Last modified: 2025-05-31 by bruce berry
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Although the Anglican Ecclesiastical Province of Southern Africa embraces the
entire southern portion of the continent from Angola southward
including Mozambique, Lesotho, and
Swaziland, as its archdiocesan see is located in
Cape
Town, in the Republic of South Africa, I feel justified in giving the entire
Province the classification <za>. While the Province has a lovely logo, I have
not been able to find any evidence of an actual flag, if members can confirm
this I would be most grateful.
Neither the Province itself nor any of the 26 individual dioceses seem to have
flags, and very few of them except some of the older ones which have not been
dismembered to create new ones have any sort of heraldic presence either.
I find this rather strange as the Anglican Communion has had a presence in
southern Africa since the first quarter of the 19th century. Many of the
dioceses are new, having only been established since the end of the apartheid
regime in the Republic of South Africa and the adherence of Mozambique to the
Commonwealth.; Most of the dioceses are in fact so new that not only do
they have websites of their own, the information (statistical and other)
regarding them provided by the Anglican Communion is sketchy at best. Few
dioceses have picture galleries or virtual tours, and from those which I have
seen, the cathedrals, where there is an actual building, are bare of any
vexillological adornment or indeed of much else, although many of the older
structures are very beautiful indeed.
Ron Lahav, 6 January 2009
The Anglican Diocese of Cape Town (website) reports (28 September 2010) that "Recently the Archbishop received the gift of a new flag for the Diocese. During the Soccer World Cup the Archbishop had started flying the South African flag on one of the two flag posts at the gate of Bishopscourt. The other pole looked very bare. Father Richard Girdwood, the Rector of Observatory, who has as one of his hobbies vexillology (flags), designed a flag for the Diocese, based on its Coat of Arms.
The new flag was presented to the Archbishop by Mrs Tamra
Capstick-Dale, who had the art-work and manufacture of the flag done. She is the
recently appointed Grand Bailiff of the Order of St Lazarus or Jerusalem in
South Africa."
church.gif)
(source)
A blazon and image of the Diocesan arms illustrated here shows that the new flag is not merely "based on" the Arms, but is in fact precisely a banner of Arms. The Arms were granted by the Royal College of Arms under Letters Patent dated 25 January 1952 and registered with the South African Bureau of Heraldry under Certificate No. 458, dated 06 January 1972. The blazon reads:
Quarterly, azure and sable: I and IV, a lion rampant argent; II and III: three open crowns palewise or; on a cross throughout
also or, an anchor in fess point sable and in honour point a stag’s head erased, gules, between the attires a pheon azure.
Ned Smith, 30 December 2010