The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate are a Religious Congregation of men
founded by St Eugene De Mazenod in 1816 in Aix in Province – Southern
France. In 1852 the first four members arrived in Port Natal, as Durban was
then known, to begin the missionary activity of the Catholic Church in the
area and beyond. Nine years later they opened the first Catholic mission in
Roma among the Basotho. By the end of the century evidence of their missionary
activity could be found as far south as Umtata and Cala which lie in the
Eastern Cape, Roma and Leribe in present day Lesotho, the Diamond Diggings of
Kimberley and the Gold Fields of the Rand. Their first member died ministering
to the typhoid patients in Bultfontein, near Kimberley, in 1871. When the law
barring Catholic Worship in the South African Republic (later Transvaal) was
lifted in 1872, their first organised missionary attempts focused on the areas
of the gold rush, viz. Pilgrims Rest 1875 and Johannesburg 1887.
The Transvaal Province of the congregation was established as a
separate church province in 1886. Since then this province has been
responsible through the work of its priests and brothers for the establishment
of the Catholic Church up to the Limpopo River. Since the beginning of the
century, 1900, many other religious Congregations joined them in the
development of the Church in this area. The Missionary Oblates of Mary
Immaculate of the Transvaal Province exercise their missionary charism to all
peoples of this region by bringing the Good News to the poor, as St Eugene
intended.
Our Mission
To evangelize the poor of Southern Africa working for Justice and Peace among
her people; and dedicate to place them in the care of Mary the Immaculate Mother
of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Congregation Profile
The word 'Oblate' means "one who is dedicated to
religious life and work"; we are, with the prayers of Mary Conceived Without Original Sin completely devoted to the spread of The Good News as
Christian Catholics among the poor of Southern Africa and the whole world.
Pope Leo XII approved the Congregation of the Oblates of Mary
Immaculate on the 17th February 1826, and from then it spread from
Marseilles first to Canada to Texas, Celon and to Natal.
Our Holy Father Pope John Paul II is well aquainted with the Oblates'
who were instrumental in his education as a young man.
Several of our local bishops including Archbishop Thihagale &
Hurley (Emeritus) and Bishops Khumalo; Risi & Hecht, have been
Oblates. In the Transvaal Province our Provincial is Fr Sam Kataka.
Contact Information
Please feel free to contact us on any of the media below:
- Telephone
- +27 11 782-4935 (+2
Hours GMT)
- FAX
- +27 11 888-3939
- Postal address
- No 3 Third Avenue, Victory Park, Johannesburg Gauteng, 2195 Republic
of South Africa
- Electronic mail
- General Information: omitvl@netactive.co.za
Webmaster: reply@worldonline.co.za
Missionary
Oblates of Mary Immaculate
