encouraged the acceptance of religious congregations from nations other than those of the established missionaries. Thus, for example, the French missionaries in Siam were encouraged to accept missionaries from orders based in the United States or Italy, rather than confining themselves solely to the French religious orders. The intended effect was thus the dilution of the French character o f the Church in Thailand, in effect making it more “Catholic”. At the same time, the division was potentially a step in forming a local hierarchy, which in turn would lead to the ultimate objective o f all Missions, a diocese led and maintained by an indigenous clergy.
On a practical level, the divisions would take some of the burden o f administration off the Vicar-Apostolic o f Bangkok. The new Missions could also request additional funding from the Propaganda Fide and other agencies as separate entities, and be used to test the leadership abilities of the local clergy. If everything turned out well, then the next step to forming a local hierarchy could then be taken, and if not, then the damage to the Bangkok Mission could be limited and contained.
The Mission of Ratchaburi
My political views are those o f the L o rd ’s prayer.
St. John Bosco
Initially there was some resistance from the M.E.P. to the establishment o f new Missions in its Southeast Asian territories. The objections, made confidentially in an M.E.P. circular dated to October 1926, were on the grounds that it would contravene various articles and regulations of the missionary society:
I conclude that the Regulations have not been observed, neither in letter nor in spirit, despite the stipulations of Article 19, the Central Administration and
the Superior of the Society have been excluded from the negotiations affecting the territorial status o f the Society, with the risk that one day or another we may only learn that our Vicariates have been modified, divided, or even abolished through the newspapers.
The letter also questioned the authority of the Apostolic Delegate in making the suggestion in the first place:
The Nuncio in a Catholic country is not the Pope; even less so is the
Apostolic Delegate in a missionary country. His role is clearly delimited by Canon law 265 and the following regulations. He absolutely cannot take the place o f the Bishops in the direction of the Mission and its personnel, nor interfere in the administration.42
In sum, certain Missions under the M.E.P. clearly felt that they would lose out if the Apostolic Delegate’s suggestions were implemented. It has to be
remembered that at this point, outside of Siam, the M.E.P. was also in charge o f the majority o f the Missions in Southeast Asia. In some cases, such as Vietnam, these Missions were hard-won with the blood of martyrs. Furthermore, should the order allow another order access to its territory, the existing financial and political benefits would have to be divided. Nevertheless, there is no record that Vicar-Apostolic Perros held similar misgivings. Indeed, the Vicar-Apostolic’s actions indicate that practical considerations and the suggestion o f the Apostolic Delegate had prevailed over the misgivings over the alleged violation o f M.E.P. regulations and Canon Law.
Vicar-Apostolic Perros proposed to split the Mission of Siam further into three parts: Chiang Mai, Bangkok, and Ratchaburi-Chumpon,43 with Ratchaburi- Chumpon the first to be created. In accordance with Maximum Ilhtd, a religious order that was noticeably non-French was sought to administer the new Ratchaburi
42 B .A .A ., M.E.P. Circular, Paris, 5 October 1926, 90/1/9.
4j The northeast w as already being administered by the M ission o f Laos, and the south was technically under the jurisdiction o f the M issions o f Malacca and Western Burma, although the absence o f parishes in the area during this period meant that authority w as not exercised.
Mission. By 1926, the Mission o f Siam and the Italian Salesian Society (also known as the Salesians o f Don Bosco, or the Society o f St. Francis de Sales) had come to an agreement, although the new Mission in Ratchaburi would not be formally set up until June 1930. This religious order was young, having been founded by Don John Bosco in Italy and gaining Papal approval only in the late nineteenth century. Nevertheless, by 1911 the order had expanded worldwide, with communities in China, Tunisia, South Africa, and the United States. Considering the work of the founder of the Salesians in the field of education44 and the development of the young, the order seemed an appropriate choice for the Mission o f Siam. The key role of education for the Catholic Church in Siam in effecting improvements in its social standing, establishing valuable social connections, and encouraging conversion has been discussed, and its choice of the Salesians suggests that the Mission o f Siam wanted the Salesians to take the same approach.
It is also likely that the Vicar-Apostolic took the ethnic make-up of the parishioners into account when making his decision. Many o f the parishioners in the Ratchaburi parishes were ethnic Chinese, mainly from the modem day Chinese provinces o f Fujian, Guangdong, and Guangxi. As Vicar-Apostolic Perros wrote flatteringly to a Chinese Salesian abbot in 1933:
Flere, the Chinese are numerous, they dominate nearly all commercial activities, the majority of the rice mills, and orchards while the Siamese dedicate themselves to the cultivation o f rice. The Chinese are the most active (I might also add intelligent) and enterprising part o f the population, and most of our converts come from among them. In many of the Churches, the minishy is conducted in Chinese: prayers, teachings, catechism,
confessions, etc. either in the Teochiu or Hakka dialects.45
44 One o f Don B o sc o 's first works was the foundation o f a school in V aldocco near Turin.