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cost of £300, to be installed behind the high altar. The design chosen was Our Lady of the Sea

with St. John and St. James on either side. Father Duignam was delighted, especially when he
saw his own patron saint as one of the hallowed trio. Eighteen months later, on the 15 December

1925, he retired from parish work. His farewell was an emotional occasion but age was

beginning to tell.

According to an account written by Sisters who were present that day:

“The day he was going he came into the school, a sad, lonely, pathetic old figure -

a sight never to be forgotten - to say goodbye to the children, his silvery locks
flowing down his neck and the tears streaming down his poor old face. He went

round, touched every stone of the building, blessed the children, but could scarcely
speak, and, of course, neither could we, for all, big and small had dissolved into

tears.”

He went as chaplain to the small Dominican Convent at Bonnievale, where he died in 1931 aged

85.

Thus 20 years had elapsed since Father Duignam and Bishop Rooney had sat down to design a
recreational centre for sick nuns. They had unwittingly created an outstanding local Catholic

School which, by 1924, housed nearly 150 pupils from kindergarten through to matric, as well as
11 sisters and 23 boarders.

References

Records of Star of the Sea housed in the Dominican Region House, 73 St. John’s St., Cape
Town.

Dominican Convent Star of the Sea, 1908 - 1958 Jubilee Souvenir.

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