The history of the parishes in the Diocese of Eshowe

Gonzaga

(1929)

From the end of 1924, a priest from Inkamana travelled once a month to Qudeni to visit the Catholics in the area and celebrate Mass for them in one of the kraals. In 1926, Bishop Thomas Spreiter bought a 211-hectare (521 acres) farm near Qudeni for £ 1000 (chronicle of Inkamana July - Dec. 1926, pg. 5). The Benedictines opened a mission station on the farm on June 21, 1929 and dedicated it to Saint Aloysius of Gonzaga. In the same year they started a school there. The parish, which comprised a large territory between the Inkamana Parish in the north and the Mbongolwane Parish in the south, had about three hundred Catholics at that time. A school was opened in 1929. It attracted a good number of children so that new buildings had to be erected in 1941. Benedictine Sisters of Twasana took over the school after they had established a convent at Gonzaga on April 2, 1942. In April 1956, Bishop Bilgeri sent Bro. Candidus Mayer to Gonzaga to build a priest's house and a church. Bro. Candidus drew up the plans and supervised both projects. The church was built between April 1956 and May 1957. Fr. Wigbert Drzyzga, the vicar general of the Diocese of Eshowe, blessed it on June 23, 1957. Immediately afterwards, the building team started erecting the double­storey priest's house under the direction of Bro. Candidus Mayer. It was completed in February 1958.

The 211-hectare farm which Bishop Thomas Spreiter had bought at Gonzaga in 1926 was considered to be too small to make the mission self-supporting. Additional land was therefore purchased on several occasions to give the mission station a solid economic base. By 1950, Gonzaga had 680 hectares of agricultural land. Much of that land had gradually to be sold to the government which intended to use it for the consolidation of KwaZulu. The mission could keep only twenty hectares of agricultural land and thirty-six hectares of pasture land on a 99­year lease agreement. Bro. Hartmann Brattinger (born in 1905), a shoe-maker by trade, was sent to Gonzaga to become familiar with cattle and maize farming. He remained at Gonzaga for over fifty years, looking after the farm and a small maize-mill until old age forced him to retire. He returned to Inkamana in February 1990.

The Gonzaga Parish has a number of isolated outstations in rather rugged countryside, with steep hills and deeply­cut valleys. The best way to reach these outstations is on horse­back and the priests used horses for their pastoral tours until the early eighties. Gonzaga had 15 outstation and a total of 2800 Catholics in 1980. In 1990 the number had risen to 20 outstations and 3400 Catholics.

Parish Priests of Gonzaga

  1. Gordian Schmid OSB June 1929 ­ Oct. 1929
  2. Hubert Hirschmann OSB Oct. 1929 ­ Oct. 1931
  3. Egid Seger OSB Nov. 1931 ­ Jan. 1935
  4. James Gerstner OSB Jan. 1935 ­ April 1935
  5. Matthew Brunner OSB April 1935 ­ Sept. 1935
  6. Egid Seger OSB Oct. 1935 ­ March 1936
  7. Otto Gäbelein OSB March 1936 ­ July 1936
  8. Valentine Kempf OSB July 1936 ­ Feb. 1943
  9. Raphael Studerus OSB Feb. 1943 ­ Jan. 1945
  10. Justus Gämperli OSB Jan. 1945 ­ Aug. 1947
  11. Radbod Reitmaier OSB Aug. 1947 ­ June 1953
  12. Raphael Studerus OSB June 1953 ­ Nov. 1954
  13. Radbod Reitmaier OSB Nov. 1954 ­ Oct. 1956
  14. Egid Seger OSB Oct. 1956 ­ April 1967
  15. Meinrad Gerstl OSB May 1967 ­ Dec. 1973
  16. Peter Scholz OSB Dec. 1973 ­ April 1983
  17. Ruprecht Wolf OSB April 1983 ­ March 1984
  18. Hermenegild Maier OSB March 1984 ­ Feb. 1986
  19. Bonginkosi Sithole Feb. 1986 ­ Feb. 1987
  20. Michael Ntuli Feb. 1987 ­

Assistant Priests at Gonzaga

  1. Egid Seger OSB Dec. 1929 ­ Oct. 1931
  2. Romanus Pally OSB Oct. 1931 ­ Oct. 1932
  3. Erasmus Betz OSB Oct. 1932 ­ June 1934
  4. Matthew Brunner OSB March 1935 ­ Sept. 1935
  5. Otto Gäbelein OSB May 1935 ­ Sept. 1936
  6. Radbod Reitmaier OSB April 1936 ­ Sept. 1936
  7. Julius Mbhele April 1936 ­ May 1936
  8. Erasmus Betz OSB Sept. 1936 ­ June 1939
  9. Felix Baumeister OSB July 1939 ­ April 1940
  10. Rafael Studerus OSB Sept. 1939 ­ Feb. 1943
  11. Waldemar Dröber OSB May 1943 ­ June 1945
  12. Kunibert Reisinger OSB June 1945 ­ Nov. 1946
  13. Waldemar Dröber OSB Nov. 1945 ­ Jan. 1946
  14. Andrew O'Sullivan OSB Jan. 1946 ­ Jan. 1947
  15. Felix Baumeister OSB Jan. 1947 ­ May 1947
  16. Erasmus Betz OSB May 1947 ­ Aug. 1948
  17. Andreas Ngidi Dec. 1948 ­ May 1950
  18. Meinrad Gerstl OSB May 1950 ­ June 1953
  19. Albert Herold OSB June 1953 ­ March 1956
  20. Felix Khuzwayo FFJ Oct. 1953 ­ Feb. 1954
  21. Odilo Schwarz OSB March 1956 ­ Oct. 1956
  22. Bonaventure Breunig OSB Nov. 1956 ­ March 1961
  23. Engelbert Mahr OSB March 1961 ­ June 1962
  24. Meinrad Gerstl OSB Aug. 1962 ­ May 1967
  25. Ruprecht Wolf OSB March 1966 ­ Feb. 1969
  26. Richard Multerer OSB Oct. 1968 ­ Feb. 1969
  27. Leo Eireiner OSB Feb. 1969 ­ May 1973
  28. Stephen Xulu Jan. 1971 ­ Feb. 1972
  29. Peter Scholz OSB May 1973 ­ Dec. 1973

Benedictine Brothers at Gonzaga

  1. Candidus Mayer OSB July 1929 ­ Feb. 1930
  2. Sturmius Kreitmeyr OSB Oct. 1929 ­ Jan. 1930
  3. Anton Gerhart OSB Nov. 1929 ­ July 1935
  4. Angelus Engelmaier OSB Sept. 1930 ­ Dec. 1930
  5. Vitalis Holzapfl OSB July 1931 ­ Oct. 1931
  6. Heribert Heiss OSB Nov. 1931 ­ March 1933
  7. Bonaventure Strobl OSB July 1932 ­ Sept. 1933
  8. Colonat Keller OSB July 1932 ­ Sept. 1932
  9. Rufinus Muschaweckh OSB Sept. 1933 ­ Dec. 1935
  10. Isidor Kobl OSB Nov. 1933 ­ Sept. 1934
  11. Herfried März OSB Jan. 1935 ­ June 1940
  12. Hartmann Brattinger OSB Feb. 1936 ­ Jan. 1948
  13. Markward Leiner OSB Dec. 1938 ­ Nov. 1939
  14. Humbert Mannhardt OSB Dec. 1939 ­ March 1940
  15. Dietrich Schmid OSB March 1941 ­ Dec. 1942
  16. Herfried März OSB June 1941 ­ Dec. 1943
  17. Hilarion Fischer OSB Jan. 1948 ­ April 1949
  18. Hartmann Brattinger OSB April 1949 ­ Feb. 1990
  19. Candidus Mayer OSB April 1956 ­ May 1958
  20. Theodulf Kramer OSB May 1957 ­ June 1959
  21. Colonat Keller OSB April 1965 ­ Nov. 1965
  22. Dietrich Schmid OSB July 1971 ­ Aug. 1972
  23. Bartholomew Keil OSB Aug. 1971 ­ June 1972

This page was last updated on 17.05.01 23:35:28

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