The sense of peace and tranquility, and the fantastic views one gets of the high alters as you walk in the west doors, you are immediately aware that this is a place of God.
In 1975, a young Desmond Tutu was appointed dean of St Mary’s the Virgin – becoming the first black person to hold the position. This cleric – who was at St Mary’s at the time – recalls how Tutu’s appointment as the church’s first black dean was not welcomed by all in the Anglican Church.Tutu who was the first black man at the Cathedral
Some believed that this house of the Lord was not a place to preach about the country’s political situation.St Mary’s Reverend Peter Place says, “The involvement of Tutu here at the St Mary’s Cathedral as dean was to get the white South Africans to get closer to black South Africans, which, those days was incredible to do because the Cathedral being multiracial since 1960’s.
On his return after 30 years in exile, OR Tambo chose to worship at this church where his wife, Adelaide Tambo, was a church elder who received the Anglican Church’s highest honour.