Vietnamese Martyrs

Who they were

The Gospel reached Vietnam early in the sixteenth century. Between 1625 and 1886 its rulers issued 53 decrees against Christians, and some 130,000 were killed; the emperor Tự Đức (1847-1883) offered silver for every missionary captured and had the bodies of the executed thrown into rivers.

The Church documented 117 of these martyrs by name: 11 Spanish Dominicans (6 bishops and 5 priests), 10 French missionaries of the Paris Foreign Missions (2 bishops and 8 priests), and 96 Vietnamese, 37 of them priests and 59 lay people, among them a mother of six and a boy of nine.

The miracles

They were beatified in groups by Leo XIII (1900), St Pius X (1906 and 1909) and Pius XII (1951); their causes were united in 1986. As martyrs they did not need approved miracles. In 1990 John Paul II named them patrons of Vietnam.

Why that counted as sanctity

Bishops, priests and lay people, Vietnamese and European, gave their lives for Christ through two and a half centuries of persecution, standing for a multitude whose names only God knows.

Connected on this site

• Andrew Dung-Lac Saint
  “He was canonized by Pope John Paul II on 19 June 1988 and recognized as one of the 117 Vietnamese Martyrs.” — Wikipedia
• Augustin Schoeffler Saint
  “Pope John Paul II canonized him on 19 June 1988, and he is venerated as one of the 117 Vietnamese Martyrs on 24 November.” — Wikipedia
• John Paul II Saint
  “In 1990 John Paul II named them patrons of Vietnam.” — this site's research
• Michael Hồ Đình Hy Saint
  “He was canonized in 1988 along with another 116 Vietnamese Martyrs.” — Wikipedia
• Pierre Dumoulin-Borie Saint
  “He is a Catholic saint, canonized in 1988 along with other Vietnamese Martyrs.” — Wikipedia
• Vicente Liem de la Paz Saint
  “Vicente Liêm de la Paz (English: Vicente Liêm of Peace) (Vietnamese: Vinh Sơn Hòa Bình or Vinh Sơn Liêm) (1732 – 7 November 1773) was a Tonkinese (present day northern Vietnamese) Dominican friar venerated as a saint and martyr by the Catholic Church along with other Vietnamese Martyrs in 1988.” — Wikipedia