St. Andrew Dun-Lac
Feastday: November 24
Through the missionary efforts of various religious families beginning in the sixteenth century and continuing until 1866, the Vietnamese people heard the message of the gospel, and many accepted it despite persecution and even death. On June 19, 1988, Pope John Paul II canonized 117 persons martyred in the eighteenth century. Among these were ninety-six Vietnamese, eleven missionaries born in Spain and belonging to the Order of Preachers, and ten French missionaries belonging to the Paris Foreign Mission Society. Among these saints are eight Spanish and French bishops, fifty priests (thirteen European and thirty-seven Vietnamese), and fifty-nine lay people. These martyrs gave their lives not only for the Church but for their country as well. They showed that they wanted the gospel of Christ to take root in their people and contribute to the good of their homeland. On June 1, 1989, these holy martyrs were inscribed in the liturgical calendar of the Universal Church on November 24th.
St. Anthony Nam-Quynh
Feastday: November 24
1840
Vietnamese martyr. Anthony was a physician in Vietnam, serving as well as a catechist for the faith. In 1838, he was arrested and kept in prison for two years, then strangled. He was canonized in 1988
St. Vincent Diem
Feastday: November 24
1838
Vietnamese martyr. He was a Vietnamese who was martyred at Tonkin with his companions by beheading.
Dominican Martyrs of Vietnam
Feastday: November 24
1856-1862
Christians who died in the persecution conducted by King Tu-Duc in Central Tonkin, Vietnam. Five martyrs were beatified in 1906. The following were canonized in 1988: Joseph Diaz Sanjurjo, Meichior Garcia Sampedro, Dominic Ninh, Laurence Ngon, Dominic An-Kham, Luke Cai-Thin, Joseph Cai-Ta, Dominic Mao, Vincent Tuong, Dominic Nguyen, Andrew Tuoung Dominic Nhi, Peter Da, Joseph Tuan, Peter Dung, Peter Tuan, Vincent Duong, Dominic Mau, Dominic Toai, Dominic Huyen, Joseph Tuan, Dominic Cam, Thomas Khuong, Paul Duong and Joseph Tuc. Some were ordained priests and others Dominican tertiaries.
Martyrs of the Dominican Order in Vietnam
Feastday: November 24
A group put to death in Vietnam during the harsh oppression of the Church. Some 2,078 causes were opened concerning these martyrdoms. Five were beatified in 1906. In 1951, twenty-five more were beatified. One hundred seventeen were canonized in 1988 by Pope John Paul II.
Martyrs of Vietnam
Feastday: November 24
Several groups of martyrs also called the Martyrs of Annam who were slain for the faith in Vietnam from 1798 until 1861. Between 1798 and 1853, sixty-four were martyred, receiving beatification in 1900. Those who died in a second group, between 1859 and 1861, were beatified in 1909. There were twenty-eight courageous men and women who died for the faith during a long period of persecution. A Portuguese missionary arrived in Vietnam, once called Annam, Indo-China, Cochin-China, and Tonkin, in 1533. An imperial edict in Vietnam forbade Christianity, and it was not until 1615 that the Jesuits were able to establish a permanent mission there, in the central region of the country. In 1627, a Jesuit went north to establish another mission. By the time this missionary, Father Alexander de Rhodes, was expelled from the land in 1630, he had baptized 6,700 Vietnamese. In that same year the first Christian martyr was beheaded, and more were executed in 1644 and 1645 .
Father Rhodes returned to Vietnam but was banished again in 1645. He then went to Paris, France, where the Paris Seminary for Foreign Missions was founded. Priests arrived in Vietnam, and the faith grew. Between 1798 and 1853, a period of intense political rivalry and civil wars, sixty-four known Christians were executed. These were beatified in 1900. In 1833, all Christians were ordered to renounce the faith, and to trample crucifixes underfoot. That edict started a persecution of great intensity that was to last for half a century. Some twenty-eight martyrs from this era were beatified in 1909.
The bishop, priests, and Europeans were given “a hundred wounds,” disemboweled, beaten, and slain in many other grisly fashions. For a brief period in 1841 the persecution abated as France threatened to intervene with warships. However, in 1848, prices were placed on the heads of the missionaries by a new emperor. Two priests, Father Augustin Schoffier and Father Bonnard, were beheaded as a result.
In 1855, the persecution raged, and the following year wholesale massacres began. Thousands of Vietnamese Christians were martyred, as well as four bishops and twenty-eight Dominicans. It is estimated that between 1857 and 1862, 115 native priests, 100 Vietnamese nuns, and more than 5,000 of the faithful were martyred. Convents, churches, and schools were razed, and as many as 40,000 Catholics were dispossessed of their lands and exiled from their own regions to starve in wilderness areas.
The martyrdoms ended with the Peace of 1862, brought about by the surrendering of Saigon and other regions to France and the payment of indemnities to France and Spain. It is now reported that the “Great Massacre,” the name given to the persecution of the Church in Vietnam, resulted in the following estimated deaths:
Eastern Vietnam - fifteen priests, 60 cathechists, 250 nuns, 24,000 Catholic lay men and women. Southern Vietnam - ten priests, 8,585 Catholic men and women. Southern Tonkin region - eight French missionaries, one native priest, 63 cathechists, and 400 more Christians slain - in all, an estimated 4,799 were martyred and 1,181 died of starvation. Some 10,000 Catholics were forced to flee the area. Pope John Paul II canonized 117 Martyrs of Vietnam on June 19,1988.
St. Peter Domoulin Bori, Peter Khoa, and Vincent Diem
Feastday: November 24
1838
Martyrs in Vietnam. Peter Domoulin Bori was originally from France, and joined the Foreign Missions of Paris in 1829. He was assigned to Vietnam in 1832 after his ordination. Arrested in 1836, he was imprisoned and was appointed a titular bishop and vicar apostolic while incarcerated. He was beheaded, and two native priests who shared his imprisonment, Peter Khoa and Vincent Diem, were strangled. All three were canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1988.
St. Dominic Doan Xuyen
Feastday: November 26
1839
Martyr of Vietnam, beheaded with St. Thomas Du. He was a Vietnamese Dominican canonized in 1988
St. Andrew Trong
Feastday: November 28
1835
Vietnamese martyr. Born in 1817, he was a soldier and a Christian. He was arrested in 1834 and in the presence of his mother he was beheaded. She knelt beside him at the execution site in Hué, receiving his head on her lap. He was canonized in 1988
