This is the fourth installment (excerpted from https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-andrew-dung-lac-and-companions) of my series explaining some history of the five saints portrayed down the left-hand side of the church.
Andrew Dung-Lac, a Catholic convert ordained to the priesthood, was one of 117 people martyred in Vietnam between 1820 and 1862. Members of the companions group gave their lives for Christ in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, and received beatification during four different occasions between 1900 and 1951. All were canonized during the papacy of Saint John Paul II. His memorial is 24 November.
Christianity came to Vietnam through the Portuguese. Jesuits opened the first permanent mission at Da Nang in 1615. They ministered to Japanese Catholics who had been driven from Japan. Severe persecutions were launched at least three times in the 19th century. In 1832, Emperor Minh-Mang banned all foreign missionaries, and tried to make all Vietnamese deny their faith by trampling on a crucifix.
Persecution broke out again in 1847, when the emperor suspected foreign missionaries and Vietnamese Christians of sympathizing with a rebellion led by of one of his sons. The last of the martyrs were 17 laypersons, one of them a 9-year-old, executed in 1862. That year a treaty with France guaranteed religious freedom to Catholics, but it did not stop all persecution.
By 1954, there were over a million Catholics—about seven percent of the population—in the north. Buddhists represented about 60 percent. Persistent persecution forced some 670,000 Catholics to abandon lands, 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 were enjoying the first decade of religious freedom in centuries, their numbers swelled by refugees. During the Vietnamese war, Catholics again suffered in the north, and again moved to the south in great numbers. Now reunited, the entire country is under Communist rule.
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In keeping with my usual custom, I am asking that you pray for our clergy and the following seminarians for our diocese — John Paul Rabago, Aidan Cameron-Smith, Alvaro Santamaria.
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One of my favorite movies is Chariots of Fire. As much as I love my Catholic Faith and submit that it is the only true and full Faith, and that we (Catholic or not) only get to Heaven on the merits of the Jesus Christ through His Catholic Church, I have to admire what so many Protestants and others do and have given up for their faith. So many Protestant denominations outweigh the Church in their social programs and witness to the poor. Of course, sometimes that is all they have to offer to those who have left the Church over reasons of moral teaching, poor catechesis or scandal. We have, most importantly, a priesthood and sacraments to remedy our moral infractions. Chariots of Fire is the story of Eric Liddell, the Scottish runner who attended the 1924 Olympics, but refused to run his heats for the 100-metre race which were scheduled on a Sunday, the Lord’s Day. The Olympic team swapped runners and he was able to compete in the 400-metre race run on a weekday and won Gold. The movie ends, as he returns home and then sets out to do missionary work in China. Watching more TV during the pandemic, I just recently ran across the movie On Wings of Eagles which documents the rest of his life. During World War II, the Japanese invaded China and put foreigners into cruel concentration camps which were often denied food and medicine, which were in short supply. Although given the chance of repatriation, Eric refused to leave his flock in the camp, where he eventually contracted brain cancer and died. He is buried there in China, although memorials have been erected to him in Scotland. The world is plagued with the fragmentation of Christ’s mission to our fallen nature, but I think it is important to admire the courage of all people of faith who have chosen a more difficult path and inspire us to “man up” and do more to live our Faith more heroically.
Dennis
VP for Spirituality