Roman Catholic history in Ladysmith is 125 years old

The Regina Pacis Roman Catholic Church in Ladysmith is celebrating 125 years of Roman Catholic history on Saturday (October 23). From 1896 to 2021, Catholic priests, nuns, friars and the faithful have been linked to the history of Ladysmith.

From as early as 1893, the municipal council of Ladysmith asked the Vicar Apostolic of Natal, Bishop Jolivet, to send teaching and nursing nuns to Ladysmith to open a school and a hospital. In 1894, the third foundation was established in Ladysmith.

The pioneer sisters, Mother Therese of Jesus and a companion, bought a 10-hectare site on the top of the hill overlooking town for only 2500 francs (about RI96). The first truly Roman Catholic presence in Ladysmith started in January 1896 when three Augustinian nuns left Estcourt to start the Ladysmith Foundation, starting a Roman Catholic history or legacy that would endure until today.

With Mother Marie des Anges as superior, and two sisters, the nuns rented a house, and opened a school in it.

During this time, they supervised the building of the convent and the sanatorium on the hilltop. On June 13, 1896, the first stone of the chapel was laid by His Lordship Bishop Jolivet, accompanied by Rev Father d’Arcy Murray…

The Augustinian sisters first opened a school in a rented house in February 1896. The newly-built school opened in 1897. By January 1915, it included a dormitory to accommodate boarders from the surrounding farming community.

The Convent Hospital was originally established by the Augustinian Order after its completion in 1897. The hospital provided much-needed medical care for Ladysmith and surrounding areas.

It included an operating theatre and was a well-reputed hospital. In the 1960s, the Augustinian Order left Ladysmith and sold all the buildings and land to the Franciscan Order.

In 1965, the Franciscans Friars in the Prefecture of Volksrust requested the help of the Franciscan Minoresses to staff the hospital. The Sisters, who among them included State-qualified nurses and midwives, were able to expand the services to include maternity and geriatric care.

The Sanatorium, also known as the Convent Hospital, was renamed La Verna Hospital (it has since been sold and is now a private hospital).

Roman Catholic schools and hospitals served people of all faiths and all races in South Africa in the late 1800s to the early 1900s.

Contrary to this calling to serve all God’s people, the greatest challenge emerged in the late 1930s when the Nationalist Government came to power.

Government subsidies, on which these schools and hospitals relied, were withdrawn when Catholic Institutions fought back against the apartheid policies of segregation. As a result, many schools and hospitals were closed or sold off. However, Ladysmith can still proudly boast of having had the privilege of a clergy through the decades, who stood by their convictions.

Some are prominent, including Arch Bishop Denis Hurley and Bishop Michael Rowland Paschal. For clergy at the time, working through the harassment and avoiding arrest was merely part of a day’s work.  

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