Occasionally I receive a research request for a topic that piques my interest and entices me to dig deeper. Today I would like to feature such a request, one about a Chinese Catechist named Peter Hoh Yuet Wa. Peter Hoh was a Chinese man born in the small village of Hoh Lok Tsui, Sunning, South China. Throughout most of his life he travelled the United States, opened numerous businesses, and involved himself with the Catholic Church.
In his later years, Peter Hoh would become an influential elder in his home village. He would play a small, but vital role in assisting Fr. Robert J. Cairns in expanding Maryknoll’s Sun Chong mission in the Kongmoon Vicariate. Through Fr. Cairns, Peter Hoh’s life is recorded in The Field Afar and his contributions remembered through the Mission Diaries. Join me as I explore the life of Peter Hoh Yuet Wa, Chinese Catechist and Friend of Maryknoll.
Peter Hoh’s Early Days
Peter Hoh Yuet Wa’s full life story is detailed in the December 1930 and January 1931 issues of The Field Afar. For more details I refer you there, but here is a brief overview of his life.
Peter Hoh was born in 1865 in Hoh Lok Tsui (Rivermouth), Sunning, South China. He spent his formative years in his small village, receiving a local education and studying Chinese. At the age of 16, he was called to America to assist his brother’s laundry business. Peter Hoh made his way to his first foreign home in Appleton, Wisconsin.
For over 45 years, Peter Hoh would travel across the United States and take a few trips back to China. During this time he experienced both hardship and prosperity as he opened his own businesses. He became well known for opening Chinese Restaurants in various cities, most of which he sold for a profit. In his travels, he visited many cities including Saint Paul, Minnesota, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, South Bend, Indiana, Kansas City, Missouri, and Madison, Wisconsin.
Peter Hoh’s most noteworthy experience was in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where he first became directly involved in the Catholic Church. There he became acquainted with the priest-apostle, Fr. McGlough, who was working with Chinese immigrants. Peter Hoh became a catechist and would assist 25 of his countrymen in conversion, leading them to the Baptismal Font himself.
After many years of hard work, Peter Hoh finally retired to his home village of Hoh Lok Tsui.
“The Experiences of a Chinese Catholic in America”
The Field Afar, Vol 24 No 11
Peter is a Chinese Catholic of no mean ability born in Rivermouth (Hoh Lok Tsui), Sunning, South China, in 1865, sixty-five years ago. He studied the Chinese classics in a schoolhouse on the hill, in sight of the shop where this is being typed. At sixteen years of age he went to America.
He worked hard in laundries and restaurants, started establishments of his own in several Western cities and experienced alternating periods of struggle and prosperity. He studied English, German, and the sign language of the deaf and [mute]. As a volunteer catechist, he instructed twenty-five Chinese, and brought them to the baptismal font in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
“Peter Hoh Yuet Wa, ‘Returned American’ Chinese”
The Field Afar, Vol 25 No 1
Now Peter has returned home, and is giving to the Catholic Church in this section the benefit of his influence and experience. In his home at Hoh Lok Tsui (Rivermouth), he has set aside a room for the priest [Fr. Robert J. Cairns], which chamber is referred to by his happy grandchildren as “the priest’s room”…
He is starting his grandchildren in business, and caring for the education of his great-grandchildren. From his village, he has been instrumental in sending eleven boys to the Cathedral boarding school at Canton; where he visited them recently, and reports that they are all doing nicely, and spending a profitable vacation attending the Catholic Summer School.
Assisting the Sun Chong Mission
In 1926, Fr. Robert J. Cairns started his time at the Sun Chong Mission in the Kongmoon Vicariate. This mission served many villages and outstations, including that of Hoh Lok Tsui (Rivermouth). While on this mission, Fr. Cairns maintained a mission diary which records the monthly events of his life. Peter Hoh first appears in the July 1929 entry, where Fr. Cairns states he recently returned from Wisconsin. Peter Hoh built a new, modern home in Sunning and becomes a village elder.
It seems the pair became fast friends, as Peter Hoh reserved a room in his new home for Fr. Cairns, dubbed the “priest’s room”. Fr. Cairns mentions Peter Hoh’s contributions to the mission in later diary entries. In addition to his support of the Catholic Church, Peter Hoh also helped Fr. Cairns in building a church in Sunning. A property was set aside long before Maryknoll took over the mission, but it was never properly developed. Peter Hoh used his influence in the region to assist in getting the necessary permits to build the Church.
Sun Chong Diaries
Written by Fr. Robert Cairns
July 1929
On July 1st, Fr. Cairns went to Hoh Lok Tsui (Rivermouth) where men from Kwong Hoi (West Waters) and Yuen Taam (Circle Springs) had walked for Mass. There three stations had to be made in one day for Bishop Walsh had called Fr. Sandy [Carins] to Kongmoon. We slept in the “priest’s room” in Peter Hoh’s new $14,000 house, which, in many respects, is better than our own. Peter is a zealous Catholic who “made his pile” in a Madison (Wisconsin) restaurant. While there, he acted as a voluntary catechist and brought a score of Chinese to the Baptismal Font. As the presiding elder of his Chinese village, he wields much influence, which helps Catholicity.
“Interesting Chinese”
Written by Fr. James A. Walsh
The Field Afar, Vol 26 No 5
I was called to the Procure office one day to meet Peter Hoh [Yuet Wa], whose photograph I had seen in The Field Afar, and whose story was briefly told in its pages.
Peter Hoh is a “returned America”, with a record of high grade accomplishment in various cities of the United States. He has left relatives behind him to carry on in the States, and still retains interest in a well-known New York restaurant [Palais d’ Or].
He settled down in a newly built house, but admits that he has a hankering to see again the country of his wanderings. I was glad of the opportunity to thank Peter Hoh [Yuet Wa] for his kindness to our Maryknollers in South China…
Friend of Maryknoll
Fr. Cairns left the Sun Chong Mission in 1931, moving to a new mission on Sancian Island. His replacement in Sun Chong was Fr. John C. Heemskerk, who unfortunately did not maintain a diary himself. The last mention of Peter Hoh is in the May 1932 issue of The Field Afar, where Fr. James A. Walsh mentions meeting him in Hong Kong. Fr. Walsh makes a point to thank Peter Hoh for all his contributions to Maryknoll’s mission, showing the appreciation Maryknoll had for the elderly catechist.
While we do not have the end of his story, it is incredible that we even have this much. So often the average person fades into the vast ocean of history, their story lost to time. However, Peter Hoh was remembered thanks to his small, but impactful presence in Maryknoll’s mission. Now we remember him again, by rediscovering his story and sharing it with a new generation.
