History Empangeni Parish

Fr. Anselme Rousset O.M.I., the pioneer missionary who established the first Catholic church in Zululand, spent nearly twenty years at Emoyeni. He was the first priest to visit the Catholics in Empangeni at the turn of the century. Oblate missionaries from Emoyeni came to Empangeni three or four times a year to celebrate Mass for the Catholics and to administer other sacraments. In September 1921, Empangeni became part of the new Prefecture Apostolic of Zululand which Rome entrusted to the Benedictines. From August 1922 until February 1924 the Catholics of Empangeni were looked after from Inkamana which was two hundred kilometres away. Every few months Fr. Pancratius Pfaffel used to travel by train via Ladysmith, Durban and Gingindlovu to Empangeni to celebrate Mass, baptize children, hear confessions and bless marriages. The round-trip from northern Natal to Empangeni and back took more than a week. In 1922, a Catholic lady in Empangeni wanted to donate a property on which to start a Catholic church (TT 30-10-22). A year later, a farmer was ready to donate a large property near the Umhlatuze bridge, ten kilometres south of Empangeni, to Bishop Spreiter. In both instances the bishop had to decline the offer. It was too early to make a start in Empangeni.

Even after the Benedictines took over Emoyeni in February 1924, they were unable to hold regular services in Empangeni. This changed when Fr. Ignatius Jutz became assistant priest at Emoyeni. He was put in charge of the Catholics in the Lower Umfolozi district and dedicated himself to this task with great enthusiasm. He contacted all the Catholics in Empangeni and introduced a monthly Mass for them in the town hall. He celebrated his first Mass there on Sunday, September 25, 1925. It was attended by about twenty people.

There were about fifty Catholics in Empangeni in 1925. They had great plans. Under the leadership of Mrs. Croppinger, they started a church fund and managed to collect £ 80 in less than six months. In an effort to get sisters for Empangeni, they sent the following petition to Bishop Spreiter on November 10, 1925:

"We respectfully invite your attention to the grave need for educational facilities in this district which is known as the Lower Umfolozi District and of which Empangeni is the centre.

It would appear that it is contemplated to erect a convent in Eshowe...Before such a step is taken, your petitioners must earnestly desire to acquaint you with certain facts the knowledge of which it is thought you are unacquainted with.

Eshowe itself is a cul-de-sac, that is to say it leads nowhere. There is never any likelihood for the railway ever being extended from that point. Furthermore, it is a considerable distance from the main railway line and by no means centrally situated from a population point of view...Other than the climatic conditions it is asserted that Eshowe has nothing further to recommend itself as an educational centre.

Empangeni, on the other hand, has much to recommend itself, and Your Lordship's attention is earnestly invited to the following facts:

1. Empangeni is the centre of the most thickly populated area of Zululand and the European population exceeds that of Eshowe by more than two hundred...

2. Empangeni is the most accessible point in Zululand. It is situated on the north coast line in the centre of the sugar plantations.

3. The Government has authorized the construction of a new line from Empangeni to Nkwalini which will make Empangeni even more central.

4. The present educational facilities are extremely elementary and parents are put to the heavy expense of sending their children to Durban and other large centres in order that they may be sufficiently educated to cope with the battle of life.

5. At the present moment there are at least fifty children in the immediate neighbourhood the parents of whom would gladly avail themselves of convent facilities if they were provided and it is certain that boarders and day scholars would at this very date amount to more than a hundred if secondary education were obtainable.

6. It is considered that a grant of land could be obtained within the boundary of the township at a moderate cost for the needs of a convent and school.

7. Your petitioners can without fear of contradiction give the assurance that the establishment of a convent and secondary school in Empangeni would be a financial success.

8. The climate within the township is healthy and should present no obstacle to the object of this petition.

9. There is a large number of children of our faith who are receiving little if any religious instruction. These children will, in the absence of a convent and school, grow up in ignorance of their religious duties and most probably will later in life embrace some other denomination which may be more easily available.

From the aforegoing your petitioners humbly maintain that there are sufficient grounds for believing that Your Lordship will graciously give this matter the most serious consideration and on the basis of its merits agree to the erection of a convent and secondary school in Empangeni" (G. Sieber, St. Patrick's Empangeni, pg. 7-8).

Bishop Thomas Spreiter was unable to accede to the request of the Catholic community in Empangeni. He lacked personnel as well as money. The bishop's journal shows that he was not very impressed by the arguments put forward by the Catholics of Empangeni in support of a convent. He wrote: "It is quite obvious that the Catholics of Empangeni belittle the progress which Eshowe has made so that their own town appears in a more favourable light. But Empangeni is not much of a 'town' either. According to the last census (1921) Eshowe had a population of 511 Whites, whereas 1123 Whites lived in the whole district of Empangeni. The Bishops' Conference decided that at least fifty percent of the pupils in Catholic schools should be Catholics. We can hardly run a convent school in Empangeni on that basis" (St. Patrick's, pg. 8-9). In a personal letter to the Catholics of Empangeni he said: "I understand and appreciate your reasons for establishing a convent in Empangeni. However, I am sorry to say that at present I have neither a priest nor sisters nor the necessary money" (letter of T. Spreiter to the Catholics of Empangeni, 26-11-25).

Fr. Ignatius Jutz remained in charge of the Catholic community in Empangeni until November 1932. He took a keen interest in his small flock, encouraging mothers to teach their children the Catholic faith, instructing converts and looking for lapsed Catholics. It was a big handicap that he could come to Empangeni only once a month. The situation improved when the Benedictines opened a new mission station at Fatima, thirty kilometres west of Empangeni, in August 1930. It allowed Bishop Spreiter to re-arrange the pastoral set-up in the Umfolozi district. From November 1932, a priest from Fatima looked after the Catholics in Empangeni. It became now more urgent to build a chapel or a little church. Until 1927 the Catholics had used the old library hall as a venue for their services. When the library was pulled down they moved to the town hall. The Zulus had their services in a kraal outside the town. It was quite clear that the Catholics needed a building which they could call their own in order to enhance their status as a fledgling parish.

Fr. Wigbert Drzyzga who followed Fr. Ignatius Jutz as pastor of Empangeni in November 1932 applied to the Town Board of Empangeni for a so-called mission site. In a letter, dated September 4, 1934, the local authorities offered Fr. Dryzyzga the lease of a property situated on Station Road Heights, the place where the convent was to be built twenty years later. Fr. Drzyzga accepted the offer and, towards the end of 1934, Bro. Augustine Kleck began to build a classroom and a little flat for a teacher. The total cost amounted to £ 250. It was a very humble building. Old photographs show the small wood-and-iron structure in the middle of a bare landscape. It could hardly have been anticipated then that, fifty years later, this building would be right in the heart of a sprawling town.

From the time the mission school was completed in 1935 it served the Catholic community of Empangeni as a temporary church. The Catholics were glad that they did not have to use the town hall any longer for Sunday Mass. But within a few years the mission school, too, proved inadequate. It became more and more obvious that the growing community needed a proper church. There were still a few problems to overcome before such a plan could be realized. Firstly, the Catholic Church did not own the property on which the mission school was built. Secondly, the school ground, one acre in extent, was regarded as too small for the envisaged church building. In a letter to the Town Board, dated April 19, 1939, Fr. Drzyzga explained the predicament of the Catholic community in Empangeni:

"We would now be able to erect a church and this is necessary as the classroom proves too small for the growing congregation. For this reason I respectfully draw your attention to this unsatisfactory state of affairs which we are experiencing. I kindly ask you to reconsider your decision of 1934 (to lease one acre to the Church) and to allow us to buy the property together with another adjoining it" (St. Patrick's, pg. 12)

The Town Board agreed to sell the land at £ 70 per acre. Bishop Spreiter bought the property and soon the ground was cleared for the building of a church. Work began in May 1940 under the direction of Bro. Blasius Brummer who was a builder and carpenter. Bro. Maurice Kröhling designed the stained-glass windows and assembled them in his little workshop. The building was finished in July 1941. Fr. Theodos Schall blessed the new church on November 16, 1941. THE ZULULAND TIMES (20-11-41) wrote about it:

"Sunday, November 16, was a red letter day for the Empangeni Catholics, as on that day their dream of years became reality. The new church which they had laboured for was opened. This church, which will, later on, be consecrated, is an example of what a very small body of persons can do if they so desire. When the first funds were collected for the building the number of Catholics totalled seven, and today the number of European members of the congregation are about twenty-three.

In the afternoon a number of residents who assisted with funds to build this church were entertained to afternoon tea by the congregation in the grounds, so as to give them an opportunity of seeing the building. They were welcomed in a short address by Fr. Wigbert Drzyzga who is in charge of the local Catholic community. He thanked them for all their generous assistance. He also gave a brief history of the work of the small congregation in collecting funds for this edifice over a number of years. Particular thanks were expressed to Mr. W.W. Dunne, who had acted as collector of funds.

Mr. Dunne, in his reply, thanked the visitors for accepting this invitation to tea and to inspect the new church. He referred to two members on active service who had assisted greatly, namely Messrs. C.H. Kennedy and E. Lavoipierre."

It had cost the Vicariate of Eshowe £ 700 to build the church. The local Catholics contributed £ 313. The building was to serve as a place of worship for twenty years. In 1961, it was turned into a school hall.

Once the Catholics of Empangeni had a proper church, they also wanted a resident priest. Fr. Theodos Schall who succeeded Bishop Spreiter as head of the vicariate in 1943, was quite sympathetic to their plea. He hoped that the small Zulu congregations which were scattered along the coast between the Umhlatuze river in the south and the Umfolozi river in the north could be more easily reached and looked after if Empangeni had a priest. He wrote to Fr. Egid Seger: "As long as I have some say in this matter Empangeni will get a resident priest before Vryheid" (letter of Theodos Schall to Egid Seger, 23-12-45). In May 1951, Vryheid was able to welcome its first resident priest. On March 16, 1952, Fr. Egid Seger was installed as the first resident priest of Empangeni.

Hardly ten years after the church in Empangeni was opened, Fr. Egid Seger mentioned in a letter to his superior that the church was already too small: "Our church is very full, even on normal Sundays" (letter of E. Seger to T. Schall, 24-10-50). From 1957, two Masses were said every Sunday to cater for the growing congregation. Fr. Waldemar Dröber informed Bishop Bilgeri in August 1956: "Acting on your instructions, I convened a meeting of our church committee and placed before them various proposals regarding the problem of accommodating our flock at our church in Empangeni. After lengthy discussions...it was unanimously agreed that Your Lordship be asked to consider the building of a completely new church and priest's house, the church to be of a size that it can accommodate at least 250 seated worshippers" (Letter of Fr. Waldemar Dröber to Bishop Bilgeri, 08-08-56).

Bishop Bilgeri asked Mark Hussey, of Pretoria, to draw up plans for a new church with seating capacity for about four hundred people. Eight firms submitted a tender for the project. The contract was awarded to O'Connell Brothers of Empangeni who offered to build the church at a total cost of £ 32 852 (£ 27 712 for the church and £ 5 140 for the tower). The foundations were laid in July 1959. In June 1960, the structural and brick work was finished. On Christmas Eve 1960, the Catholics gathered for the first time in the new church for Mass. The church was officially opened and blessed by Bishop Aurelian Bilgeri on June 4, 1961. To mark the silver jubilee of the opening, Bishop Mansuet Biyase of Eshowe consecrated the church on September 29, 1985. Built on a hill right in the centre of Empangeni, the St. Patrick's Church has become a well-known landmark of the town. The building is not only impressive because of its modern design, but also because of its size. It is thirty-five metres long and fifteen metres wide and covers an area of just over five hundred square metres. The parish of Empangeni contributed just over ten percent of the total cost for the construction of the church (R 8 000 of the total cost of R 75 000).

A new presbytery was built in 1965/66, right next to the church. The building has, however, been used to accommodate boarders of the St. Catherine's Convent School since 1972. The parish priest has his residence in a private house across the road from the church. The parish hall alongside the church was built in 1980 at a total cost of R 50 000. Bishop Mansuet Biyase blessed and opened it on November 21, 1980.

The sugarmill village of Felixton, 10km south of Empangeni, falls within the borders of the St. Patrick's Parish. White and Indian employees of the sugar mill and the paper-mill used to live there in separate residential areas. Originally most of the Catholics there were Italians who had come to Felixton after the Second World War to work in the paper-mill. They urged Bishop Bilgeri to build a little church for them. The bishop agreed and building activities started in 1961. Bishop Bilgeri blessed the little church on September 16, 1962, and dedicated it to St. Theresa of Avila. In 1965/66, another little church was built one kilometre away from St. Theresa's in the Indian residential area of Felixton. Masses were held regularly in both churches. However, the "Indian Chapel" was closed down in June 1979 as it became quite obvious that one church was sufficient to cater for all the Catholics in Felixton.

	Parishioners	Lenten Appeal Rand	Mission Collection Rand	Income
1950	200	0	£ 11/17/6	£ 156
1955	350	0	£ 0/15/0	£ 240
1960	380	0	£ 25/10/0	£ 800
1965	725	0	62	R 3 100
1970	800	256	40	R 3 000
1975	1 120	753	152	R 8 500
1980	890	1 390	310	R 18 000
1985	739	3 100	302	R 40 000
1990	795	2 307	505	R 43 000
1993	850	1 642	992	R 81 900

The arrival of Dominican Sisters in Empangeni was closely connected with the fate of the mission school. When the mission school was started in February 1935, Indian and African children were taught together. However, after a little while, the inspector insisted that only Zulu children be accepted and so things remained for twenty years. Fr. Egid Seger, who succeeded Fr. Wigbert Drzyzga in 1943, wanted to expand the school. In 1945, he wrote to the Municipality of Empangeni:

A few months later, in February 1946, the Borough offered to the Catholic Church three more acres for £ 500. Because the offer included a building clause which the Church was unable to adhere to, Fr. Egid Seger was forced to withdraw the application.

The little mission school was so crowded with children that the building had to be extended in order to accommodate all those who wished to go to school. Plans were already on the drawing board when, in 1948, political developments put the future of the Catholic mission school in Empangeni in jeopardy. The newly elected government began to enforce a strict policy of racial segregation, making it impossible to run a school for African children in a township reserved for Whites. In view of this development, Fr. Egid Seger applied to the Town Board to transfer the school to the proposed new black township which was to be established at Ngwelezana, south of Empangeni. At the same time he discussed with the bishop the possibility of using the mission school premises to open a convent school for white children. The plan seemed feasible provided the Church could purchase additional land. After submitting an application to the Town Board, Father Seger received the following letter, dated July 15, 1952:

Bishop Bilgeri managed to secure the co-operation of the Oakford Dominican Sisters in an effort to staff the proposed convent school. In July 1953, Fr. Seger was able to assure the Town Board:

In December 1954, the mission school ceased its operation in Empangeni and was transferred to Musi (near the Maholoholo Store outside Esikhaweni). The premises were quickly overhauled and turned into a convent school for white children which opened in February 1955. The first group of Dominican sisters arrived on February 12, 1955. They extended the school gradually so that it became a fully fledged high school in 1972. The first group of pupils sat for their Senior Certificate Examination at the St. Catherine's Convent School in November 1972. The principalship of the school lay in the hands of the sisters until 1989 when a shortage of vocations forced them to appoint a lay teacher as principal. The school has been accepting children of all races since 1980.

Empangeni

(1951)