Fr Diệp, the first Vietnamese martyr of the 20th century, to become a Blessed
Pope Francis has authorised the promulgation of the decree for the beatification of the priest from Bạc Liêu killed in hatred of the faith in 1946, during the First Indochina War. He offered his life to save his community; his grave is venerated even by non-Christians. The news was reported on the very day the Vietnamese Church celebrates the feast of the martyrs of previous centuries.
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – The Vietnamese Church will have a new blessed who will be the first among its martyrs of the 20th century.
In an audience granted today to Card Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, Pope Francis authorised various decrees, including one recognising Fr Phanxicô Xaviê (François-Xavier) Trương Bửu Diệp (1897-1946), a Vietnamese diocesan priest killed in hatred of the faith during the First Indochina War.
Officially launched in 2012, his cause for beatification is an important sign for the Vietnamese Church, which in the second half of the 20th century was called to bear witness to her faith amid wars and persecutions.
It is also significant that the news came just as the liturgical feast of the Vietnamese martyr saints[*] was celebrated in the country – 117 individuals led by Fr Anrê (André) Dũng Lạc, canonised in 1990 by John Paul II – embracing all the victims of repeated persecutions suffered by the Church in this land in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Originally from An Giang province, in the Mekong Delta, Fr Diệp studied at Phnom Phen seminary, whose apostolic vicariate covered a wide area in both Cambodia and Vietnam. Ordained a priest in 1924, six years later he was assigned to Tắc Sậy parish, in today’s Vietnamese Diocese of Cần Thơ.
He served this community for 16 years, until his martyrdom, promoting the new Catholic communities in the Mekong Delta, and the area straddling Vietnam and Cambodia.
In the years 1945-1946, the southwestern part of Vietnam was severely devastated by war: villages were destroyed, people were evacuated. People lived in extreme fear of war and saw struggles for power and land among different political groups.
Fr Diệp was advised to leave, but he stood firm and replied: “My life and my death are reserved for my flock! Shepherd should be where the flock is!”
Accused of collaborating with the French simply for defending their land, Christians were imprisoned in a barn and some Japanese deserters who had enlisted with Hồ Chí Minh’s Việt Minh threatened to burn them alive.
Fr Diệp offered to be killed alone, thus allowing the others to live. After killing him, they mutilated his body and threw him into a shallow pool. His remains were later recovered, buried in his church in Tắc Sậy since 1969 where they are still venerated not only by Christians, but also by people of other religions who turn to him for intercession.
One of those who have a special veneration for Fr Diệp is Vietnamese Cardinal Gioan Baotixita (Jean-Baptiste) Phạm Minh Mẫn, Archbishop Emeritus of Ho Chi Minh City. Now 90, he had the opportunity to meet the future Blessed at the age of eight.
A few years ago, speaking to AsiaNews, he remembered him as “a holy priest, always concerned about the future of the Church and ready to encourage the faithful to commit themselves fully to their religion".
Wherever he went, the prelate noted, “he undertook to set up a place of worship and to build houses for the faithful. He lived and died for them.”
[*] Their liturgical feast occurs on 24 November but since yesterday was the solemnity of Christ the King it was celebrated today.
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