The heroic last moments of Father Donald Martin Ye Naing Win who was murdered last week in Myanmar have been recounted by two women who witnessed his killing. They have told how the priest fearlessly met his death without uttering a word of complaint or anguish.
In a <a href="https://www.fides.org/en/news/76047-ASIA_MYANMAR_I_only_kneel_before_God_the_last_words_of_Father_Martin_Ye_Naing_Win"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">statement</mark></a> to <em>Fides</em>, the information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927, the two witnesses – who are teachers and parish workers at Our Lady of Lourdes parish in the village of Kangyi Taw, where the killing occurred on 14 February – have described how the priest encountered 10 militiamen who were “clearly intoxicated or under the influence of drugs”.
The group of men then ordered the 44-year-old priest of the Archdiocese of Mandalay to kneel down for them.
“I only kneel before God,” the priest calmly replied to the leader of the armed men, <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/262409/i-only-kneel-before-god-the-last-words-of-priest-killed-in-myanmar"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">reports</mark></a> the <em>Catholic News Agency </em>(<em>CNA</em>). He then proceeded to ask the group of men: “What can I do for you? Is there something we can talk about?”
Immediately, however, one of the men struck Ye Naing Win from behind with a dagger that was still in its sheath. But in doing so the man also accidentally hit the leader of the armed group. Already in a drunken rage because of the answer given to him by the priest, <em>CNA</em> reports, the leader then pulled out a knife and began to stab Ye Naing Win “repeatedly and brutally in his body and in the throat”.
The priest reportedly endured the attack silently and “like a lamb led to the slaughter", the witnesses said.
<em>Fides</em> states: “Donald did not utter a word or a moan. He suffered the senseless violence without reacting, like an innocent man,” adding that the other militia men "stood by and watched the murder being committed".
The 10 men had arrived at the rectory of the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes in the village of Kangyi Taw, which is in the Shwe Bo district of the Sagaing region.
They had initially threatened and silenced the two women, who were on the church premises and were helping the priest to organise classes for the children of the parish's roughly 40 Catholic families.
The state and school system in Sagaing region has collapsed following clashes between the Burmese army and opposing guerrilla forces. There are no public services and education is only guaranteed by initiatives such as those of the parishes.
Once the attack was over, the group of men left the scene, after which the villagers, “amid shock and tears”, retrieved the priest’s body, washed it and treated it with honour and respect, <em>CNA</em> reports.
The testimony of both women was recorded and sent to Myanmar’s National Unity Government that is in exile and which pledged to “punish the perpetrators of the murder according to the law”.
The People’s Defence Forces of Shwebo district subsequently announced the arrest of 10 suspects, who they say belong to “a local defence group".
Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has been in the midst of a civil war since a military coup in early 2021, in which a junta overthrew the elected government of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who had promised a new democratic era, reports <em>CNA</em>.
The coup sparked widespread resistance by militants of the People’s Defence Forces, alongside mass protests and an escalation of conflict across the country.
The junta has killed thousands of people, detained tens of thousands and bombed hospitals, schools and religious buildings.
<em>Photo: Mourners gather in Pyin Oo Lwin for the funeral of Father Donald Martin Ye Naing Win. (Photo: Htoo Khant Zaw via Archdiocese of Mandalay.)</em>
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