| Type: | Archbishop |
| Honorific-Prefix: | The Most Reverend Tan Sri |
| Dominic Vendargon | |
| Honorific-Suffix: | P.S.M. |
| Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur | |
| Church: | Roman Catholic Church |
| Archdiocese: | Kuala Lumpur |
| Term Start: | 18 December 1972 |
| Term End: | 2 July 1983 |
| Successor: | Anthony Soter Fernandez |
| Ordination: | 8 December 1934 |
| Consecration: | 21 August 1955 |
| Birth Date: | 29 August 1909 |
| Birth Place: | Naranthanai, Ceylon |
| Death Place: | Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia |
| Buried: | St. John's Cathedral, Kuala Lumpur |
| Alma Mater: | St Francis Xavier Seminary College General |
| Consecrated By: | Michel Olçomendy, Louis-August Chorin and Charles Joseph van Melckebeke |
The Most Reverend Tan Sri Dominic Aloysius Vendargon (29 August 1909 - 3 August 2005) was a Ceylon Tamil priest and Roman Catholic Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur.
Vendargon was born on 29 August 1909 in Naranthanai in northern Ceylon.[1] [2] Vendargon and his mother moved to Malaya, where his father worked as a surveyor, in 1910.[1] Following the outbreak of World War I Vendargon, his siblings and mother returned to Ceylon.[1] After the war the family rejoined Vendargon's father in Seremban in 1919.[1] The family moved to Malacca in 1923.[1]
Vendargon was educated at St Patrick's College, Jaffna, St Paul's, Seremban, and St Francis' Institution, Malacca.[1]
Despite his father wanting Vendargon to be a doctor, Vendargon entered the St Francis Xavier Seminary in Singapore in 1925 before transferring to the College General in Penang in 1927.[1]
Vendargon was ordained as a priest on 8 December 1934.[1] [2] As vicar for Indians in Negri Sembilan he was responsible for the pastoral care of Roman Catholics working in the rubber plantations.[1] [3] He was transferred to Sungai Petani in Kedah in 1941.[1] [3] After the Japanese invasion of Malaya, all of Vendargon's books and records were destroyed by Japanese troops.[1] He spent the Japanese occupation years ministering to families in Kedah, Perlis, Kelantan and Trengganu.[1] [3]
After the war Vendargon started teaching at the College General in 1948 before becoming vicar for Indians in Johor Bahru and the Singapore Naval Base in 1949.[1] [3] He was transferred to Teluk Anson in 1950 before becoming vicar of St. Anthony's Church, Kuala Lumpur in 1951, a post he held until 1955.[1] [3]
Vendargon was appointed Bishop of Kuala Lumpur on 25 February 1955.[1] [2] He was ordained as a bishop on 21 August 1955.[2] He became the first Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur on 18 December 1972.[1] [2] He retired on 2 July 1983.[2] [3]
Vendargon was a member of the Association for the Promotion of Higher Education Malaysia, the Guild of Catholic Assisted Schools Malaysia and Malaysian Inter-Religious Association.[1] He was also the first president of the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Sikhism.[1] [3] He was made a Panglima Setia Mahkota in June 1968.[3] [4]
Vendargon died on 3 August 2005 at an old peoples home in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur run by the Little Sisters of the Poor.[3] [4] He was buried in the nave of St. John's Cathedral, Kuala Lumpur.[3] The Tan Sri Dominic Vendargon Foundation was named after Vendargon.[5]