The history of the parishes in the Diocese of Eshowe

Nandi

(1961)

The administrator of the Vicariate Apostolic of Eshowe, Fr. Theodos Schall, bought a 215-hectare (531 acre) farm at Mkindini outside Melmoth in September, 1945, in the hope that this would greatly improve the economic situation of the vicariate. The purchasing price was £ 2 125 or about £ 4 per acre. The price would have been twice as high had the sale not included the condition that the previous owner, Mr. Jenkinson, would have the right to cut seventy acres of mature black wattle (chronicle of Nandi 1961-1962, pg. 137).

"The purchase of the property meant that the Catholics could now enter a rather barren patch in the vineyard of the Lord," explains the chronicler. "Many people in the neighbourhood are not very happy about this as most of them belong to different sects. The Anglicans in particular feel that we are treading on their toes. They have a school-chapel close by with a good number of Christians. However, many of them are lax or have fallen away so that church attendance is rather poor" (chronicle of Nandi 1961-1962, pg. 138).

The property which became known as Nandi Farm comprises steep hills and deep valleys. For the first fifteen years the land was leased out and did not generate much income for the Benedictines. In 1960, Bishop Bilgeri decided to exploit the full economic potential of the farm by establishing a mission station. A monastery­like building with a chapel was erected around a courtyard and opened on March 15, 1961. Bishop Bilgeri chose Fr. Gerard Schempp and Bro. Alexander Grotter to start the new mission. They celebrated Mass for the first time in the new chapel, dedicated to St. Conrad of Parzham, on April 24, 1961. The Nandi Mission had never more than five hundred Catholics. Pastoral work was limited to a few small outstations.

Soon after a mission station was opened at Nandi, plans were made to plant sugar­cane which promised a better financial return than the black wattle plantation. In April 1965, the Sugar Board granted a ninety-six-hectare sugar quota to the Nandi Farm. However, heavy investments were required to build the necessary roads and infrastructre on the farm and to buy tractors and machinery. The first sugar cane harvest took place in the 1968 season when 3766 tonnes of cane were cut.

After the death of Fr. Elmar Kimmel in July 1980, Bro. Ansfried Machatsch was left alone on the Nandi Mission Farm. The dwindling number of missionaries made it impossible to staff the mission in a way prescribed by the constitutions of the Benedictines. Bishop Mansuet Biyase therefore decided to sell the farm together with all the buildings and implements. Bro. Ansfried left Nandi in April 1982. The Nandi farm was sold "lock, stock and barrel" for R 400 000 in May 1982. The parish of Nandi had already been incorporated into the Melmoth parish in 1980.

Parish Priests of Nandi

1. Gerard Schempp OSB April 1961 ­ July 1964
2. Valentine Kempf OSB April 1965 ­ Aug. 1965
3. Heribert Ruf OSB Feb. 1966 ­ Jan. 1969
4. Elmar Kimmel OSB March 1969 ­ Feb. 1971
5. Ruprecht Wolf OSB March 1971 ­ Jan. 1974
6. Meinrad Gerstl OSB Jan. 1974 ­ Nov. 1975
7. Theodore Landmann OSB Nov. 1975 ­ Dec. 1977
8. Elmar Kimmel OSB Nov. 1978 ­ July 1980

Assistant Priests at Nandi

1. Theodore Landmann OSB April 1962 ­ Aug. 1962
2. Wolfgang Stelzer OSB Aug. 1962 ­ Feb. 1963
3. Peter Scholz OSB May 1963 ­ July 1963
4. Odilo Schwarz OSB July 1963 ­ July 1964
5. Leopold Meier OSB July 1964 ­ April 1965
6. Ruprecht Wolf OSB Aug. 1965 ­ Feb. 1966
7. Valentine Kempf OSB July 1967 ­ Nov. 1967
8. Peter Scholz OSB Jan. 1969 ­ Feb. 1969
9. Peter Ndwandwe Dec. 1970 ­ March 1971

Benedictine Brothers at Nandi

1. Alexander Grotter OSB April 1961 ­ July 1975
2. Dietrich Schmid OSB March 1966 ­ July 1971
3. Magnus Rau OSB Oct. 1968 ­ Dec. 1972
4. Ansfried Machatsch OSB March 1972 ­ April 1982
5. Dietrich Schmid OSB June 1972 ­ Dec. 1972
6. Stephen Ebert OSB May 1977 ­ May 1978

This page was last updated on 24.10.06 17:41:24