The “Wonderful Splendour” of a New Pipe Organ

by Admin · March 18, 2026

Top: The organ as it stood in its original location in the NG Kerk, Oudtshoorn-Suid.Bottom: The choir loft as viewed from the body of the church, during installation.

By Br Simon Mowatt CO – The pipe organ has for centuries been regarded as the principal musical instrument for accompanying the liturgies of the Church. At the parish of St Bernadette’s in Walmer, Gqeberha, we have recently been privileged to have been donated a pipe organ from the Dutch Reformed community of Oudtshoorn-Suid. The process of dismantling, transporting and reinstalling this magnificent instrument has led us to reflect on the history and role of the pipe organ in the sacred liturgy.

The Church and the pipe organ

Pipe organs far predate the coming of Christ. As early as c. 200 BC, the first pipe organs were being built in Greece, not as musical instruments, but as examples of hydraulic systems. In c. 90 BC, we start to see the first musical pipe organs with the introduction of pneumatics and bellows to produce sound.

Though the early Church rejected the use of the pipe organ (because of its association with pagan cults of the time), as early as 666 AD we see the Church beginning to give her seal of approval to the instrument under Pope Vitalian (657 – 672). Over the coming centuries, the organ was developed and used primarily in Benedictine monasteries, which were the academic hives of the Church during that time.

Through their use of the organ, together with their development of Gregorian chant and polyphony (the two styles of music later emphasised by Vatican II), the Benedictines laid the foundation for the sublime music, both organ and choral, of later composers such as Palestrina, J.S. Bach and Mozart.

The Church and her Popes have consistently emphasised the role of the organ in the liturgy. Pius XI in Divini cultus states that it is “the traditionally appropriate musical instrument of the Church”. Pius XII in Musicae sacrae writes that the organ “moves the souls of the faithful by the grandeur and sweetness of its tones.” The General Instruction of the Roman missal states that “the organ is to be accorded pride of place”. In Vatican II’s Sacrosanctum Concilium, the pipe organ is the only musical instrument explicitly instructed to be used in the liturgy. It states:

The pipe organ is to be held in high esteem, for it is the traditional musical instrument which adds a wonderful splendour to the Church’s ceremonies and powerfully lifts up man’s mind to God and to higher things.

The new pipe organ at St Bernadette’s church

A new organ for the Church

The original plans of our parish of St Bernadette’s, drawn up by our architect in the 1940s, envisaged a pipe organ being built in our choir loft. In the wake of the development of electronic organs around that time, our architect’s vision was not fulfilled.

In 2025, our architect’s vision was brought to fulfilment when the Port Elizabeth Oratory of St Philip Neri was very blessed to be donated a pipe organ from the Dutch Reformed community of Oudtshoorn-Suid. It is a 20 rank, two manual Laukhuff German design that was originally installed in Oudtshoorn by the Cooper, Gill and Tomkins Organ Company. It was dismantled in June 2025 and transported to Gqeberha. In January 2026, the Pekelharing Organ Company began the delicate work required to install the organ in the choir loft of the parish of St Bernadette’s, run by the Oratory.

Our parish has placed and continues to place a great deal of emphasis on our sacred music program, which includes Gregorian chant, polyphony, other sacred motets and hymnody. We currently have three Masses on a Sunday that use the organ as well as other services and Musical Oratories (spiritual concerts). We are thankful that this new instrument will continue to enrich that great tradition. On the feast of Our Lady of Africa on 30 April, we will have an inaugural concert to bless and celebrate with music this momentous installation in the life of our parish and the Church.

Pope Benedict XVI (then Cardinal Ratzinger) at his piano.

On the occasion of the blessing of an organ in Regensburg in 2006, Benedict XVI put so beautifully the following about the pipe organ:

The organ has always been considered, and rightly so, the king of musical instruments, because it takes up all the sounds of creation and gives resonance to the fullness of human sentiments, from joy to sadness, from praise to lamentation. By transcending the merely human sphere, as all music of quality does, it evokes the divine. The organ’s great range of timbre, from piano through to a thundering fortissimo, makes it an instrument superior to all others. It is capable of echoing and expressing all the experiences of human life. The manifold possibilities of the organ in some way remind us of the immensity and the magnificence of God.

May our new organ continue to enrich and inspire in our own hearts a sense of worship that evokes the divine and leads us, and others, closer into the Heart and magnificence of God Himself.