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Ka Ho Village Chapel of St. Francis Xavier Tam Kung Temple
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This
small tranquil village was originally dwelled by lepers, but many of the
victims recovered and returned to their communities. In the 1970s and
1980s, it was converted into a settlement area for Vietnamese refugees.
The village is distinguished by Our Lady Of Sorrows church, which was
built in 1966 with a massive bronze crucifix. 
The
chapel, built in 1928, follows the baroque style of Macau's major churches.
It comprises a cream and white façade with oval windows and a bell tower.
The chapel contains some of the most sacred relics of Christian Asia.
In a silver reliquary is a bone from the arm of St. Francis Xavier, who
followed his missionary successes in Japan by coming to the China coast.
He died in 1552 on Sanchuan Island, 50 miles from Macau. The relic was
designated to Japan, but religious persecution there persuaded the church
to keep it in Macau's St. Paul's. It was first moved to St. Joseph's and
to this chapel in 1978. Bones of other martyrs and rebels during the persecution
of Christians in Japan in 1597 are also stored in the chapel.
This
temple on the Coloane waterfront was built to commemorate a Taoist god
of seafarers, Tam Kung. A fine tole roof is trimmed with fine porcelain
figures. Beside the image of the deity is a four-foot long model of a
dragon boat made from a whalebone, with a crew of wooden men in red robes
and yellow hats. Against a background of rocks and twisted pines is a
dramatic mural of a big-eyed, orange-striped tiger cub.