Joseph Chhmar Salas

Joseph Chhmar Salas (Khmer: យ៉ូសែប ឆ្មារសាឡាស់) 21 October 1937 – September 1977) was a prelate of the Catholic Church who served as bishop Apostolic Vicariate of Phnom Penh in Cambodia from 1975 to 1977, when he died of exhaustion in a forced work camp of the Khmer Rouge. He was among the first native Cambodians to become a Catholic priest and the first to become bishop.

Life Early life and education

Salas was born in Phnom Penh on 21 October 1937 in Moutkrasal village along the Mekong river. He was born into a Traditional Catholic family. Salas was the eldest of his siblings. He had a younger sister, Yu Chhmar Prakod (also spelled You Prakort), and a younger brother, Joseph Chhmar Salem, who was also a Catholic priest. He studied in a minor seminary in Phnom Penh, afterwards he continued his studies to a major seminary named "Issy les Moulineaux" in France in October 1959 For his formation as a priest.

Priesthood

Salas was ordained a deacon at the Saint-Sulpice Chapel in Issy-les-Moulineaux on 2 February 1964. He was ordained a priest on 24 June 1964 by Bishop Yves Ramousse at the Notre-Dame Cathedral of Phnom Penh, becoming one of the first native Cambodians, alongside Simon Chhem Yen and Paul Tep Im Sotha, to become a Catholic priest. Following his ordination, Salas was assigned to the Apostolic Prefecture of Battambang, where he established a training center for catechists. In 1974, he returned to Paris, France, to pursue advanced theological and biblical studies.

Episcopal ministry and Khmer Rouge era

In March 1975, amid the escalation of the Cambodian Civil War, Bishop Yves Ramousse was at the head of the Cambodian Church when the Khmer Rouge took power. Sensing that he would have to leave his beloved community, he summoned Salas back to Cambodia urgently. Anticipating that all foreign clergy would be expelled if the Khmer Rouge seized power, Ramousse sought to establish native leadership for the local Church.

Salas readily obeyed and hurried back to his country. Salas knew that his return at this time meant accepting all the most difficult consequences that would befall him. Upon his departure from Paris, Salas reportedly expressed to a friend his expectation that he was returning to his country to die.

On 14 April 1975, the Holy See appointed Salas as Coadjutor Bishop for the Apostolic Vicariate of Phnom Penh. He was ordained 3 days before the Khmer rouge seized Phnom Penh.

On April 17, 1975, the Khmer Rouge took power in Cambodia. They founded a Communist state with the name of Democratic Kampuchea, where any religion was forbidden and destruction of religious sites was frequent, Catholics and non Catholics were force out of the town and cities.

In May 1975, foreigners were expelled, including Catholic priests and religious, while natives were forced to work in rice fields and many of them were executed.

Bishop Ramousse was expelled from the country with many other foreign priests and religious. Most Cambodian priests and religious remained in the country, very few would survive.