Nuns had a holy cross to bear

Recently I received a most delightful letter from Vincent Rayne, chairman of the parish council of St Thomas’ church in Mossel Bay, explaining just why the Holy Cross Sisters earned their name.

Some time ago, Vincent decided to update the history of St Thomas’ church, dealing mainly with the buildings on the present site and the clergy who laboured for souls over the years.

In 1868 the present church site in Mossel Bay was bought and a house built. For a long time it served as presbytery and chapel. Between 1873 and 1882, while the French Missionary Fathers of Lyon were there, the only other building erected was a small hut that was used as a school.

In 1885, when the area fell under the vicar-apostolic of the Western Province, a more suitable one-roomed school was built.

In August 1895 Mossel Bay got a young priest, Fr Bernard “Bernie” O’Riley, who did wonderful work for the mission. One of his first achievements was to convince Bishop Rooney that it was necessary for the Holy Cross Sisters to run the school and obtained permission from him to convert the little school into a church and at the same time to convert part of the presbytery/chapel into a school with a much larger teaching area.

When the Sisters arrived in April 1904 they moved temporarily into the property across the road that had been donated to the church. They stayed there until the school was converted into a church in September the following year. Fr Bernie moved into the premises the Sisters had been staying in and the “old” presbytery and the chapel became the school.

Because of the new church and the fact that the Sisters were so successful, they approached Fr Bernie to get him to arrange for the building of a larger school. He agreed, but could not again turn to his bishop or to his parishioners for further assistance. In the end someone suggested that he write to a Mr Page in Cape Town. In his letter to Mr Page in May 1907 Fr Bernie wrote:

“It is not often that I venture to trouble you with a letter, but the urgency and genuine necessity of the case I am about to put before you induces me to plead on behalf of the little Community of Sisters of the Holy Cross who are making a hard struggle here to educate our Catholic children under almost impossible circumstances, and I feel confident that their case will appeal to your wonted kindness and generosity. The matter is in reference to the convent school here.

“For a couple of years that the Sisters have opened a convent and school in Mossel Bay they have done remarkably well in spite of the many difficulties they had to contend with. They have a school of over 50 children (which is their sole means of support), but they could easily have double that number if they had only school accommodation, having refused many applications since. As it is, they have entirely sacrificed their own comfort and accommodation for the benefit of the school and the children.

“There are four decent rooms in the house that does them for a convent and three of these they have given over entirely as school rooms to the children whilst the Sisters themselves sleep and live mainly in the garret of the house and you can imagine what it is like in this climate to sleep and spend the day beneath the bare zinc roof of a house, not to say anything of the damaging effect it must have on their health.

“Moreover they have no government grant for the school which would be of great assistance to them, but they dare not even apply for such for were it granted, to a certainty their present school accommodation would be condemned by the inspector on his first visit and the grant consequently withdrawn.”

Mr Page eventually loaned Fr Bernie £500 on condition that he said 500 Masses for Mr Page’s intentions. As soon as they had been said, the principal and interest would be cancelled.

The main reason for highlighting this was because during Vincent Rayne’s research – after having read about how these wonderful nuns had sacrificed so much for the Church, the God they loved, their religion and for the families at the time – he decided to go up into the garret himself to have a look around.

“I was amazed to find what I did about the few Sisters in those tough times. That garret was apparently their ‘home’ for nearly two years!

“Those Sisters certainly carried their cross,” said Vincent. He writes about his experience of going up into the garret, during which his torch battery ran out: “That was scary. How could they have coped without proper ventilation, light and ablutions? How did they climb in and out of that area? I struggled and I’m quite athletic, despite my 68 years! It must have been like a furnace during the humid summer months and freezing cold during winter.

“Vincent’s research, assisted by Sr Mechtildis, has identified the “Garret Dwellers” as Srs Philothea Krugger (superior), Mary Louise Mayer, Sebastiana Steinfels, Gonzaga Hageneder, Wilhelmina Wägeli and Frumentia Gollhofer. Sr Philothea was one of the pioneer Holy Cross Sisters who came to South Africa from Switzerland in 1883.

It’s a wonderful story that highlights just how dedicated the early clergy and religious were in their quest to bring Christ to our country.