René Michel Marie Fée MEP (5 February 1856 – 20 January 1904) was a French Catholic missionary who served as Bishop of Malacca-Singapore from 1896 to 1904.

Early life

Fée was born in

Ambrières Ambrières () is a commune in the Marne department in northeastern France. Population See also *Communes of the Marne department The following is a list of the 610 communes in the French department of Marne. The communes cooperate in ...

, France on 5 February 1856. For four years he attended the seminaries of

Mayenne Mayenne ( ) is a landlocked department in northwest France named after the river Mayenne. Mayenne is part of the administrative region of Pays de la Loire and is surrounded by the departments of Manche, Orne, Sarthe, Maine-et-Loire, and Il ...

and Laval before entering the

Society of Foreign Missions of Paris The Society of Foreign Missions of Paris (, , MEP) is a Catholic Missionary order, missionary organization. It is not a religious institute, but an organization of secular clergy, secular priests and Laity, lay persons dedicated to missionary wo ...

where he was ordained a priest in March 1879.

Career

Within a month of ordination, Fée was sent to carry out missionary work in

Malaya Malaya refers to a number of historical and current political entities related to what is currently Peninsular Malaysia in Southeast Asia: Political entities * British Malaya (1826–1957), a loose collection of the British colony of the Straits ...

. Arriving in

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

in May 1879, he was assigned by Bishop Edouard Gasnier to work amongst the South Indian Tamil community on the

Malay Peninsula The Malay Peninsula is located in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area contains Peninsular Malaysia, Southern Tha ...

, and within a month travelled north to

Penang Penang is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia along the Strait of Malacca. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay Peninsula. Th ...

. For the next 15 years he worked in the jungle and on the estates of Penang,

Province Wellesley A province is an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The term ''provin ...

and

Perak Perak (; Perak Malay: ''Peghok'') is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula. Perak has land borders with the Malaysian states of Kedah to the north, Penang to the northwest, Kel ...

as an unknown priest serving Indian Tamil workers. In Perak, he cleared the jungle where he established the parish of

Bagan Serai Bagan Serai is a mukim in Kerian District, Perak, Malaysia. It is located southeast of George Town, the capital city of the neighbouring state of Penang. As such, the town is also part of the George Town Conurbation, Malaysia's second larg ...

, and by 1889 had performed 180 baptisms there, and was ministering to 450 Christians. In 1891, he returned to France due to ill health but returned the following year, and in 1894 established the parish of

Teluk Anson Teluk Intan is a town in Hilir Perak District, Perak, Malaysia. It is the district capital, the largest town in the district and fourth largest town in the state of Perak with an estimated population of around 172,505, more than half of Hilir P ...

. There he built a small wooden church and dedicated it to

St Anthony of Padua Anthony of Padua, OFM, (; ; ) or Anthony of Lisbon (; ; ; born Fernando Martins de Bulhões; 15 August 1195 – 13 June 1231) was a Portuguese Catholic priest and member of the Order of Friars Minor. Anthony was born and raised by a wealthy ...

. In Taiping, he built the Church of St Louis and promoted the establishment of a convent school and orphanages. In 1896, on the death of Bishop Gasnier, he succeeded to the office of Bishop of Malacca-Singapore, and was consecrated in the

Cathedral of the Good Shepherd The Cathedral of the Good Shepherd ( zh, 善牧主教座堂) is the oldest Catholic Church, Catholic church in Singapore, built in 1847. It is located in the Museum Planning Area within the Civic District. Bounded by the parallel Queen Street, ...

in Singapore. With residence in Singapore, he opened the

Church of the Nativity The Church of the Nativity, or Basilica of the Nativity, is a basilica located in Bethlehem, West Bank, Palestine. The grotto holds a prominent religious significance to Christianity, Christians of various denominations as the Nativity of Jesus, ...

Serangoon Serangoon ( ) is a planning area and residential town located in the North-East Region of Singapore. Serangoon is bordered by these planning areas – Sengkang to the north, Hougang to the east, Ang Mo Kio and Bishan to the west, as well ...

in 1901, and acquired land which would later become the site of the Church of the Sacred Heart. In 1903, his health was failing due to throat cancer and he returned to France for treatment but died following an operation on 20 January 1904, and was buried at Ambrières, his birth place.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fée, René Michel Marie 1856 births 1904 deaths Roman Catholic bishops of Malacca-Singapore Paris Foreign Missions Society bishops 19th-century French Roman Catholic bishops 20th-century French Roman Catholic bishops French Roman Catholic bishops in Asia