Glimpse into the Past

The Marist Brothers’ main Archives are housed in the General House in Rome. In the Province Archives are found at Sacred Heart College, Observatory. These Archives contain material going back to the early 1800’s. The Archivist, Brother Martin Whiteford FMS, is at present Superior of the Durban Community, and thus has only occasional opportunity of delving into them. In any case, the Provincial Archives deal mainly with the Congregational matters, then the Brothers’ own history, especially the lives of the Brothers who have worked in this part of the world. (If you want the life of any Brother who has worked in please contact Brother Martin at martinw@sthenrys.co.za and he will gladly e-mail you.) We get many requests for the Standard Six results of grandfathers who attended e.g. Marist Uitenhage in 1885! This type of information is unlikely to be found!

However, here at St Henry’s the School is establishing its own Archives room in the new Learning and Resource Centre. During the course of this year the material will be sorted and organised into a database.

In the meantime Brother Martin has written up some Glimpses of the Past and will continue to do so.

Opening its doors on the 4th of February 1929, St Henry’s has grown through the decades building its own history, whilst experiencing and living through the history of the world outside. Here, you have the chance to glimpse into the past, remembering and learning more about those who have contributed to the school’s successful learning environment, as well as remembering various events and occasions that have shaped the Marist family. >>More

The Year 1977
Download PDF file for 1977 (363kb)

The Year 1966
Click here to read more about 1966 (PDF file).

The Year 1955
I have chosen 1955 this month for a particular reason. For the Marist world it was a very exciting year as our Founder, at the time, Venerable Marcellin Champagnat was to be beatified by the Pope, Pius X11. Let’s see what was happening at St Henry’s that year, and then look at the Beatification Ceremony in Rome >> More

The Year 1950
Download PDF file for 1950 (425kb)

56 YEARS AGO

Let’s take a look at the school in mid-twentieth century-in 1950.The Marist Community consisted of Brothers Macartin (Irish), Adalbeaud (German),Ephrem (S.A.), Osmund (Australian), Eugene (Irish), Lewis (Scot), Paul Benedict (Canadian), William (German) and Manuel (Spanish). Brother Osmond had been Provincial in S.A. and was due to return to Australia. He sailed on Feb 27 on the “City of Khartoum”.

One of the great advantages of the pupils of the time was the unconscious absorption of so many cultures, whereas in surrounding schools the whole culture and influence was localised.

Nowadays the hall is dedicated to Brother Adalbeaud. Lets look a bit at this man. I keep on insisting that what the boy sees is the Brother, what we see is the man.

Ignace Freytag was born in Saxony, then part of West Prussia, in 1886, the son of the local mayor Jules Freytag and Agnes Sedelmayer. His parents moved to Wartenburg, where some of his brothers were born. In 1898, at the age of 12, he entered the Marist Juniorate and four years later took the habit in Arlon, one of five brothers to do so Adalbertus, Pius, Leo and Louis Venerand being the others.

In the traumatic year 1903 when the Brothers were having so much trouble in France, Brother Adalbaud, having been posted to Amiens, had to leave France. He was posted to Duncan Terrace in London, and in the next 6 years he also taught at Castlerea in Ireland before returning to London.

For the next quarter of a century he taught in Australasia, first in Sydney, at St Benedict's and St Joseph's, then in the Pacific Islands in Samoa and at Tuakau, where his occupation is described as "malade". Because of this he was sent to Auckland, where he remained until 1933, when he left for South Africa, where he joined up with the two remaining Freytags as reported in the Southern Cross of 31.1.1934.