# St. Anthony's Church, Teluk Intan

The Church of St. Anthony of Padua is a Roman Catholic parish church under the jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Penang located in the town of Teluk Intan, Perak, Malaysia.

## History

The origin of the church dates back to 1894 when the French missionary priest Rev. Father René-Michel-Marie Fée, MEP, acquired a piece of land and built an attap roofed wooden chapel as part of the larger Parish of South Perak which included Tapah. The chapel was dedicated to St. Anthony of Padua.
The Rev. Father Fée was elevated to become the Bishop of Malacca in 1896 and was succeeded by the Rev. Father Louis Perrichon who ministered to the scattered Roman Catholic communities along the Tapah – Kuala Kubu Baru road. In 1910, a presbytery was built in the compound of the chapel during the watch of the sixth parish priest, the Rev. Father Donat Perrissoud who also extended his pastoral ministry to the townships of Lumut and Sitiawan.
In 1914, the original wood and attap chapel was destroyed by fire. Funds amounting to 70,000 Straits dollars was successfully raised and work begun on the building of a new church with the foundation stone laid on 7 May 1922. The new church building was consecrated on 6 May 1923 by Bishop Jean-Marie Mérel, Vicar-Apostolic Emeritus of Canton.
Today, weekly masses are held in Tamil and English while masses in Mandarin and Malaysian are held once a month.

### Pastors

The following have served as pastors of the parish since its formation in 1894:
| From | Until | Pastor | Notes |
| 1894 | 1896 | René-Michel-Marie Fée, MEP | Later Bishop of Malacca (1896) |
| 1896 | 1900 | Pierre-Louis Perrichon, MEP | Later Coadjutor Bishop of Malacca (1920) |
| 1900 | 1901 | Louis Duvelle, MEP | Established the Church of St. Anthony, Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur in 1913 |
| 1901 | 1905 | Emile Marie Henri Sausseau, MEP | Established the parish of the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes, Ipoh in 1905 |
| 1906 | 1909 | Jean Passail, MEP | |
| 1909 | 1914 | Donat Perrissoud, MEP | |
| 1914 | 1920 | Emile Marie Henri Sausseau, MEP | |
| 1929 | 1931 | Jean Paul Baloche, MEP | |
| 1931 | 1933 | Michel Bonamy, MEP | Established St. Anthony's School in 1931 |
| 1934 | 1936 | Ignatius John Aloysius | An alumnus of St. John's Institution and the first local Malayan parish priest. Later first Vicar general of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Penang (1955). |
| 1936 | 1947 | John Edmond | Oversaw the transfer of St. Anthony's School to the De La Salle Brothers. |
| 1947 | 1949 | Arokianathan | |
| 1949 | 1950 | Finian De Silva | |
| 1950 | 1951 | Dominic Vendargon | First Bishop (1955) and Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur (1972) |
| 1951 | 1953 | Arokianathan | |
| 1953 | 1959 | R. Brossard, MEP | |
| 1959 | 1970 | Mathias Ki | Established St. Anthony's Branch Primary School in Langkap in 1968 to provide education opportunities for the Orang Asli community |
| 1970 | 1978 | Maurice Surmon, MEP | |
| 1978 | 1980 | Felix Michael | |
| 1980 | 1990 | Anthony Chong | |
| 1990 | 1996 | Pierre Gauthier, MEP | |
| 1996 | 2005 | Arulnathan Joseph | |
| 2005 | 2008 | Vincent Paul | |
| 2008 | 2012 | Francis Andrew | |
| 2012 | 2018 | Francis Xavier Selvarajoo | |
| 2018 | present | David Lourdes | |

## St. Anthony's School

The tenth parish priest, the Rev. Father Michel Bonamy, established a school known as St. Anthony's School in a wooden hut adjacent to the church. His successor, the Rev. Father John Edmond, acquired a piece of land opposite the church for the school and the first block of six classrooms was built on this land and officially opened by the British Resident of Perak, Marcus Rex, on 27 January 1941.