The Year 1940 was a time of fear and uncertainty
in many areas of the world. Nazism was on the march in Europe and, in Asia,
imperialism was spreading rapidly. In Thailand, people felt fearful and
threatened and a foreign faith was an obvious scapegoat, although Catholicism
had already been in Thailand over three hundred and fifty years. In this
tense atmosphere the usually tolerant Thais forsook their normal friendliness
and began a religious persecution.
So it happened that in the winter of 1940, the
police moved into Songkhon. Their first hostile act was to banish and then
deport the parish priest. With guns in their hands, they then went from door
to door intimidating the good simple people of the village and ordering them
to abandon their faith in Christ. Naturally the people were nervous and
frightened but they remained quiet and steadfast.
Living in Songkhon were two Sisters of the
Congregation of the Lovers of the Holy Cross: Sister Agnes and Sister Lucia.
There was also an excellent Catechist, Mr. Philip Siphong. Since their pastor
had been deported, these three good people felt responsible for Catholic
community and were in charge of the village school.
Mr. Siphong gave both moral and physical support
to the worried people by visiting each house, praying with each family and
speaking words of encouragement and strengthening their faith. The police
were naturally furious at this act of rebelliousness and decided to get rid
of Mr. Philip Siphong.
So in early December 1940 the police sent a
letter to Philip supposedly from the Sheriff of Mukdahan requesting him to go
to Mukdahan to meet the Sheriff. The people were suspicious and they warned
Philip about the false letter and not to trust the police. They also told
Philip that the police had every intention of killing him. However this good
man told the people that if that was the case, then he, Philip Siphon was
prepared to die for his Faith. Eventually he set out with the police for
Mukdahan. Actually when they got the poor man into the forest, the police
shot him dead. So on December16th,1940 Mr.Philip Siphong died for his Faith
and became the first of the Seven Holy Martyrs of Thailand.
When the two Sisters Agnes and Lucia heard the
news of the death of their faithful catechist, they were both saddened and
very frightened. Nevertheless they continued their care of' the school and
their guidance of the community. Each day the children of the village came to
the convent to be taught and catechised. The police on their part kept up
their pressure on the Sisters and the local community. They tried to frighten
everyone by firing their rifles in the air and by shouting at the people.
They kept reminding the villagers of the murder of Philip by warning the
people. "We'll get rid of all of you."
The children like everyone else were terrified of
the police but the Sisters encouraged the children and themselves by saying
that if the police killed them, they would be martyrs for Jesus.
On Christmas Day, Mr. Lue, the police officer in
charge of Songkhon, came to the Sisters' house. On arrival he discovered the
Sisters were instructing the children in their Catholic Faith. The officer
was furious and berated the Sisters: "I've told you many times not to
speak about Jesus. You must not mention God in Thailand, otherwise I'll kill
you all." Sister Agnes who was the elder Sister, conscious of her role,
in turn became indignant. She confronted the police officer saying: "Mr.
Policeman, do you mean to say that you will kill us all because we are
Catholics and loyal to our Catholic Faith. Do you really mean that, Mr.
Policeman?" Mr. Lue replied : "Yes I do, I will kill all of you if
you continue to talk about God like this." Sister Agnes with rising
indignation and raised voice said to the officer : "Be sure you have
sufficient guns and bullets."
"Oh yes, we have enough. guns and bullets to
kill all of you." Mr. Lue retorted.
"Then be sure you polish the barrels of your
guns ..lest the bullets get stuck." countered the brave Sister Agnes,
"Yes, we will." Concluded the,
policeman.
On the evening of that same Christmas Day, the
Sisters prepared some coconut oil and sent a small bottle of it to the police
so that they could clean and polish their gun barrels. Then the brave Sisters
began preparing themselves and their companions for their coming martyrdom,
by prayers and hymns singing throughout the night.
Late that same night, our inspired Sister Agnes
sat down and wrote a letter to the police. It is a document of utter
simplicity and of a lively f àith.
“To the Chief Police In Songkhon
Yesterday evening you received your order to wipe
out, definitely, the Name of God, the Only Lord of our lives and minds. We
adore Him only, Sir. A few days earlier, you had mentioned to us that you
would not wipe out the Name of God and we were rather pleased with that in
such a way that we put away our religious habits which showed that we were
His handmaids. But it is not so today. We do profess that the religion of
Christ is the only true religion. Therefore, we would like to give our answer
to your question, asked yesterday evening which we did not have a chance to
respond because we were unprepared for it. Now we would like to give you our
answer. We are asking you to carry out your order with us. Please do not
delay any longer. Please carry out your order: We are ready to give back our
lives to God Who has given them to us. We do not wish to be the preys of the
devils. Please carry out your order. Please open the door of heaven to us so
that we can confirm that outside the Religion of Christ no one can go to
heaven. Please do it. We are well prepared. When we will be gone we will
remember you. Please take pity on our souls. We will be thankful to you and
will be grateful to you for it. And on the last day we will see each other
face to face.
Do wait and see, please. We keep your commands,
oh God, we wish to be witnesses to You; dear God.
We are: Agnes, Lucia, Phuttha, Budsi, Buakhai,
Suwan. We would like to bring little Phuma along with us because we love her
so much.
We have already made up our minds, dear
Sir."
This letter is such a simple yet moving and
powerful Gospel of faith that reminds us that the faith witnessed in the
early Church in Roman times is still alive and potent in Thailand in our own
time. The diocesean archives now have Sister Agnes 's wonderful profession of
Faith statement.
The police reacted quickly. On the following
afternoon of the December 26th, 1940 on the feast of St. Stephen the first
martyr, they arrived at the convent and shouted: "Are you ready;
Sisters? If you are, go straight to the bank of the Maekhong."
But Sister Agnes objected, "No, that is
not the place for us to die for Christ. We must go to the cemetery, the holy
place."
In line they walked to the cemetery singing hymns
and calling to the people.
"Good bye, we are going to Heaven, we are
going to become martyrs for Christ."
How these brave and noble women remind us once
again of the martyrs of ancient Rome, joyfully entering the arena for the
love of Jesus Christ.
Seeing the police marching the children and
Sisters to the cemetery, the people of the village realized that the police
were going to kill them there. They too followed the Sisters and their
companions wishing to die with them. However the police brushed the people
aside with their rifles, saying angrily;
"We only intend to kill those in the
line."
A young girl named Suwan was one of those in the
line. She was willing to become one of Christ's Martyrs but her father upon
hearing what was happening rushed to the scene to rescue his little daughter.
Suwan on her part clung to Sister Agnes begging him;
"Mother Agnes, help me please, I want to die
with you and go to Heaven."
"But you are too young to die" said her
father and he snatched her away and carried her back home where he locked her
in a room.
On arrival at the cemetery the brave women knelt
clown beside a fallen tree trunk. Then continued praying and hymn-singing in
that crucial atmosphere.
Sister Agnes turned and addressed the
police; "You may kill us but you cannot kill the Church and you
cannot kill God. One day the Church will return to Thailand and will flourish
more than ever. You will see with your own eyes that what I am now saying,
will come true. So we thank you from our hearts for killing us and sending us
to Heaven. From there we will pray for you."
Once again this noble woman demonstrated he true
Christian spirit, full of faith and forgiveness. Once again her words echoed
those of many great martyrs before her.
Then turning to her companions, Sister Agnes
said; "My dear friends, we will soon be in Heaven. On the cross,
Jesus said to the thief; ‘This day you will be with me in Paradise.’
(Lk.23:43)”
When all were ready, Sister once more addressed
the police saying, "Mr. Policeman, we are ready, please do your
duly."
Immediately the police opened fire and left the
cemetery shouting to the people, "Bury them like dogs, for they are
bad people:"
The poor villagers who were watching the scene
from behind nearby bushes, rushed toward and began to shake the bodies to see
who was alive or dead. They found that both Sister Agnes and Phorn were still
alive but badly wounded.
Looking around, Phorn asked; “Where is heaven?”
She understood from the Sisters' teaching that if one died a martyr one went
straight to Heaven, but looking around Phorn saw not Heaven but a crowd of
villagers. Sister Agnes on her part enquired;
"Where are the police"
"They’ve left already,"someone spoke
out.
"Then you better call them back I’m not dead
yet;" said the brave Sister Agnes
So one of the villagers returned to the village
to inform the police that Sister Agnes and Phorn although badly wounded were
still alive.
In the meantime another girl called Sorn who had
knelt at the end of the line stood up and looking around exclaimed;
"Where is Heaven?"
Seeing that her clothes were spattered with blood
the people enquired if she was hurt.
"I'm afraid not, I don't feel any
pain," Sorn replied. She then examined herself more closely but found no
bullet wounds. "You’d better run home” she was advised, “as the police
will soon be back here." So the little girl ran home. (She lived for
many years in Songkhon, and was also an excellent catechist. She died in the
late 1990s’.)
In a short time the police returned to the
cemetery and killed the wounded Sister Agnes and Phorn.
In all, six good and holy women were dead and the villagers buried them hurriedly, placing two bodies in each grave for they had not the time to make coffins. Thus were these brave arid noble women of Songkhon laid to rest.
Many eye witnesses including those who took part
in the burial of our brave martyrs are still alive. They are proud and
grateful to recall, the bravery, the loyalty to Christ arid the wonderful
faith displayed on that momentous day December 26th, 1940 by the Holy Martyrs
of Songkhon.
The persecution of the Christians went on for another four years and then religious freedom returned to Thailand.
As soon as the Church was granted freedom, the
local Ordinary began setting up the canonical investigation in the case of
these Seven Brave Servants of God. The reports were presented to the Sacred
Congrgation of the Saints in Rome for consideration of their beatification
and Canonisation as Martyrs of the Church.
They were finally beatified in Rome on October
22nd, 1989.
The full name of the Seven Blessed Martyrs of
Songkhon are
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