Founder of St.

Anthony's School, Fr Michel Bonamy, MEP:

A little something about the founder of St. Anthony's School, Fr Michel

Bonamy, MEP:
Father Michel Bonamy was a man of boundless energy who was destined for
high office within the Catholic Church in Malaya. He was educated in France
and spent some years in India studying Tamil in order to prepare for
missionary work among the Tamil-speaking people of the Malay Peninsula.
He is described as a fluent speaker in Tamil.
Upon arrival in Malaya in 1927, he was posted as Assistant Parish Priest of
the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd in Singapore. He served at this post for
a year before he was posted to the Federated Malay States for nearly 30
years.His missionary work took place mainly in Kuala Lumpur, Teluk Anson
and Sungei Petani.
Father Bonamy served as Parish Priest at the Church of St.Anthony, Teluk
Anson, from 1931 to 1934. He founded our school in 1931 with 11 pioneer
pupils.
When he arrived in Teluk Anson in 1931, this town was virtually the capital of
South Perak which covered the entire area from Tapah-Bidor to Bagan Datoh
as well as Sitiawan-Lumut and Ipoh.This was the vast area covered by Fr
Bonamy as a missionary priest. Travel from Teluk Anson to Sitiawan-Lumut
was by boat while much of the rest of the hinterland was travelled by
motorcycle. The founder of our school was a man of stamina noted not only
for his rugged, handsome looks but was a man of deep religious faith and
personal piety. He was clearly being earmarked for greatness in his priestly
vocation.
Father R.Girard, personal secretary to Archbishop Michel Olcomendy of the
Archdiocese of Malacca-Singapore in th 1950s-60s was Father Bonamys
classmate at the seminary in Paris where they were both trained for the
priesthood. Father Girard recalls:
He was a priest much admired and beloved of his parishioners. He drove
himself very hard as a missionary, visiting homes and especially the sick.

In 1941, Father Bonamy returned to Singapore as Parish Priest of the

Cathedral of the Good Shepherd. He was to remain at this post until he was
appointed Vicar-General of the Archdiocese of Singapore-Malacca (the
second highest post in the Catholic Church in Malaya). He was clearly
destined to be the future Archbishop of the Catholic Church in Malaya. But it
was not be. From the age of 50, Fr Bonamy suffered a heart ailment which
took his life at the age of 54.