This is a photograph of [standing, left to right] Frs. Ashness, F. Connors and Romaniello, [seated] Frs. O'Melia, Churchill and Ryan. Born in Massachusetts, Fr. Connors was ordained to the priesthood in 1927 and was then assigned to Kongmoon, South China. After language study he was sent to assist in the Kochow Mission. While working there he visited the leprosarium at Sheklung. He was immediately attracted to the work which he was later to devote his life. He taught English at the Kochow Sacred Heart School and then assisted at Yeungkong. In 1933 he was assigned to the apostolate for lepers, a large colony of whom led a precarious existence in a cemetery outside Sunwui. He spent eleven years in China, five of them with victims of Hansen's disease. -- Born in Italy, Monsignor Romaniello came to the United States when he was five years old. He entered Maryknoll in 1917 and was ordained to the priesthood on June 17, 1928. He was assigned to Wuchow, Kweilin in 1935 where he encountered civil unrest and was forced to depart in 1951. He spent the later years of his life working with the Catholic Relief Services in Hong Kong. He became an international figure as was referred to as the "Noodle Priest" because he fed the refugees in Hong Kong with noodles made with relief supplies. -- Rev. O'Melia was born in Bradford, Yorkshire, England. His family moved to the U.S. in 1903 and he became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1912. He entered Maryknoll in 1914 and was ordained in 1923. He was assigned to Kongmoon. In 1934 he was assigned to direct the Maryknoll language school in Hong Kong, and returned to Kongmoon in 1942. He went to Shanghai in 1945 to work with UNRRA until 1947. After some years in the U.S. he returned to Hong Kong from 1959-1967, returning to the U.S. in 1968. -- Born in Iowa, Fr. Churchill entered Maryknoll in 1920 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1927. During his time in China, he wrote many letters describing life on the Chinese mission. He was expelled from the country by the Communists and returned to the United States in 1952. He spent the time in the US teaching and
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