PENANG: College General, also known as “The College of Martyrs” celebrated its feast day on Friday, June 18, 2010. This Feast Day commemorates the Vietnamese Martyrs- Sts. Philip Minh and companions, who were canonised by Pope John Paul II in 1988 and who were alumni of College General.

The theme of the celebration was Discipleship towards mission. The event culminated with Mass at 6.30pm, in the Chapel of the Sacred Heart, Mariophile. The Chapel was filled to the overflowing with priests, nuns, brothers, seminarians, aspirants and members of the laity. Some had even come from as far away as the Klang Valley and Singapore to witness this joyous occasion. The chapel was adorned beautifully with posters and an array of fresh flowers from the college gardens. The rector Rev. Fr. Gerard Theraviam and choir master Andre Ong had worked tirelessly to prepare the choir, which consisted of seminarians, external students and friends of College General. The choir sang beautifully and added much joy and a sense of sacredness to the Eucharistic celebration that evening. The general intercessions were prayed in five languages – English, Bahasa Malaysia, Tamil, Mandarin and Bidayuh.

We were blessed to have Rev. Fr. Andrew Kooi from the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur as our main celebrant and preacher. Fr. Andrew had just returned from his studies in Taiwan and is now the assistant priest of the Church of the Visitation, in Seremban.  It was also a homecoming for Fr. Andrew who was a student of College General. In his homily, he shared about some of the “super heroes” in his life. He reminded the people that the church is also blessed with many heroes – and they are our saints and martyrs.

After the post communion prayer, Bishop Antony Selvanayagam, Bishop of Penang, addressed the congregation. In his speech, he reminded the people that “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of vocations in the Church.” Bishop Selvanayagam’s speech was followed by a brief message by the Rector of College General, Fr Gerard Theraviam. Fr Gerard praised the seminarians and staff of College General who had worked hard to prepare for this occasion. He also thanked all the teachers, external students and friends of College General for all their help in making the event such a successful one.

As the evening came to a close, everyone was invited to for some light refreshments, served at the college gardens around the museum along with some rambutans, fresh off the fruit trees of College General.