Rev. Fr. Ferdinand Bonnel, S.J., 31 August 1865 in

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– 7 May 1945 in

Batticaloa Batticaloa (, ''Maṭṭakkaḷappu'', ; , ''Maḍakalapuwa'', ) is a major city in the Eastern Province, Sri Lanka, and its former capital. It is the administrative capital of the Batticaloa District. The city is the seat of the Eastern Univers ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

, was a French

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priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

Biography

Bonnel was trained as novitiate of the

Society of Jesus The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...

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, Netherlands, commencing 7 September 1888. His training continued with the study of philosophy (1891–1893) and theology (1897–1900) at the seminary of the Jesuits in

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, Belgium, with a break for a few years of apostolic experience in

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between 1893 and 1897. He was ordained priest in Enghien in August 1899. In 1902, he joined his brother Fr Charles Bonnel (also a Jesuit priest) as a

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

in Ceylon (now known as Sri Lanka). Bonnel spent a year studying the Tamil language (1902–1903) before he was appointed director of St. Michael's College National School. A position in which he remained for over forty years. He is one of the architects of St. Michael's College. Twice he combined his duties as director with the Regional Superior of the Jesuits in the region of

Trincomalee Trincomalee (; , ; , ), historically known as Gokanna and Gokarna, is the administrative headquarters of the Trincomalee District and major resort port city of Eastern Province, Sri Lanka, Eastern Province, Sri Lanka. Located on the east coast o ...

(from 1917 to 1930 and again from 1932 to 1944), after the unexpected death of his successor, Maurice Boutry. Bonnel was also for a time the vicar general of the diocese of Trincomalee. Bonnel died in

, on 7 May 1945, aged 79. Bonnel is considered as a renowned educator, who has been honored by issuing a Sri Lankan postage stamp with his image in 1988.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonnel, Ferdinand 1865 births 1945 deaths Sri Lankan Jesuits Sri Lankan educational theorists Heads of schools in Sri Lanka St. Michael's College National School