From the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries, an estimated 130,000 to 300,000 men, women, and children; bishops, priests, and religious suffered martyrdom in Vietnam because they refused to renounce their Catholic faith. They were arrested, brutally tortured, and killed. Their torture was methodical, diabolical, and orchestrated to impose the maximum pain over the longest period of time possible.
To escape that fate, all those arrested had to do was renounce their faith, step on a crucifix, or blaspheme Christ. If they did, they were granted kindnesses by the imperial courts. If they didn’t, their suffering grew more intense until they died.
Today’s memorial honors 117 martyrs who were initially beatified in separate groups: sixty-four in 1900, eight in 1906, twenty in 1909, and twenty-five in 1951. In 1988, Pope John Paul II canonized all these martyrs together, symbolizing the countless unnamed individuals who also gave their lives for their faith.
Though the communist government of Vietnam failed to send delegates to the canonization of these holy martyrs, many thousands of exiled Vietnamese showed up in Saint Peter’s Square, and the very act of canonization resounded through the hearts and minds of the faithful within Vietnam. The group of 117 was made up of ninety-six Vietnamese, eleven Spaniards, and ten French. It includes eight bishops, fifty priests, and fifty-nine laypeople. Among the laypeople was a nine-year-old child, Saint Agnese Le Thi Thành.
As we honor this huge cloud of witnesses who gave their lives for their faith in a harsh and cruel environment, enduring some of the worst tortures ever committed in the history of the world, we are reminded that no matter how difficult life is, no matter how much we must endure, it is all worth it in the end.
One of the martyrs who died in these persecutions was Father Jean-Théophane Vénard. He first became known through the writings of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux who had a deep devotion to him and was greatly inspired by his letters which were circulating at the time she was in the convent.
Let’s conclude with a quote from Saint Théophane that Saint Thérèse copied and treasured: “I can find nothing on earth that can make me truly happy; the desires of my heart are too vast, and nothing of what the world calls happiness can satisfy it. Time for me will soon be no more, my thoughts are fixed on Eternity. My heart is full of peace, like a tranquil lake or a cloudless sky. I do not regret this life on earth. I thirst for the waters of Life Eternal.”
Source: https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/november-24—saint-andrew-dung-lac-and-his-companions-martyrs–memorial
