A Brief History

In 1951, the then Archbishop of Cape Town, Cardinal Owen McCann, asked the Carmelite Community in Rivonia,  Johannesburg (founded in 1931) if they could make a foundation in Cape Town.  The Rivonia Carmel sent four sister to Cape Town in 1952,  and began the foundation in a four-roomed house belonging to the Dominican Sisters at Wynberg.  The first Mass was celebrated on November 24, 1952, and the four foundresses began to live their vocation of love, prayer and self-offering to God, for His glory and for the Church, especially for our priests, and for all people in need of God’s mercy.

Our Lord was pleased with their generosity, and the community received many good vocations, and the original little house was extended into a large monastery with the help of benefactors.

However, in later years vocations diminished and many of the elderly sisters passed to their eternal reward.  The remaining sisters could no longer maintain the large monastery, and in May 2001 they transferred to a smaller single-storey convent in Retreat, where they were joined in April 2002 by five sisters from the Carmel in Jaro, Iloilo, Philippines.  These five generous missionaries brought new life to the community, and enabled Carmel in
Cape Town to grow and blossom into new life and promise for the future.  With the grace of God, the new united community intends to live and promote the charism of Our Holy Mother St. Teresa as ‘Daughters of the Church’ and in the words of St. Therese, ‘To be love in the heart of my Mother the Church’.