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Montreal, December 16, 2018 – At the request of the Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Lévis, the Montreal Community hosted a befitting gathering for Ronald St-Onge who passed away on November 8, 2018 at U.C.P.Q. Hospital in Laval, Québec. Originally from Pierrefonds, he was a member of the Bahá’í Community of Lévis until the end of his life. He was 66 years old.

A second befitting memorial gathering was held for Shapoor Monadjem, a former Counsellor member of the International Teaching Centre, who passed away on Thursday in Maringá, Brazil. He was 85 years old.  He was a pioneer and member of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Brazil (1963-1983), a Continental Counsellor (1983-1993) and a Deputy Trustee of Ḥuqúqu’lláh.

Shapoor Monadjem was born in Shiraz, on October 3, 1933 to a Bahá’í family of several generations going back to early history of the Faith. After finishing an electrical engineering course at the university of Abádán in southern Iran, in February 1957, at the age of 24, he pioneered to Brazil, obeying the Guardian’s last message to the oriental friends and communities.

In 1963, Shapoor was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly in Brazil, serving on that body for a period of 20 years at a time when Bahá’í administration in that country was still in its embryonic stages of development.

In 1983, Shapoor and His wife, Bahereh had been planning to find another city to pioneer to in Brazil, when he was appointed by the Universal House of Justice to serve as a continental Counsellor. During his years as a Counsellor, Shapoor travelled to dozens of countries within South America and around the world, helping to further the establishment of Bahá’í communities in many new locations.

In 1993, Shapoor was appointed to the International Teaching Centre and moved to Haifa, Israel, where he resided until the completion of his term in 1998.

Shapoor died on November 15, 2018, following several months of struggling with kidney failure and respiratory problems. He is survived by his son, daughter, seven grandchildren and his newborn great-granddaughter.

The Universal House of Justice sent the following message to all National Spiritual Assemblies.

The passing of Shapoor Monadjem, distinguished and greatly loved servant of the Blessed Beauty, has brought much sadness to our hearts.  We call to mind, at this moment, his immense dedication to the teaching work, knowledge of the Faith, and insight into the application of its principles.  These qualities were much in evidence when he was a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of Brazil and during the decade he served as a Continental Counsellor in the Americas.  As a member of the International Teaching Centre, his talents and energies were determinedly focused upon the worldwide propagation and protection of the Faith. The wide-ranging services he undertook in his lifetime also included the promotion of the Right of God as a Deputy Trustee of Ḥuqúqu’lláh.  A kindly and gentle soul, good-humoured and brimming with creative inspiration, he was also blessed with considerable administrative abilities, honed in many different settings, which he deployed with great effect in service to the Cause of God.

 

To his dear wife, Bahareh, and to his children and grandchildren we extend our condolences and an assurance of our supplications in the Holy Shrines for his soul’s blissful passage into the realms of the eternal. We also ask that memorial gatherings be convened in his honour in all Houses of Worship and in Bahá’í communities across the world.

The Universal House of Justice

 

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