Dear brothers and sisters
Welcome to St Lucia! Welcome to Isimangaliso, a Zulu word meaning place of wonders. It is indeed so.
The iSimangaliso Wetland Park was listed as South Africa’s first World Heritage Site in December 1999 in recognition of its superlative natural beauty and unique global values.
The Catholic Church has been present in St Lucia since 1965 offering not only the Sunday Mass to local people and visitors but also a quiet place of retreat where people could come to pray and be alone with the Lord.
St Lucia has proved to be an excellent place to do so. It is not only a quiet place but a place of wonders, where we see God’s hand at work!
There is something else: “The name”.
Saint Lucy (283-304), also known as Saint Lucia, was a wealthy young Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint by Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and Orthodox Christians.Her name is therefore a symbol of communion of different Christian churches.
St. Lucia was first named in 1554 – “Rio de Areias de Ouro” (River of the sands of gold) by the survivors of the Portuguese ship Saint Benedict. At this stage the Tugela river mouth was known as St. Lucia.
Later, in 1575, the Tugela river was properly named Tugela and St. Lucia received its current name. Later Mission Rocks was named in 1888, when a Catholic Mission was established on the Eastern Shores, approximately 10km north of the St. Lucia mouth.