The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Cape Town ( la, Archidioecesis Civitatis Capitis) is a Latin

archdiocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

, in the south-western part of

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

. The archdiocese's motherchurch and its archbishop's see is the

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

of St. Mary of the Flight into Egypt, who is also the archbishopric's

patron Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...

. The archdiocese is headed by the Archbishop of Cape Town, the Most Reverend Archbishop Stephen Brislin and is assisted by The Right Reverend Sylvester David OMI, the Auxiliary Bishop.

History

It was erected as the Apostolic Vicariate of Cape of Good Hope (and adjacent territories) on 18 June 1818 by

Pope Pius VII Pope Pius VII ( it, Pio VII; born Barnaba Niccolò Maria Luigi Chiaramonti; 14 August 1742 – 20 August 1823), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 14 March 1800 to his death in August 1823. Chiaramonti was also a m ...

, on territories split off from the then–

Territorial Prelature of Mozambique The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Maputo ( la, Maputensis) is the Metropolitan See for the Ecclesiastical province of Maputo in Mozambique. History * 21 January 1612: Established as a ''prelature nullius'' from the Diocese of Goa * 1783: Promote ...

and Diocese of Tomé. On 4 April 1819, it gained territory from the suppressed

Apostolic Prefecture of New Holland The Apostolic Prefecture of New Holland was a short-lived (1816–1819) Roman Catholic missionary jurisdiction in colonial Australia. History Fr James Dixon, the first Catholic priest permitted to minister in Australia, was briefly appointed P ...

. It repeatedly lost territory, to establish: in 1834 the

Apostolic Vicariate of New Holland and Van Diemen's Land The Archdiocese of Sydney ( la, Archidioecesis Sydneyensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church. Its episcopal see is Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Erected in 1842, the archdiocese is the metr ...

and again on 6 June 1837 to establish the Apostolic Vicariate of Mauritius. It was renamed the Apostolic Vicariate of Cape of Good Hope, Western District on 30 July 1847, losing territory to establish the Apostolic Vicariate of Cape of Good Hope, Eastern District. On 3 August 1874, it lost territory to establish the

Apostolic Prefecture of Cape of Good Hope, Central District The Roman Catholic Diocese of Oudtshoorn ( la, Oudtshoornen(sis)) is a diocese located in the city of Oudtshoorn in the Ecclesiastical province of Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cape Town, Cape Town in South Africa. On 4 May 2020, Noel Andrew ...

. It was renamed the Apostolic Vicariate of Cape Town on 13 June 1939.

Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII ( it, Pio XII), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (; 2 March 18769 October 1958), was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death in October 1958. Before his e ...

elevated it to the rank of a

metropolitan archdiocese A metropolis religious jurisdiction, or a metropolitan archdiocese, is an episcopal see whose bishop is the metropolitan bishop or archbishop of an ecclesiastical province. Metropolises, historically, have been important cities in their provinces. ...

on 11 January 1951. On 18 August 1986, it lost territory to establish the

Mission sui juris of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha The Mission sui iuris of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha ( la, Missio sui iuris Sanctae Helenae, Ascensionis et Tristanensis) is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome. The Mission s ...

off its Atlantic Coast.

Extent

The geographical area of the Archdiocese of Cape Town is divided up into 80

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

es. Each parish is obliged to have its own pastoral council as well as a finance council. Representatives from these parish councils – as well as of other bodies – together form the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council, whose task it is to advise the archbishop in certain matters. In total the archdiocese covers an area of 30 892 square kilometres with a total population of 3 324 539 people, of whom 215187 are Catholics. The administrative centre of the archdiocese is called a chancery and is located at 12 Bouquet Street in Cape Town. Its postal address is P O Box 2910, Cape Town, 8000. The telephone number for all departments in the chancery is (021) 462–2417; the fax number is (021) 461-9330 and the e-mail address is infoatcatholic- ct.org.za The archdiocese is centred on the city of Cape Town and includes the southernmost tip of the continent of Africa; its area is bounded on the west by the Atlantic Ocean, on the north by the southern boundaries of the Van Rhynsdorp district, on the east by the western boundaries of the Calvinia, Ceres, Tulbagh, Worcester, Robertson and Swellendam districts, and on the south by the Indian Ocean. The civil districts within the ecclesiastical area of the archdiocese are the districts of Cape, Wynberg, Simon's Town, Bellville, Somerset West, Stellenbosch, Paarl, Wellington, Caledon, Bredasdorp, Malmesbury, Piketberg and Clanwilliam. The Most Reverend Stephen Brislin is the Archbishop of Cape Town: Born in Welkom on 24 September 1956. Schooling at St Agnes' Convent, Welkom andCBC, Welkom Seminary: Philosophy at St John Vianney, Pretoria and Theology at the Missionary Institute, London Ordained a priest on 19 November 1983. Ordained Bishop of Kroonstad on 28 January 2007. Installed as Archbishop of Cape Town on 7 February 2010, on the Solemnity of Our Lady of the Flight into Egypt, the patronal feast of the Archdiocese of Cape Town.

Context

The Catholic Church throughout the world is divided into administrative units called dioceses. Each diocese is headed by a bishop. In some cases (as in South Africa) those dioceses which are of greater importance are called archdioceses and are headed by an archbishop. In South Africa there are five such archdioceses, one of which is Cape Town. Each diocesan bishop in the world (ecclesiastically called an ordinary to distinguish him from other bishops who work in an administrative capacity) is responsible directly to the Pope. In order to facilitate and co-ordinate various matters of national interest such as seminaries, the bishops of South Africa are associated into the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference (SACBC). This conference is affiliated to two other such conferences: IMBISA (the Inter-regional Meeting of Bishops of Southern Africa) and SECAM (the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar). A representative of the Pope was appointed in 1922 as the Apostolic Delegate. In 1994 the Holy See (the diocese of Rome and the Papal administration) and South Africa established diplomatic relations, setting up an Apostolic Nunciature for the Holy See in Pretoria and a South African Embassy in the Vatican. To help him administer the Archdiocese of Cape Town, the Archbishop has appointed two vicars general. A chancellor is appointed in each diocese, whose task it is to act as a notary or someone who authenticates any official document which the archbishop might issue. To help in the ministry of the various departments of the Archdiocese of Cape Town, a number of priests have been appointed as vicars or heads of those departments. Together with an equal number of other priests elected by the priests serving in Cape Town, these constitute the presbyteral council, and it is from this body that the archbishop chooses his consultors or advisors. In order to co-ordinate the pastoral function of the various parishes in Cape Town, five deans have been elected by the priests as their spokesmen in certain matters. The body of deacons constitutes the Council of Deacons and the Archbishop appoints a co-ordinator as a liaison between himself and the deacons.

Province

The

ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United State ...

comprises the Metropolitan's own archdiocese and the suffragan sees : * Roman Catholic Diocese of Aliwal * Roman Catholic Diocese of De Aar * Roman Catholic Diocese of Oudtshoorn *

Roman Catholic Diocese of Port Elizabeth The Roman Catholic Diocese of Port Elizabeth ( la, Portus Elizabethen(sis)) is a diocese located in the city of Port Elizabeth in the Ecclesiastical province of Cape Town in South Africa. History On July 30, 1847, an ecclesiastical territory was ...

* Roman Catholic Diocese of Queenstown.

Bishops

''all

Roman Rite The Roman Rite ( la, Ritus Romanus) is the primary liturgical rite of the Latin Church, the largest of the ''sui iuris'' particular churches that comprise the Catholic Church. It developed in the Latin language in the city of Rome and, while dist ...

Ordinaries of Cape Town

; ''Apostolic Vicars of Cape of Good Hope and adjacent territories'' * Edward Bede Slater, O.S.B. (1818.06.18 – 1831; died 1832),

Titular Bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

of Ruspæ (1818.06.18 – 1832.07.15) * Dr. William Placid Morris,

Order of Saint Benedict The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict ( la, Ordo Sancti Benedicti, abbreviated as OSB), are a Christian monasticism, monastic Religious order (Catholic), religious order of the Catholic Church following the Rule of Saint Benedic ...

(O.S.B.) (1831.08.09 – 1837.06.06), later Apostolic Vicar of

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...

(Mauritius) (1837.06.06 – 1840); remained Titular Bishop of

Troas Troas may refer to: Places * The Troad, historical name for a region in the northwestern part of Anatolia * Alexandria Troas, a Hellenistic and Roman city in Anatolia * Troaș, a village in Săvârșin Commune, Arad County, Romania * Troaș, a r ...

(1831.08.09 – 1872.02.18) * Patrick Raymond Griffith,

Dominican Order The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of Cal ...

(O.P.), Titular Bishop of Paleopolis (Asia Minor) (1837.06.06 – 1862.06.18) (6 June 1837 – 1847.07.30 ''see below'') ; ''Apostolic Vicars of Cape of Good Hope, Western District'' * Patrick Raymond Griffith, O.P. (''see above'' 1847.07.30 – 18 June 1862) * Thomas Grimley (18 June 1862 - 1871.01.29), Titular Bishop of Antigonea (1860.12.18 – 1871.01.29); succeeding as former Coadjutor Apostolic Vicar of Cape of Good Hope, Western District (1860.12.18 – 1862.06.18) * Dr. John Leonard (1872.10.1 – 19 February 1908), Titular Bishop of

Charadrus Charadrus or Charadros ( grc, Χάραδρος) was a town on the coast of ancient Cilicia, between Platanus and Cragus, according to the Stadiasmus. Strabo, who writes it Χαραδροῦς, describes it as a fort with a port below it, and a ...

(1872.10.01 – 1908.02.19) * Dr. John Rooney (1908.02.19 – 1925), Titular Bishop of Sergiopolis (antea Resapha) (1886.01.29 – 1927.02.26); succeeding as previous Coadjutor Vicar Apostolic of Cape of Good Hope, Western District (1886.01.29 – 1908.02.19) * Bernard Cornelius O'Riley (1925.07.15 – 1932.06.06), Titular Bishop of Phoba (1925.07.15 – 1956.07.21) *

Franziskus Hennemann Francis Xaver Hennemann Societas Apostolatus Catholici, S.A.C. (27 October 1882 – 17 January 1951), was a Titular Bishop in South Africa. Biography Hennemann was born in Germany in Holthausen (Schmallenberg), Holthausen (Schmallenberg). The ...

Pallottines The Pallottines officially named the Society of the Catholic Apostolate ( la, Societas Apostolatus Catholici), abbreviated SAC is a Society of Apostolic Life of Pontifical Right for men in the Roman Catholic Church, founded in 1835 by the Roman C ...

(SAC) (1933.06.30 – 1939.06.13 ''see below''), Titular Bishop of Coptus (1913.07.16 – 1951.01.17); previously djutor Vicar Apostolic of Cameroun (Cameroon) (1913.07.16 – 1914.11.07), succeeding as Vicar Apostolic of Cameroun (Cameroon) (1914.11.07 – 1922.06.26), next

Apostolic Prefect An apostolic prefect or prefect apostolic is a priest who heads what is known as an apostolic prefecture, a 'pre-diocesan' missionary jurisdiction where the Catholic Church is not yet sufficiently developed to have it made a diocese. Although it ...

of Cape of Good Hope, Central District (1922.06.26 – 1933.06.30) ; ''Apostolic Vicars of Cape Town'' *

, S.A.C. (''see above'' 1939.06.13 – 1949; died 1951) *

Owen McCann Owen McCann (26 June 1907 – 26 March 1994) was a South African cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and journalist. He served as Archbishop of Cape Town from 1950 to 1984 (the first year as Apostolic Vicar) and was elevated to the cardinala ...

(1950.03.12 – 1951.01.11 ''see below''), Titular Bishop of

Stectorium Stectorium or Stektorion ( grc, Στεκτόριον) was a town of ancient Phrygia, in the Phrygian Pentapolis between Peltae and Synnada, inhabited during Roman and Byzantine times. Pausanias believed that Mygdon's tomb was located here. It w ...

(1950.03.12 – 1951.01.11) ; ''Metropolitan Archbishops of Cape Town'' * Dr. Owen (Cardinal) McCann (''see above'' 1951.01.11 – 1984.10.20; died 1994), also President of the Inter-Regional Meeting of Bishops of Southern Africa (1961 – 1974),

Cardinal-Priest A cardinal ( la, Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae cardinalis, literally 'cardinal of the Holy Roman Church') is a senior member of the clergy of the Catholic Church. Cardinals are created by the ruling pope and typically hold the title for life. Col ...

S. Prassede The Basilica of Praxedes, Saint Praxedes ( la, Basilica Sanctae Praxedis, it, Basilica di Santa Prassede all’Esquillino), commonly known in Italian as Santa Prassede, is an early medieval titulus (Roman Catholic), titular church and minor basi ...

(1965.02.25 – 1994.03.26), President of the

Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference The Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference (SACBC) is an episcopal conference consisting of all the bishops of the Roman Catholic Church in South Africa, Botswana, and Swaziland, and their equivalents under canon law (apostolic vicars, a ...

(1967 – 1974) * Dr.

Stephen Naidoo Stephen Naidoo, C.Ss.R. (29 October 1937 – 1 July 1989), was a South African Redemptorist and archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church. Archbishop of Cape Town from 1984 to 1989. Biography Born in 1937 in Cape Town in an Indian immigrate ...

Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer The Redemptorists officially named the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer ( la, links=no, Congregatio Sanctissimi Redemptoris), abbreviated CSsR,is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of pontifical right for men (priests and brother ...

(C.SS.R.) (1984.10.20 – 1989.07.01); previously Titular Bishop of Mammilla (1974.07.01 – 1974.08.02); Auxiliary Bishop of Cape Town (1974.07.01 – 1984.10.20), Titular Bishop of Aquæ Flaviæ (1974.08.02 – 1984.10.20) * Dr.

Lawrence Patrick Henry Lawrence Patrick Henry (27 July 1934 – 4 March 2014) was a South African Roman Catholic archbishop. Born in Cape Town, South Africa, Henry was ordained to the priesthood for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cape Town in 1962. In 1987, he was a ...

(1990.07.07 – 2009.12.18), previously Titular Bishop of Cenculiana (1987.04.27 – 1990.07.07) & Auxiliary Bishop of Cape Town (1987.04.27 – 1990.07.07) * Dr.

Stephen Brislin Stephen Brislin (born 24 September 1956) is a South African prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was ordained as a priest on 19 Nov 1983 in the Diocese of Kroonstad, South Africa, and became Bishop of Kroonstad on 28 Jan 2007. He has ser ...

(18 December 2009 – ...), also President of Inter-Regional Meeting of Bishops of Southern Africa (2012.08 – ...), President of Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference (2012.10 – ...); previously Bishop of

Kroonstad Kroonstad (Afrikaans directly translated "Crown City") is the third largest city in the Free State (after Bloemfontein and Welkom) and lies two hours' drive on the N1 from Gauteng. Maokeng is an area within Kroonstad, and is occasionally used ...

(South Africa) (2006.10.17 – 2009.12.18)

Coadjutor Vicars Apostolic

* Thomas Grimley (1860-1862) * John Rooney (1886-1908)

Auxiliary Bishops

* Reginald Cawcutt (1992-2002) * Sylvester Anthony John David, O.M.I. (2019-) *

(1987-1990), appointed Archishop here *

, C.SS.R. (1974-1984), appointed Archishop here

Other priests of this diocese who became bishops

Francisco Fortunato de Gouveia Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name ''Franciscus''. Nicknames In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed "Paco". San Francisco de Asís was known as ''Pater Comunitatis'' (father of ...

, appointed Bishop of Oudtshoorn in 2010 * Ernest Arthur Green, appointed Bishop of Port Elizabeth in 1955 * Noel Andrew Rucastle, appointed Bishop of Oudtshoorn in 2020

References

External links

Official site

catholic-ct.org.za
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cape Town, Archdiocese Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cape Town Christianity in Cape Town Religious organizations established in 1818 Roman Catholic dioceses and prelatures established in the 19th century 1818 establishments in South Africa A