St. Mary's Cathedral (Sandakan)
St. Mary's Cathedral or St. Mary for short is a Roman Catholic church in the Malaysian city of Sandakan in the state of Sabah in northern Borneo . The construction of today's church goes back to the clergyman Fr Mulders, who was also the principal of the St. Mary's School next to the church . Since the foundation of the Sandakan diocese in 2007, St. Mary's Church has been its cathedral .
history
In 1881 the Mission Society of St. Joseph von Mill Hill started working in Borneo. First mission stations were set up in Kuching , Singhi, Kanowit and Labuan. After her missionary work was licensed by the North Borneo Chartered Company in July 1882, she worked in Putatan , Kuala Penyu and Sandakan. Even before the official start of the mission, Fr Thomas Jackson came to Sandakan towards the end of 1881 to coordinate the preparations for the opening of a Catholic mission. Immediately after the Chartered Company's inauguration ceremony in May 1882, he acquired two hectares of land near the city limits of Sandakan. However, the missionaries initially focused on building a school. The first school building of St. Mary School was opened on July 24, 1883 on the site of today's church.
Until after the Second World War , the order of the Mill Hill Missionaries in Sandakan operated a three-aisled church with a steeple on their premises. The church, located on the slope below the convent building, was completed in 1904. This church was completely destroyed during the war.
With the arrival of Fr Anthony Mulders in 1952, the Mission Society area underwent a complete redesign. After building a new classroom complex for St. Mary's Primary School , Mulders began building St. Mary's Church . Much of the construction work was carried out by the missionaries themselves and also using the labor of the boarding school students. The church was designed so generously that it is still the largest Christian church in Sandakan today. Right behind the church, Mulders built the rectory .
The church was opened and consecrated in 1961 by Bishop James Buis.
With the elevation of Sandakan to a bishopric and the consecration of Bishop Julius Dusin Gitom on October 15, 2007, St. Mary’s Church also became St. Mary’s Cathedral .
Mary's Grotto
In front of the church, in the cliffs of a nearby hill, the Grotto to Our Lady the Virgin Mary was built in the style of the Lourdes grotto and completed in 1987.
chapel
There is a small chapel at the back of the church. It was completed towards the end of 1999.
Clergy at St. Mary's
The following ministers worked in the St. Mary's Sandakan Congregation since 1882:
| From | To | Parish priest | Assistance by |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 1882 | - | Msgr. Jackson | |
| July 1886 | - | J. Byron | |
| Sept. 1887 | - | - | Ms. B. Kurz |
| March 1888 | - | - | F. Dibona |
| Apr. 1888 | - | - | Ms. Verbrugge |
| Nov. 1889 | - | - | Ms. J. Rientjes |
| Nov 1893 | - | - | A. Reyffert |
| May 1898 | - | J. Roeck | - |
| July 1898 | - | Ms. C. Keet | - |
| 1900 | - | C. de Vette | - |
| 1906 | - | Ms. N.Smeele | |
| 1907 | - | A. Keyser | Ms. W. Van Mens |
| 1908 | - | Ms. Hopfgartner | Ms. A. Willems |
| 1909 | - | - | Mrs. A. Luppes |
| 1913 | - | J. Unterberger | |
| 1913 | - | Ms. Luppes | Ms. Morris |
| Aug 1915 | - | - | H. Janssen |
| 1918 | - | - | J. Staal |
| 1920 | - | Ms. Stutter | Ms. Luppes |
| 1921 | - | - | Ms. C. Epping |
| 1924 | - | W. Van Odijk | - |
| Dec 1925 | - | - | T. Dalaney |
| 1927 | - | Ms. BJ Davis | - |
| 1929 | - | Ms. LM Parson | - |
| Apr. 1949 | July 1899 | J. Ma Klyn | - |
| 1952 | 1970 | Anthony Mulders | Ms. JV Haaren / Ms. Peter Windram |
| 1971 | - | Ms. VD Schoor | - |
| Apr. 1972 | - | Ms. Thomas Sham | |
| Jan. 1978 | - | Ms. John Lee | |
| July 1980 | Oct 1984 | Ms. A. Tung | - |
| Oct 1984 | Nov 1999 | Ms. Tobias Chi | Ms. John Mansor / Bruno / Thomas Yip |
| Nov 1999 | Jun 2001 | Francis Tsen | Ms. Thomas Yip |
| July 2001 | - | Francis Tsen | Saimon William |
| Dec 2004 | Nov 2005 | Ms. Simon Kontou | Saimon William |
| Dec 2005 | Oct 2006 | Ms. Simon Kontou | Saimon William / Paul Lo |
| Nov 2006 | March 2008 | Ms. Simon Kontou | Ms. Paul Lo |
| July 2008 | Ms. Thomas Makajil | Fr Paul Lo |
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ John Rooney: Khabar Gembira: History of the Catholic Church in East Malaysia and Brunei, 1880-1976 , pages 32-33, 1981, Burns and Oates Ltd Wellwood North Farm rd, Tunbridge Wells Kent, ISBN 978-0860121220
- ↑ SEJARAH SM ST. MARY SANDAKAN ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Malay for St. Mary Sandakan Secondary School History ); Accessed January 23, 2013
- ↑ Photo Proof see postcard reproduction page 82 in Pitt Lim Kent, Nicholas KM Tan: Pre-War Images of North Borneo ; Opus Publications, Kota Kinabalu, 2013, ISBN 978-983-3987-47-4
- ^ Catholic Archdiocese of Kota Kinabalu: St Mary's Cathedral (1904) ; Accessed January 24, 2013
- ↑ a b c d New Sabah Times: St. Mary's Cathedral of Sandakan ( Memento of the original from December 21, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , October 19, 2008; Accessed January 23, 2013
- ↑ About St Mary Catholic Church ( Memento of the original from October 1, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; Accessed January 23, 2013
- ↑ Will Koh: Down Memory Lane Sandakan ; Accessed January 23, 2013
- ↑ Background of St. Mary's Church, Sandakan, Sabah ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; Accessed January 23, 2013
Remarks
- ↑ The newspaper "The Straits Times" reported on October 14, 1913 on page 8 of a wedding reception in St. Mary’s ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .
Coordinates: 5 ° 50 ′ 23.9 " N , 118 ° 6 ′ 41.5" E