The Vietnamese Martyrs
Feast day: November 24
117 saints who shed their blood as witnesses to Jesus in Vietnam, canonized in 1988 (24/11)
What is this feast?
The feast of the Vietnamese Martyrs celebrates 117 saints who died for their faith in Vietnam between 1745 and 1862. On 19/6/1988, in Rome, Saint John Paul II declared them saints. Among them, 96 were Vietnamese, 11 were Spanish and 10 were French; there were 8 bishops, 50 priests and 59 laypeople. They stand for many others, by some estimates more than one hundred thousand people, who died for the Lord in their homeland.
The story
In those times, kings and officials many times ordered that the Catholic faith be banned. Believers were arrested, beaten, made to wear the cangue and locked in prison, and sometimes they were forced to step over a cross to show that they had given up their faith. Many refused, and with courage stayed faithful to the Lord until death.
Father Andrew Dũng-Lạc was a Vietnamese priest. He was arrested many times but kept on going out to help the faithful, and he was beheaded in Hanoi in 1839. Agnes Lê Thị Thành was a mother of many children; she opened her home to hide priests, was arrested and beaten, and died in prison. The catechist Francis Đỗ Văn Chiểu helped Bishop Dominic Henares Minh, a Spanish Dominican bishop who gave almost his whole life to the Vietnamese people. The bishop and his helper were arrested together and died together in 1838.
Jesus spoke about a grain of wheat sown in the ground: “if it dies, it produces much fruit.” (Jn 12:24). The blood of the Martyrs was poured out like a seed, and the Church in Vietnam today has grown from that seed.
Why does the Church celebrate this feast?
The Church celebrates to thank God that they stayed faithful to the end, and to give them as an example to all Vietnamese Christians. A reading of the Mass asks: “What will separate us from the love of Christ?” (Rom 8:35). The Martyrs answered with their own lives: nothing, not even the sword or death.
A lesson for you
- Make the Sign of the Cross and pray before meals naturally, even when you are with friends who do not share your faith.
- Learn about one of the Vietnamese Martyrs, especially the saint of your parish or diocese.
- Have the courage to tell the truth and do what is good, even when others laugh at you.
Identifying marks
- Palm branches in the hands of all four: a sign that the martyrs won the victory through Christ, like the crowd standing before the throne of God, “holding palm branches in their hands” (Rev 7:9).
- A halo above each head: the Church has declared them saints.
- A priest in a black cassock, holding a cross, standing at the front on the left: Saint Andrew Dũng-Lạc, priest, the first name on the list of the 117.
- An elderly woman in a brown áo dài (the traditional Vietnamese long dress), her hair wrapped in a headscarf, standing at the front on the right: Saint Agnes Lê Thị Thành, a mother of a family who hid and helped priests.
- A catechist in black, wearing a khăn đóng (a traditional Vietnamese turban) and a wooden cangue around his neck, standing at the back on the left: Saint Francis Đỗ Văn Chiểu, catechist; the cangue was a heavy wooden frame that many martyrs were forced to wear in prison.
- A bishop in a white religious habit and a black cloak, with a gold cross and a small pinkish-purple cap, standing at the back on the right: Saint Dominic Henares Minh, a Spanish Dominican bishop who lived and served the Vietnamese people for almost fifty years.
- The four standing together: the painter chose four of the 117 to stand for the different ways of life among them: priest, layperson, catechist and bishop; Vietnamese and foreign missionaries.
- Bamboo hedges, rice fields and a tile-roofed church in the distance: the Vietnamese countryside, where they lived and kept the faith.
The text on this page is the saint card in the Catholic Information app, word for word.
Collect this card and read more about the saints in the app