1946 年3月25日- 2026 年3月25日，
天使嘉俾厄爾向童貞榮福瑪利亞預報救主降生節日
天主忠僕鮑思高慈幼會會士胡子義神父領受司鐸聖職 80 周年
斐林豐神父
八十年前，1946 年 3 月 25 日聖母領報瞻禮，被譽為「漢森病患者的天使」和「貧困和被遺棄兒童的父親」的天主忠僕胡子義神父在澳門聖若瑟修院小堂，由高若瑟主教 (Joannes de Deo Ramalho, S.J.) 手中領受鐸品。
胡子義神父在其本人的《關於我生命的簡短筆記》中的第6頁（手稿的頁數）寫道：「我們四個人；四年後，我們於1946年3月25日，即聖母領報瞻禮，在澳門大修院的小堂裡被祝聖。一個非常簡單的禮儀……但永遠難忘。在我的家粵華中學，我做了第一台彌撒…年輕人幹得好……」「年輕人幹得好……」這句話可能指的是他在粵華中學的學生們為他舉辦了一場盛大的慶祝會。
在1973年4月13日寫給哥哥Salvatore的信中，胡子義神父提到：「夏剛志（Oseo Acconci）先生是我的首祭代父。」夏剛志先生（1905-1988）是一位活躍於澳門的意大利建築師，他也是後來澳門首位華人主教林家駿的首祭代父。在澳門天主教教會，首祭代父在中文裡被稱為：「洗手契爺」，因為他的職責是在主教傅油禮和白布包紮新神父雙手禮儀後，為新神父洗手。後來，夏剛志先生承擔了胡子義神父在澳門路環建造的大部分建築的建築師，其中最著名的是位於聖母村的七苦聖母小堂。
胡子義神父並非單獨一人晉鐸，他與另外三位同學一同接受初學、哲學、實習和神學等的培育。這四位新晉鐸職慈幼會會士組成了一個優秀的國際團隊，成員包括：德國籍劉培生（Johannes Rauh）、德國籍袁錦堂（Josef Hölzlwimmer）、中國籍鄧清慈（Giovanni Battista Tang Tsing Tze）和意大利藉的胡子義。
我們很高興地告訴大家，在中華會省，至今仍有一位親身經歷胡子義神父及其同伴晉鐸儀式的會士在我們中間。他就是當時來自澳門慈幼會孤兒院的十四歲男孩，如今仍服務於澳門慈幼會團體的九十四歲潘厚坤修士。
我們知道還有另外兩位在場者，感謝他們的證詞。他們是：一位是最近去世的，當時年僅十六歲的龔廣權（Emanuel Kung Kwong Kuen，†2023年10月10日），他是祝聖彌撒的歌詠團成員，後來也成為了一名慈幼會修士。據他所述，他們演唱了由著名的司馬榮（Wilhelm Schmid, S.D.B.）神父創作的《你是祭司》（Tu es sacerdos）。另一位在場的，據他所說，是一位當時十七歲的備修生劉戩雄（Joseph Lau Tsing Hung）神父，他最近也去世了（†2024年9月18日）。
最後，多虧了胡子義神父本人的書面證詞，我們才得知，在來自慈幼會孤兒院的男孩中，有一位當時20歲的慈幼會初學生，區海晏修士（2012年3月9日逝世），他曾是實習修士胡子義的學生。這項訊息來自胡子義神父在寫給他哥哥的一封信中的一張彩色照片背面的文字說明見到。照片拍攝於1996年1月8日，那一年是胡子義神父晉鐸50週年金禧紀念。照片中，他正在大陸的一個漢森村主持彌撒。照片說明文字如下：「華南地區。我們的一個中心，一間受助者之家舉行的銀、金、鑽禧紀念彌撒：15位平信徒受洗者……所有這一切都在這座宏偉的大教堂裡舉行，它絲毫不遜色於聖伯多祿大教堂……更親切，更寧靜……讓人感到自在。 站著的那位是區海晏修士，慈幼會的修士，我在澳門教小學時的四年級學生，他參加了我於1946年3月25日舉行的首祭。照片就是他拍的⋯⋯做得好！」「照片是他拍的」可能指的是他1996年於大陸拍攝了彌撒的照片。他出現在晉鐸禧年慶典上的照片當然是其他人拍攝的。然而，也不排除照片說明文字的意思是，早在1946年，年僅20歲的初學生區海晏修士——他一生熱愛攝影——就拍攝了大部分的晉鐸典禮照片。
March 25, 1946 – March 25, 2026, Feast of Angel Gabriel’s Annunciation of the Lord to the Blessed Virgin Mary: Eightieth Anniversary of Priestly Ordination of Servant of God Fr. Gaetano Nicosia, S.D.B.
by Fr. Lanfranco M. Fedrigotti SDB
Eighty years ago, on the Feast of the Annunciation March 25, 1946, “Angel of Hansenians” and “Father of Poor and Abandoned Children” Servant of God Fr. Gaetano Nicosia received Ordination to the Priesthood at the hands of Bishop Joannes de Deo Ramalho, S.J., bishop of Macau, in the Church of the Diocesan Seminary of São José, Macau.
Fr. Nicosia himself, in his “Brief Notes on My Life”, p. 6, tells us this: “There were four of us; after four years, we were ordained in the Seminary Church in Macau on March 25, the Annunciation, 1946. A very simple ceremony… but indelible forever. I said the First Mass in Yuet Wah College, my home…. Well done, the young people….. ” “Well done, the young people…..” probably means that his boys at Yuet Wah College threw him a great party.
In the Letter of April 13, 1973 to his brother Salvatore, Fr. Nicosia tells us also this: “Mr. Oseo Acconci was my godfather at the First Mass”. Mr. Oseo Acconci (1905-1988), an Italian architect active in Macau, was also the godfather at the First Mass of the future first Chinese Bishop of Macau, Fr. Domingos Lam Ka Tseung. In the Catholic Church in Macau, the godfather of the First Mass is called in Chinese: “Wash-Hands Godfather” (洗手契爺), because it was his duty to wash the hands of the new priest after the anointing of the hands by the Bishop and the binding of the hands with white linen. Mr. Acconci was later the architect-builder of most of the works built by Fr. Gaetano Nicosia in Coloane, Macau, most famously the Church of Our Lady of Sorrows in the hansenian Village of Our Lady of Sorrows.
Fr. Gaetano Nicosia was not ordained alone, but in the company of three other companions of novitiate, of study of philosophy, of practical training, and of study of theology. The four newly ordained novitiate companions made up a fine international group composed of the following: the German Johannes Rauh, the German Josef Hölzlwimmer, the Chinese Giovanni Battista Tang Tsing Tze, and the Italian Gaetano Nicosia.
We are happy to say that in the CIN Province there is still a surviving witness of the Priestly Ordination of Fr. Gaetano Nicosia and his companions. He is the then fourteen-year-old boy from the Orfanato Salesiano of Macau, today 93-year old Brother Salesian Mario Poon Hau Kwan of the Salesian Community in Macau.
We know of two others who were present thanks to their witness to us. They are: member of the choir at the Ordination Mass, recently deceased, then sixteen-year-old youngster, Emanuel Kung Kwong Kuen (†10-10-2023), later also a Brother Salesian. According to his testimony, they sang the “Tu es sacerdos” composed by renowned Fr. Wilhelm Schmid, S.D.B. Also present at the Ordination, as he told us, was the then seventeen-year-old aspirant, Joseph Lau Tsing Hung, recently deceased (†18-09-2024).
Finally, thanks to the written witness of Fr. Gaetano Nicosia himself, there was among the boys from the Orfanato Salesiano the then twenty-year-old Salesian novice Bro. Joseph Au Hoi Yin (†09-03-2012), a past-pupil of practical trainee Gaetano Nicosia. This is known from the caption typewritten by Fr. Gaetano Nicosia on the back of a colour photo included in a letter to his brother Salvatore. The photo is dated January 8, 1996, the year of Fr. Gaetano Nicosia’s Golden Jubilee of Priesthood. The photo depicts him celebrating Mass in one of the hansenian villages of the mainland. Here is the caption: “South China. My Silver, Gold, Diamond Mass in one of our centres, in the home of one of our clients: 15 Baptisms, General Communion for Christians…. and all this in this magnificent cathedral that has nothing to envy of St. Peter’s….. more intimate. more calm…… you feel at ease. The one standing is Bro. Joseph Au, Salesian Coadjutor, my former student in 4th grade, was present at my first Mass in 25, 3, 46. He’s the one who takes the photos…. well done». “He’s the one who takes the photos” probably means that it was he who took the photos of the Mass in 1996 in the mainland. The photo in which he appears at the Ordination must, of course, have been taken by someone else. It is not impossible, however, that the caption means that already in 1946 20-year old novice Bro. Au, a passionate photographer throughout his life, was the one who took most of the Ordination photos.