Our Patron Saints
Shung Tak is a Hong Kong Catholic Diocesan school and patron saints have been an integral part of the school. Like most of the grammar schools in Hong Kong, students are organized into houses to run sports events. There are four: viz. Red, Blue, Green and Yellow. Unlike most of the other grammar schools, our houses have patron saints. It is our tradition to have St. James as the patron saint for the Red House, St. John for the Blue, St. Patrick Green and St. Peter Yellow.

When one of our ex-principals came into office, he abolished the streaming system and renamed the classes so as to remove the "labelling effects" on students. Classes were renamed J, L, M, P and S. So, the RS Department had to think up patron saints these alphabets represented. They are: Ss. Joan of Arc, Luke, Matthew, Priscilla and Silas. At that time, there were 9 different patron saints in the school! The only merit was that there were two female saints!

It was a golden opportunity when the school celebrated her Golden Anniversary to finalize, once and for all, our Official Patron Saints. The school was founded in Ss. Peter and Paul Church of Yuen Long fifty years ago. Therefore, it was only natural to declare these two great Apostles to be our Patron Saints. Meanwhile, the class labels would represent Christian virtues, viz. Justice, Love, Mercy, Peace, Spirituality and Talentum.

RS Department
Feast Day of Ss. Peter & Paul 2011

Both Ss Peter and Paul worked for us

Though it is wrong to think in a "we-they" manner, it is convenient and simple. Therefore, there are lots of simplified half-truths floating around. For example, we have been told that Ss Peter and Paul died martyrs on the same day, June 29. Are you sure? Is it true?

Actually, nobody can tell for sure that the two great Apostles died on the same day. But we have written records showing that in 258 A.D., believers moved the remains of these two great Apostles to the Via Appia ad Catacumbas on June 29. Thus far we are sure.
Therefore, the Church celebrates the Feast of Ss Peter and Paul on June 29.
Again, we have been told that

"I (Paul) had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised." (Galatians 2:7)

The ¡§circumcised¡¨ refers to the Jews. Therefore, we have the impression that Peter worked exclusively for the Jews and Paul for the non-Jews. What a clean, simple and tidy division of labour! But ¡K
Since you and I are not Jews. So, what has Peter to do with you and me? Why should we choose Peter to be one of our patron saints?

Leafing through the pages of the Acts of the Apostles written by St. Luke, we find Peter baptising Cornelius, a Roman centurion, i.e. a non-Jew, even before Paul started his famous missionary journeys (Acts 10:1-48). Through the concerted efforts of the Apostles with the Holy Spirit, the Church thrived. But the admission of Gentiles into the early Church, which had so far been made up mostly of circumcised Jews, created a crisis which threatened to split the Church. To deal with it, the Apostles convoked the Jerusalem Council. Here, Peter stood up to defend Paul¡¦s preaching to the Gentiles (Acts 15:7-11). Therefore, the apparent division of labour was only a simplified expression of a much more complex process.

We are blessed to have these two holy Apostles to be the Patron Saints of our College. May we learn more from their lives and follow their footsteps to glorify God, our Creator, with our "Ora et Labora". Amen.

(Student Handbook 2010-2011, pg. 4)

A very short biography of Saint Paul

Paul was born Saul in the city Tarsus in around 8 A.D. He was a Jew like all other early disciples of Jesus. He was trained a Pharisee and being one, he was very fervent to weed out Christians because they believed in one more God --- Jesus, a carpenter whom he had never met in person.

One day, when he was travelling on the road to Damascus to arrest the Christians there, Jesus appeared to him in a strong light (Acts 9:1-9). After this soul-shattering experience, he knew that Jesus was God and that he had been wrong. Therefore, he spent the rest of his life preaching to Jews and Gentiles that Jesus is our Saviour, our God. It was during this time that he changed his name to Paul. For the sake of Jesus and the gospel, Paul had worked very hard, preaching and writing letters to advise the churches he set up.

Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one --- I am talking like a madman --- with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death.
Five times I have received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one.
Three times I have been beaten with rods; once I was stoned. Three times I have been shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been adrift at sea;
on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brethren;
in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.
And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure upon me of my anxiety for all the churches. (2 Corinthians 11:23-28) Tradition claims that he was beheaded in Rome in 65 A.D., the same day Peter was crucified, upside-down. Statues of St. Paul usually depict a bald, bearded man holding a long sword with one hand and a book/letter with the other.

Peter (Yellow House)

Simon Peter, the first Pope, Prince of the Apostles, and together with St. Paul, were founders of the See of Rome. Peter was a native of Bethsaida, and worked, like his brother St. Andrew, as a fisherman on Lake Genesareth. Andrew introduced Peter to Jesus (John 1:40-42). Peter acknowledged him as '... the Messiah, the son of the living God'. Christ responded by saying: '... you are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church....' He added: 'I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven ...' (Matthew 16:16-19).

According to Church tradition, Peter was crucified on the Vatican Hill upside down because he declared himself unworthy to die in the same manner as the Lord.
Feast Day: June 29

(Student Handbook 2009-2010, pp.10-11)