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JOLIVET, Charles Constant

Born: 1826 01 09
Died: 1903 09 15

Clergyman - Bishop


Was born in Pont L'Abbe, France and ordained in 1849. He was sent to England where he served as a priest in Liverpool, among other places. As Assistant General of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate he visited British Columbia and Texas and as a young curate he commissioned Pugin to design the Church of the Holy Cross in Liverpool. He returned to Paris and was appointed Bishop of Bellina in Syria and later vicar apostolic of Natal. He was consecrated Bishop of Natal in Paris on 30 November 1874 and arrived in Durban in March 1875. His diocese included the whole of Natal, the Orange Free State and the Transvaal. Jolivet persuaded Rome to subdivide this area, and to Jolivet can be ascribed a large part of the success of the growth of the Catholic Church in South Africa: the number of church buildings for instance, increased from the three at his arrival to the eighty churches built by his Jubilee in 1899. He had a keen interest in building and he was the designer of several buildings in Pietermaritzburg, bringing Father Henry LENOIR, who was in charge of the building of Pugin's Church of the Holy Cross in Liverpool, to South Africa in 1876. Jolivet was the inspiration behind such buildings as St Joseph's Church, Durban (designed by GOLDIE, CHILD & GOLDIE) and the Emmanuel Cathedral in Durban; his keen interest in architecture prompted the design of several outstanding buildings for the Catholic community in South Africa, and indeed, Jolivet considered himself 'something of an architect' (Natalia no 15, Nov 1985:85-94). He died in Durban.

List of projects

With photographs
With notes

Bishop Jolivet, own residence: c1876. Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal - Architect
Convent of the Holy Family: c1876. Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal - Architect
Father Sabon's Monument, Catholic cemetery: 1886. Durban, KwaZulu-Natal - Architect
Presbytery: St Mary's Church: c1876. Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal - Architect
St Charles Grammar School: 1876. Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal - Architect

Books citing JOLIVET

Durban City Council & Natal Provincial Institute of Architects. 1974. A first listing of the most important places and buildings in Durban. Durban: Durban City Council. pp 22

HSRC. 1972. Dictionary of South African Biography Volume II. Pretoria: Tafelberg for The Human Sciences Research Council. pp 343-344

Kearney, Brian. 1973. Architecture in Natal from 1824-1893. Cape Town: Balkema. pp 34, 36, 37, 45, 52

Lloyds Greater Britain Publishing. 1906. Twentieth century impressions of Natal : its people, commerce, industries, and resources. Durban: Lloyds Greater Britain Publishing. pp 139