History of Benedictine hospital

The history of Benedictine hospital goes way back to 1926 when the Benedictines founded Nongoma. They started a mission east of Nongoma-Vryheid road, about 1 kilometre North of the Nongoma village. In 1935, the station was moved to a new and much larger property west of the main road. Over the next 40 years Nongoma became by far the biggest mission institute in Zululand and the mission hospital was at the centre of the whole complex. It was officially started in 1937.

 It had developed into one of the largest mission hospitals in the country thanks to the efforts of the Benedictine sisters of Tutzing. They devoted themselves mainly to the care of the sick. In 1938 they opened a maternity wing, further sections were added in the course of time: a general hospital, a children’s ward, a TB patient ward and finally a training school for nurses. African Benedictine sisters better known as Twasana sisters came to Nongoma in 1940 to assist the Tutzing sisters in their apostolate.

 They started a mission east of Nongoma-Vryheid road, about 1 kilometre North of the Nongoma village. In 1935, the mission was moved to a new and much larger property west of the main road. Over the next 40 years Nongoma became by far the biggest mission institute in Zululand and the mission hospital was at the centre of the whole complex. It was officially started in 1937.

 It had developed into one of the largest mission hospitals in the country thanks to the efforts of the Benedictine sisters of Tutzing. They devoted themselves mainly to the care of the sick. In 1938 they opened a maternity wing,further sections were added in the course of time: a general hospital, a children’s ward, a TB patient ward and finally a training school for nurses. African Benedictine sisters better known as Twasana sisters came to Nongoma in 1940 to assist the Tutzing sisters in their apostolate. It was due to the efforts of Fr. Ignatius Jutz that the Benedictines were able to run the hospital. He was the superior of the mission from 1947 to 1960 and the hospital secretary from 1947 to 1967. He devoted himself to the improvement of the health service. In June 1976 the hospital was handed over to the Government. And all the above-mentioned brothers were withdrawn from the hospital when it became a government institution

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This page last edited on 15 May, 2023

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