When James Hsu (徐敏超), a young Hakka man from Pingtung County, undertook his alternative military service seven years ago by helping renovate a church in Hsinchu County, little did he suspect that his life would be changed forever by the late priest who built it.
It was while working on the church — built by the late Italian Jesuit missionary Guerrino Marsecano in 1965 — that he heard about the 627-page English-Hakka dictionary compiled by Marsecano and a group of editors. Hsu was impressed with this amazing achievement.
“Even Hakka people might not have been able to put together such a great dictionary,” Hsu said, adding that the dictionary went as far as listing different Hakka pronunciations for the same word to reflect linguistic differences within Taiwan's various Hakka communities.
Hsu’s passion about a man he never met — Marsecano died in 2000 — is indicative of the power of the Jesuit priest’s legacy among the Hakka. This is particularly evident in Hukou Township (湖口), where the church, whose architecture is clearly a manifestation of the Italian priest’s influence, is located at the entrance of Hukou Old Street and remains a major landmark and tourist draw.
After the church was built in 1965, it was home to religious services for nearly three decades, with Marsecano delivering Mass in Hakka in its early years before he was transferred to another parish in Hsinchu County's Guansi Township (關西).
The church gradually lost its pull, however, and shut down in 1993 because of the falling congregation and number of children attending the church-affiliated kindergarten.
In 2001, the residents decided to renovate the church as part of a project to revive the 300m-long Old Street, lined with two-story Taiwanese-style red brick houses noteworthy for their baroque porches.
The church was converted into a center for local art and culture, with an exhibition hall detailing the history of Catholic missionaries in the Hsinchu area, where the English-Hakka dictionary, a prime example of the Italian priest’s dedication, is displayed.
Published in 1959 by Kuangchi Press, it contains the Hakka equivalents for 13,721 English words and 20,000 English phrases.
Father Wang Wen-lin (汪文麟), director of the Old Hukou Church Museum, said that the dictionary had actually been forgotten until he and other community residents recovered it from a pile of dusty relics left behind in the church, when they were cleaning up before renovation work was due to start.
He was thankful the volume was found and praised the way Marsecano immersed himself in Hakka culture.
“When a foreigner knows the Hakka language so deeply, it means that the person has treated Hakka villages as his home,” Wang said.
Touched by the Italian missionary’s devotion to fitting into the Hakka way of life, Hsu was inspired by the church and the dictionary to learn more about the priest.
Marsecano, born in 1915 in Ferentino in the Italian province of Frosinone, came to Taiwan in 1955 from the Philippines. He had been stationed in China but was expelled by the communists before traveling to the Philippine province of Iloilo. After he arrived in Taiwan, the Jesuit missionary was posted to the parish of Hukou.
In 2005, Hsu traveled around Italy for 80 days on a “dream trip” sponsored by the Council for Hakka Affairs and met Marsecano’s sister, Vittorina, who is a Jesuit nun.
He presented her — the only living member of Marsecano's family — with documents related to Marsecano's life in Taiwan and in return received a big hug and the nun's heartfelt gratitude, Hsu said.
At that moment Hsu determined to find out even more about the priest, whom he describes as a man with a big heart and immense love for the world.
Hsu said his next plan is to fly to Iloilo to track down the priest’s legacy there.
Hong Kong singer Eason Chan’s (陳奕迅) concerts in Kaohsiung this weekend have been postponed after he was diagnosed with Covid-19 this morning, the organizer said today. Chan’s “FEAR and DREAMS” concert which was scheduled to be held in the coming three days at the Kaohsiung Arena would be rescheduled to May 29, 30 and 31, while the three shows scheduled over the next weekend, from May 23 to 25, would be held as usual, Universal Music said in a statement. Ticket holders can apply for a full refund or attend the postponed concerts with the same seating, the organizer said. Refund arrangements would
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
Taiwanese indie band Sunset Rollercoaster and South Korean outfit Hyukoh collectively received the most nominations at this year’s Golden Melody Awards, earning a total of seven nods from the jury on Wednesday. The bands collaborated on their 2024 album AAA, which received nominations for best band, best album producer, best album design and best vocal album recording. “Young Man,” a single from the album, earned nominations for song of the year and best music video, while another track, “Antenna,” also received a best music video nomination. Late Hong Kong-American singer Khalil Fong (方大同) was named the jury award winner for his 2024 album
The US Department of State on Monday reaffirmed that US policy on Taiwan remains unchanged, following US President Donald Trump’s use of the term “unification” while commenting on recent trade talks with China. Speaking at a wide-ranging press conference, Trump described what he viewed as progress in trade negotiations with China held in Geneva, Switzerland, over the weekend. “They’ve agreed to open China — fully open China, and I think it’s going to be fantastic for China. I think it’s going to be fantastic for us,” Trump said. “I think it’s going to be great for unification and peace.” Trump’s use of the
RSS