Joseph Chhmar Salas

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Servant of God Joseph Chhmar Salas
Vicar Apostolic of Phnom Penh
The then-Father Salas on 17 November 1968.
Church	Roman Catholic Church
See	Phnom Penh
Appointed	30 April 1976
Term ended	September 1977
Predecessor	Yves Ramousse
Successor	Yves Ramousse
Previous post(s)	Coadjutor Vicar Apostolic of Phnom Penh (1975-76) Titular Bishop of Sigus (1975-76)
Orders
Ordination	24 June 1964 by Yves-Marie Georges René Ramousse
Consecration	14 April 1975 by Yves-Marie Georges René Ramousse
Personal details
Born	(1937-10-21)21 October 1937 Phnom Penh, French Cambodia
Died	September 1977(1977-09-00) (aged 39) Taing Kok, Kompong Thom, Democratic Kampuchea

Joseph Chhmar Salas (Khmer: យ៉ូសែប ឆ្មារសាឡាស់) 21 October 1937 – September 1977) was a prelate of the Catholic Church who served as bishop Apostolic Vicariate of Phnom Penh in Cambodia from 1975 to 1977, when he died of exhaustion in a forced work camp of the Khmer Rouge. He was the first Cambodian native bishop.

Salas was born in Phnom Penh on 21 October 1937.^[1] For his formation as a priest, he was sent to Paris and was ordained in 1964. His first assignment was in the Apostolic Prefecture of Battambang. He returned to France for more studies.

In April 1975, the Khmer Rouge took power in Cambodia. They founded a Communist state with the name of Democratic Kampuchea, where any religion was forbidden and destruction of religious sites was frrequent. In May 1975, foreigners were expelled, including Catholic priests and religious, while natives were forced to work in rice fields and many of them were executed.^[2]

French Bishop Yves Ramousse was at the head of the Cambodian Church when the Khmer Rouge took power. Anticipating his expulsion from the country for being a foreigner, he called Salas back to Cambodia. On 14 April 1975, the Holy See appointed Salas as Coadjutor Bishop for the Apostolic Vicariate of Phnom Penh. On 30 April, Bishop Ramousse was expelled from the country with many other foreign priests and religious. Most Cambodian priests and religious remained in the country, very few would survive.^[2]

In 1976, Bishop Ramousse resigned as head of the Cambodian Church. Salas became the head, but he was sent by the Khmer Rouge Regime to a rice field in Kompong Thom. He died of exhaustion in September 1977 in the Traing Kork Pagoda.^[2]

On 1 May 2015, the Cambodian Catholic Church officially opened an inquiry into the presumed martyrdom of Joseph Chhmar Salas and another 33 persons who died during the time of the Khmer Rouge regime.^[3]

• Apostolic Vicariate of Phnom-Penh, Cambodia
• The Catholic Church in Cambodia