BANGKOK, 15 August 2014 – The Thai Post is offering souvenir postage stamps commemorating the 350th Anniversary of Thai-Vatican cooperation, with a special remembrance of the Synod of Ayutthaya, an important historical event organized by French missionaries in 1664.
Ms. Suchada Buddharuksa, Vice President of Marketing of Thailand Post Co., Ltd., said the issuing of souvenir postage stamps represents the first time Thailand has issued postage stamps together with the Vatican, the residence of the Pope who is the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church. The Synod of Ayutthaya was organized by French missionaries in 1664, during the reign of King Narai the Great of Ayutthaya. The Synod was the beginning of what Rome later officially recognized as the Apostolic Vicarate of Siam.
On August 15th, Thailand Post will also organize an activity for stamp collectors and those interested in learning more about the Church of Saint Joseph of Ayutthaya, which was an early ecclesia for Thai Catholics and is more than 130 years old. There was also a visit to the Portuguese Village, which is considered to be the place where the relationship was forged between Siam and the first Western nation more than 500 years ago. On the stamp, not only there is there a picture of the Church of Saint Joseph of Ayutthaya, there is also a picture of the missionaries who received their mandate from the Pope to directly work as evangelists in Asia 350 years ago. Currently, the picture is kept in France.
