St. Mary's Cathedral, Cape Town
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St. Mary's Cathedral | |
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The Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flight into Egypt | |
Roman Catholic Church | |
Website | www |
History | |
Founded | 1851 |
Past bishop(s) | Bede Slater, O.S.B.,
Patrick Raymond Griffith, O.P., Thomas Grimley, John Leonard, John Rooney, Bernard Cornelius O’Riley, Franziskus Xaver Hennemann, S.A.C., Owen Cardinal McCann, Stephen Naidoo, C.Ss.R., Lawrence Patrick Henry |
Architecture | |
Style | Neo-gothic |
Years built | 1841 - 1851 |
Specifications | |
Tenor bell weight | 2200 kg |
Administration | |
Province | Western Cape |
Archdiocese | Metropolitan Archdiocese of Cape Town, South Africa |
Deanery | City Bowl |
Clergy | |
Archbishop | His Eminence Cardinal Stephen Brislin D.D |
Bishop(s) | The Right Rev. Sylvester David OMI |
Dean | Fr Dominic Helmboldt |
Chancellor | Fr Manuel Fernandes SAC |
Laity | |
Organist/Director of music | Dale de Windt |
The St. Mary's Cathedral[1][2] more formally known as the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flight into Egypt, is the cathedral and mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cape Town, located in the City Bowl of Cape Town, South Africa.[3][4] in South Africa. It lies in Stalpein directly opposite the Houses of Parliament.
History
The oldest Catholic cathedral in the country, St. Mary's history is intimately linked with the history and development of the Catholic Church in South Africa over a period of more than 175 years; it is mother church not only to the "Mother City" and the archdiocese, but to all Catholics in Southern Africa.
Bishop Patrick Raymond Griffith, O.P., the Vicar Apostolic of the Cape of Good Hope, bought land in 1839 and the first stone was laid two years later. The edifice was designed in the Gothic Revival style by Carl Otto Hager, the architect behind several Dutch Reformed churches which are also listed heritage sites. It was consecrated on April 28, 1851.
Architect Fred M. Glennie carried out the "Bavarian" Arts and Crafts changes to St Mary's Cathedral in 1927. A tower was added in 1927 and the parapet crenelations removed and roof remodelled to have a bell cast roof. The original Siena, Sicilian and Galway marble altar and plaster mouldings, completed in 1865, were removed and the sanctuary was re-modeled in 1947. A simplified Italian marble altar with a solid silver