Celebration of the Cambodian Martyrs

5 May 2012 During the Pol Pot regime, the Catholic clergy were targeted along with the Buddhist clergy and other religious leaders. Bishop Salas, the first Cambodian bishop, and all the other priests in the country died at the hands of the Khmer Rouge and today are remembered with a memorial in Kampong Thom Province. On Saturday, 5 May 2012, approximately 40% of the Cambodian Catholics in the country went to a memorial celebration for those leaders who died there in 1977.

Approximately 2,000 Catholics from all over Cambodia came to Kampong Thom for this service. The bishops and priests processed in and then gathered around a large cross which has been erected in honor of those killed. There is no regular church presence at the memorial site so tents were erected and other accommodations made for the pilgrims who came for the commemoration service. The three active and two retired bishops of Cambodia were present and presided from under an open shelter that marks the site. Bishop Salas and his sister lived in this little wooden house the last year of his life. He would celebrate mass in secret, hiding his activities from the Khmer Rouge. At the end of the service there was a procession to Bishop Salas' house and then a blessing and concluding prayer over the people and the Church of Cambodia.

Go to Cambodia Church page
Go to Charlie Dittmeier's home page