St. Mary's Cathedral, Cape Town

Coordinates: 33°55′41.75″S 18°25′09.71″E / 33.9282639°S 18.4193639°E / -33.9282639; 18.4193639
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
St. Mary's Cathedral
The Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flight into Egypt
Roman Catholic Church
Websitewww.stmaryscathedral.org.za
History
Founded1851
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 built1841 - 1851
Specifications
Tenor bell weight2200 kg
Administration
ProvinceWestern Cape
ArchdioceseMetropolitan Archdiocese of Cape Town, South Africa
DeaneryCity Bowl
Clergy
ArchbishopHis Eminence Cardinal Stephen Brislin D.D
Bishop(s)The Right Rev. Sylvester David OMI
DeanFr Dominic Helmboldt
ChancellorFr Manuel Fernandes SAC
Laity
Organist/Director of musicDale 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

Empress Eugénie
, lay in state in the cathedral after being killed in Rorkes Drift in 1879.

References

The side of the cathedral
Interior of the cathedral