Ngome Marian Shrine

The Ngome Marian Shrine is a shrine dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary in Ngome, KwaZulu-Natal, where Sister Reinolda May, member of the Benedictine Sisters of Tutzing, experienced ten visions between 22 August 1955 and 2 May 1971. In these apparitions, the Virgin Mary appeared to her and identified herself as "the Tabernacle of the Most High." Although veneration was not initially supported by the local bishop, the site became a popular destination for pilgrims, and in the 1990s was acknowledged by the diocese as a "place of prayer," with organized pilgrimage actively promoted. It is one of the most popular pilgrim's sites in southern Africa.

Servant of God Sister Reinolda May was born 21 October 1901 in Pfahlheim, a small village in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart. She was baptized as Francisca, and went to a boarding school in Hochaltingen, where she was taught domestic science by Franciscan Sisters. She entered the local convent and became interested in the mission. Her parish priest, Fr. Eugene Adis, suggested she join the Benedictine Sisters of Tutzing, a missionary order, but this was disallowed on health grounds. She tried again and was accepted in 1922, and professed in 1925. She left for the mission in South Africa in 1925 and it was there that she pronounced her final vows in 1928. For ten years she worked in Mbongolwane in KwaZulu-Natal and at Inkamana Abbey. She learned Zulu and when the Sisters were allowed to assist in childbirth she began a study of midwifery, the first sister in Zululand to do so. She obtained her diploma in 1938 and in the same year opened the maternity section in the Benedictine Mission Hospital in Nongoma. From then on, Sister Reinolda became a popular and well-known figure in the district, earning a nickname from the local Zulus (Sister Mashiyane, on account of her bushy eyebrows). She led the section until the government takeover of the hospital in 1976. During her tenure, 28,000 births were registered there. After retiring, she continued to visit the sick and the dying in the hospital, and in 1980 was diagnosed with colon cancer. She died at Inkamana on 1 April 1981, and is buried at Inkamana Abbey.

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