St Anthony Catholic Church is located at Jalan Robertson off Jalan Pudu in Kuala Lumpur near Pudu Sentral. According to Streets of Kuala Lumpur, the name Jalan Robertson was named after Mr D.G. Robertson by the KL Sanitary Board. Mr D. G. Robertson was the manager of the Federated Engineering Company whose house is located at the end of this road .
St Anthony Catholic Church - Top View
In 1883, there was an estimated 100 Indian Catholics in the State of Selangor. During this time, the Church of St. John in Bukit Nanas was the only place of worship for all the Catholics residing in the city or in the surrounding region. As the majority of the Indian Catholics were Tamil-speaking, the Church of St. John became inadequate to cater to the needs of these people. During this time, Fr. Louis Duvelle, who was sent as a special assistant in charge of the Indians of Selangor, discovered that there were 2,000 Indian Catholics in the state. So steps were taken to have a special church for them.
In 1908, Fr. Victor Renard, who was catering to the spiritual needs of the Tamil speaking parishioners erected a chapel for them in Sentul. In 1909, a piece of land in the City centre was acquired for a new church. Permission was received from Bishop Marie-Luc-Alphonse-Emile Barillon to collect funds to build a church for the Indian Catholics.
In January 1911, Fr. Francois Le Mahec was appointed as the first parish priest of the Indian Catholics in Kuala Lumpur. He continued to collect funds for the new church and work to build the church commenced in 1912. Fr. Duvelle who received a substantial sum of money from his cousin in France, passed on the money to Fr. Le Mahec. Neither the MEP mission nor the faithful were then in a position to pay towards the erection of the Church of St. Anthony. The parish which catered for the port and scattered Indian labourers in the estates of Selangor had to depend on the goodwill of generous benefactors for donations. Fr. Le Mahec mentioned that the Chinese community of Singapore contributed very generously to this project.
On Feb, 2, 1913, Bishop Barillon blessed the foundation stone of the Church of St. Anthony. The opening and blessing of the new church was done on Sept 21, 1913 by Fr. Louis Duvelle in recognition of all that he had done for the Indian community in Kuala Lumpur. Although the church building was erected in 1913, the date of establishment of the parish is recorded as 1911 (i.e, following the official appointment of it’s first parish priest). In 1922, Fr. Le Mahec obtained three bells for the Church of St. Anthony. In 1923, he erected the new presbytery.
As time passed it was found that the church was too small to accommodate the ever increasing number of the Catholic population. Therefore in 1930, the main body of the church with its tower and belfry was annexed to the wings of the church. This ardous task was undertaken by a well-know architect, Mr. P.L.M.Nathan. The magnificent whitewashed facade with its tall spire rose all the way up to the sky. The crucifix above the main altar is flanked by two beautiful stained glass windows on each side. Despite the blistering heat outside, the high ceiling kept the air cool inside the church.
The geocache
Suparman was out for a leisurely Sunday stroll with his beau Lois Lane when he heard that someone had fallen off the abandoned building of Plaza Rakyat next door. He quickly scouted around to look for a place to change and bring some medicine for his humanitarian duties. He has to quickly find the closet to change but only saw a familiar colour almost like his costume. Help him retrieve the necessary items quickly. The cache is outside of the construction zone.
Appreciation
Congratulations to DannyVic for the FTF
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