Vietnamese Martyrs
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| Martyrs of Vietnam | |
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| Died | 1625–1886, Vietnam |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Beatified | May 27, 1900 May 20, 1906 May 2, 1909 April 29, 1921 |
| Canonized | June 19, 1988, Vatican City by Pope John Paul II |
| Feast | November 24 |
 Saints Portal |
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The Vietnamese Martyrs, also known as the Martyrs of Tonkin, Martyrs of Annam or Martyrs of Indochina, are saints on the Roman Catholic calendar of saints canonized by Pope John Paul II. Their feast day is 24 November although several of these saints have another memorial day as they were beatified and on the calendar prior to the canonization of the group.
The earliest martyrs, mentioned in written sources are the Spanish Dominicans Francisco Gil de Federich and Alonzo Lenziana, who arrived to the country about 1580. In 1773 two more Dominicans were beheaded, Hyacinth Casteneda, a Spaniard who had evangelised in the Philippines and China for several years before being deported to Vietnam, where he was imprisoned for three years. There he was joined by Vincent Liêm, the first Indo-Chinese Dominican to be martyred, who had ministered to his countrymen for fourteen years before being beheaded. The first Vietnamese diocesan priests, John Dat and Emmanuel Triêu, also suffered martyrdom in 1798.[1]
It is not known precisely how many Catholics died for their faith between 1516 when the first Portuguese missionaries arrived in what is now Vietnam and the twentieth century (about 130,000 to 300,000 Vietnamese martyrs were killed); however, John Paul II decided to canonize those whose names are known and unknown, giving them a single feast day. Principally, the Vietnamese Martyrs fall into several groupings, those of the Portuguese missionary era (16th Century), the Dominican and Jesuit missionary era of the (17th Century), the politically inspired persecutions of the 19th Century, and the Communist purges of the 20th Century. A representative sample of only 117 martyrs—including 96 Vietnamese, 11 Spanish Dominicans, and 10 French members of the Paris Foreign Missions Society (Missions Etrangères de Paris) (MEP)—were beatified on four separate occasions: 64 by Pope Leo XIII on May 27, 1900, 8 by Pope Pius X on May 20, 1906, 20 by Pope Pius X on May 2, 1909, 25 by Pope Pius XII on April 29, 1951. All these 117 Vietnamese Martyrs were canonized on June 19, 1988 and a young Vietnamese Martyr, Andrew Phú Yên was beatified in March, 2000 by Pope John Paul II.
The tortures these individuals underwent were among the worst in the history of Christian martyrdom. The means included cutting off limbs joint by joint, ripping living bodies with red hot tongs, and use of drugs to enslave the minds of the victims. Christians at the time were branded on the face with the words "ta dao" and families and villages which subscribed to Christianity were obliterated.[2]
The letters and example of Théophane Venard inspired the young St. Theresa of Lisieux to volunteer for the Carmelite nunnery at Hanoi, though she got tuberculosis and could not go. In 1865 Vénard's body was transferred to his Congregation's church in Paris, but his head remains in Vietnam.[1]
There are several catholic parishes in USA dedicated to the Martyrs of Vietnam (Holy Martyrs of Vietnam Parishes), one of which located just outside of Washington, DC[3], others in Austin, Texas[4], Denver[5], San Antonio, Texas[6] and Richmond, Virginia.
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[edit] List of names of the Vietnamese Martyrs
Those whose name is known are listed below:
Please keep in mind that these are the anglicized versions of their names
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[edit] References
- ^ a b St. Andrew Dung-Lac and his 116 companions
- ^ Attwater, Donald and Catherine Rachel John. The Penguin Dictionary of Saints. 3rd edition. New York: Penguin Books, 1993. ISBN 0-140-51312-4.
- ^ Holy Martyrs of Vietnam Parish Web Site
- ^ Holy Vietnamese Martyrs Catholic Church
- ^ Queen of Vietnamese Martyrs Parish
- ^ Vietnamese Martyrs Catholic Parish
