How wonderful that the itinerary for the Pilgrimage to St. Pio Friary & Spiritual Centre in Ulu Tiram, Johor included a visit to the Chapel of Santa Cruz, Malim in Malacca. My beloved John and I were super thrilled. Bless George Yeow, the tour leader who always prepares great spiritual-cum-leisure tours for his pilgrims... this time 3 busload of us!
This is a first visit for both of us to the 19th-century Chapel of Santa Cruz, which was first built in 1850 as a small wooden chapel but now had been transformed into a brick building. It's sometimes referred to as the Chapel of Holy Cross and is located between an old rubber estate and an ancient Chinese graveyard, atop Malim Hill, along the old Malacca-Alor Gajah trunk road.
The Chapel comes under the jurisdiction of St Peter’s Church, Melaka (tel. no: 06-2822950). Check the latter's website to know more about the mystery and legend of the wooden cross.
Eucharistic Celebrations are conducted at the Chapel, only on the Feast of Santa Cruz on September 14 (or the Sunday closest to that date). It is open once a year during the commemoration of the feast where thousands of pilgrims and devotees will converge to pray and offer thanksgiving to our Lord Jesus Christ, who suffered and died on the cross, and resurrected to redeem the whole of humanity.
We were fortunate and delighted to be able to visit this popular Chapel on September 21, 2013, less than a week after its feast day celebration on Sunday, the 15th because George managed to liaise with the caretaker to allow us inside, to pray the Novena of the Holy Cross and the Rosary.
It had been a wonderfully short and memorable visit to pray at the Malim hilltop Chapel of Santa Cruz that has a 150 years history. All in all, I think we were there slightly more than an hour before we proceeded on our journey for lunch in Malacca town.
No comments:
Post a Comment