St Boniface Church Germiston
Encyclopedia
St Boniface Church Germiston is located at 133 Meyer Street in the city of Germiston, which in turn is in the province of Gauteng
, South Africa
. It is the mother church of the Anglican Parish of the city, 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 turn part of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, also known as ACSA. (Previously known as The Church of the Province of Southern Africa.)
The Anglican Parish of Germiston was formally founded in 1897. Prior to the parish being formally established, it was a mission chapelry of the parish of Boksburg, which had been established in 1890. Baptismal, confirmation and marriage records show that mission work existed prior to 1890, going back to the founding of Germiston in 1886. At that time the work of the mission priests fell under the jurisdiction of the diocese of Pretoria
. Originally the parish consisted solely of the Parish Church of St Boniface in what is now the inner city of Germiston. The present church building is the second on the site, designed in 1908 and then built in 1910, both by Sir Herbert Baker. The original church was a tin building with a concrete and stone foundation, very similar in style to the miners' dwellings of the late 19th century and early 20th century period, as was found on the East Rand and the Witwatersrand
in general.
The building of 1910 is typical of the Baker style so prevalent in South Africa and the British Empire
at the turn of the 20th century. There are to be found many similarities with St George's Cathedral in Cape Town
, built in 1901, the exterior of St Mary's Cathedral in Johannesburg
, built in 1927, and the exterior of St George's Church in Parktown
built in 1904. St Michael's Church in Boksburg, built in 1911, has Baker features too, but most of the design and the build were carried out by his architectural business partner, Frank Fleming
.
The parish was originally part of the diocese of Pretoria
, but then became part of the diocese of Johannesburg
when it was founded in 1922. In 1990, when the need arose to split the large diocese of Johannesburg into smaller dioceses, to thus be better administered, the parish of Germiston became part of the diocese of The Highveld.
St Boniface is one of the larger parish churches built by Baker, and indeed one of the few large church buildings designed by him to have been completed as to his original plans. It has seating capacity
for about four hundred people, including the nave, side chapels and chancel. The church, which is of a stone structure throughout, has typical Norman
or Romanesque
features, as found in many of Baker's buildings, including some of the most beautiful stained glass
windows of the early 20th century.
Apart from the gallery
, nave
, chancel
and sanctuary
, the church also has a small Lady Chapel
with seating for twenty congregants and an All Souls
Chapel which is a war memorial to the dead of the First World War and was dedicated as the War Memorial Shrine in August 1918, even before the war had ended. Subsequently, after the various wars that were to follow, involving South African troops, and especially those who were parishioners, the shrine became the chapel seen today, as a memorial to all subsequent conflicts involving the armed forces
.
There is also a crypt
chapel underneath the chancel and sanctuary, which is alongside the columbarium
which was specifically designed for the interment of ashes, and was consecrated for that use by the Rt Revd Timothy Bavin, the then Bishop of Johannesburg in 1977.
The historic two manual Norman and Beard pipe organ, built in 1910, is situated in an organ loft to the right of the chancel as one looks at the high altar. It was designed especially for the church by the company in England and shipped out for the opening of the Baker building. It is considered one of the best English Romantic organs in South Africa
, albeit a humble instrument in relation to its cathedral
counterparts.
Apart from the beautiful architecture and stained glass windows, the church houses some beautiful art works by the famous South African artist and sculptor, Cecil Skotness. The icon
of the Mother and child above the altar in the Lady Chapel is particularly noteworthy.
The church is renowned for its good liturgy
, within the high church
tradition and has maintained an active choral tradition since it was founded. At one time, in 1975, it boasted a choir of thirty-two boys and twelve men, not to mention twelve ladies. These days the choir continues to maintain this tradition and the high standards of the past. The parish is affiliated to the Royal School of Church Music
, and the choir members regularly attend workshops and choir schools run by the local northern branch of the RSCM.
Father Don Thomson, served as rector from November 1997, and retired in January 2010. Mother Marlene Rodda, previously Fr Thomson's assistant, and who looks after the parish social responsibility and outreach, is presently Priest-in-charge, until a new rector is appointed. Father John Rodda, her husband, who is also a Professor of Paediatric Nuerology at the University of the Witwatersrand
and Baragwanath Hospital is the non-stipendary assistant.
Past well-known rectors of the parish have included Fr Gonville ffrench-Beytagh, who later became Dean
of Johannesburg and was subsequently deported by the apartheid government in 1972, Fr Robin Roy Snyman
who became Dean of Kimberley
and later Vice-Provost of Port Elizabeth and Bishop David Albert Beetge who became the first bishop of The Highveld.
2010 sees the commemoration of the centenary of the Sir Herbert Baker Building. Special events have taken place, most especially a thanksgiving service on Sunday the 8th of August, with choir, brass and organ, where the Bishop, the Right Reverend David Bannerman, delivered the homily. The celebrations will conclude with a recital on the one hundred year old organ and the usual Christmas Music Programmes.
Gauteng
Gauteng is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. It was formed from part of the old Transvaal Province after South Africa's first all-race elections on 27 April 1994...
, 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 mother church of the Anglican Parish of the city, 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 turn part of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, also known as ACSA. (Previously known as The Church of the Province of Southern Africa.)
The Anglican Parish of Germiston was formally founded in 1897. Prior to the parish being formally established, it was a mission chapelry of the parish of Boksburg, which had been established in 1890. Baptismal, confirmation and marriage records show that mission work existed prior to 1890, going back to the founding of Germiston in 1886. At that time the work of the mission priests fell under the jurisdiction of the diocese of Pretoria
Pretoria
Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...
. Originally the parish consisted solely of the Parish Church of St Boniface in what is now the inner city of Germiston. The present church building is the second on the site, designed in 1908 and then built in 1910, both by Sir Herbert Baker. The original church was a tin building with a concrete and stone foundation, very similar in style to the miners' dwellings of the late 19th century and early 20th century period, as was found on the East Rand and the Witwatersrand
Witwatersrand
The Witwatersrand is a low, sedimentary range of hills, at an elevation of 1700–1800 metres above sea-level, which runs in an east-west direction through Gauteng in South Africa. The word in Afrikaans means "the ridge of white waters". Geologically it is complex, but the principal formations...
in general.
The building of 1910 is typical of the Baker style so prevalent in South Africa and the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
at the turn of the 20th century. There are to be found many similarities with St George's Cathedral 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...
, built in 1901, the exterior of St Mary's Cathedral in Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
, built in 1927, and the exterior of St George's Church in Parktown
Parktown
Parktown is a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa, the first suburb north of the inner-city. It is affectionately known as one of the Parks, others including Parkview, Parkwood, Westcliff, Parktown North, Parkhurst and Forest Town...
built in 1904. St Michael's Church in Boksburg, built in 1911, has Baker features too, but most of the design and the build were carried out by his architectural business partner, Frank Fleming
Frank Fleming
Frank Fleming was a Gaelic football player for Mayo in their cup-winning season. He started Champion Fire Defences after retiring from the league.-References:...
.
The parish was originally part of the diocese of Pretoria
Pretoria
Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...
, but then became part of the diocese of Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
when it was founded in 1922. In 1990, when the need arose to split the large diocese of Johannesburg into smaller dioceses, to thus be better administered, the parish of Germiston became part of the diocese of The Highveld.
St Boniface is one of the larger parish churches built by Baker, and indeed one of the few large church buildings designed by him to have been completed as to his original plans. It has seating capacity
Seating capacity
Seating capacity refers to the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, both in terms of the physical space available, and in terms of limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats...
for about four hundred people, including the nave, side chapels and chancel. The church, which is of a stone structure throughout, has typical Norman
Norman architecture
About|Romanesque architecture, primarily English|other buildings in Normandy|Architecture of Normandy.File:Durham Cathedral. Nave by James Valentine c.1890.jpg|thumb|200px|The nave of Durham Cathedral demonstrates the characteristic round arched style, though use of shallow pointed arches above the...
or Romanesque
Romanesque architecture
Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...
features, as found in many of Baker's buildings, including some of the most beautiful stained glass
Stained glass
The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...
windows of the early 20th century.
Apart from the gallery
Long gallery
Long gallery is an architectural term given to a long, narrow room, often with a high ceiling. In British architecture, long galleries were popular in Elizabethan and Jacobean houses. They were often located on the upper floor of the great houses of the time, and stretched across the entire...
, nave
Nave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
, chancel
Chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...
and sanctuary
Sanctuary
A sanctuary is any place of safety. They may be categorized into human and non-human .- Religious sanctuary :A religious sanctuary can be a sacred place , or a consecrated area of a church or temple around its tabernacle or altar.- Sanctuary as a sacred place :#Sanctuary as a sacred place:#:In...
, the church also has a small Lady Chapel
Lady chapel
A Lady chapel, also called Mary chapel or Marian chapel, is a traditional English term for a chapel inside a cathedral, basilica, or large church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary...
with seating for twenty congregants and an All Souls
All Souls
All Souls may refer to:* All Souls' Day* All Souls College, Oxford* A church dedicated to All Souls, for example:** All Souls Church, Unitarian in Washington, DC** All Souls Church, Langham Place, London** Unitarian Church of All Souls, New York City...
Chapel which is a war memorial to the dead of the First World War and was dedicated as the War Memorial Shrine in August 1918, even before the war had ended. Subsequently, after the various wars that were to follow, involving South African troops, and especially those who were parishioners, the shrine became the chapel seen today, as a memorial to all subsequent conflicts involving the armed forces
Armed forces
The armed forces of a country are its government-sponsored defense, fighting forces, and organizations. They exist to further the foreign and domestic policies of their governing body, and to defend that body and the nation it represents from external aggressors. In some countries paramilitary...
.
There is also a crypt
Crypt
In architecture, a crypt is a stone chamber or vault beneath the floor of a burial vault possibly containing sarcophagi, coffins or relics....
chapel underneath the chancel and sanctuary, which is alongside the columbarium
Columbarium
A columbarium is a place for the respectful and usually public storage of cinerary urns . The term comes from the Latin columba and originally referred to compartmentalized housing for doves and pigeons .The Columbarium of Pomponius Hylas is a particularly fine ancient Roman example, rich in...
which was specifically designed for the interment of ashes, and was consecrated for that use by the Rt Revd Timothy Bavin, the then Bishop of Johannesburg in 1977.
The historic two manual Norman and Beard pipe organ, built in 1910, is situated in an organ loft to the right of the chancel as one looks at the high altar. It was designed especially for the church by the company in England and shipped out for the opening of the Baker building. It is considered one of the best English Romantic organs in 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...
, albeit a humble instrument in relation to its cathedral
Cathedral
A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...
counterparts.
Apart from the beautiful architecture and stained glass windows, the church houses some beautiful art works by the famous South African artist and sculptor, Cecil Skotness. The icon
Icon
An icon is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, from Eastern Christianity and in certain Eastern Catholic churches...
of the Mother and child above the altar in the Lady Chapel is particularly noteworthy.
The church is renowned for its good liturgy
Liturgy
Liturgy is either the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to its particular traditions or a more precise term that distinguishes between those religious groups who believe their ritual requires the "people" to do the "work" of responding to the priest, and those...
, within the high church
High church
The term "High Church" refers to beliefs and practices of ecclesiology, liturgy and theology, generally with an emphasis on formality, and resistance to "modernization." Although used in connection with various Christian traditions, the term has traditionally been principally associated with the...
tradition and has maintained an active choral tradition since it was founded. At one time, in 1975, it boasted a choir of thirty-two boys and twelve men, not to mention twelve ladies. These days the choir continues to maintain this tradition and the high standards of the past. The parish is affiliated to the Royal School of Church Music
Royal School of Church Music
The largest church music organisation in Britain, the Royal School of Church Music was founded in 1927 by Sir Sydney Nicholson and has 11,000 members worldwide; it was originally named the School of English Church Music. It seeks to enable church music in the present and invest in its future,...
, and the choir members regularly attend workshops and choir schools run by the local northern branch of the RSCM.
Father Don Thomson, served as rector from November 1997, and retired in January 2010. Mother Marlene Rodda, previously Fr Thomson's assistant, and who looks after the parish social responsibility and outreach, is presently Priest-in-charge, until a new rector is appointed. Father John Rodda, her husband, who is also a Professor of Paediatric Nuerology at the University of the Witwatersrand
University of the Witwatersrand
The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg is a South African university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University...
and Baragwanath Hospital is the non-stipendary assistant.
Past well-known rectors of the parish have included Fr Gonville ffrench-Beytagh, who later became Dean
Dean (religion)
A dean, in a church context, is a cleric holding certain positions of authority within a religious hierarchy. The title is used mainly in the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church.-Anglican Communion:...
of Johannesburg and was subsequently deported by the apartheid government in 1972, Fr Robin Roy Snyman
Robin Roy Snyman
The Reverend Canon Robin Roy Snyman is a priest in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, who served as Dean of Kimberley and Rector of St Cyprian’s Cathedral, and afterwards was Vice-Provost at the Church of St Mary the Virgin, Port Elizabeth...
who became Dean of Kimberley
Kimberley, Northern Cape
Kimberley is a city in South Africa, and the capital of the Northern Cape. It is located near the confluence of the Vaal and Orange Rivers. The town has considerable historical significance due its diamond mining past and siege during the Second Boer War...
and later Vice-Provost of Port Elizabeth and Bishop David Albert Beetge who became the first bishop of The Highveld.
2010 sees the commemoration of the centenary of the Sir Herbert Baker Building. Special events have taken place, most especially a thanksgiving service on Sunday the 8th of August, with choir, brass and organ, where the Bishop, the Right Reverend David Bannerman, delivered the homily. The celebrations will conclude with a recital on the one hundred year old organ and the usual Christmas Music Programmes.