The Sunday News
Bruce Ndlovu, Sunday Life Reporter
NO two stones at St Mary’s Basilica of the Immaculate Conception are alike.
When the stonemasons began work on the cathedral 118 years ago, their hands did not conceive any twins. Back in those days, there were no great earth movers to scoop up the hard African soil, paving the way and making life easy for the builders. There were no machines to cut and break the hard granite, harvested from the stubborn hills of Matopos, into fine, perfect angled shapes.
Instead, it was built by a combination of toil and brute strength, as day and night the architects of what would eventually become one of only 22 basilicas in the whole of Africa (and only one in Southern Africa) fashioned granite, by chisel and hammer, into one of the most enduring landmarks in a city filled with them.
Last week, President Mnangagwa paid homage to this landmark by visiting it as part of his tour of the Bulawayo Urban Heritage Corridor. From those days of hard labour at the beginning of the 20th Century, to a visit by the country’s Head of State, the basilica on Lobengula Street has come full cycle.
For Danisa Mpofu, a parishioner and custodian of the architectural history of the basilica, every stone at St Mary’s tells a story of its construction. While others see hard grey rock, he sees a smiling face inviting a sinner to seek penance within its walls.
“The face of the building has a lot of information,” he told Sunday Life. “By looking at it, you can draw a lot of information. Architectural artistes will tell you that this building is smiling because it is designed in such a way that it invites people that want spiritual services. On the right-hand side, we got this bell tower, which is called the campanile. The bells are rung to mark time or to call worshippers to service.
“It is also used to mark special events, like during Easter the risen Christ is marked by the ringing of the bells on Easter Sunday. The Campanile, the doors and windows all form what we call the façade of the church. This façade is facing the profane world, the outside world, and it is so because it is meant to invite people to the divine world.”
According to Mpofu, every step from the cathedral’s gate, where the red carpet was rolled out for President Mnangagwa as he walked towards the basilica’s doors for the first time, carries significance.
“There are three transition points. First of all, the minute you step in at the gate, you have entered the sacred space.
So, the first transition is from the gate to the steps. From the steps, you enter the first doors of the church. There are two sets of doors. There are first doors that open to the outside world and another set of doors going to the outside world. The narthex of the church houses the baptismal font and the cry rooms for parents that would be crying or who would want to be breastfed and participate in the liturgical services without interrupting the generality of the parishioners,” he said.
As President Mnangagwa made rounds at other venues in the city on Thursday, archbishop Alex Kaliyanil led his flock as they spruced up their hallowed home. As they did so, also warming up their voices on the church’s right flank was the church’s famed choir, which, despite being steeped in Catholic traditions, also uses traditional Zimbabwean music instruments to great harmonious effect.
“If you look up, in the narthex you find the choir loft and that is where the choir ordinarily assemblies for sacred music. In that choir loft is an organ with 300 pipes which is so unique that it’s the only one in Southern Africa. Music tourists love this and in 2019 we had the Germans coming here to make music and record on this organ. It’s not 100 percent functional but it can produce quite good music.
“The choir loft used to accommodate 25 members maximum. But with the admission of the traditional music instruments like the drums and the horns the choir has grown bigger and that’s why you find it accommodated within the church,” he said.
The basilica was designed in the style of a ship, as its architects envisioned it as a vessel, albeit one landlocked on Lobengula Street, carrying passengers within its granite belly through stormy waters towards the safety of a holy harbour.
“As you come into the church and look towards the altar, you can see the arrangement of the pews. This has a significance because we call this part of the church the nave of the church. It is because we believe that people in here are sitting like those on a ship, which means the pilgrim church is an ark of salvation where people are travelling in the treacherous waters of life towards heaven.
“If you look at the structure, there are pillars that run throughout the length of the building. This is what makes it a basilica form. A basilica form consists of the pillars and side isles. You can see the arches on top of the pillars, called triforiums from Gothic architecture, and they support the pillars which in turn support the walls,” he said.
Beauty of St Mary’s Basilica
Supporting the granite, the pillars and windows that seem as long as doors of a normal building is a 300-tonne copper concrete roof. It is thought to be the only one of its kind in the City of Kings.
“This is the only building in the city, as far as I know, that had a copper roof. Due to this, the building is so heavy and that’s why it has to be supported by pillars. Going further, we have these rooms called confessionals. The reason why you find a low rate of suicidal incidents among the Catholics is because of the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
“These rooms provide space for parishioners to participate in that. If you’ve done something wrong and you want to cleanse your heart you come in here and confess before a priest and you get absolution and life continues,” Mpofu said.
The most important and sacred part of the basilica is the sanctuary, which houses the all-important altar.
“The sanctuary is the most holy place. Only Ministers and Deputy Ministers are allowed into it. In it, you will find the altar, which is at the centre. The altar is the most sacred part of the church. The whole church is built for the altar, not the other way round. That’s where the scared rites are carried. On the left is the bishop’s chair and it is called the cathedra. So, the cathedral is named after this chair. Nobody except the bishop can sit on it,” he said.
When President Mnangagwa reached the sanctuary on Thursday, he went on bended knees. Although he is Methodist, the gesture was recognition of one of the church’s most sacred traditions. For all its beauty and history, the basilica is still a place of worship and recognition of the presence of Christ within its 118-year-old granite blocks is expected for all devotees who walk on its floor.
“The church was built in cruciform. It is because Catholics believe in the crucifix. As you are sitting you can see that it is shaped like a cross. You can visualise Christ lying in the middle, his hands outstretched and his head is resting on the sanctuary. That’s why the sanctuary is raised higher than the rest of the church.
“At the back of the altar, you have the tabernacle. This is why when you see when Catholics go into church they genuflect, which is going on bended knees then coming up. This is a prayer of recognising the presence of Christ in the tabernacle. To signify his presence, we have two lights on the pillars that are always lit. They’re only off on Good Friday until the Easter Virgil,” he said.
