Pioneering Paulines

Mok Sau Tseng graduated from St. Paul’s College in 1881. In 1929, he was consecrated as the first ethnic Chinese bishop in the Diocese of Victoria. Throughout Mok’s life, he expanded the diocese’s presence across southern China.

Mok’s childhood education was in his hometown of Zengcheng (Tsengcheng). He came to St. Paul’s when he was fifteen, where he converted and was baptised. Mok first joined the civil service after his studies but decided to return to St. Paul’s after a change of heart. He enrolled in the theological class and graduated again in 1892.

Mok joined the Anglican Church as a missionary. He was made a deacon in 1902 and ordained the year after. In 1904, Mok went to Guangzhou, where he spent the next two decades building churches, schools, elderly homes, and clinics. He was installed as an archdeacon in 1929 within the Diocese of Victoria — the first Chinese to do so — and consecrated bishop in 1935 within both the Diocese of Victoria and the Chung Hua Sheng Kung Hui. As war broke out between Japan and China, Mok continued his mission across southern China despite his advancing age, founding St. Mark’s Church in Macau and St. Matthias’ Church in Yuen Long.

The SKH Bishop Mok Sau Tseng Secondary School in Tai Po, founded in 1975, was named in his honour.

莫壽增在一八八一年畢業於聖保羅書院，於一九二九年成爲維多利亞敎區首名華人副會督，一生效力敎會，於粵港澳多處擴大敎會。

莫氏幼年在廣東增城縣家鄕讀書，十五歲來港入讀聖保羅書院，期間接受洗禮，奉信基督。畢業後曾短暫任職政府部門，但後來立志傳敎，遂重返聖保羅書院，入讀神學班，在一八九二年再度畢業。

畢業後，莫氏加入聖公會，成為傳敎士。在一九〇二年獲按立爲會吏，翌年晉升牧師。於一九〇四年，莫氏自薦前往廣州，創辦敎堂、學校、老人院、診所等設施。一九二九年，莫氏升任維多利亞敎區會吏長，爲首名華人擔任此職。在一九三五再獲推選爲敎區首名華人副會督及中華聖公會華南敎區主敎。日本侵華期間，雖然年事已高，莫氏仍投入救濟工作，奔波廣東各地，又設立澳門聖馬可堂和元朗聖馬提亞堂。

一九七五年，聖公會於大埔創辦聖公會莫壽增會督中學，以莫氏命名，謹作紀念。