Paul Tep Im Sotha | |
---|---|
Apostolic Prefect of Battambang | |
![]() | |
Church | Roman Catholic Church |
Province | Battambang |
See | Battambang |
In office | 1968—1975 |
Successor | Enrique Figaredo Alvargonzalez |
Orders | |
Ordination | 1959 |
Consecration | September 26, 1968 |
Personal details | |
Born | 1934 |
Died | May 1975 (aged 40–41) Battambang Province, Kampuchea |
Paul Tep Im Sotha Samath ( Khmer: ទេព អ៊ីមសុត្ថា; 1934–May 1975) [1] [2] was a Cambodian Roman Catholic priest and the first apostolic prefect of Battambang. [3] Ordained in 1959, he was the second native Cambodian to become a Catholic priest after Simon Chhem Yen. [1]
Tep Im was raised by his mother to be a Catholic, and at a young age began to be sent to various schools abroad, such as in Vietnam, France, and Italy. [1] After his ordination at the Notre-Dame de Paris, Tep Im took further theological studies in Rome. However, growing concerns for his country's problems as well as a decisive conversation with American bishop Fulton Sheen would lead him to decide against a monastic life and return to Cambodia by August 1962. [1] Upon the establishment of the Apostolic Prefecture of Battambang, Tep Im was installed as its apostolic prefect on September 26, 1968, a position he remained in up to his death under the Khmer Rouge regime in early May 1975. [1]
Tep Im has been described by historian Milton Osborne as a priest with remarkable understanding of both the Catholic faith and Cambodian society. [4] A boarding house for secondary and tertiary-level students in Battambang was named after him. [5] [6] In June 2015, the Catholic Church officially opened an inquiry into Tep Im's presumed martyrdom, alongside others such as Joseph Chhmar Salas who died during the Cambodian genocide. [3]