Nicholas Kao Se Tseien


Nicholas Kao Se Tseien O.C.S.O., was a Chinese Trappist priest living in Hong Kong who had been the oldest living Catholic priest and also the oldest person ever to have had a cataract operation according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

Biography

Born in Fuzhou, Fujian province, one of four brothers, Kao studied law at Xiamen University and later converted to Catholicism at the age of 18 while attending a school run by Spanish Dominican friars. He was trained as a teacher and studied law at night, but he ultimately decided to become a priest.
His life spanned parts of three centuries, two Emperors of China, and ten papacies. He stated that in 1912 he voted for Sun Yat Sen as China's president. His clerical life would brought him from China to Taiwan, Malaysia, and finally Hong Kong.
In 1972, he was at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. He lived a cloistered life, but regularly shared advice for a healthy and long life. He gave visitors a list of "Healthy Seven Nos": no smoking; no anger; no alcohol; no overeating; constant exercise; constant prayer; no rudeness. He was devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary throughout his life — he would say the Rosary many times each day, and built six shrines to her in Taiwan, Mainland China, Malaysia and Hong Kong.
He stayed at Our Lady of Joy Abbey at Lantau Island for more than 30 years, where he died on the morning of 11 December 2007, at the age of 110 years and 330 days.