by Weena Kowitwanij

​Fr Thasanai Komkris is a biblical and Latin scholar who spent 20 years working on the edition published in July 2014. Known as "Thasanai the great", he studied for years in Rome and taught in major seminaries of Malaysia and Thailand. In 1958, he met Saint John XXIII.

Bangkok (AsiaNews) – Bangkok Catholics welcomed with joy the news that Pope Francis had appointed Fr Thasanai Komkris as his chaplain, an honorary title granted to long-serving diocesan priests. The pope's decision dates back to 30 November, but the archdiocese of the Thai capital made it public yesterday.

Fr Komkris, who has spent 20 years working on the Thai edition of the Catholic Bible, was born on 18 September 1935 in Songkhla, southern Thailand, the first of 10 children of Louis and Elizabeth Komkris.

After graduating from the Assumption secondary school, run by the Congregation of St Gabriel, he continued his studies at the Urbaniana in Rome between 1954 and 1961, where he received a degree in philosophy and theology.

Ordained priest on 21 December 1960, he furthered his studies between 1973 and 1976 with a degree from the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome.

He owes his priestly vocation, the chaplain said, to his mother. "One day she told me, ‘If one day the war ends, I’ll send you to a college where you will be taught to be a good man'."

In fact, "when I was sent to the Salesian school in Rajchaburi province, I had the opportunity to be in close contact with the priests and attend mass every day, singing songs in Latin. I took on the challenge of learning Latin, and since only seminarians could learn it at that time, I decided to enter the seminary."

Fr Komkris recalls a meeting he had with St John XXIII, who visited the Urban College in November 1958, a month after his election.

"His Holiness told us jokingly, 'My home is right on the other side. My window is on the side opposite yours; open the window, so we'll see each other’."

As one of the greatest Bible scholars in Thailand, Fr Komkris contributed to the Thai version of the sacred text published in July 2014. Thanks to his knowledge of Latin, he also translated in Thai all the Church documents over the years. Academics of his generation refer to him as ‘Thasanai the great’.

Speaking about his vocation, the priest said, "The blessings that God gives to each of us are different: for some, it is to profess the faith, for others, it is to teach, etc. For most of my life, I have taught at the major seminary in Penang, Malaysia, and then at the Luxmundi seminary in Bangkok. I did not do a lot of pastoral work in the Catholic community."

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