Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Bangkok (Fides Service) -The first Catholic mission church in Thailand, the newly restored 17th century St Joseph’s in Ayutthaya was blessed and re-opened to the public on March 20 by Cardinal Michael Michai Kitbunchu, Archbishop of Bangkok. The mission, the first in Siam, was opened in 1662 by French missionaries of the MEP. Concelebrating with the Cardinal in the solemn Mass occasion, Archbishop Salvatore Pennacchio Nuncio to Thailand.
The Cardinal wished to give special importance to the event which recalled the first evangelisation of Thailand and the valuable work of the French missionaries. Priests, religious and crowds of faithful came for the occasion from nearby parishes. The church is small and can seat only 100 people so tents with television screens were put up outside for the large crowds who gather for the important event. At the end of the mass there was a procession and the solemn enthronement of the statue of St Joseph of Ayutthaya, the mission’s patron.
After Mass the Cardinal prayed at the tombs of Bishop Pierre Lambert de la Motte, one of the founders of the Paris Society for Foreign Missions and the mission in Siam, and Bishop Louis Laneau, first Apostolic Vicar of Siam, who are buried in the side chapels. Six later Bishops and 23 missionaries are buried in the small cemetery next to the church.
Father Pierre Lambert arrived in Siam in 1662. He was welcomed by King Narai who gave permission for a church to be built the church was St Joseph’s. The original building was made of wood, was destroyed during the Burmese invasion in 1767 and rebuilt in 1847 by missionaries. In 2003 Cardinal Michael Michai Kitbunchu decided to restore the church.
The little church of Saint Joseph of Ayutthaya stands as a testimony of the work of evangelisation of many European missionaries who devoted their life to bringing the Gospel to Thailand.
(PA) (Agenzia Fides 25/3/2004 lines 32 words 389)
