Dominic Vendargon | |
---|---|
Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur | |
Church | Roman Catholic Church |
Archdiocese | Kuala Lumpur |
Installed | 18 December 1972 |
Term ended | 2 July 1983 |
Successor | Anthony Soter Fernandez |
Orders | |
Ordination | 8 December 1934 |
Consecration | 21 August 1955 by Michel Olçomendy, Louis-August Chorin and Charles Joseph van Melckebeke |
Personal details | |
Born | Naranthanai,
Ceylon | 29 August 1909
Died | 3 August 2005 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | (aged 95)
Buried | St. John's Cathedral, Kuala Lumpur |
Alma mater | St Francis Xavier Seminary College General |
The Most Reverend Tan Sri Dominic Aloysius Vendargon (29 August 1909 – 3 August 2005) was a Ceylon Tamil priest and Roman Catholic Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur.
Vendargon was born on 29 August 1909 in Naranthanai in northern Ceylon. [1] [2] Vendargon and his mother moved to Malaya, where his father worked as a surveyor, in 1910. [1] Following the outbreak of World War I Vendargon, his siblings and mother returned to Ceylon. [1] After the war the family rejoined Vendargon's father in Seremban in 1919. [1] The family moved to Malacca in 1923. [1]
Vendargon was educated at St Patrick's College, Jaffna, St Paul's, Seremban, and St Francis' Institution, Malacca. [1]
Despite his father wanting Vendargon to be a doctor, Vendargon entered the St Francis Xavier Seminary in Singapore in 1925 before transferring to the College General in Penang in 1927. [1]
Vendargon was ordained as a priest on 8 December 1934. [1] [2] As vicar for Indians in Negri Sembilan he was responsible for the pastoral care of Roman Catholics working in the rubber plantations. [1] [3] He was transferred to Sungai Petani in Kedah in 1941. [1] [3] After the Japanese invasion of Malaya, all of Vendargon's books and records were destroyed by Japanese troops. [1] He spent the Japanese occupation years ministering to families in Kedah, Perlis, Kelantan and Trengganu. [1] [3]
After the war Vendargon started teaching at the College General in 1948 before becoming vicar for Indians in Johor Bahru and the Singapore Naval Base in 1949. [1] [3] He was transferred to Teluk Anson in 1950 before becoming vicar of St. Anthony's Church, Kuala Lumpur in 1951, a post he held until 1955. [1] [3]
Vendargon was appointed Bishop of Kuala Lumpur on 25 February 1955. [1] [2] He was ordained as a bishop on 21 August 1955. [2] He became the first Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur on 18 December 1972. [1] [2] He retired on 2 July 1983. [2] [3]
Vendargon was a member of the Association for the Promotion of Higher Education Malaysia, the Guild of Catholic Assisted Schools Malaysia and Malaysian Inter-Religious Association. [1] He was also the first president of the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Sikhism. [1] [3] He was made a Panglima Setia Mahkota in June 1968. [3] [4]
Vendargon died on 3 August 2005 at an old peoples home in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur run by the Little Sisters of the Poor. [3] [4] He was buried in the nave of St. John's Cathedral, Kuala Lumpur. [3] The Tan Sri Dominic Vendargon Foundation was named after Vendargon. [5]