“信仰标记”系列之第二篇文章叙述不同修会传教团体早期在新加坡的传教工作；包括为贫困者、残疾人士和赤贫者等服务。当中数个修会团体已经从新加坡撤离，但是他们为各种族和信仰者所提供的援助和安慰的无私精神不该被遗忘。

莫忘传教士的贡献

回想起来，虽然我们对于先驱传教士的贡献有所记载，但多数文字只谈论了他们的一般服务。即便如此，主要也是从机构的角度报道。这些传教士来到新加坡，开始办学、设立安老院、疗养院、医院等等。在教会历史中，还有更多的仁爱和善举，值得并需要被传颂。

虽然我们多数人都清楚知道，耶稣圣婴修女会（CHIJ）的修女们如何以爱心收留和照顾弃婴，并且在市区修道院里设立一个孤儿院。但是我们很少有人记得，他们首先为边缘化的妇女开设了一个“避难所”。其中许多是从妓院找寻到的。修女们利用从学生那里收集的学费支持这些妇女和被遗弃的孩子。

也很少有人记得，在修女们抵达前，法国巴黎外方传教会的传教士也在他们的会院和传教站 (武吉知马)设立孤儿院，在那里，男孩们被抚养并接受教育。先驱传教士用他们自己的积蓄来维持这些机构。根据1840年的记录，Fr.Anatole Mauduit不仅分享他微薄的津贴，还有他的食物。而当拉萨尔修会抵达时，修士们也同样支持在圣若瑟书院的一些孤儿。

到了1990年代，当嘉诺撒仁爱修女会抵达时，她们也收留了葡萄牙传教会的孤儿，提供他们教育(圣安东尼男校)。十九世纪时，天主教传教士为贫弱者提供照顾和援助方面的服务不仅公众熟知，同时还获得殖民地政府认可，承认他们在岛国提供医疗服务的重要性。从1885年到1900年，耶稣圣婴女校的修女们获颁中央医院主要护士的荣誉和重责。由此，教会通过其传教士，设立另一个平台，提供慰藉和希望。

在十九世纪抵达的传教士当中，嘉诺撒仁爱修女会的修女们不仅至今还在服务，更延伸她们的慈善和社会服务工作。在1939年，她们已经计划在新加坡芽笼 (阿裕尼路) 成立一所修道院和孤儿院。当时圣德肋撒堂的本堂司铎兼华文传教主席李德文神父（Fr. Stephen Lee）带头筹集这项计划所需的8万5千元。修道院于1941年成立，安顿了31个孤儿，但进展因战争而告停。大多数修女于1943年被送往马来西亚的马口（Bahau）农业社区。当她们重返新加坡时，她们得照顾150多名孤儿。到了1940年代末，阿裕尼路的修道院已经显得太小了。在1950年，随着一位匿名者慷慨捐赠10万元，修女们扩建了修道院(新翼)；包括一个为体障和失明孩童的新家园。1952年完工后，新家被命名为法蒂玛之家。当时阿裕尼的嘉诺撒仁爱修女会会院统称为Canossaville。如今，几经发展成为嘉诺撒仁爱教育综合设施（Canossian Eduplex）。修会还在1970年代建立了疗养院和临终关怀 (圣若瑟之家)。

二十世纪初，从事慈善事业的主要传教团体有安贫小姐妹会和圣加俾尔男修会。安贫小姐妹会先于1935年抵达，并在Derbyshire Road建立安老院。起初他们只有12位居民。1939年汤申路上段的新家落成后，他们便迁往新址。修女们以“不分种族和宗教，照顾病人和垂死者”著称；为他们提供吃住以及医疗等相关服务“。他们忠实地在新加坡服务直到2003年7月1日，疗养院移交总教区运作，修会便离开并且在菲律宾成立一个新疗养院。

当加俾尔修士初到新加坡时，他们在1937年接管了圣婴中学（英校），并在1959年易名为蒙福学校。1939年, 修士们将他们的传教服务扩展到武吉知马路上段, 在那里他们被赠予属于圣若瑟堂的一片土地，为男童开办一所工业学校。它最初被称为圣若瑟贸易学校。战后易名为男童城，部分原因是因为战争造成了许多孤儿，而贸易学校最终就是他们的家。直到今天，男童城仍然帮助许多边缘男孩。而鲜为人知的是耶稣圣婴修女会的修女则在1960年代，于圣若瑟堂的另一侧建立了女童城。

此外，当时圣德肋撒堂也成立了一个孤儿院，为80多位因战争而成为孤儿的男孩，提供一个安全的避风港。圣加俾尔修士并没有参与这项艰巨的任务，而是通过李德文神父一个人不懈的劳累奔波而成。1945年战后的自由并没有立即改善岛国的条件。有许多孩子在街上游荡，一些人因战争而沦为孤儿，而另一些则是无家可归。李神父见状，尽可能收留更多人。很快的，大约85个年龄从6到14岁的男童，在圣德肋撒堂的小屋找到一个家。不是所有的“孤儿”都没有父母，许多人被送到那里是因为他们的家人无法抚养他们。圣德肋撒堂孤儿院有点像是“甘榜巴鲁的男童城”。1945年9月25日，孤儿院正式开幕，被称为“华人天主教行动男童之家”，同时也是“天主教行动战争灾区男童之家”。

值得一提的是李神父虽不是一位传教士，但是他为福传这块土地上所作的努力耕耘，大家有目共睹。李神父每次想到的总是他这些孩子们的福利…。日军投降后，他从不理会在现实中他几乎连一位孤儿都无法支持。当时并非任何筹款活动都可进行，一切都是配给的。1945年9月后的前几个月里，李神父四处乞求食物喂养他的孩子们；乞讨的对象包括米粮配给部、良木酒店、红十字会、英国军事行政、难民和救济部、教育部、社会福利部…。许多时候，他都被拒绝或是被告知去另一个机构求助, 尽管他所要求的那么微小。

李神父从不放弃。1948年，他身患顽疾，JR de Rozario 神父被派前去帮助他。Rozario 神父发现李神父总是那么卖力地服务。在执行教区职务之余，他还得监督孩子们的学习。李神父的姐妹负责照顾孤儿的膳食、洗涤、清洁、缝纫和维修工作。尽管他身患疾病，李神父还是继续辛勤劳作。他每周都去乌节路的街市摊位乞讨鱼、肉和蔬菜，同时还要从各个恩人那里筹集金钱，以维持孤儿院。到了1950-51年，大部分年长的男孩都被调往男童城学习一门手艺，而这时，圣母昆仲会修士负责收留照顾其中一些。好些长大并已经工作赚钱的, 返回他们的家后开始负担家庭的费用。

在日本占领的黑暗时期开始之前，战前最后一个传教修会：善牧修女会于1939年12月抵达。她们居住在城市区的耶稣圣婴修女会会院，直到她们的榜鹅修院于1940年建成。在榜鹅，她们首先为“陷入困境或被虐待，以及需要医治与修和的妇女和女孩”提供帮助。然而，战争打乱了她们的计划，他们都被派往马口。

返回新加坡后，他们先后居住在麦波申路和甘榜爪哇路，然后再迁移到汤申路，成立了玛利蒙修道院。除了教会学校，修女们还建立了“妇女和女孩善牧之家”，为陷入困境的女孩和未婚妈妈提供一个家。目前，善牧修女会会院坐落在大巴窑。1973年，善牧修女会修女也管理圣方济之家，照顾贫苦老人和穷困者，后于2002年移交总教区管理。

接下来是圣方济会传教主母会(FMDM)。她们于1949年抵达并获照顾“陈笃生医院的三个结核病病房”。至此，他们希望拥有自己的医院，而这在1961年成为事实。当亚微尼雅医院开幕时，所有的员工都由修女担任。1969年，医院扩建了一栋新楼，命名为邱氏大楼(捐赠者为邱德拔的父亲)以提供喘息照顾。1982年，它被易名为亚西西之家。在几年内，亚西西之家开始为癌症病患提供姑息治疗。1992年，圣方济主母传教修女会视“姑息治疗”为一个委身的使命，而“亚西西临终关怀之家”至此成立。

在亚微尼雅医院之前，早在1950年代，圣方济主母传教修女会的修女也曾被政府邀请到杨厝港一家麻风收容所服务。修女们接着设立培训中心，培训年轻女性从事结核病护理和一般护理工作。

最后，仁爱传教修女会于1985年抵达。她们在巴耶里峇的欧文路为慢性病患开办了一个家，被称为圣母之家，免费收留任何慢性病患者，同时疗养之家对于任何种族、信仰和性别的病患都一视同仁。1987年，她们搬迁到榜鹅，易名为“仁爱之家“。新家建筑一度是明德学校（天主教）的旧址。近年仁爱之家搬至其最后落户之处：文礼。仁爱传教修女会，就像之前的安贫小姐妹会一样，在2018年7月将文礼设施移交总教区管理，从而结束了在新加坡33年的服务。

反思：爱就是福传

当已故杨瑞元主教为仁爱之家开幕时，他在弥撒中宣称，传教士是”真正的福传者”，因为他们服务“最有需要者”。回顾历史，我们忠实的传教士为他人提供服务，肯定不仅仅是为了创办机构。他们来到新加坡，去爱、去服务。为受压迫的人、令人厌恶者和极度沮丧的人们服务是不容易的。这些传教士提供的是安慰和希望。

多年来，我们的传教士们维护和阐明了我们信仰的最伟大信条；神学德行中的信、望、爱(格前13:13)。在这样做的时候，他们也吸引了无数当地的圣召加入修道生活。

教会如何调适他们日渐减少的人数，甚至撤离我们的岛国，还有待观察。或许，更重要的是，他们的生活和贡献将在我们的历史记录中得到体现，以便我们的这一部分遗产不会在时间的流逝中被遗忘。

我们希望，他们爱的记载可以让我们充满希望，并且成为福传的有力工具。

文：刘伟强（ Clement Liew ）

(2) Charity and Love   A Little Loving Note

Clement Liew Wei Chiang

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“To Love is to Give, to Give so much that it Hurts, to Hurt so much that we would want to Give Up, but We don’t, because of Love”

 Jacinta Mary Paul, 1989

The history of the Society of St Vincent de Paul in Singapore has always been, and continues to be, the story of laity doing their part for those who need help most, Catholics and non-Catholics alike. The Vincentians, and many other lay organizations, have been for a long time been at the forefront of bringing our Faith alive, the spirit of which is espoused in Matthew 25:35-40.

Not Forgetting the Missionaries

In retrospect, while the general works of the pioneering missionaries have somewhat been chronicled, most writings have only spoken about their contributions in general terms, and even then, mostly from the institutional perspective; they came, they started schools, homes and ran hospitals…. There’s a lot more acts of love and charity in the history of the Church which still needs to, and could be, told.

While most of us know well how the Sisters of the Holy Infant Jesus (CHIJ – St Maur) had cared for abandoned babies and maintained an orphanage at the Town Convent, few of us remember that they had first opened a “Refuge” for marginalized women, many of them saved from the clutches of the brothels found all over the island. The Sisters had used the monies collected from the fee-paying students to support these women and abandoned children. Few also remember how the French missionaries (MEP), before the arrival of the nuns, had also maintained small orphanages (for boys) within their home and mission stations (Bukit Timah), where the children were schooled, fed and clothed. The pioneering missionaries had used their own savings to maintain these institutions. In the case of Fr Anatole Mauduit at Bukit Timah (1840s), it was recorded that he had not only shared his meagre allowances, but also the food on his plate. And when the LaSalle Brothers arrived, they too supported a number of orphans within St Joseph’s Institution.  And when the Canossian Sisters (Canossian Daughters of Charity) arrived in the 1890s, they too took in orphans of the Portuguese Mission into their schools (St Anthony’s Convent). The Catholic missionary’s role in providing care and aid to the needy and infirm in the nineteenth century was not only well-known to the public, but also recognized by the colonial government as critical to the provision of medical care on the island. From 1885 to 1900, the CHIJ nuns were given the honour and responsibility of being the main matron (nurses) of the General Hospital. With this, the Church, through its missionaries, was given another platform of providing comfort and hope.

Amongst the missionaries who arrived in nineteenth century, it would be the Canossian Sisters who not only continued but also expended their charitable and social service works to the present time. In 1939, they had already made plans to found a convent and orphanage at Geylang (Aljunied Road). Fr Stephen Lee, parish priest of St Teresa’s Church and the head of the Chinese Mission, spearheaded efforts to raise the $85,000 needed for this endeavour.[i] The Convent was eventually established in 1941 and it housed 31 orphans, but progress halted when war came. Most of the nuns were sent to the farming community at Bahau in 1943. And when they returned, they had to care for more than 150 orphans.[ii] By the late 1940s, the Convent at Aljunied Road had already become too small. In 1950, following an anonymous generous donation of $100,000, the nuns expanded the convent (new wing) to include a new home and school for handicapped and blind children.[iii]  When completed in 1952, the new home was christened Fatima Home.[iv] Today, the Canossian institutions at Aljunied are collectively called Canossaville. The nun also established a Nursing Home and Hospice (St Joseph’s Home) in the 1970s.^[v] 

The main missionary groups engaged in charitable works in the early twentieth century were the Little Sisters of the Poor and the Brothers of St Gabriel. The Little Sisters first arrived in 1935 and set up their Home at Derbyshire Road. They started with just twelve residents. They then moved to Upper Thomson Road in 1939 when the new Home was completed. It was at Thomson Road that the nuns became famous for “their care of the sick and dying; providing them with housing, food, clothing, medical and related services”…“regardless of race or creed”.^[vi] They served Singapore faithfully till 1 July 2003 when the Home was passed to the diocese to operate and the whole congregation left and started a new Home in the Philippines.[vii]

When the Gabrielite Brothers first arrived, they took over the running of the Holy Innocents’ English School in 1937. It was renamed Monfort School in 1959. In 1939, the Brothers extended their mission to Upper Bukit Timah Road where they were given a piece of ground belong to St Joseph’s Church to start an industrial school for boys. It was first known as the St Joseph’s Trade School. In the post-war years, it was renamed Boys’ Town, partly because the war had created so many orphans, the Trade School was essentially their home as well. Till this day, Boys’ Town still help many marginalized boys. Of course, few also remember that the CHIJ Sisters had operated the sister institution of Girl’s Town in the 1960s, established on the other side of St Joseph’s Church.

Over at St Teresa’s Church, Bukit Purmei, just as it was with Boy’s Town, an orphanage was set up to give more than 80 boys “orphaned” by the war a safe haven. The Gabrielite Brothers were not there to undertake this enormous task. Instead, it was through the untiring exertions of one individual, Fr Stephen Lee.[viii] Singapore’s liberation in 1945 did not see an immediate improvement of the conditions on the island. There were many children roaming the streets, some orphaned by the war, and others were simply homeless. Fr Stephen Lee saw them and took in as many as he could. In no time, some 85 boys, ranging from the ages of 6 to 14, found a home at St Teresa’s Church, in the Hood Lodge. Not all the “orphans” were without parents. Many of them were sent there because their families had no means to provide for them.[ix] This became the St Teresa’s Orphanage, functioning somewhat like a “Boy’s Town of Kampong Bahru.”[x] Officially opened on 25 September 1945, it was called the “Chinese Catholic Actionist Boys’ Home”, as well as the “Catholic Action War Stricken Boys’ Home”.[xi]

What is amazing about the story is that Fr Stephen was not a missionary, but he went about with such a sense of mission that no one in his time would deny he had laboured as if he was in mission fields. Fr Stephen’s first thought was the welfare of his children… without regards to the reality that he had almost no means to support any of them so soon after the Japanese surrender. This was not a time that any fund raising could be done. Everything was rationed. In the first months after September 1945, Fr Stephen literally went around to beg for food to feed his boys; Rice Rationing Department, Good Wood (Goodwood Park) Hotel, Red Cross, British Military Administration, Chinese Protectorate, Refugees and Relief Department, Education Department, Social Welfare Department… . He was turned away in many instances or simply told to go to the next agency, even though he had only asked for scraps.[xii]

Fr Stephen never gave up. In 1948, when he was struck with a serious illness, Fr JR de Rozario was sent to help him. Fr Rozario discovered just how laborious Fr Stephen had been. While he had his parish duties, the priest also had to supervise the boys’ studies’. Fr Stephen Lee’s sister looked after the orphans; cooking, washing, cleaning, sewing and mending. Despite his illness, Fr Stephen continued toiling – he made his way to the Orchard Road Market stalls weekly to beg for fish, meat and vegetables and also to solicit money from various benefactors for the upkeep of the orphans.[xiii] By 1950-51, most of the older boys were transferred to Boys’ Town to learn a trade, while the Marist Brothers took some under their care. A number who had started earning their own keep, returned home and started contributing to their family’s income.[xiv]

Just before the dark days of the Japanese Occupation started, the Good Shepherd Sisters, the last pre-war missionary congregation arrived in December 1939. They resided first with the CHIJ nuns in Town before establishing their own convent at Ponggol in 1940. It was from Ponggol that they first attempted to provide help to “women and girls who were troubled or abused and in need of healing and reconciliation”. However, the war disrupted their plans as they were all dispatched to Bahau in Malaysia for the duration. Upon their return, they first resided at MacPherson Road and Kampong Java Road before moving on to Thomson Road. This became Marymount Convent. Besides the convent school, the nuns also established the “Good Shepherd Home for Women and Girls” which developed into a home for troubled girls and unwed mothers.[xv] The Good Shepherd Sisters are now located in Toa Payoh.

Next came the Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood (FMDM). They arrived in 1949 and were given the care of “three tuberculosis wards of Tan Tock Seng Hospital”. It was from here that they started hoping for a hospital of their own. This became a reality in 1961 when Mt. Alvernia Hospital was opened, staffed entirely by the nuns.[xvi] It was in 1969 that the hospital opened a new block, named the Khoo Block (donated by Khoo Teck Puat’s father) to offer respite care.  In 1982, it was renamed Assisi Home and within a couple of years, the home started palliative care for cancer patients. In 1992, “the FMDM sisters established palliative care as a dedicated mission, and Assisi Home & Hospice was set up to this end”.[xvii

Before Mt Alvernia Hospital, the FMDM sisters were also invited by the government in the 1950s to take care of the leprosy asylum called Trafalgar Home at Yio Chu Kang. The sisters went on to set up a training centre on site to train young women in tuberculosis care and general nursing. And in 1973, the Good Shepherd sisters also ran the Villa Francis Home for the elderly poor and destitute, before handing it over to the diocese in 2002.[xviii]

Finally, the Missionaries of Charity (Mother Teresa’s Sisters) arrived in 1985. They started a home for the chronically ill at Irving Road, Paya Lebar. Called the Madonna Home, it took in “any chronically ill patient without any charge”, and the home “did not discriminate residents by race, creed or sex”.[xix] It was in 1987 that it shifted to Ponggol where it was renamed “Gift of Love” Home. The new Home was in a building that once housed the Meng Teck School (Catholic).[xx] In recent years, the home had been sited at Boon Lay, its final resting place. The Missionaries of Charity, like the Little Sisters of the Poor before them, handed over the Boon Lay facility to the diocese in July 2018, thus ending 33 years of service in Singapore.

Reflections: Love is Evangelism

When Archbishop Gregory Yong opened the Gift of Love Home, he proclaimed at mass that the missionaries were “‘true evangelists’ because they served the ‘most needy’”.[xxi] The “service” to “men” provided by our faithful missionaries through history was certainly not labour simply to start establishments. They came, they loved and they served. It is never easy to serve the downtrodden and the sickliest and the most depressed. What these missionaries provided was Comfort and Hope.

Through the years, our missionaries had espoused and elucidated the greatest tenets of our faith, the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity or love (1 Corinthians 13:13). In doing so, they had also attracted countless local vocations into Religious life. It remains to be seen, how the Church adjust to their dwindling numbers and even withdrawal from our island State. In this light, it is perhaps even more critical that their lives and contributions be enshrined in our written history in order that this part of our heritage will not be forgotten through the passage of time. The account of their love for us, it is hoped, may keep us hopeful, and be a powerful tool for evangelism.