Seventeen Beatified Martyrs of Laos, part 2

On 11 Dec, 2016, the Catholic Church of Laos joyfully welcomed its first group of Blessed.  Several thousand Catholics witnessed the Beatification ceremony of the 17 martyrs of Laos, presided over by the Pope’s representative, Filipino Cardinal Orlando Quevedo, in the Sacred Heart Cathedral of the Laotian capital Vientiane.   The group of 17 martyrs known as  “Joseph Tien and his 16 companions” died for their faith between 1954 and 1970 in the hands of the Communist Pathet Lao forces.  A miracle is now needed to clear them for canonization or sainthood. 

German Oblate of Mary Immaculate priest,  Fr. Thomas Klosterkamp is the postulator or promoter of the sainthood cause of the 17 martyrs of Laos here in the Vatican.  Last week, in the first of a 2-part interview, Fr. Klosterkamp explained that the Laotian Church had to meet several requirements by the Communist government in order to hold the beatification ceremony in Laos, such as there should be no papal and foreign representatives and a limited participation by Laotian Catholics.  But by and by the government accepted Card. Quevedo as the papal representative, and several foreigners from Europe,  bishops from Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam as well as a good number of faithful were able to attend.  According to the postulator, it was not a huge crowd like in other beatifications but in the context of Laos it was indeed great.  

Fr. Klosterkamp briefly touched upon the lives of the 17 martyrs, classifying them into 3 groups.  The first group is composed of 6 natives headed by diocesan priest Fr. Joseph Tien, the first or proto martyr of Laos. The other two groups consist of 5 Paris Foreign Missionaries, and an Italian and 5 French Oblates of Mary Immaculate priests.   

Pope Francis cleared the 17 martyrs for beatification in mid-2015 but their ceremony took place only in Dec. 2016.  Today, Fr. Klosterkamp begins the final of this 2-part interview, explaining why it took so long.

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