Our History

 hen Captain Francis Light founded Penang in 1786, a French Catholic priest Fr. Arnold-Antoine Garnault of the Society of the Foreign Missions of Paris (of Societe des Missions Etransgeres de Paris) arrived on the island together with him and built the Assumption Church, in an area now known as Church Street. In the years that followed, Penang became a land of promise and opportunity for all who came from Europe and Asia to seek their fortune. As the population of Catholics grew on the island, a bigger church was built at the corner of Farquhar Street and Love Lane in 1860. Assumption Church was eventually moved there.

Despite this growth, residents of Penang were plagued by diseases such as malaria compounded by bacterial infection such as Typhoid and Cholera. There was no cure for such illnesses. This disease had claimed the life of Captain Francis Light in 1794. The immigrants who came to the island from India, China and neighbouring countries too suffered from these illnesses. As a result, children of these immigrants who were orphaned were left to fend for themselves.

In 1857, a young French Catholic priest, Fr. Francois Xavier Hab, was put in charge of looking after the needs of Indians on the island and on the mainland (Province Wellesley). Fr. Hab took up residence on a piece of land, next to the cemetery, which was gifted to the Assumption Church by a family. The chapel of the cemetery was used by him as a place of gathering for Christians. This was the start of the Church of St. Francis Xavier, along what is now known as Penang Road. In the course of his work, Fr. Hab saw that there was a pressing need to care for orphans in the area, as there was nobody to look after them. He then founded St. Joseph’s Orphanage in 1865, with the first intake of 20 orphaned boys.

In the years that followed, the French Catholic priests who succeeded Fr. Hab in the Church of St. Francis Xavier continued to look after the welfare of the boys at St. Joseph’s Orphanage. The focus was always to provide the boys not only food, shelter and clothing, but also with the best possible upbringing and education, within the human and financial resources available.

Between 1936 and 1956, Fr. Louis Riboud, was placed in charge of the Church of St. Francis Xavier. He not only saw to the needs of St. Joseph’s Orphanage, but also welcomed other orphaned boys in a building near the church. He installed workshop equipment and provided the boys with training in technical skills. During World War II and the Japanese Occupation of Penang from December 1941 to September 1945, the church building suffered major damage. When the war ended, Fr. Riboud began to erect a new church, repair the presbytery and the St. Joseph’s Orphanage building.

With the changing trends in society in the 1990’s and the rise in problems faced by families, there was pressure to expand the services of the Orphanage in order to be more responsive and relevant to society. Hence, St. Joseph’s Orphanage opened its door to include not only orphans but also boys and girls of various religions and ethnicity, who came from very poor socio-economic and psychological backgrounds. St Joseph’s Orphanage became St Joseph’s Home and on November 21, 2015, celebrated its 150th anniversary.