ALBERT CHAN, S.J. 1915–2005

Abstract

About 400 miles north of Lima, Peru, is the town of Pacasmayo, with its current population of about 30, 000. Located on a large bay on the Pacific seaboard, the town became an important seaport from the mid-nineteenth century onward since agricultural products came from outlying interior towns for export by sea. The son of a Chinese father involved in export trade and a Peruvian mother, Albert Chan was born in Pacasmayo on January 25, 1915. As a young child he became bilingual in Spanish and Cantonese. His father insisted that he develop his Chinese studies further so he was sent to Hong Kong where he was graduated from Wah Yan College in 1934. On July 30 of that year he entered the Society of Jesus as a member of the Province of Ireland since the Irish Jesuits had been earlier assigned the mission in Hong Kong. For his two years of novitiate and a year of classical studies Chan was sent to Novaliches, in the Manila region of the Philippines. He returned to Hong Kong in 1938 for another year of classical studies. He spent the three-year period of philosophy studies in the Philippines (Novaliches and then Baguio). He was sent to Wah Yan College Hong Kong where he taught from 1942 to 1945. His first year of theological studies was at Zikawei (Xujiahui), then located near Shanghai. Because of the changing circumstances in China, Chan was sent to Dublin, Ireland for his last years of theology where he was ordained on July 30, 1947. He came to the United States in 1949 at Pomfret Center, Connecticut for the final year of Jesuit training.