A policeman in Pingtung County recently tracked down the grave of a Catholic missionary from Germany at the behest of his family members, who were never fully convinced by reports that the priest had died there in 1963.
Tien Hsiang Chen-ling (田項榛林), a member of the Chaojhou Township (潮州) police department, was assigned to the case after a request from Sebastian Heuken’s family, who wanted any documents that could prove the priest’s death.
Heuken’s younger brother Karl said the priest worked at a Catholic church in Chaojhou upon his arrival in Taiwan in 1960.
Karl said his brother reportedly died in a traffic accident and was buried in the small town, but he questioned the report’s accuracy because he never received a death certificate.
Tien Hsiang said it was the most difficult case he had investigated because there were few clues indicating the priest ever existed.
“I could find nothing at local household offices, other police stations and traffic police divisions,” the policeman said.
After turning to local churches, he finally discovered that the missionary’s remains were buried at a Chaojhou church cemetery. Heuken’s tombstone was engraved with Chinese characters reading “the tomb of Father Ho Li-chien” and his German name.
Tien Hsiang said he also visited an 86-year-old Catholic nun from Switzerland in Pingtung’s Jiadong Township (佳冬) who had worked with Heuken to gain first-hand information about the accident that led to Heuken’s death.
Germana Rotzetter told him that on the day of the tragedy, she and Heuken were riding motorbikes on Provincial Highway No. 1 when Heuken collided with an oncoming cargo truck, the policeman said. Rotzetter said that she sent for help, but when it came, it was too late.
Tien Hsiang said he found out that Heuken’s personal effects and his death certificate had been kept for a period at a parish in Donggang, but were eventually destroyed.
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