Lyricist Trappist Monk dies on Good Friday in Hong Kong

Trappist Monk, Dom Clement Kong Hak-mun, passed away at 7.40 in the morning on April 15, Good Friday in Hong Kong. He was 85.

He was a resident-priest at St. Mary’s Home for the Aged. He was the first Chinese abbot to head the Our Lady of Joy Abbey of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance in Hong Kong. 

Thanks to his tremendous contributions as a lyricist and composer, Dom Kong played an important role in liturgical music in the Chinese Catholic dioceses.

Dom Clement Kong was born in Hong Kong on August 5, 1937. He was the fifth of the seven siblings and was baptised as an Anglican. He became a Catholic in 1957.

Before pursuing the contemplative life, Dom Kong taught music and English and composed several hymns for Mass, which are now printed in the hymn books Chung Yan (praising God’s grace) and Sum Chung (praise from the heart), widely used in Chinese-speaking dioceses.

He first visited the Trappist monastery with a Catholic friend during his studies at a teachers’ training college. Dom Clement Kong immediately loved the quiet simplicity of the monastery and, in particular, the clear ringing of the bells that echoed throughout the hills and valleys.

Three years later, following the Cistercian Order, Dom Kong left everything behind and joined the Trappist community. He made his solemn profession in February 1969 and was ordained priest in 1973.

In 1999 when the monastery of Our Lady of Joy on Lantau Island was elevated to the status of Abbey, Solemnly professed monks of the monastery elected Dom Kong as their first abbot on September 5. – Sunday Examiner