SHILLONG: A multi-facetted personality and catholic priest belonging to the religious congregation of the Salesians of Don Bosco, Rev. Father Sylvanus Sngi Lyngdoh ((96) passed away in Shillong on Saturday at around 5.10 am after a brief illness at Nazareth Hospital.
Fr. Sngi, was born into a Khasi family that belonged to the non-Christian Khasi religion on January 3, 1921 in Ri-Bhoi district.
He professed as a Salesian on January 6, 1948 and was ordained priest on 1 July 1958 in Turin, Italy. After specialised studies in Sacred Scripture, he taught many subjects at Sacred Heart Theological College, Shillong and Kristu Jyoti College, Bangalore.
He was the first librarian at Otto Hopfenmueller Library and author of many outstanding commentaries on the books of Sacred Scripture as well as the author of the first Greek- Khasi, Hebrew- Khasi dictionaries.
The mortal remains of Fr. Sngi are placed at Sacred Heart College Shrine at Mawlai locality to enable mourners and faithful to pay their last respect and also to pray for the departed soul.
The Funeral Mass will be held at the Cathedral of Mary Help of Christians on May 30 at 1.30 p.m. to be presided by the Archbishop of Shillong Archdiocese Dominic Jala, which will be followed by the Funeral Cortege to the Laitumkhrah Catholic Cemetery.
Based on the teachings of Don Bosco, Fr Sngi dedicated his life to teaching, writing, preaching and healing scores of ailing people who came to him from far flung villages and all parts of the State.
He was a popular editor of the Khasi weekly “Ka Sur Shipara” for nearly two decades from 1976.
By his 90th birthday in 2011, the respectd Fr. Sngi had published as many as 30 books, several of them running into a thousand pages.
