Christianity in Thailand - Roman Catholicism

Roman Catholicism

The earliest Roman Catholic missionaries in Siam were Friar Jeronimo da Cruz and Sebastiâo da Canto, both Dominicans, who came in 1567. They were killed by the Burmese in 1569. Later, the Franciscans and Jesuits arrived. The 17th, 18th and 19th centuries were marked by alternating periods of toleration and persecution of missionaries by the Siamese rulers.

By the beginning of the 20th century, there were about 23,000 Catholic adherents, 55 churches and chapels, representatives of monastic orders, and social and educational institutions (orphanages, schools and a seminary and college). Many Roman Catholic missionaries arrived in the first half of the 20th century. Thailand is now has about 292,000 Catholics. On October 22, 1989, the catechist Philip Siphong Onphitak and six companions (nuns and laymen), killed by Thai police during the Franco-Thai War of 1940 on the suspicion that they were French spies, were beatified as the Martyrs of Thailand.

Among the Roman Catholic orders present in the country are the Salesians, Sisters of Mary Help of Christians, Redemptorists, Camillian Fathers, Brothers of St. Gabriel, De La Salle Brothers, Jesuits, Franciscans, Sisters of Charity of St. Paul, Good Shepherd Sisters, Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Marist Brothers, Marist Fathers. Roman Catholics are represented by various dioceses.