The saving of Vigan (2)
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HERE is the last part of my article on the heroism and deep compassion of Fr. Joseph H. Klekamp, SVD in saving Vigan during the Japanese occupation based on the book of Fr. Eugen Reinhardt entitled: “God, A Woman, and the Priest: The Saving of Vigan.”
* * * As the Japanese soldiers led by Commander Takahashi hastily abandoned their post in Vigan, Fr. Klekamp asked Takahashi: “What about the prisoners? You can give me the keys to the prison, and tomorrow I will go there and open the prison cells after you are gone.” Takahashi acceded once more.
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He gave him the keys and the Japanese retreated at midnight of 16 April 1945 without killing people and torching Vigan.
Klekamp hurriedly sent a note through the Underground to the American forces informing them that Vigan was liberated, and that all the Japanese had left.
* * * After Vigan’s liberation, an American pilot came looking for Joseph Klekamp telling him that his note came just on time. He said they were already warming up their planes to bomb Vigan!
* * * The daughters of Adela by Takahashi were two and three years old. They were brought at night to the seminary and handed over to Fr. Klekamp where the Underground guerrillas would not dare touch them under his custody.
* * * Mr. Henry Rosario said: “God used Klekamp as an instrument. One good thing they did in Vigan before was to expose the Blessed Sacrament the whole day and prayed.” Bishop Santiago Sancho had called for the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament for perpetual adoration… and the people responded to the Bishop’s appeal beyond expectation. * * *
A DOUBLE AGENT? One may question the attitude of Fr. Klekamp who acted as a “double agent,” who not only put his integrity on line but also his life.
Since Germany was then still at war with America, the German priests Fr. Peter Mayers and Fr. Collet were interned at Magsingal but after two days “came to Vigan by the order of Capt. Concepcion and were handed over to Fr. Klekamp.”
* * * Bishop Wilhelm Finneman of Mindoro and Fr. Theodore Buttenbruch in Manila became Filipino citizens together with Klekamp. After the Japanese found out that the two were no longer German citizens, they did not hesitate to execute them.
* * * For Fr. Klekamp, no matter how close he was to be executed as a spy and traitor for grave reasons like maintaining contacts through radio with the Americans and the Underground guerrillas, passing on secret informations, and influencing the Japanese Commander Takahashi, he managed to elude arrest and execution.
* * * Klekamp’sSPIRITUALITY could be called fortitude and piety. He trusted God in all the difficult situations; often he said, “God never makes mistakes.”
His Breviary (every priest’s daily prayer book), then Latin and much longer than it is now, was always with him. In spite of his active and hectic life as a priest, he remained rooted in his trust and faith in God.
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No better quality could be attributed to Fr. Klekamp than the Jesus’ spirit of compassion as enunciated in the Gospel: “When Christ saw the large crowd, his heart was filled with compassion for them…” “Misereor super turbam” (Matthew 14:14).
* * * In the last entry about him, the “Chronicles of the Seminary”recorded: July 1, 1947— Fr. Klekamp left for Baguio after a delegation of seminarians went to give him a prayerful wish of “Bon Voyage.”
Then, he just faded away.