Apostolic Vicariate of Natal

The Vicariate Apostolic of Natal (Latin: Vicariatus Apostolicus Natalensis) was a Roman Catholic missionary, quasi-diocesan jurisdiction in South Africa.

The history of the Catholic Church in South Africa goes back to 1660, when a French bishop and a few priests were saved from the wreck of the Marichal near the Cape of Good Hope. They were only allowed to land, not to minister to the few Catholics who were already in Cape Town. Only in 1803 a Catholic priest was permitted to say Mass in the Cape Colony. Joannes Lansink, Jacobus Melissen and Lambertua Prinsen landed at Cape Town in 1803; the following year they were expelled.

Pope Pius VII, by letters Apostolic dated 8 June 1818, appointed Edward Bede Slater OSB the first vicar Apostolic of the Cape of Good Hope and the neighbouring islands, Mauritius included. Slater on his way to Mauritius in 1820, left Fr Scully at Cape Town in charge of the Catholics. In 1826 Theodore Wagner became resident priest. He was succeeded by E. Rishton in 1827.

On 6 June 1837, Gregory XVI established the Vicariate of the Cape of Good Hope, separate from Mauritius, and from that time Cape Colony had its own bishops.

South Africa, comprising the country between Cape Agulhas and the tenth degree of south latitude and between the tenth and fortieth degrees of east longitude, was too much for one bishop. On 30 July 1847, Pius IX established a new vicariate in the eastern portion of Cape Colony. This new vicariate included first the eastern district of Cape Colony, Natal and the Orange Free State (Orange River Colony since the late South African war). The same pontiff on 15 November 1830 separated Natal and the Orange Free State from the Eastern Vicariate. The first bishop appointed by Rome to take charge of the Eastern Vicariate was Aidan Devereaux. He was consecrated bishop at Cape Town on 27 December 1847 by Griffith. When Pius IX erected the Vicariate of Natal, on 15 November 1830, the area of the new vicariate comprised all the portion of South Africa extending outside the then existing boundaries of Cape Colony.

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