The impact of the great apostle Abbot Francis Pfanner has been such that the Church of South Africa, but also the country, is indebted to him. It now enjoys a precious heritage that needs to be acknowledged and kept alive. It must indeed remain a constant inspiration in our time. This, in the first place, for his sons and daughters, the Missionnaries of Mariannhill (CMM) and of the Precious Blood (CPS), but by far not only for them, also for the present Church.

Abbot Francis Pfanner, an Austrian Trappist monk who left his Europe to do mission work in this part of the world, established his monastery, called Mariannhill, in 1882 near what is today Pinetown. Rapidly it became very successful. So much so that it grew to become the centre of a great network of mission stations spread over a vast area.