Roman Catholicism in Malaysia

The Catholic Church in Malaysia is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome.

The first Catholic priests landed in Malacca in 1511 as military chaplains to the Portuguese. Malacca in its new role became a stop-over for the thousands of missionaries who spread the faith to South and Far East Asia. Till today, small Christian communities are found in these places due to its missionary zest. Malacca holds a special place in the history of the Church in this region.

From the 7th to the 14th century, numerous small kingdoms which were strongly Hindu, existed at river mouths. The Sri Vijaya Empire extended its great influence to the region. In 1403, a prince from Sumatra, Parameswara, founded Malacca. He converted to Islam and took the name of Sri Maharaja Mohammed Shah.

The year 1511 was marked with the arrival of Portuguese led by Admiral Afonso de Albuquerque and the first catholic chaplains. The Portuguese captured Malacca for its well-known spice trade. Between 1545 and 1552, St Francis Xavier preached in Malacca. By 1557, Malacca was raised to a suffragan see (deputy diocese). In 1641, the occupation of Malacca by the Dutch began and the authorities in power suppressed Catholicism. The bishops and priests fled to Timor.

In 1786, Sir Francis Light took over Penang from the Sultan of Kedah. Finally in 1809, the College General in Penang was opened again and seminarians from all over Asia came to be trained there. In 1819, Sir Stamford Raffles took residence in Singapore. In 1824, the Anglo-Dutch Treaty is signed and the Netherlands exchanged Malacca for Indonesia. Later, in 1826, Penang, Province Wellesley, Malacca and Singapore became the Straits Settlement under British rule. In 1852, the Sisters of St Maur or the Infant Jesus sisters (IJ) and the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools (La Salle Brothers) sailed over to found Christian schools in major towns in Peninsular Malaysia. The sisters also began orphanages. In 1864, Chinese tin miners settled at the confluence of the muddy Klang and Gombak river mouth, the beginning of Kuala Lumpur. In 1874, the Treaty of Pangkor marked the direct British rule over the Malay states. The sultans maintained religious sovereignty. Roman Catholicism came to North Borneo in 1882 after the establishment of British North Borneo. The Roman Catholic Mill Hill Missionaries, focused mainly on the Chinese and indigenous communities, such as the Kadazan-Dusun people. By the end 19th century, Malaysia was affected by massive immigration of Chinese and Indians who were invited to work in the tin mines, rubber plantation and railways by the British.

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