St. Andrew Dung-Lac and his companions

St. Andrew Dũng-Lạc was born around 1795 to a poor, non-Christian family in northern Vietnam. When he was about twelve, his family moved to Hanoi in search of work, and there a Catholic catechist gave the boy shelter and instructed him in the faith. Baptized with the name Andrew, he became a catechist himself and, after studies in theology, was ordained a priest in 1823. He served as a parish priest known for his simplicity of life, his frequent fasting, and his tireless preaching, which drew many to baptism. His ministry unfolded under the fierce anti-Christian persecutions of nineteenth-century Vietnam, especially under the emperor Minh Mạng. Arrested for the faith, he was ransomed by his parishioners and afterward changed his name from Dũng to Lạc to evade the authorities and continue his ministry in hiding. Arrested again in 1839 together with another priest, St. Peter Trương Văn Thi, he was taken to Hanoi, tortured, and beheaded on December 21, 1839. Andrew Dũng-Lạc stands at the head of the 117 Martyrs of Vietnam canonized together by Pope John Paul II on June 19, 1988 — 96 Vietnamese, 11 Spaniards, and 10 French; bishops, priests, catechists, and lay faithful, men and women. Among them were missionaries of the Dominicans and of the Paris Foreign Missions Society as well as Vietnamese fathers of families and a mother, St. Agnes Lê Thị Thành. They died between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries by beheading, strangulation, burning, and other torments, and they represent a far greater multitude — estimated at one hundred thousand or more — who suffered for the faith in Vietnam and whose names are known to God alone. The memorial of St. Andrew Dũng-Lạc and his companions is celebrated on November 24. They are venerated as patrons of Vietnam, and their witness remains the foundation of the vigorous Catholic community of Vietnam and of the Vietnamese diaspora, whose parishes around the world keep their feast with particular devotion.