Sacred Heart Grade 1s Ring in School Careers

by Erin Carelse · February 20, 2018

Sacred Heart College in Observatory, Johannesburg, marked the new school year with each Grade 1 pupil having a turn at ringing the school chapel’s bell, symbolising the beginning of their school careers.

Dr Mark Potterton, who recently joined Sacred Heart as primary school principal, also rang the bell to mark the start of his tenure.

At the end of the year, the 2018 matrics will each ring the bell at their valedictory Mass.

History of the Bell

The bell comes from the Marist Brothers’ general house in Grugliasco, northern Italy, where it had been since the late 1800s.

This house was moved to Rome in the late 1950s, at which time Br Jordan, principal of Sacred Heart College and responsible for building the school’s chapel, asked that the bell be given to the college.

Many Sacred Heart past pupils gave their lives in war. The 48 old boys who died in World War I are commemorated by a plaque in the college hall. The chapel was built in 1956 as a memorial to past pupils who had died in World War II.

Behind the altar of the chapel is a statue of Marist founder Marcellin Champagnat, sculpted by Zoltan Borbereki.