![\"cullen_001\"](\"http:\/\/www.shrule.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/cullen_001.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nNephews, Nieces and Great-Niece at Dalgan Park
\nBack Row : Leo Cullen, Angela Murphy, Clare McDermott, Anne Breckenridge,
\nKathleen McElvogue, Sean Doyle
\nFront Row : Liam McElvogue, Maureen Rooney, Vic Cullen, Siobhan McDermott<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Father Charles was one of the first 19 students of the new mission when the college opened on 29th January 1918 at Shrule, Co. Galway. Ordained on 5th June 1921, he left Cove for New York on 8th September 1921 where he travelled within the U.S.A. preaching and fundraising for the cause before setting sail on 26th November 1921 from Seattle – one of the second group of priests to arrive in Hanyang China, the vicariate allocated to the Missionary Society of St. Columban by the Vatican.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Fr. Charles Cullen<\/p><\/div>\n
After seven weeks of intensive study of Chinese, Father Charles was sent to his mission station of Ko Cha Dzae. From here he carried out his ministry, sometimes in the outlying districts and sometimes in other stations to cover for absent priests, until his untimely death through illness on 23rd July 1923. He was just 27 years old, and the first Columban Missionary to die in the field. Some say that he is also the first Irishman of any order to die in China.<\/p>\n
The political turmoil in China resulted in the last missionaries being expelled in 1954. As time went on churches were destroyed or taken over for other purposes; Chinese characters were modernised, and the names of many villages were changed – Ko Cha Dzae disappeared from view. Throughout this time Father Charles lay in his lonely grave, lost, but never forgotten.<\/p>\n
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Through the efforts of Father Dan Troy based at the China Mission Unit, and the generosity of the Missionary Society of St. Columban, Father Charles\u2019 grave was re-located last year and a plaque in his memory was sited in the village just prior to the commemoration.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Memorial Plaque at Ko Cha Dzae \u2013 now Bai Guo Shu<\/p><\/div>\n
Father Neil Collins was the principal celebrant of the mass, assisted by Fathers Gerry Neylon and John McGrath of the China Mission Unit.<\/p>\n
The family were joined by priests of the Mission Society, and organist Philomena Boylan-Stewart accompanied the singing of hymns \u201cColours of the Day\u201d, \u201cPraise to the Lord\u201d, \u201cLove is his Word\u201d, and \u201cHow Lovely on the Mountains\u201d. The mass readings were based on Father Charles\u2019 \u201cSouvenir of my Ordination to Priesthood\u201d.<\/p>\n
Anne Breckenridge read from the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans 8:35-38 and Angela Murphy sang the 109th psalm; Father Collins read the words from the holy gospel according to Matthew used by Father Charles :<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd everyone who has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for my name\u2019s sake, shall receive a hundred-fold, and shall possess life everlasting\u201d.<\/p>\n