A series of 11 heraldic paintings in Saint Thomas’s Cathedral, Kuching, tells the stories of four dioceses

Saint Thomas’s Cathedral, Kuching ... painted heraldic decorations represent the Diocese of Kuching, the dioceses in the Church of the Province of South East Asia and dioceses that are part of the story of Anglican missions in the region (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

Above the choir and chapter stalls in Saint Thomas’s Cathedral, Kuching, a series of nine painted heraldic decorations represent the Diocese of Kuching, its partner dioceses in the Church of the Province of South East Asia, and four other dioceses that are part of the story of Anglican missions in the region.

In addition, the cathedral also displays the coats of arms of both the State of Sarawak and the Federation of Malaysia.

It is difficult to find technically correct heraldic descriptions for some of these coats-of-arms, and in some cases they have been adopted without any heraldic authority. But I am grateful to Mark Scott, Somerset Herald at the College of Arms in London, who has kindly helped me to identify and describe many of these heraldic displays.

The coats of arms of Church of the Province of South East Asia and its four provinces, in a poster the Kuching diocesan offices beside Saint Thomas’s Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

These coats of arms are of interest to specialists in ecclesiastical heraldry and church history. But they also tell part of the story of the relationship of the Anglican Church in Sarawak with the Brooke Rajahs of Sarawak and the short-live British Crown Colony and of the subsequent incorporation of Sarawak into the modern state of Malaysia.

They also tell the story of the relationship between Diocese of Kuching with the neighbouring Anglican dioceses in Malaysia, Singapore and throughout South-East Asia.

The coat of arms of Church of the Province of South East Asia above the chapter and choir stalls in Saint Thomas’s Cathedral, Kuching (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The Church of the Province of South East Asia, made up of four dioceses – Sabah, Sarawak, Singapore and West Malaysia – was formed 30 years ago in 1996 as the 37th Province in the Anglican Communion. It is self-governing, self-supporting, self-propagating and truly indigenous.

At first, the See of Calcutta provided episcopal supervision for Anglican work throughout much of south and east Asia, and beyond, as far as Australia and New Zealand. The first Anglican church in what is now Malaysia was on Penang island, where the Church of Saint George the Martyr, was built in 1819 and consecrated by Thomas Fanshaw Middleton, first Bishop of Calcutta.

In time, because it was so widespread, the Diocese of Calcutta became impractical, and new dioceses were formed. As a result, for example, the Diocese of Australia was formed in 1836 and the Diocese of Singapore, Labuan and Sarawak was formed in 1855 as a missionary diocese under the oversight of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Today the Church of the Province of South East Asia covers a geographical area of 329,800 sq km with a population: 23.8 million. The coat of arms of the province, which appears to be without a full, technical heraldic description, has a white cross on a blue background, that echoes both the Saint Andrew’s cross used by the Diocese of Singapore, which its four quarters or segments may acknowledge the four dioceses that form the province.

The coat of arms of the Diocese of Kuching in the chancel in Saint Thomas’s Cathedral, Kuching (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The Diocese of Kuching:

Francis Thomas McDougall (1817-1886) was the first Bishop of Labuan and Sarawak (1855-1868). He was consecrated bishop in Calcutta on Saint Luke’s Day, 18 October 1855, by Bishop Daniel Wilson of Calcutta, under a commission from Archbishop John Bird Sumner of Canterbury.

His consecration was the first of an English bishop to take place outside Britain and Ireland. He was styled Bishop of Labuan and Sarawak because Labuan was a British territory and Sarawak was not. The Church in the Straits Settlements, including Singapore, Penang and Malacca, was separated from the Diocese of Calcutta in 1869, and placed under the episcopal care of the Bishop of Labuan. This arrangement lasted until 1909, when the Diocese of Singapore was founded.

After the Japanese occupation and World War II, the Diocese of Labuan and the Bishopric of Sarawak were joined into the Diocese of Borneo. The Diocese of Borneo was divided in 1962, forming a new Diocese of Jesselton (Sabah), including Labua, while the rest of the diocese, including Brunei, was reconstituted as the Diocese of Kuching.

The arms of the Diocese of Kuching have inherited elements from the arms granted to the Bishopric of Borneo in 1949 and that were transferred to Kuching in 1964.

They are described in heraldic language or blazoned as: Per pale gules and sable, a cross crosslet fitchy or. This describes a shield that is divided vertically down the middle, red and black, with a gold cross that has three smaller crosses at the top and to the side, and a pointed tip at the end.

At the time of the grant, Sir George Bellew (1899-1993), the Dublin-born Somerset Herald (1926-1950) and later Garter Principal King of Arms (1950-1961), pointed to these arms as an example of how with grants of arms ‘it is still possible to design simple arms without infringing those already in use.’

The coat of arms of the Diocese of Kuching echoes the colours and imagery of the coat of arms of the Brooke family, Rajahs of Sarawak (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The shield incorporates the red and black split design associated with the Brooke family, Rajahs of Sarawak, combined with a gold cross. The dominant colours mirror the historic colours of the Sarawak state flag and the heraldic arms of the Brooke dynasty, founded by James Brooke, the first Rajah of Sarawak.

The coat of arms used by the Brooke dynasty for over a century, from 1841 to 1946, were: Or (gold or yellow), a cross engrailed parted per pale gules (red) and sable (black), charged in fess point with an eastern crown or (gold or yellow); crest: a brock or badger proper (natural colours); motto: Dum Spiro Spero (‘While I Breathe, I hope’).

This blazon describes a gold or yellow shield, with a red and black cross that has wavy edges, surmounted by a crown that was added in 1848. The badger or brock in the crest is a pun alluding to the dynastic surname, and its symbolism is remembered, for example, in the name of the Badger Bar in the Sarawak Club.

The coat of arms of Sir James Brooke, first Rajah of Sarawak, granted by the College of Arms, London, in 1848 (Image: PMostEpic/Wikipedia/CC BY-SA 4.0)

The arms of Sir James Brooke were: or (gold), a cross engrailed per cross indented azure (blue) and sable (black), in the first quarter an estoile of the second (blue); crest: on an eastern crown a brock proper ducally gorged or. Motto: Dum Spiro Spero.

The azure and sable or blue and black colours were abandoned for red and black two years after the succession of his son Sir Charles Johnson Brooke (1868-1917). His achievement was: arms: or (yellow or gold), a cross engrailed parted per pale sable (black) and gules (red); crest: on a wreath of the colours a brock proper; motto: Dum Spiro Spero.

His son, Sir Charles Vyner Brooke (1917-1946), altered the arms by introducing a five-pointed crown, symbolising the five divisions of the kingdom, centred around Kuching, Sri Aman and Simanggang, Sibu, Miri, and Limbang. Shortly before World War II, the engrailed edging of the cross was abandoned and replaced by a simple cross parted per pale.

The simplified coat of arms of the Brooke family as Rajahs of Sarawak (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Sir Charles Brooke abdicated in 1946 after the Japanese occupation (1941-1945), and Sarawak became a British Crown Colony. A new coat of arms was adopted on 10 March 1947: or, on a cross parted per pale sable and gules, charged with a five-pointed eastern crown or.

The arms of the British Crown Colony of Sarawak continued to be used as the state coat of arms when Sarawak formed Malaysia with Malaya, Sabah and Singapore in 1963, and were used until 1973.

The design of the shield also provided the basis for the Sarawak flag used until 1973, and the state flag reverted to these original colours in 1988. At the same time a new state coat of arms was adopted, in which the state flag became the shield, displayed on a hornbill.

The arms of the Diocese of Sabah, first granted to the Diocese of Jesselton, seen in Kuching Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The Diocese of Sabah:

The British Colony of North Borneo changed its name to Sabah on 31 August 1963, and joined the Federation of Malaysia as an independent state. The Diocese of Sabah, covering Sabah and Labuan, was formed in 1962 as the Diocese of Jesselton. Originally, it was part of the much larger Diocese of Labuan and its Dependencies, established in 1855. When the Diocese of Singapore was formed out of that earlier diocese in 1909, the area of the present-day Diocese of Sabah fell under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Labuan and Sarawak, which was reorganised as the Diocese of Borneo in 1949.

The Diocese of Borneo was divided in two in 1962, forming the Diocese of Kuching and the Diocese of Jesselton, which was renamed the Diocese of Sabah when Jesselton, the capital city, was renamed Kota Kinabalu in 1967.

The coat of arms of the Diocese of Sabah are the arms of the former Diocese of Jesselton: argent (silver or white), issuant from a base vert (green) thereon three barrulets wavy argent (silver or white) a mountain sable (black), in chief five crosses three and two couped gules (red).

A variation in the colours in the official grant of arms of the Diocese of Sabah, seen in a poster marking the 20th anniversary of the Church of the Province of South-East Asia (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

These arms have some echoes of the arms adopted in 1948 by the former Crown Colony of British North Borneo. The diocesan arms incorporate representations of the South China Sea, with historical connotations of the early Christian missionaries travelling by sea, or of the fields of Sabah, beneath Mount Kinabalu.

However, there are variations in the colours in the official grant of arms, as seen in the chancel in Saint Thomas’s Cathedral, Kuching, and those used by Diocese of Sabah today.

The coat of arms of the Diocese of Singapore seen in Saint Thomas’s Cathedral, Kuching (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The Diocese of Singapore:

The Diocese of Singapore dates back to 1826, shortly after Singapore was founded by Stanford Raffles and at first the Anglican presence there was under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Calcutta.

Saint Andrew’s Cathedral, Simgapre, was named after the patron saint of Scotland in honour of the Scottish community who first donated to the building fund. Singapore was transferred from the Diocese of Calcutta to the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Labuan and Sarawak in 1869, and Saint Andrew’s Cathedral became the cathedral church of the diocese in 1870. It officially became the Diocese of Singapore, Labuan and Sarawak in 1881, and in 1909 Singapore was made a separate diocese covering the Straits Settlements, Peninsular Malaya, Siam (Thailand), Java, Sumatra and the adjacent islands.

It was renamed the Diocese of Singapore and Malaya on 6 February 1960. The diocese was dissolved on 8 April 1970 when it was divided into two new dioceses, the Diocese of Singapore and the Diocese of West Malaysia.

The official grant of arms to the Bishopric of Singapore are blazoned or described in heraldic language as: azure (blue) a saltire argent (white or silver) between four garbs or (gold or yellow), on a chief of the last (gold or yellow) a pastoral staff and a key in saltire purpure (purple).

The principal element in the arms of the Diocese of Singapore is the shield of Saint Andrew, similar to the symbol seen on the flag of Scotland. The four bunches of wheat symbolise the harvest of the mission fields, the crozier is a symbol of episcopal office, the key represents episcopal authority, and the crozier and key are crossed in the shape of Saint Andrew’s saltire.

The emblem the Diocese of West Malaysia displayed in Kuching Cathedral in the style of a diocesan coat of arms (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The Diocese of West Malaysia:

A new and independent diocese, the Diocese of West Malaysia, was formed from the Diocese of Singapore and Malaya in 1970, and it was incorporated by an Act of the Malaysian Parliament in 1971. Saint Mary’s Cathedral is beside Independence Square or Dataran Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur.

An official formal heraldic blazon for the arms used by the Anglican Diocese of West Malaysia is not found in standard armorial databases, it does not follow traditional heraldic designs and heraldry remains largely unregulated in Malaysia.

However, the arms used by the diocese draws heavily on local symbols and Malaysian cultural motifs seen in the shape and design of the cross and the depiction of a hornbill.

The coat of arms of the Archbishops of Canterbury above the bishop’s throne in Kuching Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The Diocese of Canterbury:

The blazon for the coat of arms of the Diocese of Canterbury is: Azure (blue), an archiepiscopal staff or (gold) ensigned with a cross formy or (gold), surmounted of a pallium argent (silver or white) edged and fringed gold, charged with four crosses formy fitchy sable (black).

These are similar to the arms used by the Archbishops of York, Armagh and Dublin. The pallium on all these is a white lamb’s wool band shaped like a ‘Y’ and is an ancient symbol of metropolitan authority.

The coat of arms of the Diocese of London seen in the chancel in Kuching Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The Diocese of London:

The Bishop of London historically had responsibility for the administration, oversight, and provision of the Church of England in all British overseas colonies. From the 17th century on, Anglican congregations and chaplaincies in British territories outside England – including North America and the West Indies – were within the remit of the Diocese of London.

After the American Revolution in 1776, the North American mainland colonies left this oversight, leaving only the British West Indies under the London bishop's direct care. To manage expanding global territories, the Church of England began forming separate colonial dioceses starting in 1787 with Nova Scotia, eventually forming 41 distinct overseas dioceses before they gained autonomy by 1863.

The technical heraldic description (blazon) for the coat of arms of the Diocese of London is: gules (red), two swords in saltire proper hilts and pommels or (gold).

This is a red shield, with two swords crossed in an ‘X’ shape or saltire. They represent Saint Paul, who is often depicted in iconography with an up-turned sword. He is the patron saint of Saint Paul’s Cathedral, the seat of the Diocese of London.

The coat of arms of the Diocese of Calcutta seen in Kuching Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The Diocese of Calcutta:

The Diocese of Calcutta was formed as an Anglican diocese in 1814. The Bishop of Calcutta was the Metropolitan of India, with a vast geographical province that initially included the entire British empire in India, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), British territories across south and south-east Asia and Australia.


From 1863 on, former colonial dioceses were separate from and independent of the Church of England, although, exceptionally, the Archbishop of Canterbury has retained some metropolitan jurisdictions outside England.

The coat of arms of the Diocese of Calcutta is recorded as: Gules (red), a pastoral staff or crozier in bend or (gold), headed argent (silver), surmounted by an open book argent bound or; on a chief indented ermine, two palm fronds in saltire vert (green), debruised with a mitre with infulae or (gold.

This is a red shield, representing holy zeal and martyrdom, with a bishop’s gold crosier placed diagonally across the shield, surmounted by an open Bible.

The coat of arms of the Diocese of Sydney displayed in Kuching Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The Diocese of Sydney:

The Diocese of Australia was formed in 1836 and William Grace Broughton became the first Bishop of Australia. The Diocese of New Zealand became a separate diocese in 1841 and the Diocese of Tasmania in 1842. When the Diocese of Australia was divided in 1847 into four separate dioceses – Sydney, Adelaide, Newcastle and Melbourne – Broughton remained as Bishop of Sydney.

The coat of arms of the Diocese of Sydney granted to William Broughton, first Bishop of Sydney, is: azure (blue), four mullets of eight points in cross argent (silver or white). This is a blue shield with four eight-pointed silver stars arranged in the shape of a cross, representing the Southern Cross constellation, with four of its primary stars.

The present coat of arms of Sarawak seen in Kuching Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The arms of Sarawak and Malaysia:

The traditional arms of Sarawak are: Or (gold or yellow), a cross engrailed parted per pale gules (red) and sable (black), charged with an eastern crown or (gold or yellow). Motto: Dum Spiro Spero (‘While I breathe, I hope’).

The arms of the British Crown Colony of Sarawak were based on the arms of the Rajah and were the state coat of arms when Sarawak formed Malaysia with Malaya, Sabah and Singapore in 1963. These arms were used from 1947 to 1973: or (gold or yellow), on a cross parted per pale sable (black) and gules (red), an Eastern crown of the field.

The current coat of arms of Sarawak dates from 31 August 1988. The shield features a symbolic wing-spread kenyalang or rhinoceros hornbill with a shield bearing the state flag. The hornbill’s wings have 13 feathers, which represent the states in Malaysia. The hibiscus represent the Malaysia’s national flower which appears on the right and left sides of the bird’s legs and the hornbill perches on a banner with the words Bersatu, Berusaha, Berbakti (‘Unity, Effort, Service’).

The coat of arms of Malaysia displayed in Kuching Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The coat of arms of Malaysia (Jata Negara Malaysia) retains many of the design elements used in the arms of the Federated Malay States during British colonial rule, and it resembles European heraldic designs. The shield is supported by two tigers for supporters, and the crest is a yellow crescent and a yellow 14-point star representing Islam and the states of Malaysia.

The shield consists of a chief or upper portion and a lower section that is divided in three per pale (longitudinally). The chief is gules (red) charged with five krises (Malay daggers), representing the five former Unfederated Malay States: Johor, Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu and Perlis.

The dexter section (the viewer’s left) shows the former coat of arms of Penang; the upper middle section below the chief shows the colours of the Federated Malay States (red, black, white and yellow); while in the lower middle section are three sections representing the new states of Sabah, Singapore and Sarawak which joined the Federation of Malaysia in 1963. In the sinister section (the right side from the viewer’s point of view) is a Malacca tree (Phyllanthus emblica), after which the state was named.

The two tigers supporting the shield are traditional Malay symbols, and were inherited from the earlier armorial ensigns of the Federated Malay States and Federation of Malaya.

The motto, Bersekutu Bertambah Mutu (‘Unity is Strength’), is in both Latin and Jawi script.

The arms of the Diocese of Lichfield, seen on the railway bridge at Upper John Street, Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

A missing coat of arms:

The inclusion of the arms of Canterbury, London, Calcutta and Sydney affirms the historic links between the Diocese of Kuching and those four other dioceses. But if a fifth diocese was to be represented, I would suggest the Diocese of Lichfield.

The Diocese of Lichfield and the Diocese of Kuching have been linked together since the Lambeth Conference in 1988. But the two were linked before that when the second bishop, Walter Chambers (1870-1881), who was ordained a priest in Lichfield Cathedral by Bishop John Lonsdale of Lichfield in 1849, moved to Borneo to assist Bishop Thomas McDougal, the first Bishop of Borneo. Chambers became Archdeacon of Sarawak in 1868 and became Bishop of Sarawak and the Straits Settlements when McDougal resigned in 1870.

The coat of arms of the iocese of Lichfield are described in heraldic terms in this way: Per pale gules (red) and argent (white) , a cross potent and quadrate (Cross of Saint Chad) between four crosses patée all counterchanged. I like to imagine the per pale or vertical division of the field and the shape of the central cross may have had some incluence on the design of the arms of the Diocese of Kuching.

The coat of arms of the Diocese of Kuching on the lectern in the chapel in the Bishop’s House in Kuching (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

47 million visitors in Malaysia, 47 million people in Spain, £47 million on the Underground and 47 million blog readers

Gerald Dickson’s eye-catching poster 100 years ago explained how £47 million was spent on developing the London Underground

Patrick Comerford

I continue to be overwhelmed by the viewing and reading figures for this blog. These figures reached 47 million earlier today, around 3:30 this afternoon (17 August 2026), having reached 46 million eight days ago (9 August 2026). Last month, the readership figures passed the million mark three times: 45 million (29 July), 44 million less than a fortnight earlier (16 July 2026), and 43 million 12 days before that (4 July 2026).

These viewing and reading figures are overpowering at times, and this blog continues to reach volumes of readers I never expected when I first started blogging 16 years ago. At the end of last year, this blog had 21 million hits (31 December 2025). So far this year, there have been more than 26 million hits or visitors in 2026 alone, and almost over 1.6 million hits already this month.

Half of all hits or reader figures have been within the past six months, with 23.5 million hits since 17 February 2026. I first began blogging back in 2010, and it took almost two years until July 2012 to reach half a million readers. Throughout this year and last, the daily figures are overwhelming on many occasions. Of the ten days of busiest traffic on this blog, three were in May (1, 6 and 14 May 2026), three were the previous month (26, 29 and 30 April 2026), three in March, and one in February:

• 1,124,925 (1 May 2026)
• 525,719 (14 May 2026)
• 509,644 (29 April 2026)
• 344,003 (30 April 2026)
• 323,156 (27 March 2026)

• 322,038 (26 April 2026)
• 318,835 (6 May 2026)
• 318,307 (1 March 2026)
• 314,018 (28 February 2026)
• 301,449 (2 March 2026)

The daily average was over 187,000 throughout May, but that figure was distorted by the exceptionally high number of hits on three days. There was an average of almost 88,000 hits a day last month, and an average of about 97,000-100,000 a day so far this month. Yet, I remember ten years ago, back in 2016, when the daily average was around 1,000, or 30,000 a month.

Malaysia is hoping for 47 million international tourist arrivals in 2026 … passing through Kuala Lumpur International Airport earlier this year (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

To put this latest figure of 47 million into perspective:

47 million people are suffering acute hunger because of global turmoil and food shortages, according to the World Food Programme.

Spain’s total population is about 47.8 million people. Spain is the world’s second-most-visited country after France and received 46.6 million international tourists in the first half of this year.

Malaysia is hoping for 47 million international tourists in 2026, with a focus on key markets such as Central Asia, the Middle East, south-east Asia, Europe, and Oceania.

The Amazon rainforest and river basin region is home to about 47 million people, including over 2 million indigenous residents.

The Lake Victoria Basin, a shared freshwater basin in East Africa, directly supports the livelihoods and water needs of more than 47 million people.

A €47 million cross-border VAT carousel fraud scheme in Greece was uncovered by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office last month (July 2026). The investigation targeted the illicit trade of electronic devices and led to record digital asset seizures.

A poster by Gerald Dickson in 1926 and that was eye-catching in London 100 years ago, explained that ‘£47 million has been spent on providing the Underground railways’. It said: ‘£47 million has been spent on providing the Underground railways. Tunnels £15,700,000. Rolling stock £7,000,000. Permanent Way Equipment & Signalling £2,800,000 Land £4,000,000 Stations £17,500,000 £47,000,000 has been spent on providing the underground railways. 2d. was the average fare paid by the passenger in 1925. 3½% was the return to the ordinary shareholder on his investment. ?’

47 million minutes is equal to 89 years, 4 months, and 10 days, and about 13 hours. In other words, if this blog was getting only one hit a minute, I would have blogging in early April 1939, five months before World War II began.

I retired from active parish ministry over four years ago, on 30 March 2022. These days, though, about 120 people on average are reading my daily prayer diary posted on this blog each morning. A recent series of postings on churches in Pimlico and Belgravia has attracted similar readership figures. I imagine many of my priest-colleagues would be prayerfully thankful if the congregations in their churches totalled 800-900 or more people each week.

This evening, once again, I am truly grateful to the real readers among those 47 million hits on this blog to date, and in particular I am thankful for the faithful core group of 150 or so people who join me in prayer, reading and reflections each morning.

The Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba … Spain’s total population is over 47 million people (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

36 million people in Malaysia, 36 million metres sky high, a $36 million Trump pardon, and 36 million blog readers

The Hin Ho Bio temple, seen from our kitchen window in Kuching … Malaysia has a population of about 36 million people (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

The viewing and reading figures for this blog have become overwhelming. These figures reached the 36 million mark late yesterday afternoon (2 May 2026), having reached 35 million before mid-day the day before (1 May 2026). They passed the million mark four times in April, reaching 34 million on 29 April, 33 million on 25 April, 32 million on 19 April and 31 million on 8 April.

The viewing and reading figures are, quite frankly, overwhelming over these recent weeks and months. I continue to see a phenomenal amount of traffic on this blog this year, and it continues to reach a volume of readers that I could never have expected when I first started blogging 16 years ago. Half the total hits (18 million) have been within the past six months, since 2 November 2025. The total hits in March 2026 were the highest monthly total ever (4,523,648), followed by the figure of 4,365,464 hits for last month (April 2026).

At the end of last year, this blog had 21 million hits (31 December 2025). So far this year, there have been more than 15 million hits or visitors in 2026.

I first began blogging in 2010, and it took almost two years until July 2012 to reach half a million readers. Throughout this year and last, the daily figures continue to be overwhelming on many occasions. Of the 12 days of busiest traffic on this blog, one was on Friday last (1 May 2026), three were last month (26, 29 and 30 April 2026), three were in March, three were in February, and two were in January 2025:

• 1,124,925 (1 May 2026)
• 509,644 (29 April 2026)
• 344,003 (30 April 2026)
• 323,156 (27 March 2026)
• 322,038 (26 April 2026)
• 318,307 (1 March 2026)

• 314,018 (28 February 2026)
• 301,449 (2 March 2026)
• 289,076 (11 January 2025)
• 285,366 (12 January 2025)
• 280,802 (26 February 2026)
• 273,022 (27 February 2026)

The number of readers continues to be overpowering and the daily averages were about 145,000 or more hits a day last month. Ten years ago, in 2016, the daily average was around 1,000.

A Saharan dust moving north over the Mediterranean towards Greece last month, as seen from the Meteosat-12 geostationary weather satellite 36,000 km (36 million metres) above the Earth (Credit: Meteosat-12 imagery)

To put this figure of 36 million into perspective:

Reports indicate about 36 million people are living in modern-day slavery, including forced labour, trafficking, and forced marriage. Data suggests about 36 million people in the European Union are living with rare diseases.

Last year Donald Trump pardoned the stars of a reality TV show who were convicted in 2022 of $36 million bank and tax frauds. Todd and Julie Chrisley had an extravagant lifestyle that was chronicled in a show that ran for 10 seasons on the USA Network.

Todd and Julie Chrisley were given prison terms of 12 and seven years respectively In November 2022 for conspiring to defraud banks in Atlanta of more than $36 million and evading taxes. Trump’s act of clemency was yet another example of his unusual use of his powers of pardon.

The Bank of Ireland is investing €36 million in a three-year project to restore its College Green buildings. The project involve the repair, upgrading and restoration of College Green’s 280 windows, 45 staircases and 200 km of electrical cabling, as well as its 54 roofs and 2.5 km walkways, promising improved facilities for customers and workspaces for colleagues. The Bank of Ireland bought the former Irish parliament building in 1803 and opened it to the public as a banking hall in 1808.

Malaysia has a population of over 36 million people (36,385,115). Dhaka in Bangladesh, where more than 36 million people live, work, and compete for space, is one of the most intense and overcrowded cities on Earth.

36,000 sq km is 36 million sq metres, the approximate area of the ‘Republic of China’ or Taiwan, a territory with disputed status in Asia that Includes Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu (36,188 sq km). It is also the approximate size of Guinea-Bissau in Africa, the Jewish Autonomous Oblast in Russia, and Pahang, the third largest state in Malaysia.

The Jewish Autonomous Oblast (JAO) is in the Russian Far East, close to Heilongjiang province in China, with Birobidzhan as its capital. The JAO was designated in 1928 and officially established in 1934. At its height in the late 1940s, the region had a Jewish population of 46,000-50,000, about 25% of its population; today, only 800 or so ethnic Jews are left there.

The JAO is Russia’s only autonomous oblast, one of two officially Jewish jurisdictions in the world, the other being Israel, and one of the few places in the world where Yiddish is a recognised minority language.

36,000 km is 36 million metres. At an altitude of 36,000 km (36 million metres), hundreds of satellites orbit in a special zone called geostationary orbit, moving at exactly the same rate as Earth rotating beneath them. From the ground, they appear frozen in one spot of sky. These satellites handle everything from television broadcasts to military communications, and unlike their low orbit cousins that zip across the sky in minutes, geostationary satellites can remain within a telescope’s field of view for hours.

36 million minutes is about 68 years, 5 months and 10 days. In other words, if this blog was getting only one hit a minute, it would take almost 68½ years, from late 1957, to reach today’s latest figure of 36 million.

I retired from active parish ministry over four years ago, on 30 March 2022. These days, though, about 120-140 people on average are reading my daily prayer diary posted on this blog each morning. A similar number have been reading my current series of postings on churches and local history in Staffordshire, and were reading my recent series of postings on the churches and chapels of Walsingham. I imagine many of my priest-colleagues would be prayerfully thankful if the congregations in their churches totalled 800-1,000 or more people each week.

This afternoon, I am truly grateful to the real readers among those 36 million hits on this blog to date, and in particular I am thankful for the faithful core group of 120-140 people who join me in prayer, reading and reflections each morning.

The Bank of Ireland is investing €36 million in a three-year project to restore its College Green buildings in Dublin, the former Irish Houses of Parliament (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Three Governors in the Straits Settlements who had immediate family links with Lichfield

The Hedgehog Vintage Inn in Lichfield … as Lyncroft House, it was the home of the composer Muzio Clementi, direct ancestor of two governors of the Straits Settlements (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

I arrived at Kuala Lumpur from Kuching early this afternoon today, hoping to catch a seven-hour flight to Muscat in Oman tonight and then a third, eight-hour flight in the early hours tomorrow to London. But the Trump regime’s decision to wage war on Iran has created mayhem in the Gulf, and all my travel plans are now shrouded in great uncertainty.

I am in Kuala Lumpur with no idea when I am going to get home, or how to get home at this stage. With all this uncertainty, I decided to spend the day in the airport and to forego any ideas of spending a few hours in Kuala Lumpur. Those postponed hopes have have become the least of my woes at the moment.

When I was in Singapore on a previous journey to and from Kuching, I had taken the opportunity to learn a little more about colonial administrators there who had Irish connections, including Major General Sir William Orfeur Cavenagh (1820-1891), who was the Governor of the Straits Settlements in 1859-1867 and who had strong family connections with Co Wexford, and Sir William Cleaver Francis Robinson (1834-1897) from Co Westmeath, who was the Governor in 1877-1879.

This time, I was hoping to learn a little more about three Governors of the Straits Settlements who had strong family connection with Lichfield: Major General Sir Edward Archibald Harbord Anson (1826-1925) was the last Governor of Penang and as the acting governor of the Straits Settlements on four occasions: in 1871-1872, for one day in 1873, for four months in 1877, and for a fourth time in 1879-1880; Sir Cecil Clementi Smith (1840-1916) was the governor in 1887-1893; and his nephew Sir Cecil Clementi (1875-1947), was governor in 1930-1934.

Anson was related to the Earls of Lichfield, while Clementi Smith and Clementi were direct descendant of the composer Muzio Clementi who lived in his later years at Lyncroft House, now the Hedgehog Vintage Inn.

Major-General Sir Archibald Edward Harbord Anson (1826-1925) was acting governor of the Straits Settlements on four occasions between 1871 and 1880

Major-General Sir Archibald Edward Harbord Anson (1826-1925) was a member of the Anson family of Shughborough Hall and of Lichfield. He was born at 32 Devonshire Place, London, on 16 April 1826, the youngest son of Major-General Sir William Anson, the first baronet, who grew up in Shugborough Hall, and he was also a first cousin of Thomas Anson (1795-1854), who became the first Earl of Lichfield in 1831.

Archibald Anson’s military career began in 1844, and he had postings in England, Ireland, Scotland, and Crimea. After the Crimean War, Anson returned to Ireland where was married Limerick on 9 January 1851 to Elizabeth Mary Bourchier, daughter of Richard Bourchier. One of the best-known members of her family was the journalist James David Bourchier (1850-1920), from Baggotstown, near Bruff, Co Limerick, an advocate of both Crete’s unification with Greece and Bulgarian interests in early 20thc century European political diplomacy.

After his marriage in Limerick, Anson had a career in colonial administration that brought him to Mauritius, Madagascar and India before he was appointed the last Lieutenant Governor of Penang, a post he held from 1867 to 1882.

In his memoirs, About Others and Myself (1920), Anson describes the feeling of depression upon his appointment as Penang’s Resident Councillor. His time there was marked by the Penang Riots. When the riots ended, Anson negotiated a peace agreement between the contending parties: Red Flag and Tua Pek Kong members against the White Flag and the Ghee Hin.

While Anson was in Penang, he was also the acting Governor of the Crown Colony of the Straits Settlements on four occasions: 4 March 1871 to 22 March 1872; 3 November 1873 to 4 November 1873; 3 April 1877 to 29 October 1877; and 10 February 1879 to 16 May 1880. When he retired from the army, he was appointed as an honorary major-general. He was knighted (KCMG) in 1882 when he retired from Penang and returned to England.

Elizabeth (Bouchier) and Archibald Anson retired to Hastings. There he was a magistrate and they gave the name Penang to their house on Markwick Gardens. They were the parents of two sons and a daughter, and Elizabeth Mary (Bourchier) Anson died on 23 September 1891. Anson married again on 15 May 1906; his second wife Isabelle Jane Armistead was from Dunscar, Lancashire. Isabel Anson died on died 11 May 1923; Sir Archibald Anson died at the of 98 on 26 February 1925 and is buried in Hastings.

Anson gives his name to Anson Road or Jalan Anson (安顺路), Anson Bridge and Anson Bay in Penang and Anson Road in Singapore. The Chinese call these road it ann-soon-lor (安顺路), derived from the English name. To the local Chinese, the name Anson is a good name, because Anson, pronounced as An-soon in Chinese, means peace (安) and stability with smooth sailing (顺).

Sir Cecil Clementi Smith (1840-1916) was the Governor of the Straits Settlements in 1887-1893

Sir Cecil Clementi Smith (1840-1916), who was the governor of the Straits Settlements in 1887-1893, was a grandson of the composer Muzio Clementi (1752-1832), who had lived at Lyncroft House in Lichfield, now the Hedgehog Vintage Inn. Muzio Clementi rented the house from the Earl of Lichfield’s Estate from 1828.

Cecil Clementi Smith’s father, the Revd John Smith, was an Essex rector, while his mother, Cecilia Susanna Clementi, was a daughter of Muzio Clementi. Smith was educated at Saint Paul’s School, London, and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.

He began his civil service career as an interpreter in Hong Kong in 1864, learning about Chinese culture and becoming the Colonial Treasurer of Hong Kong. He moved to Singapore in 1878 as a Colonial Secretary in the Straits Settlements. There his knowledge of Chinese culture and language proved useful and he was involved in quelling Chinese secret societies in Singapore.

Clementi Smith was knighted (KCMG) in 1886 and was appointed Governor of the Straits Settlements and High Commissioner to Malaya in 1887. He was a popular governor, and the local Chinese community petitioned for a continuation of his appointment when he left Singapore in 1893.

Clementi Smith married Teresa Alice Newcomen; they were the parents of three sons and four daughters. He died in Welwyn, Hertfordshire, on 6 February 1916, at the age of 75.

Sir Cecil Clementi (1875-1947), was the Governor of the Straits Settlements in 1930-1934

Clementi Smith’s nephew Sir Cecil Clementi (1875-1947), who was also Governor of the Straits Settlements and held other colonial postings in Hong Kong and Singapore, was a great-grandson of the musician Muzio Clementi.

Clementi, who was the Governor of Hong Kong in 1925-1930, and Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Straits Settlements in 1930-1934, was born in Cawnpore (Kanpur), where his father, Colonel Montagu Clementi, was Judge Advocate General in India. He was educated at Saint Paul’s School and Magdalen College, Oxford.

Clementi joined the civil service in 1889, and was sent to Hong Kong and Canton at the time of the Boxer Rebellion. He was seconded to India in 1902, but he returned to China a year later to join famine relief work in Kwangsi (Guangxi). A year after that, Clementi was appointed a member of the Land Court, an Assistant Land Officer and a Police Magistrate in the New Territories, Hong Kong, a position he served in until 1906.

Clementi was promoted to Assistant Colonial Secretary and Clerk of Council in 1907. He represented the Hong Kong government at the International Opium Conference in Shanghai in 1909. A year later, he became the Private Secretary to the Administrator, Sir Francis Henry May. Clementi eventually became Acting Colonial Secretary and Member of both the Executive and Legislative Councils of Hong Kong, and remained there until 1912. He also played a part in the founding of the University of Hong Kong.

From 1913, Clementi had colonial postings to British Guiana(Guyana) and Ceylon (Sri Lanka), but returned to Hong Kong as Governor in 1925, and held that post until 1930. He organised the opening of Kai Tak Airport which continued to operate as the main airport in 1998, and is remembered for ending Mui Tsai, the traditional Chinese ‘female maid servitude’ that meant the abuse of young servant girls.

To counter the growing radicalisation of the Chinese intelligentsia against colonialism and imperialism after the May Fourth Movement, he proposed a revised school curriculum in Chinese language that stressed loyalty and traditional Chinese values, and he advocated training more teachers in the Chinese language and setting up a Chinese Department at the University of Hong Kong.

From Hong Kong, Clementi went on to become the Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Straits Settlements, which included Singapore, and High Commissioner for the Malay States, from 5 February 1930 to 17 February 1934, when he left for England due to illness. Clementi married Marie Penelope Rose Eyres, daughter of Admiral Cresswell John Eyres (1862-1949), in 1912, and they were the parents of one son and three daughters. Clementi died in High Wycombe on 5 April 1947.

I have no idea of how or when I am going to get from Kuala Lumpur to Oman later this evening. Searching for Anson, the Clementis and links between Lichfield with this part of the world are going to have to wait for another visit to Malaysia and Singapore on my way to and from Kuching.

The composer Muzio Clementi, who lived in Lichfield, was the grandfather and great-grandfather of two governors of the Straits Settlements

A balcony view at night in Kuching gives insights into Chinese religious and cultural traditions

The Hin Ho Bio temple, seen from our kitchen window in Kuching, has been lit up throughout the night each night during the Chinese New Year celebrations (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

The Chinese New Year celebrations in Kuching began last week (18 February), and this is the Year of the Horse. The Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, marks the new year and the arrival of spring, and is the most important festival for Chinese communities everywhere.

While most Chinese-owned businesses reopened this week, the celebrations of the 15-day lunar festival continue, with lion dancers visiting restaurants and shops as they reopen, people exchanging traditional gifts or red-wrapped packets and mandarin oranges and visiting homes and temples. The celebrations here focus on family reunions, and there are red decorations everywhere and fireworks and firecrackers late into the night to welcome prosperity,and it all comes to a dramatic finale with Chap Goh Mei next week (Tuesday 3 March), when the Lunar New Year celebrations end with spectacular Lion Dances, fireworks and firecrackers, and colourful performances on the streets and in the temples.

This year, the celebrations of Chinese New Year coincide with Muslim observances of Ramadan and Christian observances of Lent, all part of the religious, cultural and ethnic diversity found throughout Kuching. From our flat we hear the bells of Saint Thomas’s Anglican Cathedral, the call to prayer from the neighbouring mosques, and the drumbeats from a variety of pageants and rituals in the four Chinese temples nearby.

The Hin Ho Bio temple is easy to miss on Carpenter Street, with its hidden rooftop location (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

From our kitchen area, we look out onto the Tien Hou Temple, also known as the Hin Ho Bio temple, which has been lit up throughout the night each night during the Chinese New Year celebrations. The other three Chinese temples in the neighbourhood are the Hiang Thian Siang Ti Temple, a 19th century temple around the corner in Carpenter Street, the Hong San Si Temple on the corner of Ewe Hai Street and Wayang Street, and Tua Pek Kong Temple on a small mound overlooking the Kuching Waterfront and the Sarawak River.

Kuching in the 1800s had two major Chinese dialect groups: the Hokkien from southern Fujian and the Teochew from Guandong province. Both are mostly merchants and tradesmen compared to the rural-based Hakka who are mostly farmers and miners.

The Teochews built the Hiang Thian Siang Ti Temple in 1863 on Carpenter Street, sandwiched between commercial shophouses, and the Hin Ho Bio temple is the main Hainan temple in Kuching.

A rooftop view from the Hin Ho Bio temple, looking down on Carpenter Street below (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Although we see it from our kitchen window, it is probably unknown to visitors and tourists because it is tucked away far above the street, sitting on the top floor of the Kuching Hainan Association building.

The ground floor has a hair salon and a traditional Chinese restaurant, and I had to climb the stairs to the top floor to see this small Chinese shrine with its rooftop views of Carpenter Street below.

The temple is dedicated to Mazu, the goddess of the sea or ‘Heavenly Sage Mother’, recalling the maritime traditions of the Hainan community.

There was a small number of Hainanese people in the area that is now Carpenter Street and China Street from ca 1840, and the first Hin Ho Bio Temple was on Carpenter Street by 1878. The temple was renovated following the Kuching Great Fire in 1884. In the early years, new Hainanese migrants lived in the temple while looking for permanent places and jobs. The temple also served as a martial art hall and a social gathering place for the Hainanese, and was used as a school too.

The temple had a major uplift in 1987-1991, and the Kuching Kheng Chew Association changed its name to the Kuching Hainan Association in 1992.

Inside the Hin Ho Bio temple in its hidden rooftop location (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The Kuching Hainan Association marked its 140th anniversary last year (2025) with major events, including a visit from a grand Mazu statue from Meizhou Island in Fujian in China in November. A 14-member delegation from the Kuching Hainan Association travelled to the Mazu Temple on Meizhou Island to formally receive the statue.

The statue was escorted from Kuching Airport in a vibrant procession with a lion dance troupe through several key cultural sites, including Wisma Kuching Hing Ann Thien Hoe Kong, Tua Pek Kong Temple, Hong San Si Temple and Hiang Thian Siang Ti Temple, before arriving at the Tien Hou Temple on Carpenter Street, where a special enshrinement ceremony was attended by the Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Dr Sim Kui Hian and community leaders.

The association chair, Teo Kwang Hock, said the initiative for the visit of the statue came from the Fujian Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese, which is presenting 100 Mazu statues to Tien Hou temples worldwide.

There are plans for a Mazu Park in the grounds behind the temple. The project is waiting for official approval and will provide easier access to the temple, marking a significant new chapter in Kuching’s cultural and religious heritage. It may even may make for a more colourful view from our kitchen window.

Catching a glimpse of the Hin Ho Bio temple from below on Carpenter Street (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The ‘lost Jews’ of Malacca survived the Inquisition but are losing their language, heritage and identity

The Kristang or ‘Portuguese-Eurasians’ of Malacca include people of Sephardic descent

Patrick Comerford

During my first visit to Sarawak at the end of 2024, I tried to learn about the history and the stories of Malaysian Jews, and heard about the lost community of the Jews of Penang from Zayn Al-Abideen Gregory, the Kuching-based writer and academic and author of The Last Jews of Penang.

Penang was home to a Jewish community until the late 1970s. But there were Jewish communities in other parts of Malaysia too, especially in Negeri Sembilan and Malacca.

Traces of these lost Jewish communities were found among Mizrahi Jews, the majority of whom are Baghdadi Jews, Malabar Jews and Ashkenazi Jews. But there are also people of Sephardic descent who continue to live among the Kristang people and who have tried to maintain or recover their traditions.

The Kristang – also known as ‘Portuguese-Eurasians’ or ‘Malacca Portuguese’ – are a creole ethnic group of people primarily of Portuguese and Malay descent, but also with substantial Chinese and Indian ancestry. They are found mostly in Malaysia, Singapore and Australia.

The number of Kristang people is estimated at between 37,000 and 54,000 and in Malaysia they are found particularly in Malacca, Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Johor. Kristang groups are also found in Singapore, and due to significant migration in the second half of the 20th century there is a diaspora that has spread to Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.

The Jenti Kristang or Orang Serani people are predominantly Roman Catholics, but small numbers of them are Jews, and some are Sunni Muslims and secular people too. Their languages are Papia Kristang, English and Malay.

These people are mainly Malay and Portuguese in their ancestry, but they also have some Dutch ancestry due to intermarriage. This group emerged with their own particular identity in Malacca in the 16th and 17th centuries, when it was part of the Portuguese Empire. Today the Malaysian government classifies them as Portuguese-Eurasians.

The name Kristang comes from the Portuguese creole Kristang, meaning Christian, and in turn it is derived from the Portuguese Cristão. A derogatory term for the Malacca Portuguese community was Grago or Gragok, a slang term for Portuguese camarão (shrimp), referring to the fact that the Portuguese Malaccans were traditionally shrimp fishermen. They also call themselves Gente Kristang (Christian people).

The Padrão dos Descobrimentos or Monument to the Discoveries in Lisbon recalls the Portuguese explorers who set out for the new world (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Portugal was once one of the world’s largest and longest-lived maritime empires, with colonies that included Brazil in Latin America, many African countries such as Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé and Príncipe, and many port cities throughout Asia, including Goa and Macao. Places that were once part of the Portuguese Empire remain home to small ethnic groups of mixed heritage such as the Macanese in Macau, and the Kristang people in Singapore and Malaysia, with their own unique languages.

The Kristang community traces its origins back to Portuguese sailors, soldiers and traders who came to Malacca during the age of Portuguese explorations and colonialism. There they formed relationships with local women who were indigenous people, Malays and Chinese.

The arrival of Vasco da Gama in India in 1498 sparked Portuguese interest in Malacca as a key, wealthy spice trade hub, and Malacca became a major destination in the great wave of sea expeditions launched by Portugal, becoming part of the Portuguese Empire. The first Portuguese expedition to reach Malacca landed in 1507. The geographic and fiscal advantages of Malacca were obvious, as one Portuguese official noted: ‘Whoever is lord of Malacca has his hand on the throat of Venice’, the Venetians being the great rivals of the Portuguese as importers of spices to Europe.

In the early years, the Malays called the Portuguese Serani, a Malay contraction of the Arabic Nasrani, meaning followers of Jesus of Nazareth. One story records a Portuguese landing party inadvertently insulted the Malaccan sultan by placing a garland of flowers on his head, and he had them detained. A Portuguese fleet was sent from India to free the group in 1511 and then conquered Malacca.

From 1511 on, Portuguese officials encouraged the explorers to marry local indigenous women, under a policy endorsed by Afonso de Albuquerque, then Viceroy of India. The King of Portugal granted freeman status and tax exemption to Portuguese men (casados) who ventured overseas and married local women. With Albuquerque’s encouragement, these mixed marriages flourished and 200 were recorded by 1604, leading to new families and settled communities.

The Dutch took Malacca from the Portuguese in 1641, and almost all political contact between Portugal and Malacca ended. A large number of people of Portuguese descent were sent to Batavia (now Jakarta), the Dutch East India Company headquarters, as war captives and there they settled in an area called Kampung Tugu.

The tomb of Vasco da Gama in the church in Belém in Lisbon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Even after Portugal lost Malacca in 1641, the Kristang community largely preserved its traditions, practicing Catholicism and using the Portuguese language, and they also absorbed some Dutch crypto-Catholics.

Many Sephardic Jews from Portugal and around the Red Sea and Malabar settled in Malacca in the 16th and 17th centuries, and then assimilated into the local Portuguese-Malay community to escape persecution. They were anusim or conversos – Jews who were forced to convert to Catholicism under the pressure of the Inquisition. It continued in the Portuguese colonies until 1821, enforcing Catholic orthodoxy, policing ‘blood purity’, suppressing heresy, and persecuting Jewish ‘New Christians’, often resorting to extreme severity, including public torture and execution.

In the 16th century, Malacca was a significant hub for these communities, with reports of active, though often hidden, Jewish culture. Many of the Jews who remained in Malacca during Portuguese rule (1511-1641) integrated into the local Eurasian or Kristang community, which carries a mixture of Portuguese, Dutch, Jewish, and local Malay heritage.

Diego Hernández Vitoria ‘the elder’ (or Diogo Fernandes Victória) was a Portuguese merchant from Porto but also a Judaeo-converso and one of the most important Sephardic merchants in the late 16th century. He protected and financially helped the Judaeo-conversos who were poor or on the run and also tried to develop a closer relationship with the Jesuits.

Diego Hernández Vitoria lived in Spanish America, South-East Asia and Manila. His commercial network extended through Mozambique, Mombasa, Cambay, Gujarat, Sindh, Bijapur, Golconda, Malabar, Ceylon, Coromandel, Bengal, Orissa, Pegu, Siam, Malacca, Moluccas, China and Japan. In these places, 89 per cent of Vitoria’s investments were centred on trade with China and Japan. But because his Jewish origins were well-known In Malacca, he was ostracised by the resident Portuguese trading community.

Thanks to the protection that Vitoria granted to the Judaeo-conversos living between China, Japan and the Philippines, it is possible to list the main traders of Jewish ancestry who had settled in the region: Afonso Vaez, Diego Jorge, Francisco Rodrigues Pinto, Francisco Vaez, Góis, Luís Rodrigues (Manuel Fernandes), Manuel de Mora, Manuel Farias (Manuel Faria), Manuel Gil de la Guardia, Manuel Rodrigues (Manuel Rodrigues Navarro), Paulo Gonçalves, Pero Nabo, Pero Rodrigues, Rui Perez and Vilela Vaz.

The rules surrounding ‘the status of purify of blood’ (limpeza de sangue) blocked any convert or a descendant of converts from many spheres of public activity, and from many privileges, including honorific titles. This discriminatory legislation was based on racial criteria: it was no longer a question of religion but of ‘blood’. One had to provide a certificate, following thorough genealogical investigations, going back as far as possible in the lineage, that one had no Jewish ancestor in his genealogical tree.

A memorial at the Igreja e Convento de Sao Bento da Vitória in Porto apologises for the treatment of Jews during the Portuguese Inquisition (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Inquisition continued its presence until the Dutch captured Malacca in 1641. Because of its persecution of Jews, many of the Jews of Malacca assimilated into the Kristang community. Most of the Sephardic-Asian creoles became genuine Christians, but in some cases, conversos managed to preserve their Jewishness in secret.

Nowadays, intermarriage occurs more frequently between Kristang and people of Chinese and Indian ethnicity rather than Malay because of religious laws that require non-Muslims who marry Malay Muslims first to convert to Islam.

The Kristang people in Malaysia do not have full bumiputera status, a status that applies to indigenous ethnic groups. Since Portuguese times, the Kristang have been living by the sea. It is still an important part of their culture. Even today, with only 10 percent of the community earning their living by fishing, many men go fishing to supplement their income.

Kristang traditional music and dance, such as the Branyo and the Farrapeira are derived from Portuguese folk dances, Kristang or Malacca Portuguese cuisine is similar to the Eurasian cuisine of Singapore and Malaysia, and the Kristang people traditionally used Portuguese and Christian first names, while their surnames were Portuguese.

In general the Kristang practice Roman Catholicism. Christmas (Natal) is the most festival and celebrate many saints’ days, including Saint John (San Juang) on 24 June and Saint Peter (San Pedro) on 29 June.

Kristang Jews are a small, often hidden, subgroup. They trace their ancestry to the Sephardic Jews who survived the Inquisition in Portuguese-controlled Malacca. They had assimilated into the Catholic Kristang community but retained some residual cultural practices. These ‘hidden’ Sephardic Jews are identified in a number of analyses of Asian communities with Jewish roots.

In recent decades, some Kristang people were interested in rediscovering their forgotten Jewish heritage. This led to the formation of the Kristang Community for Cultural Judaism (KCCJ) in 2010, although it is no longer active. Edgar Pinto Xavier also wrote a book about the Jewish history of Malaysia and how the Inquisition persecuted heretics and non-Christians in the Spanish and Portuguese colonies in Asia.

Today the Kristang community in Malaysia is primarily based in the Portuguese Settlement in Ujong Pasir, Malacca. They speak Papia Kristang (Malacca Portuguese Creole), a language that continues to mark them out from their Chinese and Malay neighbours.

The Kristang language is threatened with extinction and is classified as critically endangered by Unesco. The work of Kristang language activists has been compared by one writer to that of Yiddishists. But their work in Malaysia and Singapore is no guarantee that Kristang will survive as a living language for future generations.

Shabbat Shalom, שבת שלום‎

The Melaka or Malacca River … once known to European seafarers as the ‘Venice of the East’ (Photograph: Engin Akyurt - Pixabay / Wikipedia)

25 million drachmai in war-time, 25 million visitors to Greece, 25 million metres from Malaysia and 25 million blog readers

A 25 million drachmai banknote issued by the Bank of Greece in 1944

Patrick Comerford

This month of February and this year so far have seen a phenomenal amount of traffic on this blog, reaching a volume of readers that I could never have expected in the past. Earlier today (26 February), this blog passed a new milepost of 25 million, and has passed the half-million mark six times in all this month: 24.5 million hits earlier this week (22/23 February Sarawak or Irish time), 24 million last week (20 February 2026), 23.5 million (17 February 2026), 23 million (12 February 2026), and 22.5 million (4 February).

At the end of 2025, this blog had 21 million hits by New Year’s Eve (31 December 2025). So far this year, there have been more than 4 million hits or visitors for 2026, and February 2026 has been the busiest month ever, with over 2.6 million hits.

I first began blogging in 2010, and it took almost two years until July 2012 to reach half a million readers – a number reached six times this month alone. Half of the 25 million hit – 12.5 million – have been within the nine months since 6 June 2025.

Throughout last year and into this year, the daily figures were overwhelming on many occasions. Seven of the 12 days of busiest traffic on this blog have been in this month so far, one was last month, two were in December last and two were in January 2025:

• 289,076 (11 January 2025)
• 285,366 (12 January 2025)
• 261,422 (13 January 2026)
• 195,391 (20 February 2026)
• 190,630 (23 February 2026)
• 190,467 (21 February 2026)

• 188,376 (19 February 2026)
• 183,317 (22 February 2026)
• 166,155 (15 December 2025)
• 156,311 (18 February 2026)
• 146,944 (14 December 2025)
• 145,259 (17 February 2026)

The rise in the number of readers seems to have been phenomenal throughout last year, and the daily figures are overwhelming at times, currently running at over 100,000 a day. Ten years ago, the daily average was around 1,000.

The blue-domed churches of Santorini in a poster … I was only one among 25 million visited Greece during the first eight months of last year, an all-time record (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

With this latest landmark figure of 25 million readers, I once again find myself asking questions such as:

• What do 25 million people look like?

• Where do we find 25 million people?

• What does £25 million, €25 million or $25 million mean?

• What would it buy? How far would it stretch? How much of a difference would that much make to people’s lives?

I was just one among almost 25 million people who visited Greece between January and August last year, and by the end of 2025 Greece had 38 million international visitors, surpassing all previous records.

Malaysia welcomes almost 25 million tourists annually.

About 25 million people, including 14 million children, are in dire need of humanitarian assistance in Sudan.

The bubonic plague or Black Death in the 14h century, killed more than one third of Europe or 25 million people in the space of 10 years.

The US spent about $12 billion on global health in 2024. Those programmes are now severely threatened by the capricious polices of the Trump regime. Yet, the journal Nature warned last year, without that yearly spending, about 25 million people could die in the next 15 years, according to models that have estimated the impact of such cuts on programmes for tuberculosis, HIV, family planning and maternal and child health.

A study published in the British Medical Journal last year (March 2025) estimates the number people with Parkinson’s Disease worldwide will grow to more than 25 million by 2050.

Schizophrenia affects approximately 23 million people or 1 in 345 people (0.29%) worldwide.

The number of Asian Americans reached 25 million, or 7% of the US population, in 2023.

Ireland is providing €25 million to the Ukraine Energy Support Fund to support Ukraine in restoring light and warmth to people’s homes.

25 million sq metres is 25,000 sq km, and that’s roughly the same size.

In 2023, Seet Wai Song, a 65-year-old chef, concluded an epic overland journey from Kuala Lumpur to Stuttgart, Germany, traversing 21 countries in 60 days. He drove the 25,000 km journey done in a 1974 custom-painted Mercedes-Benz W115 sedan. The self-funded journey aimed to raise funds for the National Cancer Society Malaysia.

Inflation in Greece was so overwhelming during World War II that the Bank of Greece issued a 25 million drachmai banknote on 10 August 1944.

A federal judge in the Southern District of California in 2018 finalised a $25 million settlement to be paid to people who attended the so-called Trump University. The Attorney General of New York, Eric T Schneiderman, described the settlement as a victory for Trump University’s ‘victims’, meaning the victims of ‘Trump’s fraudulent university will finally receive the relief they deserve.’

And 25 million minutes is 47 years, 6 months, and 26 days, or more than 17361 days, or almost 416,667 hours. In other words, if this blog was getting only one hit a minute, it would take more than 47½ years to reach today’s 25 million mark.

It is almost four years now since I retired from active parish ministry. These days, though, about 100 people on average are reading my daily prayer blog posted on this blog each morning. I imagine many of my priest-colleagues be prayerfully thankful if the congregations in their churches totalled 700 people or more each week.

Today, I am very grateful to all the 25 million readers of this blog to date, and in particular I remain grateful for the faithful core group among you who join me in prayer, reading and reflection each morning.

Lion dancers as part of the Chinese New Year celebrations on China Street in Kuching this week … Malaysia welcomes 25 million tourists annually (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)