LOPO CUWI FROM REJENG

By: Fransiskus Borgias M.

Lopo Cuwi is a name of a person I knew in my life from my childhood. He is an old wise man, from Rejeng. At that time he was very old. Actually I did not know his real name. I only knew his name as Lopo Cuwi. This is the name usually used by people to name this old man. This is only his calling name. In my childhood I knew him as an old man. I also know him as a man of prayer, a holy man. I don’t know why now I immediately remember him. There are a lot of memories I want to write down here about him. But I will just concentrate on two or three important points.

First, I usually saw him in my childhood in our parish Church in Rejeng. At that time our parish church was still in Rejeng. Our parish priest also lived in Rejeng, in a pastori near by the Church. Our parish priest was Father Thomas Krumpt SVD (a priest from Hungary). Now back to Lopo Cuwi again. He is a holy man, a man of prayer. Every Sunday I saw him already in the position of praying in the church, whereas others still use their time outside or in front of the church chatting to each other and even to have cigarettes.

In the church Lopo Cuwi will sit or kneel in a prayer position. Sometimes I saw him recited oral prayer like the rosary and the litany of Saint Mary; but most of the time I saw him used a book prayer. I don’t know the title of the book; it is an old book, maybe it is written in Dutch language. (I am curious, whether his sons or grandsons still keep those historical and important prayer books).

In his sitting position he looked like Mahatma Gandhi with his very unique thick spectacles. That is why I was thinking that he was Gandhi. Yes, actually he was Gandhi from Rejeng. He is very serious and involved in his prayer. He seemed never be disturbed by the noisy church because of the children. Sometimes some people, if they walked pass near him, they will walk as if near a sacred place. They will walk slowly and with a little bit bent body, as if they did not want to disturb the mystical experience of this mystic old man.

Other thing that I remembered of him is, once I heard from a story about him, that he usually connected his life using the pillar of the year of 1917. He said that at that particular time he was already a young guy. He knew already the world great news at that time within the circle of Catholic world about the appearance of the Holy Virgin Mary in Fatima (to three children: Lucia, Yashinta, and Francesco). So it means that he must be born before the year of 1910. I would like to guess that he was born in the year of 1900 or even before. And the time when we still use the Church in Rejeng was in the year of 1970. If he was born in the year of 1900, it means that he was seventy years old at the time of Fatima event. When the church was moved to Ketang in 1972, he rarely came to the church because of old age; because from Rejeng to Ketang people must pass over two rivers: Wae Selang or Wae Lelang and Wae Ka.

Now I came to the most important thing in my own life, but also related to this old holy man. After finishing my minor Seminary in 1981 (Kisol), I apply to the Postulant OFM in Pagal. Having staying one year in Pagal I went to the novitiate of OFM in Papringan, Yogyakarta. Before left for Yogya, I was escorted by Om Lambertus Jerawan (a cathechist in Ketang, now he is dead) to pay a visit to him. At that time the old man was still alive. He was very old. I visit him to ask for pray for my religious vocation. I remember that at that time he prayed for me, and also blessed me.

Before leaving, om Lambert asked a question about his prediction of my vocation. Unfortunately to be honest I forgot his answer. But it seemed that he talked positively about me, from his old age condition: myopia and deaf, only laying in his bed and sometimes sitting. Yes, Lopo Cuwi is a holy man of Manggarai. He is one of the first batches of Manggarain Catholic people.

I wrote down this story as a part of my personal preparation for the centenary commemoration of Catholic Church’s presence in the lovely land of Manggarai.

Plemburan, Yogyakarta, 18 March 2011 (computerized and edited, 26 March, 2011).