Jean-Emmanuel Diridollou was born in Plésidy, France on March 28, 1863. He joined the Missions Etrangères de Paris (MEP) seminary on September 10, 1884 and four years later on July 8, 1888, he was ordained a priest in the diocese of Saint-Brieuc.^[1] On December 12, 1888, he departed for the Malayan Peninsula to begin his mission work. He arrived in Singapore in January 1889 and resided there for six months before being sent to Penang.^[2] At that time, the two priests presiding over the Indian mission in Penang, Father Théodore Cesbron and Father (later Bishop) René Fée, both fell ill.^[3] This left Father Diridollou having to administer the district on his own for a time, a job which according to Bishop Fée, he took up with great fervour.^[4]

His hard work and dedication to the mission in Penang did not go unnoticed. Seeing his potential, the then Bishop Édouard Gasnier decided to give the young and relatively new missionary a larger responsibility. In 1890, just 18 months into his mission in Malaya, Father Diridollou was put in charge of one of the biggest ongoing Indian colony projects in Perak, that of Sousei-Paléam (St Joseph’s) in Bagan Serai.^[5] Initially spearheaded by Bishop Fée, Sousei-Paléam was already a relatively large and thriving independent community but there was still much work to be done. Father Diridollou wasted no time in getting to work not only to evangelise the Indian population but also to help build up the community. As Fée himself put it, “He visited every corner, even the most remote, of his district, everywhere meeting Christians who had until then been almost abandoned, encouraging the good, bringing back sinners, preaching, baptizing, blessing marriages.”^[6]

During the first five years, Father Diridollou had to deal with poor weather toppling the church, which at the time was a mere hut. With limited resources, he rebuilt it with more solid materials and later on, did the same with his own accommodation and the schools, building an orphanage as well.^[7] By 1895 the schools in Sousei-Paléam consisted of 75 boys and 65 girls, the community was doing well, and was very much dedicated to their religious obligations, attending regular mass, and being attentive in prayer.^[8] The community’s devotion was so impressive that an MEP report from that year even notes that the Christians at Sousei-Paléam “could with advantage be offered as models to many of our Christians in France”.^[9] The report also noted that “The missionary is happy with his flock which gives him great consolations”, referring to Father Diridollou.^[10]

The progress continued into 1897 and the colony’s population increased to roughly 900 people.^[11] However, the agricultural work fared less well. There were not many good years as an infestation of rats hindered the growth of the crops and rice fields and affected the harvest. Bishop Fée noted that seeing the community struggle and suffer brought tears to Father Diridollou’s eyes.^[12] But he was not deterred and pushed the community to keep on planting, getting involved physically himself and all the while praying and hoping for the situation to improve with time. That same year, he fulfilled his goal of building two schools to accommodate the growing number of children in the colony.^[13]

He also had a dream of building a bigger church but he would not see this particular dream come to light. A year later, on July 22, 1898, Father Jean Diridollou passed away at the young age of 35.^[14] While his life was relatively short compared to that of many of his fellow MEP missionaries, he was greatly loved, appreciated and respected by the colony at Sousei-paleam, where he spent most of his missionary days and which he took great pride and joy in. In his last days, many from the colony came to visit him, deeply saddened by the news that he was dying. As Bishop Fée recounted, “he looked at them for a long time with tears in his eyes, then turning to me, he said: ‘I cannot speak to them; tell them that I bless them and their families.’ I repeated his words to these brave people who all burst into tears.”^[15]

He was given a temporary burial in the colony’s cemetery until the day when the church he had so hoped would one day be built became a reality. When it finally did, his grave was moved to the new church in Bagan Serai.^[16]