Mariannhill is a cluster of suburbs and townships in eThekwini Municipality in

KwaZulu Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locate ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. In 1882,

Trappist The Trappists, officially known as the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance ( la, Ordo Cisterciensis Strictioris Observantiae, abbreviated as OCSO) and originally named the Order of Reformed Cistercians of Our Lady of La Trappe, are a ...

missionary Father

Franz Pfanner Franz Pfanner (1825 – 24 May 1909), also anglicised as Francis Pfanner, was an Austrian Trappist abbot and founder of Mariannhill Monastery in South Africa and the Mariastern Abbey in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Life Born to Francis ...

established Mariannhill Monastery 16 km west of Durban. He promoted local development and opened schools, health clinics, craft workshops, printing presses and farms providing work for hundreds of religious workers and others. The name is derived from those of the Virgin Mary and her mother Saint Anne. Due to its location close to the industrial townships of Pinetown and Durban, Mariannhill has attracted people from around the province of KwaZulu Natal who are seeking employment. This has led to the development and growth of several townships in Mariannhill: Mpola, Thornwood, Dassenhoek, Tshelimnyama, Mariannridge, KwaMamdekazi, St Wendolins, and others. In 1909 the St. Francis College was founded in Mariannhill, combining separate schools for boys and girls that had operated since the mid/late 1880s. Its faculty included the Zulu writer and poet

Benedict Wallet Vilakazi Benedict Wallet Vilakazi (6 January 1906 – 26 October 1947) was a South African novelist, a descendant of the Zulu royal family, and author of Romantic poetry in the Zulu language. Vilakazi was also a professor at the University of Witwate ...

References

Suburbs of Durban {{KwaZuluNatal-geo-stub

See also

References