The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception ( th, อาสนวิหารพระนางมารีอาปฏิสนธินิรมล) is a Catholic church and is located in the city of Chanthaburi, in the province of the same name, in

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

. It is "the most famous and picturesque building of Chanthaburi" and the witness of French presence in the city.

History

The cathedral of the Immmaculate Conception is the fourth church built on the spot by the Catholic community in Chanthaburi. The first Catholic community followed the Siamese in exile after the fall of Ayutthaya in 1767. In 1901, the Christians belonging to Chanthaburi numbered 2,500; in 1904, helped by his vicars, a French missionary, Father Augustin Peyrical began the construction of a new church. On the death of Father Quentric, Father Peyrical was appointed parish priest of Banpeng, the deceased having given him by will a part of his inheritance to build the new church in Chanthabury. Due to disagreements with Msgr. Jean-Louis Vey, the apostolic vicar of Siam, who had views on this heritage, Father Peyrical did not go to Banpeng, but to Paris and Rome to defend his rights, and Rome agreed with him. Back in Siam in 1910, he was appointed parish priest of Chanthaburi by Mgr. René Perros. His district was faced with epidemics of cholera and plague in quick succession, but will hold firm. In 1921, Father Peyrical was appointed Apostolic Vicar of Laos, but he declined the honor and the office: it was Father Gouin who accepted. Despite the material difficulties in maintaining the schools, the number of Christians continued to increase and in 1928, Father proceeded to bless a new church and a cemetery in Rayong. When Father Peyrical died on September 3, 1929 in Chanthaburi, he was buried in the cemetery next to his church, the largest in Thailand. On December 23, 1945, Pope

Pius XII Pius ( , ) Latin for "pious", is a masculine given name. Its feminine form is Pia. It may refer to: People Popes * Pope Pius (disambiguation) * Antipope Pius XIII (1918-2009), who led the breakaway True Catholic Church sect Given name * Pius ...

erected the apostolic vicariate of Chanthaburi and therefore the church of the Immaculate Conception became a cathedral with a canonical chapter. Sinc 1965, it serves as the Latin rite seat of the

Diocese of Chanthaburi The (Roman Catholic) Diocese of Chanthaburi (''Dioecesis Chanthaburiensis'', Thai: สังฆมณฑลจันทบุรี) is located in eastern central Thailand. It is a suffragan diocese of the archdiocese of Bangkok. The diocese c ...

(''Dioecesis Chanthaburiensis'', สังฆมณฑล จันทบุรี) created with the Bull ''"Qui in fastigio"'' of

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his death in Augus ...

. It is under the pastoral responsibility of the Bishop Silvio Siripong Charatsri.

Architecture

The cathedral, visible from most of the city, was formally inaugurated in 1909 as one of the largest Catholic churches in Thailand. It was constructed in Gothic style during the 10 years of occupation by France. The shape of the Cathedral with a central

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

, two side alleys, a

narthex The narthex is an architectural element typical of early Christian and Byzantine basilicas and churches consisting of the entrance or lobby area, located at the west end of the nave, opposite the church's main altar. Traditionally the narthex ...

, and two twin

spires The Stanford Physics Information Retrieval System (SPIRES) is a database management system developed by Stanford University. It is used by universities, colleges and research institutions. The first website in North America was created to allow re ...

is an exemplary form of

neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

expression. File:Chanthaburi Cathedral.JPG, Front view File:Main altar in Chanthaburi cathedral.jpg, Main altar File:Spears of Chanthaburi.jpg, Side view

Devotion

The influence of French and Vietanmese Catholic spirituality

The French and Vietnamese influence is clearly visible in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. Stained glasses representing the French king Saint Louis as well as national hero Joan of Arc recall the French occupation of the city at the beginning of the twentieth century. Three other stained glasses in an ''oculus'' represending the blessed martyrs as Theophane Venard, Auguste Chapdelaine of the

Paris Foreign Missions Society The Society of Foreign Missions of Paris (french: Société des Missions Etrangères de Paris, short M.E.P.) is a Roman Catholic missionary organization. It is not a religious institute, but an organization of secular priests and lay persons de ...

are a legacy of the French builders of this sanctuary. The carved altars painted in red and gold are typical of Vietnamese Catholicism. The side altars devoted to the Sacred Heart and Saint Joseph are a reminder of the first Vietnamese Catholic community in Chanthaburi.

A Catholic hub for Thailand

The Cathedral of Chanthaburi has become a major for the Catholic Church in Thailand. Flanked by the bishop's residence as well as many Catholic schools and the Fatima House, i.e. the general house of the Lovers of the Cross of Chanthaburi, the cathedral is at the center of a diocese where the Catholic population reaches a national high for Thailand of around ten percent of the overall population.

A major shrine of Marian devotion

The Cathedral, which is dedicated to the

Immaculate Conception The Immaculate Conception is the belief that the Virgin Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception. It is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church, meaning that it is held to be a divinely revealed truth w ...

, is a unique expression of Thai

Marian devotion Marian devotions are external pious practices directed to the person of Mary, mother of God, by members of certain Christian traditions. They are performed in Catholicism, High Church Lutheranism, Anglo-Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Ori ...

. There is a statue of the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

in front of the Cathedral. The centre piece of the inside of the cathedral is the statue of the

. It is covered by semi precious gems donated by the local congregation – estimates of the number of gems range from 200,000 to 500,000.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Immaculate Conception, Cathedral Of The, Chanthaburi Roman Catholic cathedrals in Thailand Buildings and structures in Chanthaburi province Roman Catholic churches completed in 1909 Gothic Revival church buildings in Thailand Unregistered ancient monuments in Thailand 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Thailand