The Reverend Canon Robin Roy Snyman was a priest in the

Anglican Church of Southern Africa The Anglican Church of Southern Africa, known until 2006 as the Church of the Province of Southern Africa, is the province (Anglican), province of the Anglican Communion in the southern part of Africa. The church has twenty-five dioceses, of whi ...

, who served as Dean of

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia * Kimberley (Western Australia) ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Kimberley * Kimberley Warm Springs, Tasmania * Kimberley, Tasmania a small town * County of Kimberley, a ...

and rector of St Cyprian’s Cathedral, and afterwards was Vice-Provost at the Cathedral Church of St Mary the Virgin, Port Elizabeth. He was born at

Waterval Boven Waterval Boven (officially known as Emgwenya) is a small town situated on the edge of the Escarpment on the banks of the Elands River above the 75m Elands Falls on the railway line from Pretoria to Maputo in Mpumalanga, South Africa. Hence the n ...

, in what is now

Mpumalanga Mpumalanga () is a province of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It ...

in 1934. He died in Port Elizabeth on 15 September 2020.

Early career

Snyman was educated at Pretoria Boys' High School, going on to obtain a Licentiate in Theology through the

Church of the Province of Southern Africa The Anglican Church of Southern Africa, known until 2006 as the Church of the Province of Southern Africa, is the province of the Anglican Communion in the southern part of Africa. The church has twenty-five dioceses, of which twenty-one are loc ...

. His first posting, in 1957, was as an assistant curate at St Saviour's Anglican Church in

East London East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...

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 ...

, going on to serve in a similar capacity at

Grahamstown Cathedral The Cathedral of St Michael and St George is the home of the Anglican Diocese of Grahamstown in Makhanda in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It is the episcopal seat of the Bishop of Grahamstown. The cathedral is located on Church ...

in 1960. He then served at St Leonard's, Heston, in London from 1964. Returning to South Africa, Snyman was instituted in 1966 as rector of the Good Shepherd Parish in East London. He was appointed as chaplain at

Rhodes University Rhodes University is a public university, public research university located in Makhanda, Eastern Cape, Makhanda (Grahamstown) in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It is one of four universities in the province. Established in 1904, ...

, Grahamstown, in 1968. Who’s who of Southern Africa (24.com)
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Germiston

Snyman was appointed to the post of rector and regional dean at

St Boniface Church Germiston St Boniface Church is the mother church of the Anglican parish of Germiston, Gauteng which also includes the chapelries of St Mary and St John in Lambton, and St Mark in Rosedeep. The parish is part of the Diocese of the Highveld, which is in ...

, in the then

Transvaal Province The Province of the Transvaal ( af, Provinsie van Transvaal), commonly referred to as the Transvaal (; ), was a province of South Africa from 1910 until 1994, when a new constitution subdivided it following the end of apartheid. The name "Trans ...

, in 1971. He served as Mayor’s Chaplain there in 1976. In February 1978 Snyman made controversial remarks concerning Bishop Tutu just prior to his taking up his position as General Secretary of the

South African Council of Churches The South African Council of Churches (SACC) is an interdenominational forum in South Africa. It was a prominent anti-apartheid organisation during the years of apartheid in South Africa. Its leaders have included Desmond Tutu, Beyers Naudé an ...

. It has been said that Snyman’s "description of the kind of person the Church needs" in fact described Bishop Tutu "through and through."

Dean of Kimberley

In 1978 Snyman was invited to be Dean of Kimberley as successor to Thomas Stanage and was installed as Dean and Rector of the Cathedral on 9 June 1978. He was to serve St Cyprian’s Cathedral until the early 1990s. During this time he was appointed Vicar General (1979 and other occasions when the Bishop was out of the Diocese). He served under Bishops Graham Chadwick and George Alfred Swartz. He was also Priest in Charge to the small parish of St Hubert's

Hartswater Hartswater is an agricultural town on the N18 (South Africa), N18 national route some 23 km south of Taung and 36 km north of Warrenton, Northern Cape, Warrenton. The centre of the Vaalharts Irrigation Scheme, it became a municipality in ...

, and served as a chaplain to the

South African Defence Force The South African Defence Force (SADF) (Afrikaans: ''Suid-Afrikaanse Weermag'') comprised the armed forces of South Africa from 1957 until 1994. Shortly before the state reconstituted itself as a republic in 1961, the former Union Defence F ...

, at a time when sizable groups of conscripted soldiers would attend services at the Cathedral weekly . One of them was moved to refuse to carry arms after a service at St Cyprian's in the later 1980s (as revealed in a sermon at the cathedral in August 2009). Snyman was warden to the sisters of the

Community of St Michael and All Angels The Community of St Michael and All Angels was an Anglican religious order of nuns in South Africa. The Community was founded by Allan Webb, the second Bishop of Bloemfontein in 1874 – although the idea was first mooted by Webb's predecessor, Edw ...

Bloemfontein Bloemfontein, ( ; , "fountain of flowers") also known as Bloem, is one of South Africa's three capital cities and the capital of the Free State (province), Free State province. It serves as the country's judicial capital, along with legisla ...

(the Community had strong historical ties with Kimberley, through, inter alia, Sister

Henrietta Stockdale Sister Henrietta, CSM and AA (9 July 1847 – 6 October 1911) was a British nursing pioneer and Anglican religious sister. Through her influence and pressure the first state registration of nurses and midwives in the world was brought about wh ...

), from 1986. Snyman was Archdeacon of Kimberley from 1988.

Port Elizabeth

Upon his retirement from his post as Dean of Kimberley in 1991, Snyman went to

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, Sou ...

as Vice-Provost and Rector at the Collegiate Church of St Mary the Virgin. In 1996 he was appointed chaplain to the Prince Alfred's Guard Regiment, Port Elizabeth. He retired end of January 2001.

Third Order of the Society of St Francis

Fr Roy Snyman has for long been a member of the

Third Order of the Society of St Francis Franciscan spirituality in Protestantism refers to spirituality in Protestantism inspired by the Catholic friar Saint Francis of Assisi. Emerging since the 19th century, there are several Protestant adherent and groups, sometimes organised as ...

and served as guardian to its Africa South Region from 1995. He is also an associate chaplain of the

Venerable Order of St John The Order of St John, short for Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (french: l'ordre très vénérable de l'Hôpital de Saint-Jean de Jérusalem) and also known as St John International, is a British royal order of c ...

Golden Jubilee

On 7 December 2008 the

golden jubilee A golden jubilee marks a 50th anniversary. It variously is applied to people, events, and nations. Bangladesh In Bangladesh, golden jubilee refers the 50th anniversary year of the separation from Pakistan and is called in Bengali ''"সু ...

of the ordained ministry of Fr Roy Snyman was celebrated in a service in the Cathedral in Port Elizabeth. A lone bagpiper piped the people into the service. The Port Elizabeth Oratorio Choir joined the Cathedral choir to ensure music befitting the occasion.Indaba: Account of the Golden Jubilee
/ref>

Other Appointments and Honours

Snyman is an Honorary Life Member of the Pretoria Boys' High School Old Boys Association. He has been a member of Rotary from his days in Germiston, was president of a branch of the organization in Kimberley, and has been involved in the organization in Port Elizabeth. In 1999 he was made a

Paul Harris Fellow Paul Percy Harris (April 19, 1868 – January 27, 1947) was a Chicago, Illinois, attorney. He founded the club that became the humanitarian organisation Rotary International in 1905. Personal life Harris was born in Racine, Wisconsin, to Ge ...

. Ecclesiastical honours include being made an

honorary canon A canon (from the Latin , itself derived from the Greek , , "relating to a rule", "regular") is a member of certain bodies in subject to an ecclesiastical rule. Originally, a canon was a cleric living with others in a clergy house or, later, i ...

of Kimberley Cathedral (1992) of Bloemfontein Cathedral (1997) and of Port Elizabeth (2008).

Author

Snyman is the author of various articles in church periodicals and magazines, and of a book .

On ordination of women

The Revd Fr Ruthell Johnson of St Paul’s, Parsons Hill, Port Elizabeth, has recalled: "I remember the provincial synod in Swaziland at which the final decision on the ordination of women was made. Fr Roy was part of the team representing the Diocese of Port Elizabeth. He was strongly against the ordination of women, yet as the synod progressed, God was at work within him. At the close of the debate Fr Roy stood up and made an impressive plea to the synod to allow women to enter the priesthood. His speech influenced the synod and when the vote was taken there was an overwhelming majority for the ordination of women."

Arms

Snyman had arms registered by the Bureau of Heraldry on 10 January 1979., Accessed 30 Aug 2009

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Snyman, Robin Roy 1934 births 2020 deaths People from Emakhazeni Local Municipality Deans of Kimberley South African military chaplains White South African people