Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town:
• Born in Athlone, Cape Town on 27 July 1934
• Schooling at St Raphael’s Convent in Athlone; Immaculata Convent, Wynberg; Christian Brothers’ College (St Columba’s),
• Athlone; seminary studies in Urban College “de Propaganda Fide”, Rome.
• Ordained a priest in Rome on 2 December 1962.
•Ordained Auxiliary Bishop of Cape Town on 16 August 1987.
• Installed as Archbishop of Cape Town on 29 August 1990.
• Retired on 7th February 2010
• Died on 4th March 2014
The Coat-of-Arms of Archbishop Henry expresses his motto Christum Vivere et Prædicare (“living and preaching Christ”).
The anchor refers to the work of evangelisation by the Apostles preaching the Cross of Jesus Christ – the means of our salvation from sin and death. The Fathers of the Church often described this preaching as a “hook by which people drowning in sin could be fished out and saved”. The anchor represents that hook. The two fish, a messianic symbol of salvation, represent the people who are saved through the cross. Archbishop Henry’s Christian name is Lawrence. The grill consumed by flames in the bottom left part refers to the Martyrdom of St Lawrence the deacon who was roasted alive under the persecution of Valerian; it thus expresses the Christian’s witness in living and preaching Christ, even in the face of death. The Celtic cross recalls that Archbishop Henry first received the Christian faith and education through Irish Capuchin priests and Irish Christian Brothers. It also associates his second name, Patrick with Ireland’s patron, St Patrick. The double beam on the cross, the palium and the ten tassels on either side of the shield indicate that he is a metropolitan archbishop.