St. George's Cathedral, Cape Town
Encyclopedia
Anglicanism
Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...
cathedral
Cathedral
A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...
in Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Cape Town
Archbishop of Cape Town
The Archbishop of Cape Town is the Primate / Metropolitan of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa.The current Archbishop is the Most Reverend Thabo MakgobaRobert Gray was the first Anglican Bishop of Cape Town.-List of Bishops and Archbishops:...
.
The cathedral was designed by Sir Herbert Baker
Herbert Baker
Sir Herbert Baker was a British architect.Baker was the dominant force in South African architecture for two decades, 1892–1912....
and the foundation stone was laid in 1901. The cathedral replaced a church built in 1834 on the same site, and is still incomplete.
History
Bishop of Calcutta
The Bishop of Calcutta exercises episcopal leadership over the Diocese of Calcutta of the Church of North India. The diocese was established in 1813 as part of the Church of England and the first bishop was Thomas Fanshawe Middleton and the second Reginald Heber...
, on a visit to Cape Town which was, at the time, a distant outpost of his diocese, discussed the building of an Anglican Church. Up until that time the Anglican community had used the Cape Town Castle
Castle of Good Hope
The Castle of Good Hope is a star fort which was built on the original coastline of Table Bay and now, because of land reclamation, lies nearer to the Cape Town city centre in South Africa.-History:...
for services, later being offered hospitality by the Groote Kerk
Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk
The Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk is a Reformed Christian denomination in South Africa. It also has a presence in neighboring countries, such as Namibia, Swaziland, and parts of Botswana and Zimbabwe...
. The colonial government donated a site at the lower end of the Dutch East India Company
Dutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...
's gardens at the corner of Government Avenue and Wale Street and the bishop consecrated the land. The foundation stone was laid by Governor Sir Lowry Cole
Lowry Cole
Sir Galbraith Lowry Cole, GCB , styled The Honourable from birth, was an Irish British Army general and politician.-Army Service:...
on St. George's day April 23rd, 1830 and at the same time Erste Berg Dwars Street was renamed St. George's Street. The church was built from drawings by the architect John Skirrow based on W & H Inwood's neo-Greek St. Pancras' Church
St Pancras New Church
St Pancras Parish Church, sometimes referred to as St Pancras New Church to distinguish it from St Pancras Old Church, is a 19th century Greek Revival church in London, England.-Location:...
in London. Losing heavily on the deal, Hermann Schutte was the building contractor but the final results were of outstanding quality. On December 21, 1834 that St. George's Church opened for services.
In 1847, Robert Gray
Robert Gray (bishop)
Robert Gray was the first Anglican Bishop of Cape Town.-Biography:Gray was born in Bishopwearmouth, north east England, the son of Robert Gray, Bishop of Bristol, who ordained him deacon in Wells Cathedral on 11 January 1834. His first parish was at Whitworth. In 1845 he became the vicar of...
was ordained bishop of the newly-created Diocese of Cape Town
Anglican Diocese of Cape Town
The Anglican Diocese of Cape Town, South Africa, came into being in 1847 with the consecration of the first bishop, Robert Gray, and later expanded to become the Church of the Province of Southern Africa, now called the Anglican Church of Southern Africa....
and he installed his cathedra (throne) in the church, by which act it became a cathedral even though it was only a modest parish church. His dream was to build a more worthy building on the site but his wishes never materialized during his episcopate which lasted until his death in 1872.
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
) laid the foundation stone bearing the letters AMDG (Ad Majoram Dei Gloriam – To the Greater Glory of God). Paradoxically, this is the only visible instance of these letters which are chiselled on the inward-facing surface of each and every stone in the cathedral, a custom dating from ancient times. The South-African War
Boer War
The Boer Wars were two wars fought between the British Empire and the two independent Boer republics, the Oranje Vrijstaat and the Republiek van Transvaal ....
was still in progress at the time and as a result it was not until 1904 that work was resumed and the foundations were laid.
In 1908 Archbishop West Jones returned to England. By the time of his departure, the eastern end of the cathedral was well under way but he died two months later. It was decided that the new chapel on the north side should be built in his memory and it was completed and dedicated on October 28, 1909 in honour of St John the Baptist, the patron saint
Patron saint
A patron saint is a saint who is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or person...
of St John's College, Oxford
St John's College, Oxford
__FORCETOC__St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, one of the larger Oxford colleges with approximately 390 undergraduates, 200 postgraduates and over 100 academic staff. It was founded by Sir Thomas White, a merchant, in 1555, whose heart is buried in the chapel of...
, of which William West Jones had been a fellow.
Work continued slowly but it was not until 1930 that the memorial stone for the North Transept
Transept
For the periodical go to The Transept.A transept is a transverse section, of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In Christian churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform building in Romanesque and Gothic Christian church architecture...
was laid by the Earl of Athlone
Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone
Major-General Alexander Augustus Frederick William Alfred George Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone , was a close relative of the shared British and Canadian royal family, as well as a British military commander and major-general who served as Governor-General of the Union of South Africa, the...
, then Governor-General of the Union of South Africa
Governor-General of the Union of South Africa
The Governor-General of the Union of South Africa was the representative of the British and later South African Crown in the Union of South Africa between 31 May 1910 and 31 May 1961...
. The transept was completed in 1936 which finally made Sir Herbert Baker's design a reality.
See also
- Saint George: Devotions, traditions and prayersSaint George: Devotions, traditions and prayersSaint George is one of Christianity's most popular saints, and is highly honored by both the Western and Eastern Churches. A wide range of devotions, traditions, and prayers to honor the saint have emerged throughout the centuries. He has for long been distinguished by the title of "The Great...
- Barry SmithBarry Smith (organist)Barry Smith is a South African organist, choral and orchestral conductor, author, and musicologist.-Early life and education:Born in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa, Smith was a choirboy at St Mary's Collegiate Church. In 1956, Smith was awarded a scholarship to Rhodes...