital to the Rand, where large industrial projects were afoot, and unemployment became rife in Cape Town after the boom period of the war.

The position became so serious that Coloured unemployed set out on what was known rather oddly, as the “Unemployed Strikers’ March”. This started in District Six. Shops were broken into and desperate and hungry people helped themselves to foodstuffs and to whatever goods they could lay their hands on.

One section of the White population which did not move in any appreciable numbers till the early 1920′s was the Jewish community, which has left its very individual mark on the character of the area. A Hebrew school and a synagogue were situated in Constitution Street, and a large building in Chapel Street housed aged Jews. These orthodox residents, on their Sabbath, called on the children of the neighbourhood to light their paraffin-stoves and to make purchases at a popular general store standing at the corner of Selkirk and Sydney streets and known simply, as “Rhodes”.

District Six is essentially historical Cape Town. Already much of its character has been lost by demolition necessitated by the building of the Eastern Boulevard. The slum clearance programme of the Cape Town City Council has also relieved much congestion, and thousands of people who had their roots deep in the District have, in recent years, been re-housed, on the Cape Flats, in areas such as Bonteheuwel, Heide-veld and Lavistown.

For at least a quarter of a century there has been talk that this cosmopolitan area would disappear in a new Cape Town. One anonymous prophet of 1940 wrote in a non-White newspaper:

Alas poor District Six! They are planning your downfall. They wish to make an end to the live, throbbing area. They are making Darling Street a dagger pointed straight at your heart. What will I find if, in another life, I re-visit the old district? Will it be an extended Darling Street opening up a glorious vista of Devil’s Peak? Will sleek cars roll up and down a road flanked by select private flats like those on De Waal Drive; will White residences spread abroad interspersed with imposing commercial houses and factories?Will the Hanover Street municipal wash houses become a sub-station, the Hyman Liberman Institute an exclusive lecture room, and the new Trafalgar Park swimming bath-duly disinfected-a White resort?

And if I should inquire of a wayfarer what had become of those Coloured people of District Six who were as truly a part of the city as is Table Mountain, he would reply: “Oh, they take a train to Mowbray and then a bus to the Cape Flats …”

District Six needs no prophet now to foretell its fate. The die has been cast. Its death is certain. And its end will deprive the Mother City of a richness and warmth that most cities in South Africa, and the world in general, so sorely need.

Source: Longmans District Six: Franck-Manuel-Hatfield

Picture: Standard Encyclopedia of Southern Africa (SESA)

Groote Kerk

The history of the Churches in South Africa – especially the Dutch Reformed Church – is so closely interwoven with the general history of the Cape since the days when Johan van Riebeeck first planted the flag of the United Netherlands on the shore of Table Bay, that the two might be said to be identical in scope.

The Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa began with a small congregation of servants of the East India Company, who assembled in a hall of the small fort.

When Van Riebeeck arrived here he brought no regularly ordained clergyman, but with him was one Willem Barents Wylant,” a Ziekentrooster,” which literally means a “comforter of the sick,” who conducted services on a Sunday in the great hall of the old fort.

When ships called, the chaplains conducted service during their stay, and usually administered the sacraments. The first who is recorded to have acted in this capacity was the Rev. Mr. Backerius, chaplain of the Walvisch.

In 1678, a site was granted for a new church at the lower end of the great garden, and the foundation stone was laid by Governor Van der Stel on 28th December, 1700; but it was not until 1704 that the building was finished, which is now the Adderley Street Church. The first service was held therein on the 6th of January, 1704, the Rev. Petrus Kalden being the preacher. The Church was enlarged in 1779 and again in 1836. The eastern wall and the tower still standing were portions of the original building. The Church contains a fine specimen of wood-carving by Anthon Anreith, and in the aisles are some stones bearing inscriptions relating to the early pioneers who were buried there.

Dutch Reformed Churches
Others are at:
Bree Street
Somerset Road
Leeuwen Street
Hanover Street
Buitenkant Street
Main Road, Three Anchor Bay
Arthur’s Road, Sea Point
Van Kamp Street, Camps Bay
Aberdeen Street, Woodstock
Collingwood Road, Observatory
Central Square, Pinelands
St. Andrew’s, Rondebosch
Albert Road, Wynberg
Tokai Road, Retreat
Main Road, Kalk Bay
St. George’s Street, Simonstown
Toronga Road, Lansdowne
Voortrekker Road, Maitland
Forridon Street, Brooklyn

Anglican

Window of St. Georges Cathedral

During the English occupation of the Cape from 1795 to 1803, the Dutch Reformed Church, in accordance with the terms of the capitulation to the English arms, was known as the Established Church. The only Anglican Church services were conducted in the Castle by the military chaplains, and the con-sent of the Governor, as Ordinary, was necessary to marriages and baptisms. When the Colony was handed over to the Batavian Republic in 1893, and the English officials and troops were withdrawn, certain restrictions were placed upon the exercise of religious liberty.

Though services were conducted at the Castle by the chaplains regularly from the date of the second occupation, the arrival of the Rev. D. Griffiths in 1806, as Garrison Chaplain, was followed by great activity and energy on the part of the Anglicans.

Mr. Griffiths’ successor was the Rev. Robert Jones, during whose incumbency the use of the Dutch Reformed Church was granted for the celebration of the English services. The Dutch Reformed Church continued to be used for the Anglican service till the opening of St. George’s in 1834. The first English Church erected in South Africa was St. George’s at Simonstown.

The building of St. George’s Cathedral was not the work of a few days. Several projects were adopted, and abandoned owing to lack of funds. It was not till the visit in 1827 of Bishop James of Calcutta, in whose See the Cape was situated, that the Cathedral site was consecrated. The laying of the foundation stone was, however, delayed for three years after that date, when the Governor, Sir Lowry Cole, performed the ceremony with masonic honours, all the clergy taking part in the proceedings being Freemasons.

The new Cathedral of St. George, designed by Mr. Herbert Baker, is a dignified and inspiring building of Table Mountain sandstone but is only partially completed. The memorial stone in the buttress adjoining the Government Avenue was laid by H.M. King George V., when, as the Duke of Cornwall and York, he visited Capetown in 1901.
There is the Memorial Chapel adjoining which was erected as a memorial to the officers and men of the Imperial Forces who gave their lives in the South African War. A Roll of Honour emblazoned on vellum and bearing the names of all those who gave their lives in this campaign is enshrined within this Chapel and may be inspected upon application to the Very Rev. the Dean of Cape town. Adjoining the Cathedral are the buildings of the St. George’s Grammar School where the boys of the choir are trained and educated.

A list of Anglican Churches:

St. Mark’s Church, Bamford Avenue, Athlone
Church of the Transfiguration, Coronation Av., Bellville
St. Peter’s Church, Park Avenue, Camps Bay
St. Saviour’s Church, Main. Road, Claremont
Christ Church, Constantia Nek Road, Constantia
All Saints Church, Church Street, Durbanville
St. Margaret’s Church, cr. Fifth Avenue and Kommetjie Road, Fish Hoek
St. Alban’s Church, Alice Street, Goodwood
St. Alban’s Church, Cheviot Place, Green Point
St. Peter’s Church, Main Road, Hout Bay
St. Philip’s Church, Chapel Street, Cape Town
Holy Trinity Church, Main Road, Kalk Bay
St. Aidan’s Church, St. Aidan’s Road, Lansdowne
St. Anne’s Church, cr. Suffolk Street and Coronation Road, Maitland
Church of the Good Shepherd, Main Road, Maitland
St. Oswald’s Church, Jansen Road, Milnerton
St. Nicholas’ Church, Elsies River Road, Matroosfontein
All Saints Church, Main Road, Muizenberg
St. Peter’s Church, Durban Road, Mowbray
St. Andrew’s Church, Kildare Road, Newlands
St. Michael’s Church, St. Michael’s Road, Observatory
St. Margaret’s Church, Hopkins Street, Parow
St. John’s Church, Frankfort Street, Parow
St. Stephen’s Church, Central Square, Pinelands
All Saints Church, Tiverton Road, Plumstead
St. Cyprian’s Church, Station Road, Retreat
St. Paul ‘s Church, Main Road, Rondebosch
St. Thomas Church, Camp Ground Road, Rondebosch
St. Luke’s Church, Lower Main Road, Salt River
St. James’ Church, St. James’ Road, Sea Point
Church of the Holy Redeemer, Kloof Road, Sea Point
St. Frances’ Church, Main Road, Simonstown
St. Bartholomew’s Church, Queen’s Road, Woodstock
St. Mary’s Church, Station Road, Woodstock
Church of Christ the King, Milner Road Extension, Claremont
Christ Church, Summerly Road, Kenilworth
St. John’s Church, Waterloo Green, Wynberg

Roman Catholic

The history of the Roman Catholic Church in South Africa dates back to 1486, when Bartholomew Diaz erected a cross at Angra Pequena, and later on, in the same voyage, another which gave its name to Santa Cruz in Algoa Bay. Passing over many years and many interesting incidents, one reads of a call made at the Cape in 1685 by six Jesuits who were on their way to Siam, and who were sent thither for scientific purposes by Louis XIV. On their arrival they were kindly received by Governor Van der Stel, who granted them an observatory in the shape of a pavilion in the Gardens. Here in the course of their astronomical investigations they observed an eclipse of Jupiter’s moons; but in addition to scientific pursuits they visited many of their co-religionists who were sick, though they were not permitted to say Mass. In fact, it was not till 1805 that that privilege was granted to priests by Commissioner-General De Mist.
The Roman Catholic Church passed through various vicissitudes before its members were in a position to worship in their Cathedral, which stands on an elevated situation in Roeland Street, at the top of Plein Street. It was during the Episcopate of Bishop Griffiths that the Cathedral was begun, and he lived long enough to see it completed and opened for divine worship in 1857.

Catholic Churches

The Catholic Cathedral (St. Mary’s) faces Stalplein
Holy Cross, 36, Nile Street, Cape Town
Sacred Heart, 32, Somerset Road, Cape Town
St. Mary of the Angels, Lawrence Road, Athlone, Cape Flats
St. Vincent de Paul, Weltevreden Street, Bellville
St. Ignatius, Wade Road, Claremont
St. Joseph, 30, Anderson Street, Goodwood
The Most Holy Redeemer, Heathfield
Church of Our Lady Help of Christians, Lansdowne
St. John, 202, Coronation Road, Maitland
Holy Trinity Church, Matroosfontein, Cape Flats
St. Patrick, Langton Road, Mowbray
St. Francis Xavier, Pinelands
The Holy Name, Station Road, Observatory
St. Joseph, Philippi
St. Mary, Retreat
St. Michael, Rouwkoop Road, Rondebosch
St. James, St. James
St. Francis of Assisi, Coleridge Road, Salt River
Our Lady of Good Hope, St. Andrew’s Road, Sea Point
SS. Simon and Jude, St. George’s Street, Simonstown
St. Peter, Gordon’s Bay Road, Strand
St. Agnes, Dublin Street, Woodstock
Corpus Christi, Wittebome
St. Dominic, Wynberg
St. Anthony, Hout Bay

Congregational

The history of the Congregational Church in South Africa dates back to the year 1800, when the first settlement was established in Cape Town under the Reverend Mr. Reid, of the London Missionary Society. The Rev. Dr. Philip with whose name the establishment of the Congregational Church in Cape Colony is intimately associated, arrived at the Cape in the year 1819, and the first Independent church was definitely formed under his pastorate in the year 1820, principally for the congregationalists in the English Garrison stationed in Cape Town. The first Union Chapel was erected in Church Square in 1828, which was followed by the erection of the Caledon Square Church in 1859. This church however has been recently closed owing to the removal of the congregation to the suburbs of Cape Town, and the Congregational services are now carried on in the Union Church, Kloof Street. Congregational churches are established at Sea Point, Observatory Road, Claremont and Rondebosch.

Congregational Churches are at:
Main and Franklin Roads, Claremont
Wrensch Road, Observatory
Belmont Road, Rondebosch
Marais Road, Sea Point
Clarence Road, Wynberg
Lot, Harrington Street

Presbyterian

Another building worthy of a visit of inspection is St. Andrew’s Church on the Somerset Road, the foundation stone of which was laid in 1827, and the first service held there on May 24th, 1829. The services on that occasion were remarkable as bearing evidence of the extreme liberality and charitable feelings of the members of the Dutch Reformed Church to the Presbyterian cause.
“A deputation from the consistory of the Dutch Reformed Church attended divine service, bringing a letter of Christian sympathy and a contribution of £75 for the building fund.”
Since then St. Andrew’s has been, as it were, the Cathedral of Presbyterianism in the Cape. The building is regarded as one of the purest specimens of architecture in the city.

Other Presbyterian Churches are at Gardens and Rosebank, as well as:
Somerset Road
Hatfield Street
Upper Orange Street
Main Road, Kenilworth
Clyde Street, Woodstock
Cor. Main and Bisset Roads, Wynberg
Albert Road, Mowbray
Central Square, Pinelands
Lower Station Road, Maitland.

Baptist Church

The Baptist Church is situated in Wale Street, between Long and Burg Streets, having been erected in 1882 at a cost of 5,000, including site. The congregation have established a Mission Hall in Jarvis Street, off Somerset Road, and have erected a Mission Station at Mpotula, near Bolotwa in Kaffraria, where three missionaries are supported by the Cape Town Church.
Baptist Churches are at:
Wale Street – 9
Dane Street, Observatory
High Level Road, Three Anchor Bay
Grove Avenue, Claremont
Maynard Road, Wynberg

Metropolitan Wesleyan

Metropolitan Wesleyan

Another ecclesiastical edifice worthy of a visit is the Metropolitan Wesleyan Church at the corner of Burg and Longmarket Streets. The foundation stone of that handsome structure was laid on May 6th, 1875, by the Governor, Sir Henry Barkly.
Services had been carried on prior to that in the old Burg Street Church, now known as the Metropolitan Hall, which served as the central church for the Methodists from 1822.
There are also Wesleyan churches at Sea Point and various parts of the Southern Suburbs.
The best-known Wesleyan Church is the Metropolitan facing Greenmarket Square.
Others are to be found at :

Sea Point
Woodstock
Observatory
Rosebank
Claremont
Wynberg
Retreat
Plumstead
Pinelands
Maitland
Parow
Fish Hoek
Simonstown
Muizenberg
Kalk Bay

Jewish Synagogues

The Jewish Synagogue in Government Avenue is also worthy the attention of visitors. It is situated near Avenue Street. It seats about 1,500 persons. Its exterior has a very bold effect towards the Avenue, with two towers and saucer dome over the centre of the main area.
The Synagogue of the New Hebrew Congregation is situated in Roeland Street, and there are other synagogues at Muizenberg, Claremont and Wynberg.
Synagogues include the Great Synagogue at Hatfield Street, (facing the Avenue), also:
Vredehoek
Sea Point
Muizenberg
Rondebosch
Wynberg – recently closed down
Jewish Reform Congregation Synagogue ( Temple Israel ), Portswood Road, Green Point.

Dutch Lutheran

Lutheran Church in Strand Street

The Lutheran Church in Strand Street enjoys a unique situation on the hill commanding a fine view of the city. It dates back to the-year 1780, and the first certified “predikant” was the Rev. Andreas Kohler, who arrived at the Cape in November, 1780. Its architectural design is both simple and severely strict.

Its pulpit is another good example of the skill of the wood carver, and the old specification and agreement with the carver Anthon Anreith, are preserved in the vestry of the Church. The organ loft is the work of the same artist. The old Dutch alms dishes of brass which stand in the vestibule are beautiful specimens of the brass-worker’s art, and the quaint Dutch silver-ware used for the communion service will be of considerable interest to lovers of early eighteenth century work.

St. Stephens Church

The clock and belfry of this Church may be seen by visitors who care to climb the curious circular staircase in one of the buttresses.
St. Stephens Strand Street, Cape Town.
German Lutheran (St. Martin’s Church), Long Street, Cape Town.
Also at : Albert Road, Wynberg – Philippi, Cape Flats.

Church of Christ, Scientist

The First Church of Christ, Scientist, is in Grey’s Pass facing the S.A. College School cricket ground.

The Church of England in South Africa

This must not be confused with the Church of the Province of South Africa ) has its own places of worship, namely, at:
Holy Trinity Church, Harrington Street
Holy Trinity Hall, Vriende Street, Gardens.
St. Stephen’s Church, Belvedere Road, Claremont.

Christian Science

First Church of Christ, Scientist, corner of Orange Street and Grey’s Pass, Cape Town
Second Church of Christ, Scientist, 15, Main Road, Newlands
First Church of Christ, Scientist, Muizenberg; Albertyn Road, False Bay
Reading Rooms:
Southern Life Buildings-15, Main Road, Newlands
Masonic Building, Main Road, Muizenberg.

Mormons
Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints (Mormons)
South African Headquarters : Cumorah, Main Road, Mowbray
Meodowridge

Seventh Day Adventist Church

56, Roeland Street, Cape Town
Carr Hill, Wynberg
Grove Avenue, Claremont
York Street, Woodstock

Spiritualist

Cape Town Psychic Club, 203, Parliament Chambers, Parliament Street.

Society of Friends Meeting House (Quakers)
7, Green Street, Cape Town.

Theosophical Society

Room 816, 8th Floor, Groote Kerk Building, Adderley Street. Phone 2-9098.
Enquiries: Mrs. Mitford Barberton. Phone 4-2542.

Unitarian Church

(Free Protestant), Hout Street, Cape Town.
If you know of any other churches that may have been left out – please let us know and email us here

Image Source: National Archives Cape Town
Image Captions (from top): It was not until 1677 that land was set aside for the building of a church which was completed in 1703 and consecrated on 6th January 1704. Services were previously held in the Castle. The only remaining part of the original church is the steeple
The First Wesleyan Mission House Cape Town. Until a new church was completed in 1822 the Methodists held their services in a hayloft and later in an unoccupied wine store in Barrack Street. The church was open by Dr. Philip of the London Missionary Society. It is hidden behind the Mission House shown here.
The Lutheran Church, Sexton’s House and Pastorie in Strand Street.
St. Stephens Kerk, die eerste teatergebou in Suidelike Afrika wat in 1799 op Boerenplein (later bekend as Hottentotplein-die huidige Riebeeckplein), Kaapstad, gebou is. Die gebou is 1838 gekoop deur ds. G. E. Stegmann v.d. Lutherse Kerk wat sedert 1830 godsdiensonderrig aan slawe in een v.d. kelders gegee het. Hy het dit in ‘n kerk omgeskep en dit St. Stephens-na die eerste Christenmartelaar wat gestenig is-genoem omdat persone wat teen die opvoeding van slawe was, die gebou met klippe bestook het. Stegmann, bygestaan deur eerw. Adamson v.d. Presbiteriaanse Kerk, het dit as ‘n onafhanklike kerk bestuur tot 1857, toe die Kaapse Sinode v.d. N.G. Kerk op sy versoek dit oorgeneem het. St. Stephens is geen sendingkerk nie, maar die enigste N.G. Kerk vir Kleurlinge wat tot die Moederkerk behoort. Die gebou waaraan uitgebreide herstelwerk uitgevoer is, is in 1966 tot historiese gedenkwaardigheid verklaar.

St. Mary's Cathedral Cape Town

St. Mary’s Cathedral, Cape Town. Roman Catholic church in Cape Town. As early as 1822 a site was purchased and a small church built in Harrington Street, Cape Town. In 1837 this building was almost completely destroyed by torrential rains and on the arrival of the first R.C. Bishop, P. R. Griffith, the following year, permission was obtained to say mass in the Barracks; but soon the Bishop purchased the ‘Magdeburg garden’ with a building belonging to Baron C. F. H. von Ludwig. A large room was fitted out as a chapel and served as such for several years. Tanner’s Square (Looyers Plein), a vacant site immediately in front of the garden, was bought as a site for the future cathedral. The garden and square cost £2500.

The foundation-stone of the cathedral was laid on 6th October 1841 and building continued over a period of ten years, with occasional interruptions, mainly due to lack of funds. The design was the first work of the distinguished ecclesiastical architect Carl Hagen. Weekly subscriptions and occasional general appeals brought in most of the money, while donations came from Archbishop Carew of Calcutta, from Pernambuco and from Mauritius. The edifice was dedicated on 28th April 1851 by Bishop Griffith. The arrival of a French war steamer, the Cassini, added solemnity to the occasion, as several ecclesiastics were on board, who assisted the Bishop. The building is of pointed Gothic style, the roof is over cedar, and the two principal windows are of stained glass. A large oil painting of the crucifixion hangs over the high altar, the gift of Emperor Napoleon III, while a beautiful bell was presented by the Marquis of Bute. In 1865 a new high altar in marble was erected in memory of Bishop Griffith, and the organ gallery was enlarged to hold a new organ, thanks to the efforts of Dr. F. C. Kolbe. In 1927 large alterations and improvements were carried out under the supervision of Dr. J. Colgan, and in 1950 by Archbishop Owen McCann. The site and the imposing edifice, together with the Archdiocesan offices in Cathedral Place, dominate Stal Plein, with Table Mountain as backdrop.

The Coming of the Portuguese

Perhaps it may be said that Catholicism came to the Cape when Bartolomeu Dias erected a cross in honour of St. Philip on our shores. Later the building of the small chapel at Mossel Bay in 1501 was the first House of God where Holy Mass was celebrated.

The first church, however, in our Archdiocese was in the island of St. Helena. This was made a place of call by the Portuguese, and the first house (for a long time the only house) they built there was the house of God. There were too many misfortunes associated with the Stormy Cape for them to care to stop there, so they used to sail from St. Helena right round to Mozambique.

Dutch Occupation

Their golden days passed away, and the English and Dutch stepped into their place. The political world gained a great deal by the change, but for a while at least the Catholic Church was practically shut out of South Africa.
Van Riebeek arrived here in 1652 and the new colony had hardly had time to settle down, when the Church learned what was to be her position in it.

In May, 1660, the French ship Mareschal, bound to Madagascar, put into Table Bay, and was driven from her anchors by the terrible north-wester and completely wrecked at the mouth of Salt River. There was a Bishop on board with a few of his clergy. All hands were saved, thanks rather to the subsiding of the gale than to any promptness in measures of assistance. ‘A place was then assigned to the Shipwrecked crew, where they could put up tents and store the cargo. Several restrictions were imposed upon their liberty. One was that all munitions of war, except the arms of the six officers highest in rank, should be given into the custody of the commander; another, that they should not go beyond assigned limits; a third, that no meetings should be held for the celebration of worship according to the ritual of the church of Rome.’

Struggle for the Faith

In 1674, we learn that the Catholic Church was present here, at least in its laity. While obliged to submit to the deprival of public worship, they were yet anxious about the public recognition of the baptism of their children. The discussion of this question does not do more than tell us that there were Catholics already settled here.

We get a more interesting glimpse in the year 1685, when six Jesuits called here on their way to Siam, being sent for scientific purposes with the embassy thither from Louis XIV. They seem to have had an unexpectedly favourable voyage, and were able to have Mass nearly every day on board. Indeed to this and to the piety of all, including the sailors, they attribute their great good fortune. The names of these Jesuit Fathers were De Fontenay, Gerbillon, Le Comte, Visdelon, Bouvet and Tachard, the last of whom wrote a most interesting account of their voyage. The sketch they give of Cape Town makes it consist of the Castle and nine houses, but we may presume that these were only representatives of a larger number.

These six Jesuits were very kindly received by the Governor, or Commander, Van der Stel, and they say they had not expected to find so much politeness in such an out-of-the-way region. They were granted an Observatory in the shape of a pavilion in the Gardens, about 200 paces from the Fort, between the Slaves’ house and the Fort. Here they observed an eclipse of the moons of Jupiter in order to find the precise longitude. Their result was wrong, but then the velocity of light had not yet been discovered, and for this they were not responsible; they made their mistake most scientifically. What interests us more is the spiritual observations they made.

We quote their words: ‘Although we were engaged in observations day and night, they were not our only occupation. Hardly had we taken possession of our little observatory, when the Catholics of this Colony, who are fairly numerous, got to hear of it and showed very great joy. Morning and evening they visited us secretly. They were of all countries and of all classes, freemen and slaves, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Flemish, and Indian. Those who could not express themselves otherwise, because we did not understand their language, knelt and kissed our hands. They drew their rosaries and medals from their necks to show us that they were Catholics; they wept, and struck their breasts. This language of the heart, more touching than words, moved us very deeply, and constrained us to embrace these poor people, whom the charity of Jesus Christ made us look upon as our brothers. We consoled them as best we could, exhorting them all to persevere in the faith of Jesus Christ, to serve their masters submissively and faithfully, and to bear their troubles with patience. We recommended them specially to examine their consciences at night, and to honour the Blessed Virgin, that she might obtain for them more grace to live like Christians and to protect them against heresy. Those who spoke French, Latin, Spanish, or Portuguese, made their confession. We visited the sick in their houses and in the hospital.

It was all we could do to console them in so short a time, seeing that they were not allowed to come on board to hear Mass, nor were we allowed to say it on shore. Yet we must have been suspected at the Cape of bringing them Holy Communion. For when two of our Fathers were returning one day from the ship with a microscope covered with gold cloth, two or three of the inhabitants walking on the beach thought it was the Blessed Sacrament we were carrying in a pyx for the Catholics. They came up to see what it was; the Father told them, and to prove it made them look into the microscope. Then one of them spoke up and said, “i made sure about it, sir, because 1 know that you are the greatest enemies of our religion.” At these words we only smiled, and without replying went straight to the Castle.’

In 1686, some Portuguese priests were wrecked here and stationed at Rondebosch until they could be sent on to Europe with their companions in misfortune. They also were not allowed to say Mass.

That was a privilege for which South Africa had to wait for more than a hundred years.

Religious Toleration

From 1686 the Catholic Church almost disappears from the pages of South African history. Whatever aspirations individuals may have had after religious liberty were effectually quenched.

Two years after the arrival of the Huguenots (1690) the whole European population of the Colony, not including the servants of the Company, consisted of only 794 men, women and children, “an enormous proportion of whom, at the Cape especially, belonged to the Lutheran and Roman Catholic Churches. . . .” (Liebbrandt).

“Leeuwenhof” the present residence of the Administrator belonged to William Heems a well-known burger and a staunch Catholic who came from Bruges in 1680 and in 1714 was still publicly known as a Catholic.

Of special interest is the fact that in 1739 Father Loppin S.J. and two other priests said Mass in Cape Town on several days in the month of March. He writes “. . . with, two other missionaries and dressed as a layman, 1 lodged with a French refugee. He did not know that we were saying Mass in his house so early in the morning………

Indicative of the state of affairs in 1780 was the fact that Francois Duminy the newly appointed Harbour Master was relieved of his post when it was represented at Amsterdam that he was a “Roomsgesinde.”

But when the Dutch returned after the temporary English occupation, a breath of freedom came with them. On the 25th July, 1804, Commissioner General de Mist published his ordinance on toleration. It declared that “all religious societies which for the furtherance of virtue and good morals worshipped an Almighty Being, were to enjoy in this Colony equal protection from the laws.” This ordinance became our Magna Charta. At once Catholics availed themselves of their freedom, and the Dutch priests the Revs Joannes Lansink, lacobus Nelissen, and Lambertus Prinsen had the privilege of being the first officiating priests in the Cape Colony. In October 1805, a room was fitted up for them in the Castle itself, in which they might say Mass for the Catholic soldiers.

In the very next year our new-born freedom received a severe rebuff from the hands of the English, and the priests were ordered to leave the Colony. However, in 1817, better counsels prevailed, for in that year Bishop Poynter, Vicar-Apostolic of the English Midlands District, elicited from Lord Charles Somerset the information that “all religious denominations are not only tolerated, but entitled to equal privileges in the Colony.” The fruit of Bishop Poynter’s enquiry ripened two years later, when on New Year’s Day, 1820, the good ship Oromocte reached Table Bay, bearing among her passengers the Right Rev. E. Slater, who had been appointed Vicar Apostolic of the Cape of Good Hope and surrounding islands. The “islands” included Australia, New Zealand and Mauritius. With him were three priests, of whom one, Father Scully, was destined to remain and work in Cape Town.

The Old Church in Harrington Street

A piece of ground in Harrington Street on which to build a church was granted by the Burgher Senate on the application of the churchwardens. From beginning to end this building saw nothing but misfortune. The materials used were bad, the business arrangements were bad, and while the squabbles went on the floods of heaven came down in the great storm of 1837 badly damaging it. The church was built with mostly borrowed money. The difficulty in repaying it added to Father Scully’s troubles. What with financial difficulties, discord among his congregation, the growing hostility on the part of the civil authorities, the good priest found his position unendurable, and on the 11th July, 1824, he took advantage of a departing ship and left his troubles and the Colony behind him.

The Catholics of Cape Town finding themselves without a pastor, besought Mr. H. B. van Horstok, who was about to visit Europe, to secure a Dutch pastor. The result was the arrival of the Rev. Theodore Wagener on the 30th March in the Colony. He was shortly afterwards joined by another priest, Father T. Rishton, whose destination had been Grahamstown, but who preferred to remain in Cape Town on account, probably, of the dangers ahead. Father Wagener found himself unable to bear the strain and resigned. Father Rishton was appointed in his place. The strain eventually told on Father Rishton, and on the 27th March, 1835, he left on a six months’ holiday. He never returned.

Arrival of Bishop Griffith

Monsignor Brady, calling at the Cape on his way from the Isle of Bourbon and seeing the spiritual destitution of the Catholics of the Colony, undertook to carry a petition to the Pope himself. The result was that in the month of August, 1837, Rev. Patrick Raymond Griffith, O.P., was consecrated Bishop in the church of St. Andrew, Westland Row, Dublin, in order that he might be sent as Vicar Apostolic to the Cape of Good Hope. He arrived in Cape Town on the 14th April 1838. He found that the only Church, situated in Harrington St. was quite unsuitable for public worship. “We found” he writes, “a small chapel in utter ruin some portions of the walls only remaining, while the materials had been sold by auction and heavy debts remained to be discharged. Several claimants looked for compensation and all the past proclaimed that to attempt to rebuilt on the same premises, would not only expose him who would attempt it to continued litigation but would also perpetuate the discord that existed in the congregation.” Accordingly the Bishop applied for a room in the barracks and this was granted to him. But it was clear that this was only a temporary arrangement. The Bishop, with an unlimited trust in Divine Providence, for he had nothing else to rely on, began to consider how and where a new chapel was to be obtained.

It is clear that the building of a worthy House of God was the first thing that occupied Bishop Griffith’s mind; although he only arrived on 14th April 1838, we are told that the first donation for the new Church came in May 1838 but no general subscriptions were received until “the 3rd Sunday in Advent 16th December 1838 after a sermon on the subject” (Bp. Griffith’s Journal.)

New Site

Early in 1839 the Bishop purchased for the sum of £2,500 the Wachtenburg Garden together with a piece of ground in front known as Tanner’s Square (Looyers Plein). The Purchase was made from Baron Von Ludwig. Wachtenburg Garden had formerly been a Masonic Lodge and then a Museum and formed part of the larger Concordia Gardens. It is interesting to note that the open space on the west side of St. Mary’s which links Plein Street and St. John’s Street is still known as Concordia Place. St. Mary’s Dominican Convent and grounds stand to-day on the site of the Wachtenburg Garden. There was a large room in the buildings which’ would be suitable as a chapel, but it is easy to see that the deciding factor in Bishop Griffith’s mind, was that here was a site for the Cathedral: “one other great object”, he writes, “might be gained by this purchase beside the chapel . . . to wit, a large piece of ground in front, forming the place or space known as Tanners Square, sufficient and ample for building a Church. So 1 struck a bargain with the Baron” (Baron von Ludwig, the owner.) The sale was negotiated by Col. Bird, a former Secretary to the Government still resident at the Cape, whose good services were ever at the disposal of the Bishop. A clause in the original grant forbade any building on this open site but permission to build was obtained from the Colonial Secretary. Here it was that on Sunday October 6th 1841, the foundation stone of St. Mary’s Cathedral was laid.

The Building

Plans were drawn by a Mr. Sparman, a German, whose first estimate of £5,000 was soon increased to £7,000. But a meeting of the congregation held on August 2nd, 1840 felt that to build according to his plans would cost at least £20,000 and the architect was asked to reduce the dimensions in order to lower the cost. Mr. Sparman appears to have been a difficult person to deal with and it required a stiff letter from the Bishop to make him produce his final plans and specifications. On August 16th it was decided to build according to his revised plans, and that he was to be paid £200 for his designs and supervision of the work.

Unfortunately there is no record of the foundation stone laying ceremony, nor is there any trace of the actual stone, if an inscribed stone was used. Perhaps it lies some feet below ground level on the Hope Street side. The level of Hope Street was raised considerably later in the century and the ground on that side of the Cathedral was filled in to its present level.

The builder was Mr. James Begley, a prominent member of the congregation. In order to raise funds for the new Church, the ground on which the old chapel in Harrington Street stood was sold in lots for £700, but a considerable amount of this was lost through the insolvency of the auctioneer. The Government was petitioned for help on the reasonable grounds that the Church would be used by the military but “nothing much was obtained except the remission of transfer duty and the loan of certain machines for the digging of the foundations.” The fact that the Church was opened almost free of debt was due largely to the zeal of the Bishop and his clergy and the generosity of the faithful, few and poor as they were. Besides the weekly subscription there were six large general collections. Charity sermons were preached, generally by the Bishop himself. There is an interesting link with the Church in Australia in the fact that Archbishop Polding of Sydney preached when he called on his way to Australia. Donations also came from Archbishop Carew and friends at Calcutta, from Pernambuco and from the Vicar-Apostolic and people of Mauritius.

Several times the work had to be stopped but the delays were never long and early in 1851 the Church was completed, some only of the necessary fittings and furniture remaining to be procured. The total expenditure at the end of 1854 was £10,377 3s. 6d., the total receipts at that date being £9,932 17s. lld.

The Dedication

The Dedication took place in 1851. The Bishop writes: On Monday April 28th (the Feast of St. Mary of the Flight into Egypt being transferred to it from the day before . . . 4th Sunday of April) the new Church was opened at ten o’clock a.m. when the Right Rev. Bishop of Bourbon (R6union) Dr. Des Pres, and the Right Rev. Vicar Apostolic of Mission in China, Dr. Verolies, with two Vicars-General of the former and five other French Clergymen of their suites, assisted at the dedication, performed by the Vicar Apostolic, with all the Clergy of this Vicariate, Fathers A. McCarthy, J. Griffith, B. McMahon, J. Watkins. The officers and many of the crew, too, of the French war steamer “Cassini” in which the Bishops, etc. were proceeding to their respective destinations, were present and an overwhelming crowd of the people of the town. The ceremony commenced with a sermon and terminated with a Te Deum sung by the French Clergy and Officers, with four nuns and some French ladies, joined by our choir.”

Bishop Griffith preached, taking as his text: “I have surely built thee a house to dwell in; a settled place for thee to abide in forever.” (1 Kings VIII. 13), but unfortunately the local Press dismissed the sermon with the unkind statement that “it occupied a considerable time in the delivery”: and beyond that we know nothing. But whatever the words that were uttered on that occasion, we can be sure that the hearts of Bishop, Clergy, and faithful were filled with joy and with gratitude to God when they saw the completed Home they had erected for their Eucharistic King. For the first time in the history of Southern Africa, Christ dwelt in a Tabernacle that was worthy of Him, where the ceremonies of the Church could be carried out in their fullest details and splendour.

The Altar

In 1865 the Sanctuary was completed and a new Altar of Siena, Sicilian and Galway Marble erected to the memory of Bishop Griffith who died in 1862 and who is buried in the Main Aisle of the Cathedral. Bishop Grimley his successor was as indefatigable a beggar for St. Mary’s. Due to his zeal for the House of God, the large oil painting of the Crucifixion, a copy of the original by Van Dyk, (in the Louvre, Paris) was presented by the Emperor Napoleon Ill in 1869, when the Bishop called at Paris on his way to the Vatican Council. This painting hung above the Main Altar in St. Mary’s until 1949 when it was moved to its present position under the choir-gallery. There is another interesting link with the house of Napoleon in the fact that the body of the Prince Imperial, killed in the Zulu War in 1879, lay in St. Mary’s while on its way for burial overseas. The mother of the Prince, the Empress Eugenie, later come to South Africa to visit the scene of her son’s death and while staying at Government House, attended holy Mass at the Cathedral.

The Bell

While in Rome at the Vatican Council, Bishop Grimley also approached the Marquis of Bute who was in the Eternal City at the time, and obtained from him the large bell which has sounded its call to prayer over the roofs of Cape Town so many times. The original plan provided for twin towers, flanking the main entrance of the Cathedral and the foundations for these were actually laid, but they were never erected and for years the bell hung on a tripod behind the Cathedral, until it was finally hung in the single tower erected over the main door during the renovation of 1927. The bell was cast by Sheridan of Dublin and weighed 22 hundredweight, (or 30 cwt. with the fittings.) On one side is the figure of Our Lady in relief; on the other the Irish Harp, wolf-dog and round tower, wreathed by shamrocks with the words Erin-go-bragh underneath.

Windows

In the 1890′s the organ gallery was enlarged, and due chiefly to the exertion of the late Mgr. F. C. Kolbe. Towards the close of the century, stained glass windows, unrivalled in South Africa, were installed. The S.A. Catholic Magazine of June 1896 tells us that “the East Window of St. Mary’s is about to be fitted with stained glass in place of the hideous arrangement of staring colours which has, at present, so painful an effect on the eye.” The window depicting the Assumption of Our Lady, was made by Mayer of Munich and cost £265, when erected in September of that year. It was the gift of several members of the Congregation, whose names are perpetuated on a Tablet. Once again it seems to have been Mgr. Kolbe who was the driving force in the beautification of St. Mary’s. A magnificent organ was installed. This did duty until September 1958 when it was renovated and improved. The renovation was completed in May 1959.

Mention must be made of the oak Pulpit carved in Cape Town by a Scotsman named Tweedie and erected at the time of the Dedication of the Cathedral. The other stained glass windows followed in quick succession made by Messrs. Mayer of Munich and Hardman of Birmingham. The names of the donors are inscribed on each. The one in the Baptistery of the Little Flower was erected in 1925, donated by the children-once again at the instigation of Mgr. Kolbe. It is worth drawing attention to one of the finest windows, but rarely seen to be appreciated. It is the one above the organ, depicting the Descent of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost.

Renovation

As the years went by, St. Mary’s mellowed and gracefully grew old. Cape Town was changing its character in the streets around her. The open stoeps of the Dutch dwelling-houses disappeared before the march of Progress. Streets were widened and paved. Shops and offices and factories began to surround her, but her massive mud-packed walls still reared themselves against the fury of the south-easter and the blast of the North West gale. Seventy years had past and the truth had to be faced that old St. Mary’s was showing her age. In 1926, one of the first acts of Bishop O’Riley, the first South African Bishop to be consecrated within her walls, was to authorise Dr. John Colgan then Administrator of the Cathedral, to proceed with an extensive scheme of restoration and renovation. Mr. F. Glennie, a Catholic architect presented a plan which, while renovating the Cathedral, preserved its essential character and left it St. Mary’s. The two side-entrances were opened, a Baptistery and Sacristy were built on either side forming the arms of a cross. The nave was lengthened and two side chapels added. The whole West entrance was remodelled and the present tower erected over the main porch. This work was carried out in 1927. But the old building was still St. Mary’s.

New Sanctuary

Another twenty years passed. Another Bishop, Bishop Hennemann, was fired with zeal for the beauty of God’s house. In 1947, the old sanctuary so unsuited for the carrying out in full of the ceremonies of a Cathedral Church, was remodelled. The Sanctuary was set back to the limit of the rear-wall, it was panelled in oak, the carving being the work of a Spanish Catholic artist resident in Cape Town named F. Cuairan. A new Altar of Italian Marble, massive and simple, emphasising the Table of Sacrifice and set off by the solid silver Tabernacle completed the work. The whole was completed in 1950 as a memorial to those parishioners of St. Mary’s who laid down their lives in the World War 1939 to 1945. It was used for the first time for the Consecration of yet another South-African born Bishop, His Grace Archbishop Owen McCann, the first Archbishop of Cape Town.

Consecration

On Saturday 21st April 1951, one hundred years after the dedication, the Cathedral was consecrated by His Grace Archbishop Owen McCann, who later, on the 22nd of February 1965, became the first Cardinal in South Africa.
Article provided with kind permission by Father Peter-John Pearson

The Catholic history of South Africa is written large upon its coastline. Such names as Cape Cross, Conception Bay, St. Helena Bay, St. Blaize, Santa Cruz, Natal and St. Lucia tell us immediately how very Catholic their origin and development have been. In the second half of the 15th century several expeditions travelled down the west coast, successive explorers going farther south each time. Wherever they landed a stone pillar (padrão) surmounted by a cross was blessed and erected on shore, and we may well surmise that mass was said by a priest who accompanied the ships. A small church was built at Mossel Bay by Joao da Nova in 1501.

Within the next quarter of a century Europe underwent the Reformation. Its effects extended across the seas and little more is heard of Catholicism at the Cape for many years. In 1651 the Dutch settled in Table Bay. They were extremely anti-Catholic, and their hostility was strengthened by the arrival of Huguenot refugees. In 1660 a French bishop, wrecked in Table Bay, was forbidden to say mass on shore. Six Jesuit Fathers landed in 1685 on an astronomical mission, but though they secretly did what they could to attend to the spiritual needs of the few Catholics, they tell us they were not allowed to offer up the Holy Sacrifice on shore and that the Catholics were not allowed to go on board to hear mass.

From 1686 the Catholic Church disappears from the pages of South African history until, on as July 1804, Commissioner-General J. A. de Mist announced religous toleration. The ordinance declared: `All religious societies, which for the furtherance of virtue and good morals worshipped an Almighty Being, are to enjoy in this colony equal protection from the laws’. At once priests came from the Netherlands -Father Joannes Lansink, Jacobus Nelissen and Lambertus Prinsen. A room in the Castle was put at their disposal so that they could say mass for Catholic soldiers. But the following year Sir David Baird ordered the Catholic priests to leave the colony. Ten years passed before another attempt was made to enable them to return.

Lord Charles Somerset informed the Vicar Apostolic of the London district that `all religious denominations are not only tolerated, but entitled to equal privileges in the Colony, according to the fundamental laws of the Batavian Republic, guaranteed to the inhabitants by the capitulation’. But it was two years before negotiations on the admittance of a resident priest at the Cape came to anything. Bishop Edward Slater, a Benedictine, was appointed Vicar Apostolic, but permission for him to reside in Cape Town was refused by the authorities in Downing Street and so his assignment was as Vicar Apostolic of Mauritius and the Cape of Good Hope. He arrived in Cape Town on New Year’s Day 1810, but stayed only three weeks. Leaving Fr. Edward Scully in charge, he continued his journey to Mauritius, never to return. Conditions were such that some of the congregation wished to run the Church on Presbyterian lines. Churchwardens sought to dictate to the priest and to control all business, money and properties. This state of affairs persisted for more than ten years, and in consequence no priest stayed longer than a year or two before leaving in disgust; yet under Scully the foundation-stone of a small church in Harrington Street was laid on 28th October 1822. But the materials used were bad, repairs had to be effected even before the building was completed, and in the torrential storms of 1837 it was almost completely washed away.

On 24th August 1837 Mgr. Patrick Raymund Griffith, an Irish Dominican, was consecrated in Dublin as Bishop of Palaeopolis and Vicar Apostolic of the Cape of Good Hope. He arrived in Table Bay on Holy Saturday, 14 April 183 8, along with two other priests, Fathers Burke, O.F.M., and George Corcoran, O.P. Bishop Griffith’s territory stretched from Table Bay to Algoa Bay, from where he journeyed by ox-wagon to Grahamstown, taking seven days. Leaving Burke in charge, Griffith returned to Cape Town on horseback. There were only some 700 Catholics in and around the town, and his funds were meagre. He set up a school, appointing Dr. Aidan Devereux, who had followed him from Ireland, as principal. The barracks in the Castle, where a room had been put at his disposal, would not serve indefinitely as a church, and so he negotiated the purchase of the site on which St. Mary’s Convent and the Bishop’s House stands today, at the foot of Hope Street. All available funds were used in the building of St. Mary’s Cathedral.

On the recommendation of Bishop Griffith, the Holy See subdivided his vast territory. Dr. Devereux was appointed Vicar Apostolic of the Eastern Districts and took up residence at Grahamstown in 1848. Realising the importance of Catholic education, Devereux set out for Europe to obtain nuns for his mission field. At his urging, Pope Pius IX established yet another ecclesiastical division to the north, where Natal was gaining in importance. The care of the new territory was entrusted to the religious congregation of Mary Immaculate, thus ensuring financial support and continuity in personnel. In Paris, Devereux obtained permission for the missionary sisters of the Assumption to come and work in Grahamstown. There Mother Gertrude, familiarly known as ‘Notre Mere’, and her little band of six nuns opened South Africa’s first convent and a school in Jan. 1850. Three Belgian priests accompanied the Bishop and the pioneer nuns, enabling resident priests to be appointed at Port Elizabeth, Grahamstown and Fort Beaufort, and also travelling priests were sent to the outer districts. Fr. Van Cauwelaert went to Graaff-Reinet, Fr. J. J. de Sany to Cradock and Fr. Petrus Hoendervangers undertook the districts of Bedford, Richmond and beyond.

So Catholicism in South Africa at that time meant one bishop and two or three priests in Cape Town, George and Swellendam; a bishop in Grahamstown, and along with him Fr. Thomas Murphy, who a few months later was the first priest to visit Natal. At Fort Beaufort there were 90 Catholics; Fort Hare and Alice had 100 each; King William’s Town, Fort Grey and Fort Peddie 40 each; East London 30. Port Elizabeth, which had begun with only two Catholic families, now had two resident priests and 500 Catholics. At Uitenhage there were 80 Catholics, and in the wide territory served by Fr. Hoendervangers, Somerset East had 70, Richmond 20, Burgersdorp 50, Aliwal North 25, and Colesberg 20. In the garrison town of Bloemfontein, where he settled in 1851, there were about 70 Catholics.
In March 1852 the first band of oblates of Mary Immaculate arrived in Natal under Bishop J. F. Allard, O.M.I. The area entrusted to them stretched from the Great Kei River in the south to Quelimane in the north, and for this vast territory there were only five priests. They began at Pietermaritzburg, and Fr. J. B. Sabon, receiving the sum of £30 from his bishop, was sent to found the mission of Durban. Ten years later the first oblate missionaries crossed the Drakensberg from Pietermaritzburg into Basutoland and were joined in 1864 by the Sisters of the Holy Family, the pioneer nuns among the African people.

When diamonds were found on the Vaal River, the oblate Father Anatole Hidien went from Basutoland to the diggers’ camps round what is now Kimberley. The year 1874 saw the finding of gold at Pilgrim’s Rest, and Fr. Andrew Walshe, O.M.L, was sent there the following year by Bishop Charles Jolivet, O.M.I. (who had succeeded Allard), from Natal. Freedom of Catholic worship was granted in the Transvaal Republic in 1870, and thereafter priests settled at Potchefstroom and Pretoria.

The Catholic Church in South Africa owes much to the vision and zeal of Bishop J. D. Ricards, third Vicar Apostolic of the Eastern vicariate, who, in 1879, brought the Jesuit Fathers, not only to staff his school of St. Aidan’s in Grahamstown, but also to be the pioneers of the faith in Mashonaland. The Dominican sisters of King William’s Town – also brought by Bishop Ricards – joined the Pioneer Column in 1890, and by their devotion to duty and care of the sick have earned an honoured name. To Ricards we also owe the coming of the Trappists under Fr. (later Abbot) Francis Pfanner in 1879. He felt that if any effective missionary work was to be done among the non-European peoples, they would first have to be taught, not merely by word, but by the more effective force of example, the dignity of labour. Today Mariannhill with its cathedral church, round which are grouped many other ecclesiastical and educational buildings, is a show-place of Catholic mission work, and we find the spiritual sons of Francis Pfanner in the dioceses of Mariannhill, Umtata and Bulawayo as well as in countries overseas.

In 1886 a milestone was reached when Pope Leo XIII agreed to Bishop Jolivet’s recommendation and separated the diamond-fields and Basutoland to be a third vicariate under Bishop Anthony Gaughren, O.M.L, making the Transvaal a prefecture under Fr. Odilon Monginoux, O.M.I. About this time also the oblates of St. Francis of Sales began pioneer work in Namaqualand, where within a few decades Bishop Jean-Marie Simon of Pella made the desert blossom forth both materially and spiritually. Meanwhile Fr. Aloysius Schoch, O.M.L, the successor of Fr. Monginoux, was sent as the representative of Church and government to visit Cimbebasia, Windhoek and South-West Africa of today. As a result of his report this territory was also confided to the oblates of Mary Immaculate. Diamonds and gold and all the industrial development which followed brought a great increase in population, with an impetus in the sphere of education. The nuns of the Assumption, who had been the pioneers in 1849, were followed by the Irish Dominican sisters in Cape Town (1863) and Port Elizabeth (1867), by the Holy Family (Loreto) (1864), the pioneers in the Transvaal (1877), Dominican sisters of King William’s Town (also in 1877), including the separate branches at Oakford (1889), Salisbury (1890) and Newcastle (1896), Nazareth sisters (Cape Town) and Holy Cross in Umtata (1883), oblate Sisters of St. Francis (1884) and Precious Blood Sisters (1885). In the last decade of the century the Augustinians (1892), Ursulines (1895), Sisters of Mercy (1897) and Notre Dame in Rhodesia (1899) joined the increasing number of sisterhoods in the work of education, hospitals, and the care of the old and infirm and of orphans. In fifty years the numbers had increased from one congregation of nuns to seventeen. To these must be added the arrival of the Marist Brothers (1867) and the Christian Brothers (1897) for the education of youth.
The outbreak of the Second Anglo-Boer War in 1899 brought a severe set-back in practically all spheres of missionary labour. Apart from the fact that the missionaries, few in number, joined up as army chaplains, and the flow of priests from overseas was interrupted, the general work in town and country was upset. Plans for more intense development came after Union in 1910. The Benedictine Fathers took over the northern part of the Transvaal and the Servite Fathers came to help in Swaziland in 1913. The great majority of priests, brothers and nuns who were then working in South Africa were from oversea countries. So when the First World War broke out in 194, the mission field everywhere suffered and once more the ranks were depleted by the need for army chaplains.

Another important milestone was the establishment of the Apostolic Delegation of Southern Africa on 7th December 1922, and the following day Archbishop Bernard J. Gijlswijk, O.P., was consecrated in Rome. He chose Bloemfontein as the most central place for his residence. New vicariates and prefectures were established, and four new congregations of priests arrived. There was not only expansion, but also an intensification of missionary work. Priests were given the opportunity to learn the native languages and to devote themselves solely to work among non-Europeans. South African priests were trained for work among their own people. Seminaries were set up for the training of European and non-European students, and a son of South Africa was raised to the dignity of the episcopate when David O’Leary, O.M.L, was consecrated as bishop for the Transvaal in September 1925, followed a few months later by Bishop Bernard O’Riley in Cape Town.

During all this time the yearly increase in priests and religious was remarkable. From just over 300 priests in 1921, the number grew to over 4000 by 1936. Religious brothers and nuns doubled to over 4000 during the same period. In Basutoland progress was particularly noticeable. When the first oblates founded a mission there in 1862, they were a long way behind the Protestant missionaries who had established themselves thirty years earlier. Yet today Lesotho is the most fruitful of the Catholic mission fields in Southern Africa. The Canadian oblates took the work under their wing during the early thirties; priests and religious increased enormously; and when in October 1937 the 75th anniversary of the foundation was celebrated at Roma, there were over 3000 communicants each morning during the novena.

In 1962, the Church in Basutoland, which is organised under an archbishop at Maseru and bishops at Leribe and Qacha’s Nek, celebrated its centenary. Archbishop Emanuel Mabathoana, O.M.L, is the great-grandson of Moshesh.
Catholic schools, primary and secondary, throughout South Africa are noted for their examination successes as well as for their moral and character training. As in many countries abroad, Catholics are penalised by having to pay twice for education in most parts of South Africa. Whether it be in the day schools or night classes conducted by the first priests in the Eastern and Western Cape and Natal, or in the first convent schools in the diamond and goldfields, the Church has been the pioneer in education. The Sisterhoods stepped in to meet the need for the care of orphans and the destitute.

Archbishop Gijlswijk’s successor in 1945 was Mgr. H. M. Lucas, S.V.D. Since then several new ecclesiastical territories have been established and new bishops appointed. Since Bishop E. Slater, O.S.B., was consecrated m 1818 there have been (to 1973) 94 bishops in Southern Africa. The transfer of the Apostolic Delegate’s residence from Bloemfontein to Pretoria ensured that he was in immediate touch with the authorities to deal with matters of urgency. Questions of Bantu policy, education, etc. arose frequently and demanded an ever watchful eye. An achievement of Archbishop Lucas’s period was the building in Pretoria of a national seminary for the secular clergy, while a similar one was erected in Natal for African (native) students. The latter has since been moved to Hammanskraal, north of Pretoria.

Archbishop Lucas was succeeded in 1953 by Archbishop C. J. Damiano, followed in 1961 by Archbishop F. McGeough, by Archbishop John Gordon in 1967, and by Archbishop Alfredo Polendrini, who is also pro-nuncio to Lesotho, in 1972. The Roman Catholic population of the Republic, the former Protectorates and South-West Africa was as follows in 1971: White, 165 500; non-White, 1 971488; priests, 1909; brothers, 853; sisters, 6568, from 64 different sisterhoods.

Nine South Africans have been elevated to the espiscopate. By 1971 over 200 sons of South Africa had received the priesthood and over 800 women had entered the religious life. These numbers include Whites, Coloured people and Africans.
Cathedrals
When Bishop P. R. Griffith, O.P., arrived in 1838 as the first resident Roman Catholic bishop in the Cape, he acquired a site at the top of Plein Street – Tanners’ Square – and began the building of St. Mary’s Cathedral in 1841. Completed ten years later, it is the mother church of Catholics in South Africa. (See St. Mary’s Cathedral). In striking contrast, Johannesburg, the City of Gold, was not able to build its cathedral until 1960. The influx of diggers and the subsequent expansion of the town had been so rapid that the need was for a number of small churches rather than a large cathedral. In time a central site was purchased, and the present Cathedral of Christ the King was built in Saratoga Avenue. (See Christ the King, Cathedral of.) In Durban, where the cathedral was built in 1903, commercial buildings have risen round it, and with the Indian market near by, the site has become unfit.