HEILIGENLEVENS (10) T-Z7 martyrs of Thailand (Eng); Theresia van Avila (Nl & Fr); Theresia van Lisieux (Nl & Eng); Theodorus;Thomas; Thomas van Aquino; Thomas van Villanova; Tiburtius & Susanna; Timoteüs & Titus (N & Eng);Petrus Jozef Triest; Ubaldus; Urbanus; Johannes Maria Vianney; Vincentius a Paulo; Vincentius Ferrerius;Vitacolis & Agricola; Vitus & Modestus & Crescentia; Wenceslaus; Wilhelmus; Willibrord (Nl & Fr); Wiro;Zephyrinus (23)SEVEN MARTYRS OF THAILANDIn 1940, the village of Songkhon (Thailand), on the bank of the great Mekong river, consisted of about 700 Ca-tholics, most of whom were rice-growers. It was there that the 7 Thailandese were martyred. During the years1940-44, because Thailand was at war with what was then French Indochina, the foreign missionaries had toabandon the north-eastern region of Thailand, leaving the Christian communities without pastors.As often happens in such circumstances, the unity of the nation was seen as paramount and so any cultural orreligious pluralism was looked on as a danger for the country. For this reason, Catholics were subjected to va-rious pressures to abandon their religion which was considered to be foreign. Particularly, in some provinces ofthe northeast of Thailand, the local police, going beyond the instructions they had received, tried to induce Ca-tholics to apostatize. The situation became such that there was no room for ambiguity; they had to renounce thefaith or die. The 7 chose to die. These 7 are:1. Catechist Philip Siphong, born in 1907, baptized at Nonseng. In 1931, he married Maria Thong, a Christian,by whom he had 5 children. In 1929, he was made a teacher at the parochial school of Songkhon, not far fromhis native place. He was an apostolic catechist who promoted the Christian faith in the village, so much so that,when the missionaries had to leave, they entrusted to him the care of the faithful who remained without pastors.He became knower as the "man of oak" of the religious life of Songkhon...