Church of St Peter in Malacca

My darling John and I felt so blessed indeed to have stepped in and worshiped our Lord God inside St Peter's Church in Malacca last December, our first time! It was built in 1710 and is the oldest Roman Catholic Church in Malaysia.

Front View of St Peter's Church, Malacca (Melaka)

Wow...three centuries old, so ancient and yet a magnificent House of God that still stands strong till today as an icon of God's power and faithfulness to His children! St Peter's Church is one of the many old buildings considered a historical heritage of Malacca. Another more ancient building is the ruins of St Paul's Church on St Paul's Hill. These are must-visit if you're in Malacca.

We joined a week-end pilgrimage to St John Vianney's Church in Tampin and St Francis Xavier's Church in Malacca on Saturday December 5 2009, which included attending the Holy Eucharist celebration at St Peter's Church the next morning. That's what we like about going on a pilgrimage tour that's organized by George Yeow. He tries his best to cover a few churches during the tour to make it more spiritual and meaningful, knowing pretty well that there definitely will be some first-timers to certain churches among the pilgrims.

We arrived at St Peter's Church somewhat early and were able to enjoy its majestic beauty inside out, its unique architectural structures and to marvel at the tombstones displayed on the church's floor and wall.

Inside the Church of St Peter, Malacca

 Left photo shows the left wing inside the St Peter's Church, Malacca and the
2 images on the right are tombstones, the top one walled and the bottom, floored

Just at the entrance inside the church was a marble plaque that contained inscriptions with a brief history of the Church's history, quoted below as follows:

The Church of St Peter
The Church of St. Peter was erected in 1710 during the Dutch occupation of Malacca. It is the oldest Roman Catholic Church in Malaysia and it was built on a piece of land donated by a Dutch gentleman, Maryber Franz Amboer. Its facade and decor has a combination of eastern and western architecture. One of its bells was cast in Goa in 1608.
In the Church and compound there are 14 tombstones. St. Peter's Church is the centre of many traditional religious celebrations, specially during the events of the Holy Week. Symbolically St. Peter's is the mother church of the many descendants of the Portuguese (Eurasian) community throughout the past 270 years of its existence.

**********1979**********

Marble plague dated 1979, inside St Peter's Church

Attendance that Sunday wasn't that large as many of its parishioners have probably gone to St Francis Xavier's Church that was celebrating its Feast Day. Fr. Lawrence, a young visiting priest from the church in Batu Pahat, Johore was the celebrant that morning. Gosh, I just can't recall what he shared during the homily, just remembered that it was a good one though! Haha...what do you expect, after all it was six months ago!

Delighted that I managed to capture these treasured shots of the grand old lady, St Peter's Church! ;-)

Church of St Peter
Jalan Bendahara
Bandar Melaka
75100 Melaka
Malaysia
Tel.: +606-2822950