History in Colour: First Catholic Church in Johannesburg

by Admin · Published March 9, 2023 · Updated March 8, 2023

A snapshot from the past, colourised exclusively for The Southern Cross

This is the first Catholic church in Johannesburg, on the corner of 148 Fox and Smal Streets, the site of today’s Carlton Centre complex. It opened on August 21, 1887, and was the fruit of the labour of Fr Odilon Monginoux OMI, who would become the first prefect apostolic of the Transvaal.

The foundation stone had been laid by Bishop Charles-Constant Jolivet, the dynamic Oblate bishop of Natal from 1874-1903, who established a Catholic presence in the Transvaal, including the small but booming mining town of Johannesburg which had been founded in 1886. The foundation stone is now kept in Christ the King cathedral. The structure also included a three-roomed dwelling for the priest, and a temporary convent and school room for the Holy Family Sisters whom Fr Monginoux planned to send for from Natal.

The first-ever Mass in Johannesburg had been held only half a year before the church opened. It was celebrated by Fr L Trabaud OMI on February 20, 1887, in a reed hut, the bakery of Ferreira’s Camp, the embryonic Johannesburg near the present City Hall. There were 33 Catholics present.

Within five years a larger church needed to be built, on the corner of Main and Von Wielligh Streets, and the first church was used for classrooms. In 1896 the pro-cathedral in Kerk Street was built; Christ the King cathedral was opened only in 1960.

Published in the February 2023 issue of The Southern Cross magazine