Mgr Marc de Mûelenaere RIP: Honoured by pope, king and president

By Lucy Moll – Mgr Marc de Mûelenaere, a titan in the Pretoria Catholic community passed away on August 23 after 55 years in the priesthood. He had survived a stroke 18 months previously which had left him unable to talk or walk.

Moved to Nazareth House to receive 24-hour care, he had a steady stream of visitors who came to talk, push his wheelchair, watch television with him, and share their troubles and joys. He fully understood their words but could make no response. He would nod his head when asked for prayer.

Called a “living archive” for his wide knowledge, the formidable canon lawyer he oversaw hundreds of annulments. He obtained the licentiate in Canon Law from Saint Paul University in Canada in 1984. Known for his kindness, he often said: “It is not the letter of the law that matters so much as the Spirit.”

Mgr de Mûelenaere was born on February 1, 1943, in St Roeselaere, Belgium, and came to South Africa at age 9 when his family emigrated there in 1952. He entered St John Vianney Seminary in 1961. During his seminary studies he also obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of South Africa in 1965, and the Bachelor of Sacred Theology degree from the Pontifical Gregorian University in 1967. He was ordained a priest for the archdiocese of Pretoria on December 16, 1967.
In the course of his pastoral work he learned to speak Sotho and Zulu.

The priest had a strong work ethic. As a young priest, he would offer up to six Masses a day. Even in his 70s, he tended to two churches before he retired: St John Fisher and the church of the Beatitudes in Zwavelpoort. He would commute between the two.

One story found him passed out in his car, after the bells had rung for 6pm Mass, exhausted from the travelling. At one point, he broke his leg walking up the stairs to the sacristy, but a few days after he returned to service.

Apart from his pastoral contribution in rural, township and urban parishes, he has served as dean, chancellor, and member of the finance committee of the archdiocese of Pretoria, and as chair of the board of Sizanani Village in Bronkhorstspruit.

He taught canon law at St John Vianney Seminary for many years, and is the founder and coordinator of the postgraduate canon law programme at St Augustine College, South Africa’s Catholic university. In 2018, he received the prestigious Bonum Commune Award from St Augustine.

Mgr de Mûelenaere has received honours from two popes, a president and a king. Pope John Paul II named him a personal chaplain in 1993, with the title ‘Monsignor”, and Pope Francis bestowed upon him the medal Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice. President Jacques Chirac named him a Chevalier in the National Order of Merit of France, and King Albert II of Belgium made him an Officer in the Order of King Leopold.

A man of passion and purpose, he left an indelible print upon many even during his relatively brief stay at Nazareth House.