What is Feast Day?

The Catholic Church assigns one date out of the year for each and every canonized saint — known as the saint’s feast day. The saints are remembered on their individual feast days with special mention, prayers, and possibly a scripture reading.

A saint’s feast day can be the day of their actual death or a day assigned by the Church. Typically, the Church only assigns a day when the day of death is unknown or if several other saints are already assigned to that day. The number of canonized saints, however, is greater than the number of days in a calendar year. So two or more saints often share the same feast day. Because overlap often occurs, and the Church isn’t sure of the date of death of some saints, other calendar dates are sometimes chosen — such as the day that the saint was canonized.

Some saints’ feasts are only celebrated in the particular saint’s town or country. Others are internationally celebrated.

Rev. Bro. Dr. Theophane Verayuth Boonpram,

Vice President for Financial Affairs, Assumption University of Thailand

Rev. Bro. Dr. Verayuth Boonpram Birthday:  February 1, 1966
Feast Day: February 2
Patron Saint:    St. Theophane
First Vows: April 1, 1995
Perpetual Vows: December 15, 2001
Silver Jubilee of Religious Life:  November 1, 2020 at the Louis Marie de Montfort Hall, Assumption  College Thonburi

 

(Read More: the 25th Anniversary of Religious Life

Rev. Bro. Dr. Verayuth assumed several highly significant managerial positions at the following
St. Gabriel Foundation Schools:  i.e. Assumption College, Assumption College Thonburi, Assumption College Sriracha and Assumption College Nakhonratchasima. Presently, he serves as an AU Vice President for Financial Affairs.

Bro. Verayuth in Academic and Social Functions

The AU community members congregated at the Louis Marie de Montfort Hall, Assumption College Thonburi, on November 1, 2020 to honor and celebrate Rev. Bro. Dr. Verayuth Boonpram's 25th Anniversary of his religious life.

Rev. Bro. Dr. Verayuth participated in the Inauguration of the “Bro. Martin Pendulum” Landmark on the 1st floor of the Vincent Mary School of Engineering, Suvarnabhumi Campus on November 11, 2020. 

Rev. Bro. Dr. Verayuth  presented the happiness sharing bags (ถุงปันสุข) to 290  AU Janitors  and Security Guards, who have been affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, on June 17, 2020  at Suvarnabhumi Campus.

 


St.Theophane

                                            

Born:   November 21, 1829 Saint-Loup-sur-Thouet, Diocese of Poitiers, France

Died:   February 2, 1861 (aged 31) Tonkin, Vietnam

Canonized: June 19, 1988, Vatican City, Rome, Italy by John-Paul II

Théophane Vénard is famous for the fact that his letters inspired St Thérèse of Lisieux to volunteer to be a missionary Carmelite in Hanoi and become patroness of the missions. An inspiring missionary, he was beheaded when he refused to apostasise from his faith.

French missionary, born at St-Loup, Diocese of Poitiers, 1829; martyred in Tonkin, 2 February, 1861. He studied at the College of Doue-la-Fontaine, Montmorillon, Poitiers, and at the Paris Seminary for Foreign Missions which he entered as a sub-deacon. Ordained priest 5 June, 1852, he departed for the Far East, 19 Sept. After fifteen months at Hong Kong he arrived at his mission in West Tonkin, where the Christians had recently been tried by a series of persecutions under Minh-Menh, a monster of cruelty. Shortly after Father Vénard's arrival a new royal edict was issued against Christians, and bishops and priests were obliged to seek refuge in caves, dense woods, and elsewhere. Father Vénard, whose constitution had always been delicate, suffered almost constantly, but continued to exercise his ministry at night, and, more boldly, in broad day. On 30 November, 1860, he was betrayed and captured. Tried before a mandarin, he refused to apostatize and was sentenced to be beheaded. He remained a captive until 2 February, and during this interval lived in a cage, from which he wrote to his family beautiful and consoling letters, joyful in anticipation of his crown. His bishop, Mgr Retord, wrote of him at this time: "Though in chains, he is as gay as a little bird".

On the way to martyrdom Father Vénard chanted psalms and hymns. To his executioner, who coveted his clothing and asked what he would give to be killed promptly, he answered: "The longer it lasts the better it will be". His head, after exposure at the top of a pole, was secured by the Christians and is now venerated in Tonkin. The body rests in the crypt at the Missions Etrangères, Paris. Other precious relics are in the hands of the martyr's brother, Canon Eusebius Vénard, curé of Assais Deux Sèvres, France, who possesses, also, most of the martyr's letters, including those written from the cage. In a letter addressed to his father, Théophane refers thus to his approaching sacrifice: "A slight sabre-cut will separate my head from my body, like the spring flower which the Master of the garden gathers for His pleasure. We are all flowers planted on this earth, which God plucks in His own good time: some a little sooner, some a little later . . . Father and son may we meet in Paradise. I, poor little moth, go first. Adieu". The cause of his beatification was introduced at Rome in 1879, and he was declared Blessed, 2 May, 1909. The beatification ceremony brought a large delegation from France, including the Bishop of Poitiers and the martyr's only surviving brother. Théophane Vénard was beatified in company with thirty-three other martyrs, most of whom were natives of Tonkin, Cochin-China, or China.

[Note: With nineteen other martyrs of Vietnam, Théophane Vénard was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1988.]

Sources

Bl. Théophane Vénard. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=11957

Feb 2 – St Théophane Vénard (1829-61). (2012) Retrieved from  https://www.catholicireland.net/saintoftheday/st-theophane-venard/

What Is a Catholic Feast Day? (n.d.). https://www.dummies.com/religion/christianity/catholicism/what-is-a-catholic-feast-day/