Jesuits Thailand

THE JESUITS IN THAILAND

Part I

1607 – 1767

by

Pietro Cerutti, S.J.

 

[This is a synopsis.]

[for the full text, Part 1, download here √ ]

INTRODUCTION

As you cross the wooden bridge over the Samsen Canal, leading into Xavier Hall, Bangkok, the first thing that strikes your attention in the Chapel. Draw nearer and you will notice at the center of the Chapel steps a small fish pond. In the wall above it, two bricks of different size are imbedded. They are historical relics: the smaller one is thought to be from the ruins of a church of the Society of Jesus in Ayutthaya; the larger one from the ruins of the Jesuit observatory of Lopburi. These ruins can be seen even today. In Ayutthaya, the former capital of Thailand, two or three miles south of the present city, on the west bank of the Chao Phraya River, there is a small mound that the local people call “Baan Yesuit”, that is, Jesuit Village. On the ground can be seen two stone steps, a few bricks, and a stone holy water fountain. Not far from the “Baan Yesuit” to the north, there is a similar mound called “Baan Yacobin”, that is, the Dominican House.

In Lopburi, southeast of the present city, in the forest on the east side of the railway, there is a rather impressive ruin, eight to ten meters high, called by the Thais, “Wat Sao Paolo”. Nobody can say for sure what it was. Most probably it was the tower of the observatory annexed to the residence of the Society. The first part of this history will deal with these two institutions in Ayutthaya and Lopburi. The second part will show how the two bricks came to be part of a new Jesuit church in Bangkok.