Saint of the day for November 24: the story of Saint Andrew Dung-Lac and his companions

Saint of the day for November 24
(1791 - 21 December 1839; Companions d. 1820-1862)

the story of Saint Andrew Dung-Lac and his companions

Andrew Dung-Lac, a converted Catholic ordained to the priesthood, was one of 117 people martyred in Vietnam between 1820 and 1862. Members of the group of companions gave their lives for Christ in the 1900th, 1951th and XNUMXth centuries and received beatification during four different occasions between XNUMX and XNUMX. All were canonized during the pontificate of St. John Paul II.

Christianity arrived in Vietnam through the Portuguese. The Jesuits opened the first permanent mission in Da Nang in 1615. They served with Japanese Catholics who had been expelled from Japan.

Serious persecutions were launched at least three times in the 1820th century. During the six decades following 100.000, between 300.000 and XNUMX Catholics were killed or subjected to great hardship. Foreign missionaries martyred in the first wave included priests of the Missionary Society of Paris and Spanish Dominican priests and tertiaries.

In 1832, Emperor Minh-Mang banned all foreign missionaries and tried to trick all Vietnamese into denying their faith by stepping on a crucifix. Like the priests in Ireland during the English persecution, many hiding places were offered in the homes of the faithful.

Persecution broke out again in 1847, when the emperor suspected foreign missionaries and Vietnamese Christians sympathizing with a rebellion led by one of his sons.

The last martyrs were 17 lay people, one of whom was 9 years old, executed in 1862. That year a treaty with France guaranteed religious freedom for Catholics, but did not stop all persecutions.

In 1954, there were over one million Catholics, about seven percent of the population, in the north. Buddhists accounted for about 60 percent. Persistent persecution has forced some 670.000 Catholics to flee their land, homes and possessions and flee to the south. In 1964 there were still 833.000 Catholics in the north, but many were in prison. In the south, Catholics had been enjoying the first decade of religious freedom for centuries, their number of refugees increasing.

During the Vietnamese war, Catholics again suffered in the north and again moved in large numbers to the south. Now assembled, the whole country is under communist rule.

Reflection

It can help a people who associate Vietnam only with a twentieth century war to realize that the cross has long been a part of the life of the people of that country. While some people again ask the unanswered questions about US involvement and disengagement, the faith rooted in Vietnam's soil proves tougher than the forces that wanted to destroy it.