Born Michael Norris but was better known as Father Ronald Norris, C. P.. He was a Roman Catholic priest of the Passionist Order and had come to China in about 1929. He was assigned to the Yuanling Mission in Hunan.
Father Norris was present in Hong Kong during the Japanese invasion. Father Norris together with the Most Rev. Cuthbert O'Gara and another Passionist priest, Father Arthur J. Benson C. P., had been staying at Maryknoll House, Stanley.
Father Benson wrote that they had been seized on Christmas Eve 1941 (likely it was early Christmas Day morning instead). He went on: "When the Japanese arrived, they tied up the Fathers (including the priests of the Maryknoll Mission) and Canadian troops who had surrendered. The next day they were all taken out to a field with their hands bound behind them and lined up in preparation for execution*. Father Benson cites the heroism of Bishop O'Gara, who, he says, gave all the Fathers absolution, and calmly awaited the end.
However, at the last minute, the orders were changed and the priests were taken to an empty garage, where the group was incarcerated in the garage for four night and three days without food or water, except the last day when some milk and biscuits were brought. "
*A number of British and Canadian troops that had surrendered were executed outside the Carmelite Convent on Christmas Day.
The group (the Catholic Fathers) was finally permitted to return to Maryknoll House, only to find it crowded with troops. On 2 January 1942, Fathers Norris, Benson and Bishop O'Gara, were permitted to go into Hong Kong (town), a three hour walk. But they unwittingly went from the "frying pan into the fire." For three days they had stayed with the Most Rev. Enrico Valtorta, Vicar Apostolic of Hong Kong but were later rounded-up with 2,500 other nationals and imprisoned in a rat-infested hotel for two weeks. On 20 January 1942, the three priests entered Stanley Internment Camp.
In June 1942, Fathers Norris and Benson were allowed to leave Stanley Camp with other American for the United States. Bishop O'Gara had been released a few weeks earlier and would later make his way back into China.
In 1944, Father Ronald Norris served on the staff of The Institute of Chinese Culture at Washington, D.C.
Source
1. Catholic News Service - Newsfeeds dated 5 October 1942. See here
2. Catholic Bulletin of Foreign News dated 27 February 1943. See here