昔日文章

Tragedy   During the school’s swimming gala, Tom had a tragedy. “Ow!” He yelled.   Our class was on a tour bus, heading west to the swimming centre. When we were on the bus, Tom was incredibly arrogant and disrespectful. “You all are losers! I’m the king and I’m the best!” It felt like I was on a bus with entitled toddlers who thought they‘re so good at English because they learnt how to spell “delicious”…   After an hour long trip from Kwun Tong to Tsuen Wan , our class entered the swimming centre as participants of the competition. “Oh my god!” There were around 2000 spectators, all staring at us. I immediately felt the pressure and was extremely stressed as I knew that a small mistake would make me embarrassed for hours. Tom on the other hand, was a different story. He was showing off his muscles to the crowd and telling the viewers how “big” his muscles were.   The swimming gala began! Everyone started to warm up while Tom was far behind, standing there. “You need to do warm-ups !” Tom’s coach said. “Shut your mouth!” Tom shouted, and just started to swim. After 10 minutes, Tom started to suffer from his leg cramps.   After Tom’s leg got better by laying on bed for over an hour, he decided to leave the swimming centre. It was probably because he feared being a total embarrassment to the audience, or that he’s actually injured. I’d pick the first option for sure.   About two hours later, the swimming gala has ended. I couldn’t have expected something better. “In third place, we got Malissa! And in second place…” I was filled with excitementat that moment, knowing it could be ANYONE. “We got… Ricky!” Still kind of sad for him because he was so close to first place though.” It was pretty surprising to hear that, as Ricky is the best swimmer in the class.   “And in FIRST place, we got Charles! Congratulations!”   As I heard that, I immediately went from excited to literally jumping off my seat and cheering. I couldn’t even imagine that happened. Oh, and I can show this off to Tom as well. Imagining his reaction, it would be hilarious.   2 days later, Tom came back with the only intention to ruin my mood. “Bet you lost” What he didn’t know is that I got a gold medal. After I showed him my medal, he was jealous and raging. He never changes.   Chau Cheuk Him Charles St. Francis Xavier's School , Tsuen Wan  1B  

每次到澳門去， 我都會一遊「大三巴」。雖然那處總是遊人如鯽，而且大部分是遊客。 談到「大三巴」的歷史，要追溯到1555 年，耶穌會首批教士追隨在上川島逝世的聖方濟各．沙勿略（St. Francis Xavier）的腳步，來到澳門。至1586年，當時已經大約有五、六千教徒居於澳門。 大約在1600年，繼印度果亞之後，澳門成為葡萄牙在海外屬地中最大的城市，也是中國與世界各地通商的唯一港口，同時也成為天主教傳教的平台。 「三巴牌坊」，源於聖保祿學院及大教堂，它們分別於1594及1603年建成，真正的名稱應為「天主之母大教堂前壁」，拉丁文為“MATER DEI”，名稱刻在教堂大門上的橫楣上。 1594年，耶穌會在澳門創立了「天主之母學院」。隨後，又建築了精美絕倫的「天主之母大教堂」，這可說是一座繼羅馬聖伯多祿大殿後，世上最完美的聖殿。參與這項建設工程的工匠、石匠及其他工人，大部分是來自中國及日本的天主教徒，日本的教徒，多是逃避政府迫害而避居澳門的。 前往大三巴，要經過耶穌會紀念廣場的大型石階，從這紀念廣場步上兩階級，即抵達一寬廣平台，平台象徵加入天主教會的洗禮。大型台階並不太陡峭，分六段，各有十一級，我們走過七十二級，便到達大庭院。 大教堂的前壁及其下之石階，是由耶穌會的數學家精心設計的。教堂的前壁全以人手雕刻的花岡石建成，厚度可謂驚人，厚達1.84米，所用的岩石亦約有一千立方米，看起來非常堅實壯觀。至於壁上的雕刻，精雕細琢，令人驚嘆，教堂內部大而通爽，建築得亦非常精美，壁上懸掛了多幅名畫。 教堂的天花，有美麗的拱形設計，手工精巧，雕工亦極精美，既有鍍金，以及塗上朱紅、蔚藍等色彩，繽紛而奪目。前壁的塑像色彩艷麗，亦有鍍金或上彩。聖母頭上有兩個小天使托著金冠；神像立於壁龕內，由鮮花圍繞；耶穌像同樣戴上冠冕，左手托著金球，球上有十字架。 1762年，葡國政府下令逮捕耶穌會教士，將他們押往里斯本坐牢，而「大教堂」及學院被搶掠一空，其內所藏的文獻典籍及聖物，或被燒毀，或被搶掠。自此，政府將大教堂及學院的設施據為己有，其後，還在此駐軍。歷盡苦難災劫，耶穌會終於1814年獲准重生。1835年，貯存在廚房的大量柴木引起火災，火勢迅速蔓延，焚毀了大教堂和學院，只剩下今天仍可見的前壁。 這個被稱為「大教堂瑰寶」的前壁，其後亦回復了光采，更於2005年被納入聯合國教科文組織世界遺產之列。如果你還沒到過大三巴，下次有機會到澳門去，別忘了去一趟啊！ 

Born in castle（城堡）of a noble family on the North Eastern part of Spain in 1506, St Francis Xavier is the co-founder of Jesuit (Society of Jesus). He was determined to evangelise（傳福音） Asia following the Portuguese empire. He did extensive evangelisation（福傳）work in Goa, India. Then he also went to Malacca (Malaysia), Kagoshima (Japan), and China. He met the co-founder of Jesuit, Ignatius Loyola while studying in Paris and left Rome in 1540 to start his missionary work in Asia. He spent 12 years in Asia and he was able to convert the whole city of Goa and bring Catholicism to Japan. It was his goal to preach in China. In 1552, he landed on the island of Shangchuan （上川島）, Southern China and died there. Although he did not preach in China but he laid the ground work for Jesuit. In his family chapel in Javier Castle, it is worth noting that there is a smiling crucifix. This is rare but meaningful as the artist depicted Jesus knew that he has accomplished His work on earth, he said “It is finished” (John 19:30). Therefore, Jesus is full of Joy. It is typical in most statue of St Francis Xavier that he is carrying a crucifix; this is to show that he is a missionary and also the Patron Saint of Missionaries. You can see his Statue in a number of churches in China. In particular, there is one in Shanghai named after him. It is the St Francis Xavier Church in Dongjiadu（董家渡）, Huangpu District. It was built in 1847 and completed in 1853 and was the largest church in China at that time and can housed about 2000 people.