Francis Xavier Trương Bửu Diệp
Vietnamese parish priest of Tắc Sậy, killed after offering his life for his people
Who they were
Francis Xavier Trương Bửu Diệp was born on 1 January 1897 into a Catholic farming family in what is now An Giang Province, and was ordained priest at Phnom Penh in 1924. He served the parish of Tắc Sậy in the Mekong Delta for sixteen years and was known for his care of the poor.
On 12 March 1946 armed men seized him with more than seventy of his parishioners, shut them in two granaries and threatened to burn them alive. He went three times to negotiate, offering himself in exchange for them. The third time he did not return: the granaries were opened and the prisoners let go. Two days later his body was found in a pond.
The miracles
As a martyr he was raised to the altars without a miracle.
Why that counted as sanctity
He was beatified on 2 July 2026 before about 70,000 people at Tắc Sậy, the first beatification ever celebrated on Vietnamese soil, the Church having recognised that he was killed out of hatred of the faith after giving his life for his parishioners.
The cause
The cause continues. No postulation address is published here yet. Favours received through this person’s intercession, and offers of help, are best sent to the religious order or congregation they belonged to, or to the diocese where the cause was opened; either will pass them to the postulation.
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints - beatifications of July 2026
- Agenzia Fides - Vietnamese Catholics prepare for the beatification of Father Francis Truong Buu Diep
- UCA News - Vatican sets beatification date for Vietnam's 'father of the poor'
Checked against the sources listed on 25 September 2026. Corrections welcome.