Swellendam, St. Patrick's Catholic Church

Abstract

Photographs and information on St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Swellendam with pictures of the church bell, interior and exterior of building. A surprising bell was found in the St Patrick’s Catholic Church on the main road in the city. The parish has been established in 1881 but the bell is much younger. The bell hangs a loose metal frame and is rather modest. Decorations on the bell are minimal but sufficient to get the necessary information on the founding. On one waist of the bell one finds ST. MICHAEL while on the other figures the emblem of the foundry. The emblem consists of a bell in which one finds the inscription ANNO DOMINI 1961 and below this PASSAU. Above the bell is the founder’s name RUDOLF PERNER while below it stands the factory number 1465. Founding traditions in the Perner family in the German area probably started in 1702 when Johannes Perner became citizen in Pilsen, now the Czech Republic. One of his sons Josef went to Budweis to continue the trade and during his life time he delivered bells to Western Africa. One of his descendants moved the foundry from Budweis to Passau-Hackberg in 1946. That foundry remained active in bell founding until 2013. More on the foundry and its history can be found on the webside of the company www.perner.be. The dedication to St Michael rather than to St Patrick, to which the church has been devoted, is strange. It is possible that the bell has been made for another church but was later installed in the church in Swellendam. Further research might help to get an explanation for this unusual naming.