Heir to the first seminary opened for local clergy in Ayutthia, in present-day Thailand, in 1665, he has over 50 priests and seminarians in his history who have given their lives for the Gospel. From the martyrs of the Vietnamese persecution in the 18th century to those of Pol Pot in Cambodia. Cardinal Francis: “May his exemplary and courageous spirit guide the priests of Malaysia today as well.”
Penang () – It has trained generations of priests for Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries that Pope Francis is about to visit. But the General College that stands on the hill of Tanjung Bungah in Penang is better known as the “College of the Martyrs”. In fact, its long history is marked by the memory of more than 50 of its former students who have given their lives for the Gospel over the centuries.
In fact, the College is the heir to the historic place of training for the local clergy founded in 1665 in Ayutthia (Thailand), where young Vietnamese priests who were victims of the harsh persecution of the 18th century studied. In Penang, where the College General resumed its activities in 1808 after having moved for a few years to Pondicherry in India, a monument just outside the entrance still commemorates the figures of St. Philip Minh Van Doan and his fellow martyrs St. Peter Quy Cong Doan, St. Paul Loc Le Van, St. John Hoan Trinh Doan and St. Peter Luu Nguyen Van. These five priests had studied at the seminary opened by the French missionaries MEP Francois Pallu and Lambert de la Motte. whose beatification process was opened in Vietnam a few months ago.
With them also died 42 seminarians from the General College who had returned to their homeland to serve their people and were proclaimed saints in the group of Vietnamese martyrs, canonised by John Paul II in 1988. The persecution they suffered in Vietnam was one of the harshest in the history of the Church: the torturers cut off limbs joint by joint, tore off flesh with red-hot pliers and used drugs to enslave the victims’ minds. Christians of the time were also marked on the face with the words “tả đạo”, meaning “members of a sinister religion”, and their families and entire villages were annihilated simply for being Christians.
In addition to the Vietnamese priests and seminarians, two French priests who taught at the College General – Father Laurent Imbert and Father Jacques-Honore Chastan – were also martyred in Korea during another wave of Christian persecution in the mid-18th century. They too were proclaimed saints by John Paul II in May 1984, along with 103 Korean Catholics. Among the former students raised to the glory of the altars was also Father Nicholas Bunkerd Kitbamrung, persecuted in Thailand and condemned to death in prison in 1944. He was also beatified by John Paul II on 5 March 2000.
The College preserves some relics of its martyrs: bone fragments of the five Vietnamese priests, a prayer book belonging to St. Philip Minh and bone fragments of St. Lawrence Imbert and St. Jacques-Honore Chastan. A relic of Blessed Nicholas is on the altar of the Holy Spirit Cathedral in Penang.
Card. Bishop Sebastian Francis of Penang, who was a formator at this seminary for many years, said: “I have been deeply influenced by the fact that this College has more than 50 martyrs who were formed here. Their martyrdom has left a lasting and permanent impact on me, knowing that I belong to an institution that has endured for centuries and has been able to adapt and move to many places, from Ayuthia (Thailand) to India and finally to Penang. Many of our brothers at the General College have given their lives for the Gospel.”
Sebastian recalls that among his classmates in the 1970s was a Cambodian seminarian named Marcel Truang. After completing his studies at the College General, he was given the opportunity to go to France, just as the Cambodian genocide under Pol Pot had already begun. “Truang,” recalls the Malaysian cardinal, “freely chose to return to Cambodia and be with his suffering and persecuted people, even though he knew the dangers he would face. Soon, no one heard from him. Now, his cause for canonization is underway in Cambodia.”
“This,” commented the Bishop of Penang, “is the spirit we hope to cultivate in our present and future seminarians studying for the diocesan priesthood in Malaysia. May the exemplary and courageous spirit of these martyrs continue to inspire a missionary zeal in all who undertake their years of formation and their journey in this College of Martyrs.”
In addition to these holy martyrs, during its more than 350 years of existence, the General College has raised to the episcopate more than 30 of its alumni in Burma (present-day Myanmar), Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia (including Sabah and Sarawak). Among the figures who have emerged from the College of Martyrs are Archbishop Dominic Aloysius Vendargon (1909-2005), the first Asian Bishop of Kuala Lumpur; the first Cardinal of Malaysia, the late Anthony Soter Fernandez (1932-2020); and the current Cardinal of Singapore, Archbishop William Goh.
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