LLandaff Oratory

Llandaff Oratory

Llandaff Oratory
Basic information
Location Van Reenen, South Africa
Geographic coordinates 28°22′36″S 29°22′43″E / 28.3767°S 29.3786°E / -28.3767; 29.3786
Affiliation Roman Catholic Church
Ecclesiastical or organizational status Oratory

Llandaff Oratory is an oratory in Van Reenen, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The oratory was built by Maynard Mathews in memory of his son Llandaff Mathews who died while saving the lives of eight colleagues at the Burnside Colliery mine on 19 March 1925.

Initially, Maynard Mathews wanted to erect a plaque in honour of his son at the Roman Catholic Church in Ladysmith, but could not secure permission to do so. Determined that a memorial to his son should be placed in a church, Maynard decided to build his own, have it consecrated a Catholic church and become a priest himself (he was ordained in the Dominicans on 7 May 1926).[1]

The oratory seats just eight people, apparently the same number of people Llandaff saved in the mine accident, and is architecturally based on a wing of the Cardiff Cathedral in Wales.

The Llandaff Oratory is a Heritage Landmark (formerly called a National Monument).

See also

References

Notes

  1. ↑ "Llandaff Oratory". 2007-06-27. Retrieved 2008-09-13.

Media related to Llandaff Oratory at Wikimedia Commons

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 6/2/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.