Charles Arsène Bourdon

Charles Arsène Bourdon M.E.P. (1 May 18343 October 1918) was a French Catholic missionary and bishop in Burma and Singapore.

Early life Charles Arsène Bourdon, born in Caligny, Orne, on 1 May 1834, was descended from an old Norman family. He was ordained as a priest of the La Société des Missions Etrangères in 1860, and in 1863 was sent to Rangoon to join the Burmah mission under Bishop Bigandet.

Career In 1872, he was appointed the first Vicar Apostolic Emeritus of Upper Burma with residence in Mandalay, and a year later was ordained as Titular Bishop of Dardanus. In 1877, he returned to France due to ill-health but returned a year later to resume his duties.

In 1887, he resigned from the Burma mission, and after a short residence in Hong Kong went to Singapore. Although not attached to the Vicariate Apostolic of Malacca-Singapore, he continued ministering to the people, visiting patients at the General Hospital, and serving as H.M. Military Chaplain, a post he held from 1888 to 1911.