1. CICM Missionaries: Past and Present, 1865–2006 ©2009 By

CICM Missionaries: Past and Present, 1865–2006

1. CICM Missionaries: Past and Present, 1865–2006

Gateway to Mainland China Development of the Vicariate Apostolic of Inner Mongolia, 1865–1949

Patrick Ta v e i r n e

The founder of the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Congregatio Immaculati Cordis Mariae, CICM, 聖母聖心會), Fr. Théophile Verbist (南懷義 1823–1868), was a Belgian diocesan priest, at first the chaplain of a military school in Brussels and later also national director of the Society of the Holy Childhood. His original plan was to establish an ‘orphanage’ of the Holy Childhood in China. Alessandro Cardinal Barnabò (1801–1874), Prefect of the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide (SCPF) since 1856, obliged Fr. Verbist to change his original plans of establishing an ‘orphanage’ in China and to incorporate the Belgian priests into an existing vicariate apostolic in China. The SCPF insisted on creating a congregation in Belgium and entrusting a vicariate to the new congregation or institute. On 10 August 1861, Cardinal Prefect Barnabò wrote that he could only accept Verbist’s proposal under certain conditions:

• A sufficient number of members necessary for the founding of a new mission, but also for its sustained development and expansion. • The necessary financial support should be guaranteed until the mission can count on sufficient local income. • The execution of this plan presumes the creation of a Society to allow some of its members to be sent out as missionaries. • Under the authority of a vicar apostolic, they would do missionary work

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until they are able to take over a definitely established vicariate.

The newly created French Societies of the Propagation of the Faith and the Holy Childhood—known as ‘Society of the Angels’ Tianshihui (天使會) in China—promised to support the new Belgian mission. Both societies also collected contributions from Belgian and Dutch Catholics. However, Belgian Catholics were asked to support the novitiate to be established at Scheutveld—present-day Anderlecht, Brussels. The popular Dutch name ‘Scheutists’ for CICM missionaries originates from this place name. Fr. Verbist borrowed the Statutes of the Holy Ghost Congregation—approved by the SCPF in 1855—in France to draft the new CICM statutes. On 28 November 1862, the Belgian Engelbert Cardinal Sterckx, Archbishop of Malines (1832–1867), canonically established the Congregation. Its goal is to form and send out priests who want to preach the Gospel among the infidels, especially among those of the Chinese Empire. The Cardinal approved the Statutes and appointed Fr. Th. Verbist to be Superior General of the Congregation or Institute. On 17 April 1864, Fr. Th. Verbist visited Barnabò in Rome and handed over a report, in which he stated that all conditions had been met. Fr. Verbist asked the Cardinal for permission to send three priests of the newly formed society to Hong Kong, where they could study Chinese and prepare for pastoral work under the supervision of the procurator general of the Congregation of the Mission (Congregatio Missionis, CM, members of this congregation are known as Lazarists in French- speaking countries, Vincentians is the popular English name, in Spain and South America they are known as Paules). The general meeting of the SCPF in Rome, on 22 August 1864, entrusted the vicariate apostolic of Mongolia to the CICM missionaries. The Lazarists remained in Mongolia until the Belgian priests were able

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to take over the Vicariate. Meanwhile, the latter were able to obtain Chinese safe-conduct passes or French passports for China (Inner Mongolia). The first group of five CICM missionaries changed ships in Hong Kong on their way to Xiwanzi (西灣子) Village—present-day Chongli (崇禮) County in Hebei Province—beyond the Great Wall in Inner or Southern Mongolia. The Scheut missionaries originated predominantly from rural areas in the Low Countries (Belgium and the Netherlands). The majority belonged to the lower middle-class. In 1887, CICM started a canonical novitiate in Scheut-Brussels and, in 1888, a formation house in Leuven for its students. Besides China, the Scheut missionaries accepted a new mission field, the Congo, which created the need for religious brothers as well. Towards the turn of the nineteenth century, the Congregation established a formation house in Holland and developed its own theologate, instead of attending the Jesuit one. In contrast to their predecessors, the Lazarists, the Scheutists were not in favor of accepting indigenous candidates into CICM. The first Chinese member of CICM was a seminarian from Hanzhong 漢中( ), Gansu Province, Fr. Philip Wang Yuanzhi (王遠志 1873–1940). He took his vows on 19 February 1905. The number of Chinese joining CICM would remain very small. Up to now no Mongolian has ever joined CICM. Within the Congregation, the introduction of the experimental constitutions and perpetual religious vows led to more stability and cooperation among the Scheutists in fields afar. The founder, Fr. Théophile Verbist, did not develop a specific religious or missionary spirituality, but allowed the individual members to fill the religious void with their own spiritual exercises. The individual piety of the Scheutists reflected French spiritual and traditional influences, as well as native popular piety among the diocesan clergy. The introduction of perpetual religious vows—obligatory after five years of temporary

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vows since 1900 only, daily spiritual exercises, fortnightly confession, monthly recollection and annual retreat within the missionary district was considered sufficient and compatible with the Scheut missionary lifestyle. The introduction of the tenth year sabbatical was meant to reinvigorate the waning religious spirit of a growing number of Scheutists in the Chinese Han-Mongol missions. Article 1 of the CICM Constitutions says that CICM is a ‘religious missionary Institute.’ A former Superior General, Belgian Father Omer Degrijse in one of his reflections about the CICM identity said, “Our way of being missionaries in the Church is to be religious.” However, the 13th General Chapter of 2005 still pointed out that “CICM confreres are hard working people and courageous missionaries. Yet religious life and its obligations, quite visible at the beginning and at the end of our missionary lives, become less important, if not to say are neglected, during the missionary’s active life.” (See Revitalizing Our Identity: Acts of the 13th CICM General Chapter, p. 11, Rome, 2005) Since the arrival of its founder and first Superior General, Fr. Th. Verbist in 1865 until the banishment of the last foreign CICM missionaries from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1955, 679 CICM members had come to Southern Mongolia and Northern China. Among them, 244 died and were buried there.

(By Patrick TAVEIRNE)

Refuge from and Bridge to Mainland China CICM Missionaries in Hong Kong, 1950–2006

In 1950, many CICM missionaries from Mainland China arrived in Hong Kong on their way to other CICM missions or to Belgium. Frs. Louis Van Aert and the new procurator Arthur Van den Bossche assisted them. On 23 November 1953, Fr. A. Van den Bossche wrote to Lorenzo

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Bianchi, PIME, (白英奇 1899–1983) the bishop of Hong Kong, “As only 14 missionaries of Scheut remain in China, it was decided by the superiors of our Institute to close down the Procure in Hong Kong in the near future. But our Superiors are willing to reconsider this decision and to keep a representative of our Institute in Hong Kong, on condition that a small community of two to three CICM missionaries can be engaged in the missionary apostolate or a charitable work in the colony.” Bishop Bianchi answered Van den Bossche’s letter as follows:

“I thank you for the generous offer to help. But my co-workers and I think that we cannot find now the appropriate missionary and charitable works in Hong Kong for your Institute. At the moment we have many refugees from Northern China. But, as is shown unfortunately through the experience in daily management of the different refugee centers, these are inextricably mixed with refugees from the southern provinces and with the innumerable poor and needy natives. The knowledge of Cantonese and of other dialects of the southern provinces is therefore essential. There is no lack of priests who speak Mandarin, while there is a great need for priests who speak Cantonese. You would not be able to provide these in the short term, as you never had missions in Southern China.” (Letter of 3 December 1953 in CICM Archives, Rome)

Nonetheless, in 1954, Bishop Bianchi granted permission for four CICM confreres to stay and work in Hong Kong. Two years later CICM established the religious CICM Province of Sinica, including the religious districts of Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore. In Hong Kong district, CICM developed its pastoral and charitable works in Kowloon

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(Hung Hom 紅磡, Yau Tong 油塘, and Lei Yue Mun 鯉魚門) and the Junk Bay 將軍澳 area (Rennie’s Mill 調景嶺, Hang Hau 坑口, and Tai Chik Sha 大赤沙). All confreres were initially assigned to parish and/or school apostolate; later on Frs. George Albert Dopchie and Josse Henri Nijssen were involved in the Apostleship of the Sea as port chaplains. While others engaged in some other apostolic works, such as CICM China Desk, Maryknoll Pastoral Centre, Asian Centre for the Progress of Peoples (ACPP), and Holy Spirit Study Centre (HSSC).

The Catholic Church at Rennie’s Mill and Hang Hau, 1950–2000

Coming out of the Tiu Keng Leng (調景嶺) MTR Station at Tseung Kwan O (將軍澳) Town, one might wonder what was there before. There was a beautiful bay, Junk Bay or Tseung Kwan O, a stretch of water at the eastern entrance of the Hong Kong harbour, to the left of the village of Lei Yue Mun (鯉魚門). At the Western shore of the bay within the wilderness, there was a large flattened space. It was what was left from a flourmill built in 1907 by a Canadian, Mr. Alfred Herbert Rennie (1857–1908). His business had failed and he hanged himself in the mill; hence the name of the place in spoken Chinese Tiu Keng Leng (吊頸嶺), ‘the ridge of the one who hanged himself.’ The Hong Kong Government tore down the buildings of the flourmill in 1935 leaving only an area of cemented floor. It was here that the settlement of Rennie’s Mill would be established. The refugees changed the Chinese written name to Tiu Keng Leng (調景嶺), ‘the ridge with a wonderful view’ with the same tones as the spoken words. The former area of the village in the actual Tseung Kwan O Town can be traced to around the actual Tiu Keng Leng MTR Station up to Tong Ming Garden. Between 1989 and 1996 the Hong Kong Government filled in about four hundred hectares of Junk Bay, in

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this way developing the new mega-town of Tseung Kwan O New Town. To solve one of the problems of the huge influx of Mainland refugees in 1948, especially the members and their families of the nationalist army of Chiang Kai Shek (蔣介石 1887–1975), the Hong Kong Government had been looking for an additional area where refugees could be settled. The important area for refugees was on Hong Kong Island beyond Kennedy Town in the area of Mount Davis. From that camp, repeated fights had broken out between leftists and members of the nationalist party and army that had crossed the border. Some Irish Jesuit Fathers were familiar with the Rennie’s Mill area as they used to hunt there. They suggested that the area could be used for the settlement of the nationalist army refugees to some government officers. On 26 June 1950, the Hong Kong Government chose to move the rightist parties and nationalist soldiers from the Mount Davis Camp to the Rennie’s Mill area. It erected some barracks on the cemented floor area, housing a school and offices. It built small tent-like huts made of wooden frame and tarpaper in rows along the slopes of the hills. It also distributed food. The food rationing lasted till 1953; then the Government suspended it. People cooked in collective kitchens. Later more refugees flocked into the camp area, cutting a space out of the hillsides for their tin cottages. The camp organization was left to the pro-Kuomintang (國民黨) relief agency “Aid Chinese Refugee Intellectuals” (ARCI) and the Free China Relief Association (FCRA) that established a camp committee. Also faith-inspired relief organizations brought in what was needed to survive. In 1950, Msgr Enrico Valtorta, PIME, (恩理覺 died in 1951) the bishop of Hong Kong wanted to establish a Catholic foothold in the camp to help the refugees and provide church services to the 72 Catholics among them. The early arrival in Hong Kong of Fr. Alexander Ts’ao (曹立珊) provided him with a good opportunity. Fr. Ts’ao was a member of the Little Brothers of John the Baptist (天主教耀漢小兄弟會)—a religious society founded by the Belgian Fr. Vincent Lebbe (雷鳴遠 1877–1940),

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CM-SAM. In 1949, Fr. Ts’ao together with ten Brothers arrived in Hong Kong from Northern China and they stayed in a house with a dispensary at Shau Kei Wan on Hong Kong Island. On 24 June 1950, Bishop Valtorta appointed Fr. Alexander Ts’ao to Rennie’s Mill. The latter started to visit Rennie’s Mill from Shau Kei Wan, crossing the harbour by ferry to Lei Yue Mun (鯉魚門) and then walking over the hill. He met several of his former friends in the Rennie’s Mill camp. Soon he had his own cottage built and remained in the camp. He erected a small chapel for the Catholics and a classroom for children with bamboo sticks and tar-carton sheets on sites cut out of the hill slope. Everything was ready on 2 August 1950. The small school was soon extended and named ‘Rennie’s Mill Catholic Church Free School’ (調景嶺天主堂義務學校), since tuition was free. On 15 September 1950, the classes from Primary One to Six started with about 130 pupils. The Diocese provided help to the school and Fr. John Foley (科利), SJ, from Wah Yan College (華仁書院) assisted Fr. Ts’ao in establishing the school. Fr. Ts’ao made many new friends in the camp. A lot of people converted to the Catholic faith. Several of his Brothers assisted him in his mission. Besides providing schooling to children, they distributed clothes and food items and provided primary health care to many refugees. Several schools in the camp were opened by different societies. The Rennie’s Mill School (嶺中) on the cemented flourmill floor was taken over from the Hong Kong Government by the Free China Relief Association, which was connected with the government in Taiwan. A teacher at that school, Mr. Keung Tak Ming (姜德明) came over to teach in Fr. Ts’ao’s school in 1950. Some of his students followed him to the Catholic mission, but they were not accepted. The teacher however persuaded Fr. Ts’ao to accommodate his former students. Together with his students and some new applicants, the teacher Mr. Keung started a Form One class, and so the Middle School was born, consisting of a Primary and Middle Section. Several refugee missionaries also came to

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live in the camp to help Fr. Ts’ao, such as the 36-years-old Belgian SAM priest from Liège, Fr. Albert Palmers (裴效遠), who had arrived in Hong Kong from Nanjing (南京) on 15 June, 1951, and came to the Rennie’s Mill camp in the same month. The visits of Antonio Archbishop Riberi (1897–1967), the papal internuncio to China, and American Francis Joseph Cardinal Spellman (1889–1967) to the mission on 28 September 1951 and 11 January 1952 respectively, gave a boost of encouragement to the Catholics. Before leaving, Cardinal Spellman donated a sum of US$2,000 to build a wooden chapel and several classrooms. Students and teachers cut out space from the slopes for a playground and wooden structures. A huge two-storey wooden structure was built with offices, staff, dining and two living rooms on the ground floor and a large chapel on the upper floor. Fr. Ts’ao gave the name of Fr. Lebbe to the school, which he had founded: ‘Rennie’s Mill Private Catholic Ming Yuen School’ (調景嶺天主堂私立鳴遠學校). Next to the wooden chapel, a wooden dispensary was erected on a higher level, where Bro. Philip Chang (張) took care of patients. Besides Fr. Ts’ao, who took every good opportunity—even standing on some boxes of relief materials—to preach to a mass of people waiting for the distribution of the relief goods, three other Brothers were helping out: Bro. Bonaventure Han (韓文波斯) who taught catechesis in the school and cared for the chapel and sacristy; Bro. Bonaventure Law (劉文都) and Bro. Hilarie Diu Hsi Lo (刁喜樂) who was the bursar of the school. Three Chinese priests joined the mission in the 1950s, Fr. Joseph Ly Jo Sce (李若石 died in 2005) from Hongdong (洪洞), Shanxi Province, Fr. Matthias Heou (候志恆), and Fr. Bartholomeus Fan (范景才). They took up duties in the school and the church. These Chinese priests continued to practice the Catholic traditions of their home regions in China. Among the refugees from 16 Chinese provinces there were many intellectuals, landowners, army generals, judges,

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former government officials, teachers and many soldiers. Their political convictions were mostly very nationalistic, anti-western and based on Sun Yat Sen’s (孫中山 1866–1925) political ideas. Their lifestyle differed according to their former status in society and to their economic situation. Some days before Good Friday in 1953, Fr. Palmers made a big wooden cross and planted it on the hill slope overlooking the camp in preparation for the ‘stations of the cross’ that would start from the chapel. This event was repeated each year. In June 1953, 15 students of the Form Three class of the Middle School were ready to be promoted to the Senior School. In that same year, a kindergarten class and a school management committee were also established. Rennie’s Mill became a fervent Christian community, helped much by the relief items they received from aid agencies. The Catholic mission station with its primary and a middle school had not been established with any plan and foresight. Since everybody was convinced that the nationalist army would win the war, and that his return to the Mainland would be imminent. In February 1954, Fr. Palmers met the Belgian Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (聖母聖心傳教修女會, ICM), Sr. Lea Rotty (Mother Aubain 羅貞德 1899–1984) and Sr. Maria D’Hondt (Sister Arnoldina 胡惠姑 1906–1986)—a nurse and midwife—in the restaurant of the Catholic Center on Hong Kong Island. The Sisters had arrived from Northern China on 21 January 1954, and were staying at the St. Paul’s convent of the Sisters of St. Paul de Chartres (沙爾德聖保祿女修會) in Causeway Bay. He recognized them since they had all stayed in the same concentration camp during the Japanese occupation in Weixian (濰縣). He suggested to them to work in Rennie’s Mill camp. After obtaining permission from Bishop Bianchi, Fr. Palmers brought them to the camp, where at the end of February 1954 they settled in a rather dilapidated cottage built by a British lady as a donation to any Sisters

I.indd 10 20/1/2010 16:47:11 香港中文大學天主教研究叢書史料及工具系列 (3) 「香港天主教修會及傳教會歷史 (英文版)」上冊：歷史資料

編輯：夏其龍，譚永亮出版：香港中文大學天主教研究中心香港．新界．沙田．香港中文大學電話：(852) 3163 4277 傳真：(852) 3163 4451 網址： www.cuhk.edu.hk/crs/catholic/ 電郵： [email protected] 承印：明愛印刷訓練中心二零零九年十一月初版 ISBN： 978-988-17181-7-4

Catholic Studies Publication Historical Materials and Reference Tools Series (3) History of Catholic Religious Orders and Missionary Congregations in Hong Kong Volume One: Historical Materials

Editor: Louis Ha, Patrick Taveirne Publisher: Centre for Catholic Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong. Tel.: (852) 3163 4277 Fax.: (852) 3163 4451 Website: www.cuhk.edu.hk/crs/catholic/ Email: [email protected] Printer: Caritas Printing Training Centre First Edition: Nov 2009 ISBN: 978-988-17181-7-4

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