The Theatine monks at Rome have a tradition that, about 300 years ago, Father Ventimiglia, a
venerable Italian priest of their Order, having heard of Borneo from some Portoguese sailors, was moved to go there,and, as far as is known, his was the first attempt ever made to preach the faith in the island. He seems to have obtained the permission of Pope Innocent XI. for his undertaking and, after overcoming many difficulties and much opposition, to have landed at Banjermasin, a place on the south coast of Borneo, now in possession of the Dutch, and outside of the limits of the mission territories with which this paper deals. On landing, he at once consecrated the island to the purity of Our Lady, the Archangel St. Michael and to St. Cajetan,the founder of the religious Order to which he belonged. The annals of the Theatine Order recount that, aided by the gifts of miracles, he succeeded in converting many of the natives to the faith. Absolutely nothing seems to be known as to the time, manner, or place of his death and, at the present day, there is no trace of his work left.
As far as is known, no other attempt to introduce the Catholic faith into Borneo appears to have been made until the year 1857. A few years before that date, Don Carlos Cuarteron, the captain of a Spanish ship, which used to sail between the Philippine Islands and Spain, who had made a fortune by raising a sunken ship in the China Sea, being in great distress and peril, made a vow, promising that if his life were spared, he would become a priest and labour for tho conversion of North Borneo. His life was saved and he kept his vow. After studying a few years in the Propaganda college at Rome, he was ordained priest, and, soon after, named Prefect-Apostolic of Labuan and North Borneo. He arrived at Labuan in the year 1857. He found it impossible, at that time, to get into the interior of Borneo, or to do anything except redeem Christians who had been seized by pirates off the coast of the Philippine Islands and sold as slaves to the Sultan of Brunei and other Mohamedan rulers of places on the Borneo coast. After making several unsuccessful attempts to establish mission stations on the mainland, he settled down on the island of Labuan to wait for more favorable opportunities. There he remained, living in an old shed near the sea shore, until the year 1879. He was then old and feeble and his funds nearly exhausted, but, as he believed the time had come when a successful mission could be started in Borneo, he determined to visit Rome and beg the Pope to send priests out as soon as possible. He reached Rome in 1880 and told his wonderful story to Leo XIII, He then went to his native place, Cadiz, in Spain, and died a short time after his arrival.The Pope at once began to look out for priests to start the Borneo mission afresh and, after some time,applied to Cardinal Vaughan, the founder and Superior General of St. Joseph's Foreign Missionary Society of Mill Hill, London. The society gladly accepted the task proposed to it. Rev. Fr. Jackson ,who was then in Afghanistan, was appointed Prefect Apostolic.Three young priests, just ordained were sent out from Mill Hill College to join him in beginning the mission. The missionaries reached Borneo in 1881. They were in a state of true apostolic poverty. Hardly any provision had been made for their support, or for the maintenance of their work. They knew nothing about the language, manners and customs of the strange people amongst whom they were to labour. Acting on the advice of some Catholics they had met at Singapore, the missionaries made their way to Kuching, the capital of Sarawak, where they were very kindly treated by his Highness Rajah Brooke, his wife and a few Europeans whom they found residing there. The population of Kuching was then about 20,000, almost equally divided between Malays, all Mohamedans, and Chinese. Among the latter four or five Catholics were discovered. There were no real aboriginal Borneans living at Kuching. After deep consideration it was deemed advisable to establish a mission station at Kuching for work among the Chinese, in order to have a base of operations for the station to be founded in the interior of Sarawak. One of the missionaries was put in charge of this station, and at once began to study the Chinese language, one of the most difficult in the world for a European to acquire. The Rajah kindly gave a piece of ground, upon which a rough shed of unplain planks and roof of leaves was quickly put up, to serve as chapel and school. A little piece was partitioned off for the priest to live in. After a while some Chinese were converted and a small congregation formed. It was soon found, however, that while doing all that was possible to convert adults, the most effectual way of permanently establishing Christianity in a pagan country is by educating and training young children; so schools were started. Day schools would, at first, not answer the purpose, for the children unlearnt, from their pagan relatives and friends at home, the Christianity they had been taught at school. It was, therefore, necessary to get the children to live with the missionary. Gradually a number of little heathen Chinese boys were got together and the first school started. This school has been very successful . Most of the boys who have been brought up in it have eventually become Christians. Some of them have become apostles and have converted their pagan parents and relatives.
When the school was well started, it was thought well to establish one, on the same plan, for Chinese girls. This could only be done by Sisters. One of the Fathers taught the boys, but, it would be against Eastern custom for a man to attempt to teach girls, so, in a little while, with funds begged in England and Ireland, the passage of five of St. Joseph's Missionary Sisters was paid and they went to Kuching, where a convent and school of wood were put up for them, and they began their work among the Chinese women and girls. The Sisters arrived in Borneo in July, 1885. Besides their own special work among the girls and women, they were a very great benefit to the mission in many other ways. A friend gave an old harmonium which was played by one of the Sisters and which, in spite of its age, did very well and greatly added to the solemnity of the services in the chapel.
The Kuching mission has continued to prosper. During the past few years a substantial church and also a large school for boys, both of brick, have been built. A number of former schoolchildren are grown up and married and have settled near the mission-station. Some of the young married men are employed by Rajah Brooke as clerks or in other posts in his government offices. Others are earning their living by practicing the trades of shoe-making, tailoring,etc. ,which were taught to them at the school. This mission has, however, its special trials and difficulties, one of which arises from the fact that a large proportion of the converts made here leave Borneo after a few years, and return to China or wander away to other countries. The Chinese have a wonderful love of their native land, and, however far they may stray from it, return to it after a time, and, if they cannot return to it alive they generally make arrangements for having their bones carried thither after death. It is, however, some consolation to know that most of the Catholic Chinese who have left Kuching have gone to places where there are priests, so that they can still practice their religion. As was stated above, the Chinese station at Kuching was to be a base of operations to serve as a stepping-stone. The real work of the missionaries was to be among the aborigines of Borneo ; savage or semi-savage tribes, as yet untouched by teaching of any kind.but, before any direct missionary work could be started amongst them, it was necessary, first of all, to explore a considerable part of-the country, to find out where the people were living, so as to act prudently in selecting places for stations or centers, and then to learn some of the many unwritten languages spoken by the native tribes. The Rajah strongly recommended them to have, at least one station among a tribe called Dyaks, who live chiefly near a great river known as the Rajang. It was, therefore, arranged that one of the missionaries, Father Dunn , was asked to go to this tribe and learn the language as quickly as possible, while Rev. Fr. Jackson proceeded to the territories just acquired by the British North Borneo Co., select places for mission stations in North Borneo. He return to Sarawak as soon as Fr. Dunn have learnt enough of the Dyak language to speak to the people, when they would do some exploring together and settle where the stations in the interior of Sarawak should be.
