René-Michel-Marie Fée was born on February 5, 1856 in Ambrières, France. From young, he felt a sense of piety and call to missionary work. He joined the minor seminary of Mayenne and was there for four years before joining the major seminary of Laval, after which he joined the MEP, being tonsured on September 15, 1876. Three years later on March 8, 1879, he was ordained a priest.^[1]

He departed for the Malayan Peninsula a month after his ordination on April 16, 1879.^[2] He was assigned by Bishop Gasnier to Penang to work with the Indian community at St Francis Xavier Church under the tutelage of Father Francois Hab, during which time according to the author of his obituary he worked on picking up the Tamil language along with a bit of English to better communicate with the locals and “to make himself useful as quickly as possible”.^[3] Not long after Fée’s arrival at Penang, Father Hab’s health began to deteriorate and he was forced to take a rest at the Hong Kong Sanatorium, leaving Father Fée with the full responsibility of overseeing the Indian Catholic mission in Penang. The task included not only the regular administrative and pastoral work in the parish church, but also visiting the numerous plantations around the Wellesley province. He would eventually begin to successfully establish several churches dedicated to the pastoral care of the Tamil Catholics in those areas, although not many specifics are known.^[4]

Ss detailed in his memoir translated from the French, Father Fee began to see the "inconveniences" and "drawbacks" in trying to evangelise in scattered territories where there were too many external factors. He believed “as long as they remained in their heathenism infested environment, [they] were not easily converted. By fear and human respect, they were deterred from the true faith”.^[5] Therefore, he dreamed of an agricultural settlement far away from outside influence where the “young Christian generation would grow in the shade of the village church” and “pagans would gradually come to seek and find salvation”.^[6]

When Father Hab returned from his hiatus, Fée brought the idea to him. Hab had a similar vision but had never been able to fulfil it. Upon agreeing that it was a worthwhile venture, they gained approval from Bishop Garnier and set off to find the land to bring to life their vision.^[7] They eventually found this land about 30 miles from Penang in the state of Perak, a forest watered by the River Kurau. Satisfied with the plot, Father Hab went to the Perak land office and was granted 200 acres of forest land near Bagan Serai to carry out the venture of building an agricultural village. On January 19, 1882, just four years after his arrival in Malaya, Father Fee set off with 10 men to carry out the daunting task of creating the Indian colony he dreamt off that would eventually be named "Soosay Paleam", also known as St Joseph’s Encampment.^[8]

Fee’s memoir outlines in great detail the toil, trials and tribulations that came from building a settlement out of forest. These ranged from trekking through the rough terrain to get to the location to clearing the forest, cultivating the land for agricultural uses, constructing lodgings, a church and a boys' school, bringing in labour, and interacting with and evangelising the growing Indian population that continued to trickle in from India. By 1886, the colony was home to 305 Christians.^[9] By October 1889, as the end of Fee’s memoir concludes, the St Joseph’s Parish at Bagan Serai with 450 acres of cultivated land was home to a population of 600, with 105 families. Up to that time, they had administered 180 baptisms, 49 marriages, and had 70 children attending school.^[10] These numbers continued to increase over the years. An annual report from the MEP in 1891 mentioned that the boys' school there was made up of 75 students. In addition, there was now also a girls' school made up of 59 students, with the Christian population having increased to 800 by then.^[11] 

In Father Fée’s obituary, the author considered the colony of Soosay Paleam to be the “most beautiful of his apostolic career”,^[12] and it surely seemed to be one of the biggest and most successful of his ventures at the time. Today, while no longer a colony and vastly different from what it once was, the church of St Joseph itself is still standing strong there although not in its original form when it was built.

By the early to mid-1890s as mentioned in passing in several reports in the MEP archives, Father Fée’s health began to falter. However, by 1895 he was again back at work travelling between mainland Penang and Bagan Serai. He also established two other Tamil churches in Teluk Anson and Tapah in 1894 and 1895 respectively. As the MEP report from 1895 said, “let us go to Pérak to greet Mr. Fée and congratulate him on the wonderful change that has taken place in the state of his health. A few months ago, no one would have given him 15 days of life; also, upon learning of his departure for the forest, I was amazed, and when I am told that he displays extraordinary activity among his neophytes, I can only bless the good Lord for the special protection with which he surrounds this dear colleague. He has just inaugurated chapels in Telock-Anson and Tapah”.^[13]

Father Fée's great dedication to his mission, the hard work put in and the successes achieved did not go unrecognised. A year later a Papal Bull dated July 21, 1896 declared Father René Fée the new Bishop of Malacca.^[14] He was ordained on November 22, 1896 and the MEP report from that year outlines in great detail the great spectacle that was the coronation, and the delight the whole congregation felt on the choice of the new bishop. The report said: “We cannot begin the account of Malacca better than by transcribing here the following lines, relating to the coronation of the new bishop in the Singapore Cathedral. "It is very difficult to find, in a mission country, something which surpasses in grandeur, in beauty, in edification, our beautiful celebration of November 22. The whole diocese wanted to show Mgr. Fée how happy we were with the choice made by the Holy Father… Long before the ceremony, the cathedral was packed: Europeans, Eurasians, Chinese, Indians, etc., rubbed shoulders and occupied even the smallest corners they could find. It was estimated that at least 2,000 people filled the building, and there were as many outside…”, wrote Mr Délouette.^[15] The report went on to list the various officials and state representatives who had wanted to be present and gave the details of the actual proceedings and ordination. The importance of Father Fee’s ordination showed his impact on the community and the recognition for his work.

His MEP biography states that during his administration as Bishop, he established several schools for boys and girls, gave great initiative to the missionaries and made great efforts to focus on the evangelisation of the Chinese and Indian communities.^[16] Although the details are lacking, the large Catholic Indian populations in the areas where he had served and churches which he established during his time in Malaya testify to his impact and legacy.

In 1903, Bishop Fée fell ill and left Malaya to return to France in hopes of recovering. However, he was diagnosed with cancer and passed away on January 20, 1904 at the MEP Seminary in Paris. He was buried in the cemetery at Ambrières, the town where he was born.^[17]