Beatification and canonization of Sybil Kathigasu ?

On 12 June 2025, at the tomb of Sybil Kathigasu, the 77th Death Anniversary Mass of Sybil Kathigasu was held by His Eminence Cardinal Dato' Seri Sebastian Francis, Bishop of Penang. It was the Bishop of Penang who called for the investigation for the possibility of beatification and canonization of Sybil Kathigasu, a heroine and lay martyr who protected information and housed and nursed local members of the anti-Japanese resistance. This was reported in the Catholic News Agency in 4 July 2024.

Announcement for the special 77th Death Anniversary Mass for Sybil Kathigasu

Sybil Medan Kathigasu (3 September 1899 - 12 June 1948)

Sybil Medan Kathigasu was born as Sybil Daly in Medan, Sumatra. She was the daughter of an Irish planter, Joseph Daly and Eurasian mother, Beatrie Mathilda Martin. While studying nursing and midwifery in Kuala Lumpur General Hospital, she met Dr. Arumugam Kanapathi Pillay, a Ceylonese. Faced with objections initially due to different religious background (she was Catholic and he, Hindu), he gain acceptance after becoming Catholic and taking the name Abdon Clement Kathigasu or Dr. A.C. Kathigasu. They married on 7 January 1919 at St. John's Church, Kuala Lumpur and eventually had 2 daughters and 1 adopted son.

Sybil Kathigasu

Together, they went into private practice with the clinic located at 141 Brewster Road, Ipoh but moved to Papan (a town outside of Ipoh), when the Japanese invaded Malaya. They established a clinic at No. 74 Main Street. During the Japanese occupation they continue to operate their clinic but got into trouble when they provided medical assistance to the local resistance movement (the Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Army). Both were eventually arrested by the Japanese Kempeitai 1943 and were imprisoned and tortured. Sybil witness the cruelty of seeing her daughter, Dawn Kathigasu (then 6 years old) strung from a tree over a fire during one of the interrogations.

In February 1945, Dr. A.C. Kathigasu was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment while Sybil Kathigasu received a life sentence. They were eventually freed from Batu Gajah prison by Allied Forces led by Capt. D. MacFarlane in August 1945. Virtually crippled by the torture, she was then flown to UK to receive medical treatment and while there started documenting her story and experience. She never got to see her book, but her memoirs was eventually published posthumously in 1954. The title of the book was - No Dram of Mercy. Sybil Kathigasu was awarded the George Medal at Buckingham Palace by King George VI for her bravery, becoming the first Malayan woman to receive such an accolade. She passed away on 12 June 1948 at St. Mary's Hospital, Larnark, Scotland never recovering from the injuries sustained during her torture.

For more about Sybil Kathigasu family, read my earlier post - Sybil Kathigasu (St. Michael's Catholic Church Cemetery, Ipoh), posted on 10 December 2023.

Location

Tomb of Sybil Medan Kathigasu, Beatrice Mathilda Daly and Olga Kathigasu are at St. Michael's Catholic Church Cemetery, Ipoh.