Gregory Yong

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Archbishop Emeritus Gregory Yong Sooi Ngean.
Archbishop Emeritus Gregory Yong Sooi Ngean.

Gregory Yong Sooi Ngean (Chinese: 杨瑞元) D.D. D.C.L is the Roman Catholic Archbishop Emeritus of Singapore.

Born in Taiping, Malaya on May 20, 1925, he was educated at St. George's Institution and St. Michael's Institution in Ipoh, Malaya. In January 1941, he entered the Minor Seminary and in 1944 graduated to the Major Seminary. He was ordained in 1951 and posted to the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Singapore. In 1953, he left for studies in Rome where he was conferred a Doctorate in Canon Law, the very first local priest to achieve the distinction. Back in Singapore in 1956, he was sent as assistant Parish Priest to the Church of the Sacred Heart. In the following year, he joined the teaching stuff of the Minor Seminary. After a short stint as assistant Parish Priest at the Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, he was appointed to a teaching position in the Major Seminary, again, the very first local priest to be thus honoured. On July 1, 1968, he was consecrated Bishop, and took over the Diocese Of Penang from Bishop Francis Chan who had died on October 27, 1967.

On February 3, 1977, he was appointed to succeed Archbishop Michel Olçomendy as the first of the local clergy to lead the Church in Singapore. On April 2, 1977, he was officially installed as the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore. He was the second Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Singapore, which was formed in 1972 when the Archdiocese of Malacca-Singapore split and held the office until retiring on October 14, 2000.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  • Eugene Wijeysingha (2006), Going Forth... - The Catholic Church in Singapore 1819-2004, Titular Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore, ISBN 981-05-5703-5

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Francis Chan
Bishop of Penang
1968–1977
Succeeded by
Anthony Soter Fernandez
Preceded by
Michel Olçomendy
Archbishop of Singapore
1977–2000
Succeeded by
Nicholas Chia Yeck Joo