Pope Francis authorized the promulgation of the decree of beatification of the priest of Bac Lieu, murdered out of hatred for the faith in 1946 during the first Vietnam War. He offered his life to save his community, his grave is venerated even by non-Christians. The news came precisely on the day when the Vietnamese Church celebrates the feast of the martyrs of previous centuries.
Vatican City () – The Vietnamese Church will have a new blessed and he will be the first of its martyrs of the 20th century. In the hearing granted to Card. Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the dicastery for the Causes of Saints, Pope Francis authorized the promulgation of the decree on the martyrdom of Father Francis Xavier Truong Buu Diep (1897-1946), a Vietnamese diocesan priest murdered out of hatred for the faith during the First Vietnam War.
The beatification cause – which officially began in 2012 – is an important sign for the Vietnamese Church, which in the second half of the 20th century was called to bear witness to its faith in the midst of wars and persecutions. And it is also significant that the news has arrived precisely on the day when the country celebrates the liturgical feast of the holy Vietnamese martyrs, the 117 figures headed by Fr. Andrea Dung Lac – who was canonized in 1990 by John Paul II – and includes all the victims of the repeated persecutions that the Church has suffered in this land in the 18th and 19th centuries (her liturgical feast falls on November 24 but like yesterday It was the solemnity of Christ the King, celebrated today (ed.).
Originally from An Giang province in the Mekong Delta, Fr. Diep had studied at the seminary in Phnom Penh, under whose apostolic vicariate the entire area was then. He was ordained a priest in 1924 and six years later he was assigned to the parish of Tac Say in the current Vietnamese diocese of Can Tho. He served this same community for 16 years, until his martyrdom, and also promoted the birth of new Catholic communities in the Mekong Delta, in the territories between Vietnam and Cambodia.
In the years 1945-1946 the southwestern part of Vietnam was severely devastated by war. Villages were destroyed and people were evacuated. People lived in terror of war and fights between different political groups for power and land. Father Diep was advised to leave, but he responded firmly: “My life and my death are for my flock. “The shepherd must stay where the flock is.”
Accused of collaborating with the French simply for defending their lands, the Christians were locked in a barn and threatened to be burned alive by some Japanese deserters who had enlisted in Ho Chi Minh’s Viet Minh. Father Diep offered to kill him alone and allow the others to live. After killing him, they mutilated his body by throwing it into a shallow well. The people recovered his remains and since 1969 they have been buried in his church in Tac Say. They are venerated not only by Christians, but also by people of other religions who trust in their intercession.
Among those who profess special veneration for Fr. En Diep is the Vietnamese Cardinal Jean-Baptiste Pham Minh Man, archbishop emeritus of Ho Chi Minh City, who is now ninety years old and met him when he was eight years old. A few years ago – in statements to – remembered him as “a holy priest, always concerned about the future of the Church and willing to encourage the faithful to fully commit to their faith.” Wherever he went, the cardinal continues, “he undertook to build a place of worship and houses for the faithful. He lived and died for them.”
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