History of Our Church

Introduction

Our Lady of Good Hope Catholic Church, situated on the corner of St Andrew’s and Beach Roads, Sea Point, is an iconic landmark on the Atlantic coastline. This short document records the history of this church since 1921 as it continues to welcome worshippers, not only in Sea Point but indeed visitors from all over the country and worldwide. Many readers might remember the Monastery Hospital on High Level Road and Loreto Convent School which were closely associated with Our Lady of Good Hope Church. Sadly, both have been re-developed into housing and shopping arcades respectively.

The current Parish Priest of Our Lady of Good Hope, Fr Zane Godwin, was appointed in December 2024 and serves both Our Lady of Good Hope and St Theresa’s Catholic Church in Camps Bay. Under his guidance and leadership, the mission is to be “a welcoming and evangelising Catholic community, striving with the grace of the Holy Spirit, to know, love and serve God more as disciples of Jesus Christ.”

The History

(Early picture of Our Lady of Good Hope Catholic Church on the corner of St Andrew’s and Beach Roads, Sea Point.)

In 1910, Sacred Heart Church, Somerset Road, Green Point, served the Catholic community of Green Point, Sea Point extending to Camps Bay. About 1916 when the Holy Family Sisters established their Sanatorium (later known as The Monastery Hospital) on Kloof Road, Sea Point, Sr Emily and Miss Marchiano came across children baptised as Catholics, but with no knowledge of or how to practise their faith. They opened a small school and very soon had 40 pupils. From 1918, their chapel, attached to the sanatorium, served the Catholic community until the new church was built.

Bishop Rooney was approached to investigate and was surprised at the number of Catholics living in Sea Point. He began to personally say Holy Mass for them on Sundays and watched as the numbers at Mass increased.

The records show the letter written by Bishop Rooney dated 12 October 1922, “In the discharge of our Pastoral duty, and in order to provide for the spiritual needs of the faithful which from certain information we learn to have considerably increased in that hitherto existing quasi Parish known by the name of the ‘Sacred Heart’ Parish, we have decided on dividing that same region into two separate quasi Parishes, one retaining the old appellation i.e. Sacred Heart. The other henceforth to be known and styled by the name Sea Point Mission. Further we hereby assign the street or road known as Glengariff Road, running from the Mountain to the Sea at Three Anchor Bay as the line of division between the two quasi parishes designated above and further: With the exercise of our full authority as Vicar-Apostolic we hereby appoint to the care of the Sacred Heart quasi Parish the Revd. J. O’Rourke and to that of the Sea Point Mission the Revd Francis Hartin”.

In 1918, the property ‘Nantes’ came on the market and was purchased by Bishop Rooney, who handed the property over to the Holy Cross Sisters for a school. Part of the building served as a Mass centre.

In November 1922, Fr Francis Hartin was appointed the first priest-in-charge and built St Francis of Assisi Mission Church in St Andrew’s Road, Sea Point. Fr Hartin served the Sea Point Catholic community from Sacred Heart Parish from 1922 until March 1926, when he was succeeded by Fr B Glynn (1926-1928). On 6 April 1926 Fr Glynn, formerly of St Agnes Parish in Woodstock, became the first resident priest in Sea Point, and was the first priest to live in the presbytery called Blackrock, in Kei Apple Road, Sea Point.

In 1927, the Loreto Sisters took over the school from the Holy Cross Sisters. The Loreto Sisters had started at Villa Ida (now Villa Maria) and an exchange seemed to have taken place as the Holy Cross Sisters took over Villa Ida and the Loreto Sisters took over Nantes. Loreto Convent School was built in the 1930s and the church was in the lower half of the property.

In 1928, Fr William J Griffin succeeded Fr Glynn and he procured land and built the Chapel-of-ease in Camps Bay in 1933. Previously Holy Mass in Camps Bay was said in the Old Pavilion.

On the death of Fr Griffin in 1936, Dr John Sheehan was appointed Parish Priest of Sea Point, and soon after the outbreak of World War 11 in 1939, Dr Sheehan convened a meeting of all parishioners and proposed the building of a new church as the church of St Francis could no longer accommodate the growing Catholic population. Bishop Hennemann SAC presided over the meeting and the majority agreed upon the building of a new church, the current Church of Our Lady of Good Hope. The Church was built by Joseph Rubbi.

Joseph Rubbi was born in the village of Marostica, near the city of Padua in Italy in 1873. He was a carpenter by trade and upon moving to Cape Town he became a building contractor and built buildings for the Cape Government on Robben Island, which was a leper colony at the time. Two of his major buildings before building Our Lady of Good Hope Church, were the Salesian Institute in Somerset Road, Green Point, and the Old Mutual Insurance Company Building in Darling Street, Cape Town. The current St Joseph’s Chapel situated in Rubbi Road, Kommetjie, was built in his memory.

(Our Lady of Good Hope Church built in 1940)

(Photograph of the Beach Road entrance to the Church, possibly in the 1970s)

Dr Sheehan chose the name of the church, Our Lady of Good Hope, after the Cape of Good Hope. He got the idea from the Holy Family Sisters who had originally named the Monastery Hospital, Our Lady of Good Hope. Bishop Hennemann SAC laid the foundation stone on 8 December 1940. The only part of the original church of St Francis to be incorporated into the new church was the sanctuary. The remainder of St Francis church became the original parish hall.

(The original interior of Our Lady of Good Hope Church, 1940)

(The exterior of the Church in the 1970s)

(The presbytery in St Andrew’s Road was adjacent to Loreto Convent School)

(Photograph taken in 2011 shows the Crucifix craved by WG Bevington in 1941 and the figure of Jesus on the Crucifix.)

William George Bevington (1881 – 1953) was born in Seymour, Eastern Cape, and studied at the Grahamstown School of Art and the Kensington College of Art in London. Bevington, who was born deaf, produced portraits and landscapes in oil and watercolour, carved wood and designed architectural mouldings, medals and church decorations. He carved the wooden cross in 1941 and moulded the figure of Jesus on the crucifix. The recent restorer of the wooden Cross and Crucifix, Angela Zehnder, believes that Bevington also moulded the statues on the exterior of the church building.

In a letter dated 3 November 1988, His Eminence Owen Cardinal McCann, Archbishop of Cape Town acknowledged that the new church had been blessed by Bishop Hennemann SAC, but the actual date of the opening and blessing cannot be traced.

All Catholic churches have a relic placed in the altars of a former saints or saints. There is no information currently available on the saint whose relic is in our altar, but the place where the relic has been placed is in the altar as depicted below.

(The relic in the current church altar)

A plaque in the entrance to the Church states that Bridget Power donated the Stations of the Cross in memory of her brother, Patrick Power, who died on 17 October 1956. The date coincides with the current carvings of the Stations.

The fourteen Stations of the Cross in the Church were craved by CG Laros whose company, Laros Carpentry, was recognised for craftsmanship in creating wooden objects. The date 20 February 1958 is stamped behind the Stations.

(A parishioner remembers that these Stations replaced 14 paintings and there was much controversy when these were removed).

In 1949, Dr Sheehan was succeeded by Fr (later Monsignor) John O’Rourke for two years, followed by Fr Thomas O’Sullivan (1951-1954) and Monsignor John Galvin (1954-1973). During Monsignor Galvin’s term, Our Lady of Good Hope assisted financially in the building of the parish church in Manenberg and the two parishes were subsequently “twinned”. This “twinning” proved controversial as Manenberg parishioners were quoted as saying that for many years “they never felt ownership of their church.”

In 1973, Fr Louis Stubbs succeeded Monsignor Galvin and in turn, Monsignor Cornelius Lynch became parish priest in 1975 and served the parish for 10 years. During his term, the new Parish Centre, designed by a parishioner and well-known local architect, Mr Andy Versino, was built as an extension to the old hall. The total cost of building the Parish Centre, parking lot, pathway to the Church and renovations to the original hall was R396,000.

(The new Parish Hall and parking lot (1975) were previously tennis courts built by Loreto Convent School. The latter donated this property to the Church upon the sale of its property.)

Scholars at Loreto Convent used the original parish hall for gymnastics and the church ran a Youth Club, Revd Fr J Baird, as a curate, started the St Thomas’ Badminton Club every Sunday evening, and a curate, Revd Fr R Haldane, organised the Sea Point Scout Troop. The Legion of Mary, Catholic Women’s League, the Sea Point Choir, and the Knights of da Gama were groups active in parish life.

Monsignor Desmond Hatton succeeded Monsignor Lynch and after the former’s passing, Monsignor Hatton served as both the parish priest of Our Lady of Good Hope and St Theresa’s Camps Bay. He was the first parish priest to serve the parishes without a curate.

Monsignor Donald de Beer was appointed parish priest of Our Lady of Good Hope only and served for six years before his sudden death in July 2000. In October 2000, Monsignor Clifford Stokes was appointed until his retirement in March 2023.

In December 2023, Fr Zane Godwin was appointed parish priest of both Our Lady of Good Hope Sea Point and St Theresa’s Camps Bay.

Priests and Assistant Parish Priests

Parish Priests Years

Francis Hartin (served St Francis of Assisi Mission Parish from Sacred Heart Parish)

November 1922 - March 1926

Bertram Glynn

1926 – 1928

LH Barry

1928 – 1929

WJ Griffin

1929 – 1936

John Sheehan DD

1936 – 1949

Thomas O’Sullivan

(John O’Rourke assisted)

1950 – 1954

John Patrick Galvin

1954 – 1973

L Stubbs

1973 – 1975

Cornelius Lynch

1975 – 1985

Desmond Hatton

1986 – 1994

Donald de Beer

1994 – 2000

Clifford Stokes

October 2000 – March 2023

Zane Godwin

December 2023 – current

Assistant Priests Years

John O’Rourke

1926 – 1928

LH Barry

July – September 1928

P O’Kelly (on loan from PE)

1928 – 1931

John P Galvin

1932 – 1933

JD Gerrard

1933 – 1936

P Quinlan

1937 – 1939

H Banahan

1939 – 1940

D Peart

1942 – 1944

FW Jones SJ

1943 – 1949

James J Butler

1949 – 1950

W Ratcliffe CSSR

1950 – 1953

Brian Power

1953 – 1954

Jeremiah Joseph McMorrow

1954 – 1959

JA Armstrong

1959 – 1963

R Van der Hoven

1963 – 1967

Philip Shelmerdine

1964 – 1966

Robert Haldane

1965

John Baird

1967 – 1972

Donald de Beer

1968 – 1970

Patrick Connaughton

1973 – 1981

Clifford Stokes

September 1981 – January 1982

Restorations begin

In 2024 Fr Zane Godwin, the newly appointed Parish Priest of Our Lady of Good Hope began the process of investigating how to restore the original Crucifix with the figure of Jesus. As the red curtain at the back of the Sanctuary and the Crucifix had to be very carefully removed before restoration could begin.

The red curtain and Crucifix were carefully removed.

(The Crucifix and figure of Jesus were carefully restored to their original colour by Angela Zehnder, a Painting Conservator, who worked meticulously to ensure that they resembled the originals.)

The final restoration and remounting of the Crucifix directly above the Altar

(The Church with the white wall behind the Crucifix directly mounted above the Altar)

Restoration continues as lighting has been installed along both side aisles.

Churches throughout the world with the name Our Lady of Good Hope or Our Lady of Hope

Our Lady of Good Hope (Our Lady of Dijon): Feast Day: 18 January

The image of Our Lady of Dijon in Burgundy was formerly named the “Black Virgin” and “Our Lady of Good Hope.” In the year 1513, Mary miraculously delivered the city of Dijon, the ancient city of the Dukes of Burgundy, from the hands of the Swiss. The German and Swiss forces were said to have totalled 45 000 men against 6 000 in Dijon. The enemy forces arrived on 8 September, the solemnity of Our Lady’s Nativity. On Sunday 11 September, villagers organized a procession after Mass. The “Black Virgin” was carried through the streets as the French prayed to the Mother of God to spare them from the enemy. The following day a treaty was signed, and the conflict ended unexpectedly. In thanksgiving, Mary was titled Our Lady of Dijon and a procession is made to her shrine every year. Once again, during World War 11, the German army occupied Dijon and the people prayed…Our Lady of Good Hope, pray for us. On 11 September the Nazi army unexpectedly left Dijon.

(From the website, South Africa Needs Our Lady 2023)

Our Lady of Good Hope Chapel, Chatham County, Rural Georgia

The chapel was founded in 1874. Benedictine Monks erected a school on a tract of land on Skidaway Island …”

The Priory of Stilfontein: Our Lady of Good Hope Monastery

In 2016, Fr Damien Trudeau, DDM, OSB, founded Our Lady of Good Hope Monastery, in the small town of Stilfontein, South Africa, but the community re-located to the USA in 2022.

Our Lady of Pontmain, also known as Our Lady of Hope.

Our Lady of Hope is the title given to the Virgin Mary when she appeared at Portmain, France on 17 January 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871), Paris came under threat as forces approached in January 1871. On the evening of 17 January 1871, two brothers, Joseph and Eugene, were helping their father in the barn when the elder, Eugene, walked towards the door to look out and suddenly saw an apparition of a beautiful woman smiling at him; she was wearing a blue gown covered with golden stars and a black veil under a golden crown. None of the adults in the village could see the apparition, but both Eugene, Joseph and two girls could see it. The children saw a banner beneath the Lady which read, “But pray, my children. God will hear you in time. My Son allows Himself to be touched.” The crowd that gathered immediately sang the hymn, “Mother of Hope”. That same evening the Prussian army abandoned their advance on the city of Laval. Joseph, who later became a priest, gave a vivid description of what he had seen.

After the apparition of Our Lady of Hope on 17 January 1871, pilgrims come to Pontmain and the veneration of Our Lady of Hope of Pontmain has received official church recognition and approval. Mary remains the sign of Hope in the midst of war.

Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Catholic Parish, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, USA

Contact has been made with the Parish Priest as the Stations of the Cross in our Church resemble those in the above Parish. Investigation is currently under way.

OUR FEAST DAY

The annual Feast Day of Our Lady of Good Hope Parish coincides with the Birth of Our Lady, Mary, the Mother of God. This date, 8 September, has been chosen as we celebrate the birth of Mary, nine months after the 8 December, the celebration of the Immaculate Conception when Mary was conceived by her parents, Saints Joachim and Anne.

CONCLUSION

As research into the history of Our Lady of Good Hope continues, we invite parishioners to share their ‘stories’ and/or photographs that they might have relating to our beautiful Church. Restorations, under the pastoral leadership of Fr Zane Godwin will continue and we welcome you all to experience spiritual upliftment as we work together to fulfil our mission.