May 7th was the anniversary of the death of Paul Tep Im Sotha, the first Apostolic Prefect [Bishop] of Battambang. Monsigneur Tep Im, along with Fr John Badre, a French Benedictine, was brutally murdered in 1975 by the Khmer Rouge at a place 5 kilometres outside Svay Sisophon, now known in English as the Land of the Martyrs. A shrine has now been established there and it has become a place of pilgrimage. Each year a commemorative Mass is held and Catholics gather from all over the Battambang Diocese to remember, pray and offer incense in memory of Paul Tep Im and Fr John. These are some pictures of the occasion.
