Myanmar people build a headstone for their departed Bishop, who always sort a peaceful place to meditate. Four months ago, Bishop John Hsane Hgyi died of Covid-19 on July 22.
Father Zuzel, the parish priest of Kyaitlatt, stated that a headstone was erected in the home parish of the late Bishop in the diocese of Pathein in Ayeyarwaddy Region, Myanmar, on November 22.
"We built a headstone in the place where Bishop Hsane Hgyi used to sit and recite the rosary," Father Zuzel said. "It means that he has peacefully rested in his village."
As a symbolic gesture, people laid the bishop's cassocks and miter inside the headstone.
Fr Zuzel recalled the words of the late Bishop during one of their encounters before the pandemic, "I do not want to give trouble to anyone when I get old. I want to meditate in a peaceful place."
The parish priest consulted Mahn Florence, the brother of the Bishop, with the idea of a memorial for the prelate.
"With the financial help from Mahn Florence's family members, the headstone was built beside the cross inside the compound of the parish church," Fr Zuzel told Radio Veritas Asia.
Father William Win Naing, a guest priest and some priests from the diocese blessed the headstone to mark the four-month remembrance of the prelate's death.
The Catholic faithful in the Kyaitlatt parish expressed their sentiments that the headstone serves as a reminder that "we have had a Bishop in our village." The parish of Kyaitlatt was established in 1998, carved out from the Cathedral parish of Pathein.
The prelate was born on December 15, 1953, in Pyin Kadoe Chaung village in the parish of Kyaitlatt in Kangyi Daunt Township, Ayeyarwaddy Region. On December 3, 1981, he was ordained deacon at St. Mary's Cathedral in Yangon and became a priest on March 7, 1982, at Zaung Dan's parish of Pathein Diocese.
On March 22, 2003, he was named a bishop and was installed as Bishop of Pathein on August 24, 2003. He became the sixth Bishop of the Pathein diocese.
He was a rector of the Institute of Philosophy in Pyin Oo Lwin, Mandalay Region, and the Institute of Theology in Yangon, Myanmar.
The Diocese of Pathein was established as a suffragan diocese of the Metropolitan Yangon in 1956.
Radio Veritas Asia (RVA), a media platform of the Catholic Church, aims to share Christ. RVA started in 1969 as a continental Catholic radio station to serve Asian countries in their respective local language, thus earning the tag “the Voice of Asian Christianity.” Responding to the emerging context, RVA embraced media platforms to connect with the global Asian audience via its 21 language websites and various social media platforms.
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