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The Southern Cross, February 1 to February 7, 2012
CHURCH
100 years of courage This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary expanding their mission in Zululand. THE SISTERS look back over the century which has seen joys, but also fire, drought and a locust swarm.
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HE Franciscan Missionaries of Mary (FMM) first arrived in Zululand from Europe in March 1903, at the request of a local priest, Fr Edward Mganga, who had studied in Rome in 1900. In 1912, they expanded their mission by taking over the works of St Anne’s in Umzinto from the French Kermaria Sisters. But let’s first go back to 1896, when Bishop Charles Jolivet of Durban turned his attention to the south coast of Natal. He made his first recorded visit to Umzinto in December that year. A year later he returned to Umzinto with a Fr Le Texier, and together they prepared the site and building of a convent for the planned arrival of the Filles de Jésus de Kermaria congregation from the French region of Brittany. The Sisters started two schools, but shared in the numerous financial problems experienced by Bishop’s Jolivet’s successor, Bishop Henri DeLalle. Admitting defeat, the Sisters went home in 1911. The Franciscan Missionaries of Mary arrived in Umzinto on the afternoon of January 13, 1912. The first Mass was celebrated the following day. These first four FMMs at Umzinto were Mothers Fidele, Jesus Eucharistie, Lydie and Praesepio. A Ms Ellen O’Brien accompanied
them. In addition, four Kermaria sisters requested to join them and they soon joined the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary. The FMMs continued the two schools started by the Kermaria Sisters, and on October 6 they began visiting the Zulu-speaking people who lived in the surrounding countryside. Some of the Sisters already knew Zulu as they had been in the Emoyeni and Impala missions; others were attempting to learn the language. By December 1914, the Zulu people were requesting Mass and confession, and a Zulu-speaking Trappist priest from Mariannhill was sent once a month to Umzinto by Bishop DeLalle. On August 8, 1921 the first Zulu school, dedicated to St Francis, was opened on the mission, starting with 20 pupils. The following year, a second school was opened on the farm for Mauritian children—many Mauritians lived in the area, working in the sugar industry, and many of them were Catholic. By 1925 that school’s enrollment was mostly Indian children from the locality, and this was the foundation of St Anne’s Indian School, which celebrated its 75th birthday in 2003. The convent was situated on a hill and the majestic eucalyptus trees which led to the mission echoed with the sound of the church bell. The convent was the centre of the mission complex, and was surrounded by the Indian school, the home for African girls, and the buildings for workers and the priest. Nearby there was a small farm, also run by the Sisters. Scattered on the hills around Umzinto’s convent were huts, homes of the African people. There were also many Indians who had flocked to Natal to work in the sugar-cane industry. They had origi-
nally come as indentured labourers from India, but when their contract expired, they elected to stay in South Africa. The Sisters also used to visit nearby Esperanza, where the director of a local sugar refinery had constructed a small hospital there for the use of their sick or injured employees. n the afternoon of June 25, 1932, alarm: A fire on the mission! It was not known whether the fire was caused by an electrical fault, but flames gutted the dairy and spread with frightening rapidity to nearby buildings and soon all was aflame. Sisters, boarders and the people from the village formed a human chain passing buckets of water up the hill from the river as the well was dry. Even the parish priest came from baptising a baby to direct operations. In less than two hours, three schools and seven huts as well as the dairy and storage quarters were destroyed, not to mention the contents of the buildings. Thanks to the combined efforts, the church was saved as well as the convent, though the walls of the latter were blackened. Local people rallied round and helped the Sisters to survive this disaster. It wasn’t long before the re-construction of the convent began and by April 1934 the Sisters were able to move back in. On November 11, 1935, a swarm of locusts descended on the mission. The children managed to drive them away, but they were back a few days later. That same year, the area was severely afflicted with a dreadful drought. By the end of the year, many of the African people in the area were starving. Numerous prayers were offered for rain and in January 1936 it finally rained. In happier news, a new Indian school opened its doors on February
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The first Franciscan Missionaries of Mary who arrived in Umzinto. (Inset) The Sisters give thanks at the centenary Mass of which Bishop Pius Dlungwane of Mariannhill was the main celebrant. 26, 1935. The life of the mission settled down to a routine, revolving around the two schools. The Sisters also did parish visiting and were involved in the teaching of catechism and going to the outstations. Over the years the home and the two schools continued to expand in order to cope with the growing number of students, while the sisters continued to respond to the pastoral needs of the people in the parish. In the mid-1950s, the Sisters of Umzinto were given a very arduous task: that of begging. They went to Durban in pairs, almost every day, to beg in the upper-class suburbs. They did so to build a new school for African children, as the old one was in a bad condition. Their efforts
succeeded: the school opened in 1959 and owes its existence to the hard work and obedience of those sisters, and to the great generosity of the people of Durban. In recent years, housing schemes have changed the face of the convent on the hill, which is no longer as isolated and remote as it once was. Today, more than 100 years after the arrival of the first FMM Sisters in Umzinto, there are eight Sisters in St Anne’s convent, with two prenovices in fomation. St Anne’s convent has a rich history, and it is in knowing our shared story that we are better able to give thanks to God for the many blessings received and to discern where he is leading us.