最早抵达新加坡的华族天主教徒中，有许多是客家及广东籍的教徒，他们为了工作或贸易而在这小岛上逗留。他们当中大多数来自广东省。例如，在1841年，有记录的38名受洗的华族教徒中，有25人是潮州人。虽然最早皈依的华人，大多数是来自广东省的潮州人，然而许多到来的客家及广东籍教徒在那之前就已经是天主教徒了。
因此，在早期的领洗记录中，我们很少看到这些籍贯的华族教徒。相反的，埋葬记录却反映了另一个事实。在福康宁基督坟场的记录中，108名华族教徒（其中91名是男性，17名是女性）当中，有31个墓碑记载了死者的籍贯，其中17个是客家人，11个是潮州人，其余3个是广东人。这三个方言团体都是广东省的三大语言团体。
如此看来，在南洋的华族天主教徒中，有不少是客家及广东籍的华侨，但是新加坡却没有一间广东／客家籍的教堂，直到1900年之后才有所改变。
根据法国外方传教会的记录，从1837年至1880年之间，由南洋回到广东的18名要理员中，有16名是客家人，尽管十九世纪在曼谷、槟城及新加坡的主要华人教堂都属潮州籍教友。显然的，对这个反常的历史现象是有必要作出解释的。
一个可能性是大多数的潮州移民是以务农为主，所以比较趋向于定居在南洋各地，而客家人虽然在中国是惯于迁移的族群，却可能选择回乡落叶归根，除非是客死他乡。
根据一个1848年华族移民职业的档案，以方言族群来分类，岛上大约19,000名潮州人当中，有约10,000人是从事农业。而4,000名客家人则较均匀地分布在各种行业，大多数在城里工作。埋葬记录显示早期有较高的客家天主教徒人数而较少的领洗人数。这可说明在早期入境的许多天主教徒中，有些是来自广东的客家人。因此，在新加坡领洗的客家人数相对地就比较少，而埋葬的客家人数则比较多。
早期没有成立“广东／客家”籍堂区的另一可能性，是这两个方言族群的（教友）人数在岛上变动不大，而潮州人的皈依却大大地增加了本地的华族天主教徒的人数。因此，所有在十九世纪成立的堂区全都是潮州籍的教堂。其他方言籍贯的华族教徒连同印度族教徒，当时是与潮州籍教徒一起在建于1870年的圣伯多禄圣保禄堂做敬拜。在这之前，所有法国外方传教会的天主教徒都是在善牧堂（后来的主教堂）做敬拜。
直至1890年代，当圣伯多禄圣保禄堂的广东及客家籍教徒的人数剧增之后，他们才大声疾呼要有自己的教堂。1895年，一位来自中国的广东神父在新加坡做了短期访问之后，圣伯多禄圣保禄堂的广东籍教徒才要求建立自己的教堂。他们的请求获得批准，就这样一个广东传教会就在1895年成立了。虽然依旧是与其他教徒同样使用圣伯多禄圣保禄堂，却是以自己的方言做敬拜。但这并不能满足广东籍教徒的意愿，他们希望有一座分立的教堂。因此，在1897年购买了位于哇燕街（Wayang Street,今已并入余东旋街）的一块地，作为新教堂的地址。三位著名的圣伯多禄圣保禄堂教友，曾德意先生、卢克昌先生及钟癸添先生各承担了三分之一的购地费用，总值16,000元。
那时候，教区已决定把客家籍教友并入广东籍教友，为他们兴建新教堂，并把它奉献给耶稣圣心。由于某种原因，这块地后来卖了而在1903年买了现今在登路的地段。虽然有为建堂经费公开筹募捐款，但堂区的神父楼及孤儿院还是依赖曾德意先生的热心捐助才在1906年建好。教堂于1908年6月14日奠基，耶稣圣心堂则于1910年9月11日落成、祝圣及开放。
有了自己的教堂之后，广东籍和客家籍天主教徒团体的发展就开始起步了。除了有自己的聚会场所、自己的课室和孤儿院之外，讲道也用本地的广东及客家方言。这个为团体创造一个共同身份之举终于实现了，也肯定有助于使更多华族教徒在新加坡生根。到了1920年代，这间广东／客家籍教堂已经有1,300名支持者。
非潮州籍教友搬出了圣伯多禄圣保禄堂，使这个新加坡华人教会的宝座变得更加潮州化。印度籍教徒早已在1888年随着露德圣母堂的建立而搬出去了；他们的离开，让圣伯多禄圣保禄堂更具华人色彩，而华人天主教会的发展变得越来越有动力。
这个广东／客家籍教堂的落成，得归功于几位富有而慷慨奉献的广东籍天主教徒。他们当中的领袖是曾德意先生，他在建立圣心堂的贡献使法国传教士“封”他为“神父之父”。这个荣誉实在是实至名归，在1910年他确保这个广东—客家籍教堂能够建立，而在1929年，他更再次出力，独自付清圣德肋撒堂的财务困难，使它得以完成。
曾德意先生也购买了几个在登路教堂旁边的地产，使堂区教友能从收租中为教堂增加收入。他也把四海通银行的股份分给个别堂区，使他们有充裕的财务基础去推动各项活动。圣心堂实在从他的善举中得益良多。当德肋撒山上的圣德肋撒堂在1930年落成时，山上的一条路被命名为“德意路”以纪念他。
圣心堂的另一位大恩人是卢克昌先生。他虽然住在暹罗（泰国），他的善举包括捐款给中国、暹罗及马来亚的华人教堂，尤其是建立这间广东—客家籍教堂的贡献更为著称。在曼谷，圣玫瑰堂的华人堂区是卢氏的贸易公司所建及维持的。他也回到广东的出生地，为当地的教徒建了一间教堂。
新加坡华人教堂最重要的两位“大恩人”——曾德意先生与卢克昌先生都是白手起家。他们在1850年代后期离开广东到新加坡谋生。两位年轻小伙子后来在里峇峇利路的巴黎外方传教会的采办处找到了工作。在那里工作了多年后，当时的采办长Patriat神父建议他们俩把储蓄拿到曼谷去创业。此后，他们所做的事，皆为教堂而做。
作者：Clement Liew ／译者：关德安
Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
The Beginnings of Our Hakka-Cantonese Church
Clement Liew Wei Chiang
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Amongst the first Chinese Catholics to arrive at Singapore were numerous Hakkas and Cantonese Christians who had sojourned to the island to work or trade. Many of them would have come from Kwangtung. In 1841, for example, of 38 recorded baptisms of Chinese Christians, 25 were Teochews. While many of the first converts had been Teochews, also from Kwantung, many of the Hakka and Cantonese Christians who arrived were already Catholics. Hence, we see few traces of these Chinese Christians in the early baptism registers. Instead, the burial records tell of another story. In the burial records of Fort Canning Christian Cemetery, out of 107 recorded burials of Chinese Christians (91 males and 17 females) 31 tombstones indicated the dialects of the deceased. Seventeen were Hakkas, eleven were Teochews and three were Cantonese. These dialect groupings were the three main linguistic communities of Kwangtung.
Hence, there appears to have been a great number of Hakkas and Cantonese among the overseas Chinese Catholics in the Nanyang, but no Hakka-Cantonese church was built in Singapore till after 1900. According to French Mission records, of the recorded eighteen Chinese catechist returnees from the Nanyang to Kwangtung, from 1837 to 1880, sixteen were Hakkas, although in the nineteenth century, the main Chinese churches in Bangkok, Penang and Singapore were all Teochews. Clearly, there is a need to explain this historical anomaly.
A possible explanation could be that most Teochew migrants, having been predominantly agriculturists, were more likely to have settled in the Nanyang, whereas the Hakkas, though themselves migratory in China, could have chosen to return to China, if they had not already perished overseas. In an 1848 record of the occupations of the Chinese immigrants, based on dialect groupings, of the estimated 19,000 Teochews on the island, 10,000 were engaged in agriculture. Of the 4,000 Hakkas here, they were fairly divided across a number of occupations, most of which were based in town. The fact that there were a high number of Hakka Catholic burials and lower instances of baptism in the early years, could also suggest that among the many Catholic arrivals here were Hakka Christians from Kwangtung, hence, the low instance of Hakka baptism, but a greater instance of burials in Singapore.
The fact that no Cantonese-Hakka parish was established earlier could perhaps be explained by their near constant numbers on the island while it was the converting Teochews that added greatly to the growing Chinese Catholic Church here. As such, all the Chinese parishes established in nineteenth century Singapore were all Teochew churches. The Chinese Christian of all the other dialect groups, including the Indians Christians, had then worshiped together with the Teochews at Sts Peter and Paul from 1870 when it was built. Prior to this, every Catholic of the French Mission had worshipped at the Church if the Good Shepherd (later Cathedral).
It was only by the 1890s when the Cantonese and Hakka Christians at Sts Peter and Paul had grown so numerous that they began clamoring for a church of their own. In 1895, after a short visit by a Cantonese priest from China, the Cantonese Christians of Sts Peter and Paul called for a parish of their own. They were granted their request, and a separate Cantonese Mission was created in 1895 with its own services, although they remained under the same roof with the others at Sts Peter and Paul. This did not satisfy the Cantonese Christians. The desire for separate premises was still very much hoped for. Hence, a piece of land at Wayang Street was purchased in 1897 as a site for the new church. Three prominent members of Sts Peter and Paul, Chan Teck Hee, Low Kiok Chiang and Chong Quee Thiam, each paid a third of the total cost of the land which amounted to $16,000. By this time, the Diocese had decided to place the Hakka Christians with the Cantonese in this new church dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. However, due to some complications, this property was sold and the present one at Tank Road was purchased in 1903. Though a public subscription was started for the building of the main church, the Diocese still had to depend on the generosity of Chan Teck Hee to erect the church’s presbytery cum orphanage in 1906. The foundation stone of the church was laid on 14 June 1908, and by 11 September 1910, Sacred Heart Church was completed, blessed and opened.
With a church of their own, the further development of the Cantonese-Hakka Catholic community thus commenced. Aside from having their own place to congregate, their own schoolhouse cum orphanage, sermons were also given in their own Cantonese-Hakka vernacular. The creation of a collective identity for their community was thus made possible, and this certainly had the effect of rooting down more Chinese Christians to Singapore. By the mid-1920s, the Cantonese-Hakka church had 1,300 adherents. The departure of the non-Teochew Christians from Sts Peter and Paul had left the Seat of the Singapore Chinese Catholic Mission even more Teochew in character. The Indian Catholics had already separated from Sts Peter and Paul earlier in 1888 when they erected their own church of Our Lady of Lourdes. This departure had already made Sts Peter and Paul more distinctly Chinese, and the development of the Chinese Catholic Mission gained a measure of momentum.
The completion of the Hakka-Cantonese Church was in no small measure due to the commitment and sacrifices of several wealthy Cantonese Catholics. The chief amongst them was Chan Teck Hee. Such was his role in the building of Sacred Heart Church that French missionaries “bestowed” on him the title of “the father of Fathers”, an honour which he well deserved in 1910 when he ensured that the Cantonese-Hakka parish could be established, a feat he repeated in 1929 when he alone cleared the last financial hurdles to complete St Teresa’s. Chan Teck Hee also acquired numerous properties around the parish along Tank Road from which the congregation could draw rental income for the church. He had also transferred shares of the Sze Hai Tong Bank to individual Chinese parishes to give them a firm financial foundation for future projects. Sacred Heart certainly benefitted from this immensely. When Bukit Teresa (Catholic Settlement) at St Teresa’s Church completed in the early 1930s, a road on the hill was named “Teck Hee Avenue” in his honour.
The other great benefactor of Sacred Heart Church was Low Kiok Chiang. He who was stationed in Siam, but his philanthropy came in the form of donations to Chinese parishes in China, Siam and Malaya. He was particularly noted for his contributions for the erection of the Cantonese-Hakka parish church. In Bangkok, the Chinese parish of the Holy Rosary was built and maintained by Low’s trading firm. He also returned to his birthplace in Kwangtung to build a church for the Christians there.
The Two of the most important “Great Benefactors” of the Chinese churches in Singapore, Low Kiok Chiang and Chan Teck Hee, were both self-made men who had their own “rags to riches” story to tell. Having left Kwangtung in their youth for Singapore in search of employment in the late 1850s, they found employment at the MEP Procure along River Valley Road. After years at the Procure, the MEP procurator then, Fr Patriat, advised the two to use their savings to set up a business in Bangkok. Thereafter, everything they did, they did it for their Church.
