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25-09-2006, 08:50 AM
November 30
Saint Joseph MARCHAND DU
Priest of the Paris Society of Foreign Missions
(1803-1835)
* The Martyr executed by 100 Cuts.
Among the 117 Vietnamese martyrs, Marchand Du’s martyrdom was the most tragic and majestic. Confined for almost three months in a cramped bamboo cage and deadly tortures, he was the only person sentenced to death by “100 sabers,” which meant that he was sliced by 100 blows of saber and other tools and then thrown into the river. However, we should not over-emphasize the agony during his execution and neglected the virtues of his life: his passion for evangelization, his love for the faithful, and his determination to only preach the Good Word.
* Adolescent’s Dream.
At the beginning of the 19 century, at the village of Passavant, France, many were amazed at the activities of a young boy who was not even 10 years old: after school, he invited friends home where they rearranged a table, covered it with a cloth, added candles and a crucifix to make it into an altar, he then imitated priests celebrating Mass for his friends. That was Joseph Marchand Du. He was born on 8/17/1803 in Passavant village, Doubs Province, France. At the early age, villagers already saw his wish to become a priest. After receiving First Communion, he asked his parents to let him enter religious life, but because his family worked in farming, was poor and in need of helping hands, his parents tried to postpone his dream hoping he would change his mind. However, Marchand Du did not waver, he was determined to achieve the dream of his adolescence, and finally his parents changed their minds. At 18, Marchand Du entered the seminary of Besancon diocese. In 1828 after ordained a deacon, Marchand Du asked for permission to join the Society of Foreign Missions of Paris. The following year he was ordained a priest (1/4/1829), then boarded a ship a month later to go to Vietnam via Macao.
* A Committed Preacher.
In March 1830 Fr. Marchand arrived in Việt Nam and took the Vietnamese name Du. After spending time studying the Vietnamese language and customs in Lái Thiêu, Fr. Marchand Du was sent to Phnom Penh to minister to Vietnamese Catholics there (Cambodia was part of the Diocese of Cochin China). Then he was recalled back to Lái Thiêu to look after seminarians as well as responsible for 25 Christian communities with about 7000 Christians in Bình Thuận province.
In a letter of 6/13/1832 sent home, he wrote: “... The 25 communities are far part. To do my job, I cannot waste a single moment... From 5:00 AM to 9:00 PM, many days, there was not any free time. I only have a few moments to take care of my salvation while the rest of the time was spent to sanctify others... My only regret is that I cannot do more so that I can help Christians as well as nonbelievers. Moreover, my mode of transportation was by boat, so I cannot reach all the places in order to bring all the unfortunate and strayed sheep back to the Christ’s flock...”
Fr. Marchand Du had just completed two rounds of the 25 communities before King Minh Mạng issued his edict to arrest all European missionaries on 1/6/1833. Bishop Tabert Từ, Fr. Cuénot Thể and other missionaries led seminarians escaping to Thailand. Only Fr. Marchand Du decided to stay in the Lục Tỉnh region to minister to the communities of Cái Nhum, Cái Mơn, Bài Xan, Giồng Rum, and took refuge in Mặc Bắc, Vĩnh Long province.
* The Only Thing I Know Is Preaching.
Lê Văn Khôi’s real last name actually was Nguyễn. He once started a rebellion in Cao Bằng, then gave himself up, and was adopted by Viceroy Lê Văn Duyệt, so Khôi changed his last name to Lê[1] (http://www.gpnt.net/diendan/newthread.php?do=newthread&f=14#_ftn1). Taking advantage of King Minh Mạng’s act of disgracing the deceased Viceroy Lê Văn Duyệt by having the viceroy’s tomb flogged 100 times, Lê Văn Khôi conspired to support the attempt to capture the throne by King Gia Long’s grandson, Mr. Đản. The conspiracy unraveled and Lê Văn Khôi was captured. The night of 7/5/1833 he along with 30 inmates escaped from prison, killed several guards and released other prisoners. He then recruited other insurgents and led them to capture Phiên An (Sài gòn) city and the Lục Tỉnh region.
Although Lê Văn Khôi was not Christian, he had cleverly promised to abolish King Minh Mạng’s ban of Christianity, so he attracted quite a number of Christians. To recruit more Catholics to his side, Lê Văn Khôi invited Fr. Marchand Du to Sài gòn. Fr. Marchand Du refused. But a number of Catholics in Chợ Quán told him: “If you do not come, we fear that the mandarin would get angry and behead all Christians in the city. There are a lot of Christians there...” Acquiescent to their reasoning, Fr. Marchand Du gave in and went to Chợ Quán parish and stayed with Fr. Phước. However, he was seldom at home, spending time instead visiting Christian families. On numerous occasions Lê Văn Khôi sent invitations asking him to come inside the city, he still refused.
When the royal army surrounded Gia Định city, Khôi had soldiers taking elephants to Chợ Quán forcibly escort Fr. Marchand Du into the city. Fr. Phước as well as many Christians also followed. Inside the city, the rebel Khôi treated Fr. Marchand Du generously by giving him a facility where Mass could be celebrated daily and Christians could gather to pray, listened to God’s Words and received sacraments. Khôi’s intention was to win his help in the fight agaisnt the government, but the priest only repeated the same refrain: “I only know religious matter, I am not familiar with war or soldiers.”
One day, he was invited to the commanding general’s headquarter where a stack of letters exhorting the people and Christians to rise up against the king was already on the table. General Khôi urged him to sign his name. The priest knew that the time had come for him to express his principle; he stood up, took the stack of lettes and threw it into the fire. Even so, Khôi’s soldiers dared not to harm him for fearing Christian soldiers would rebel against him.
After more than two years of laying siege to the city, on 9/8/1835 royal soldiers retook Phiên An city. Fr. Marchand Du was arrested just after he finished Mass. He was beaten and confined to a small 1mx0.7mx0.8m cage which would be his “home” until his execution, a house where the owner could only sit days and nights.
The number of persons being executed amounted to 1994; among them were 66 Christians (26 men, the rest was women and children). Fr. Phước was sentenced to death by dismemberment (arms and legs were severed, then the body was cut into four). Fr. Marchand Du was put on trial:
- Insurgents brought into the city, and you did not help them?
- I only preached Christianity.
- What is preaching Christianity?
- I pray, celebrate Mass, and teach Christians.
- Do you know how to make drugs to seduce people?
- I only know one thing; that is preaching Christianity.
After two more tortures, Fr. Marchand Du was put in a cage and escorted to the royal capital along with Governor Trắm, Messrs. Hoành, Bang, Nhã and Lê Văn Khôi’s son named Lê Văn Viên who was just 7 years old. The group arrived in Phú Xuân on October 15; Fr. Marchand Du was jailed in Võ Lâm prison next to Tam Pháp Tower.
Saint Joseph MARCHAND DU
Priest of the Paris Society of Foreign Missions
(1803-1835)
* The Martyr executed by 100 Cuts.
Among the 117 Vietnamese martyrs, Marchand Du’s martyrdom was the most tragic and majestic. Confined for almost three months in a cramped bamboo cage and deadly tortures, he was the only person sentenced to death by “100 sabers,” which meant that he was sliced by 100 blows of saber and other tools and then thrown into the river. However, we should not over-emphasize the agony during his execution and neglected the virtues of his life: his passion for evangelization, his love for the faithful, and his determination to only preach the Good Word.
* Adolescent’s Dream.
At the beginning of the 19 century, at the village of Passavant, France, many were amazed at the activities of a young boy who was not even 10 years old: after school, he invited friends home where they rearranged a table, covered it with a cloth, added candles and a crucifix to make it into an altar, he then imitated priests celebrating Mass for his friends. That was Joseph Marchand Du. He was born on 8/17/1803 in Passavant village, Doubs Province, France. At the early age, villagers already saw his wish to become a priest. After receiving First Communion, he asked his parents to let him enter religious life, but because his family worked in farming, was poor and in need of helping hands, his parents tried to postpone his dream hoping he would change his mind. However, Marchand Du did not waver, he was determined to achieve the dream of his adolescence, and finally his parents changed their minds. At 18, Marchand Du entered the seminary of Besancon diocese. In 1828 after ordained a deacon, Marchand Du asked for permission to join the Society of Foreign Missions of Paris. The following year he was ordained a priest (1/4/1829), then boarded a ship a month later to go to Vietnam via Macao.
* A Committed Preacher.
In March 1830 Fr. Marchand arrived in Việt Nam and took the Vietnamese name Du. After spending time studying the Vietnamese language and customs in Lái Thiêu, Fr. Marchand Du was sent to Phnom Penh to minister to Vietnamese Catholics there (Cambodia was part of the Diocese of Cochin China). Then he was recalled back to Lái Thiêu to look after seminarians as well as responsible for 25 Christian communities with about 7000 Christians in Bình Thuận province.
In a letter of 6/13/1832 sent home, he wrote: “... The 25 communities are far part. To do my job, I cannot waste a single moment... From 5:00 AM to 9:00 PM, many days, there was not any free time. I only have a few moments to take care of my salvation while the rest of the time was spent to sanctify others... My only regret is that I cannot do more so that I can help Christians as well as nonbelievers. Moreover, my mode of transportation was by boat, so I cannot reach all the places in order to bring all the unfortunate and strayed sheep back to the Christ’s flock...”
Fr. Marchand Du had just completed two rounds of the 25 communities before King Minh Mạng issued his edict to arrest all European missionaries on 1/6/1833. Bishop Tabert Từ, Fr. Cuénot Thể and other missionaries led seminarians escaping to Thailand. Only Fr. Marchand Du decided to stay in the Lục Tỉnh region to minister to the communities of Cái Nhum, Cái Mơn, Bài Xan, Giồng Rum, and took refuge in Mặc Bắc, Vĩnh Long province.
* The Only Thing I Know Is Preaching.
Lê Văn Khôi’s real last name actually was Nguyễn. He once started a rebellion in Cao Bằng, then gave himself up, and was adopted by Viceroy Lê Văn Duyệt, so Khôi changed his last name to Lê[1] (http://www.gpnt.net/diendan/newthread.php?do=newthread&f=14#_ftn1). Taking advantage of King Minh Mạng’s act of disgracing the deceased Viceroy Lê Văn Duyệt by having the viceroy’s tomb flogged 100 times, Lê Văn Khôi conspired to support the attempt to capture the throne by King Gia Long’s grandson, Mr. Đản. The conspiracy unraveled and Lê Văn Khôi was captured. The night of 7/5/1833 he along with 30 inmates escaped from prison, killed several guards and released other prisoners. He then recruited other insurgents and led them to capture Phiên An (Sài gòn) city and the Lục Tỉnh region.
Although Lê Văn Khôi was not Christian, he had cleverly promised to abolish King Minh Mạng’s ban of Christianity, so he attracted quite a number of Christians. To recruit more Catholics to his side, Lê Văn Khôi invited Fr. Marchand Du to Sài gòn. Fr. Marchand Du refused. But a number of Catholics in Chợ Quán told him: “If you do not come, we fear that the mandarin would get angry and behead all Christians in the city. There are a lot of Christians there...” Acquiescent to their reasoning, Fr. Marchand Du gave in and went to Chợ Quán parish and stayed with Fr. Phước. However, he was seldom at home, spending time instead visiting Christian families. On numerous occasions Lê Văn Khôi sent invitations asking him to come inside the city, he still refused.
When the royal army surrounded Gia Định city, Khôi had soldiers taking elephants to Chợ Quán forcibly escort Fr. Marchand Du into the city. Fr. Phước as well as many Christians also followed. Inside the city, the rebel Khôi treated Fr. Marchand Du generously by giving him a facility where Mass could be celebrated daily and Christians could gather to pray, listened to God’s Words and received sacraments. Khôi’s intention was to win his help in the fight agaisnt the government, but the priest only repeated the same refrain: “I only know religious matter, I am not familiar with war or soldiers.”
One day, he was invited to the commanding general’s headquarter where a stack of letters exhorting the people and Christians to rise up against the king was already on the table. General Khôi urged him to sign his name. The priest knew that the time had come for him to express his principle; he stood up, took the stack of lettes and threw it into the fire. Even so, Khôi’s soldiers dared not to harm him for fearing Christian soldiers would rebel against him.
After more than two years of laying siege to the city, on 9/8/1835 royal soldiers retook Phiên An city. Fr. Marchand Du was arrested just after he finished Mass. He was beaten and confined to a small 1mx0.7mx0.8m cage which would be his “home” until his execution, a house where the owner could only sit days and nights.
The number of persons being executed amounted to 1994; among them were 66 Christians (26 men, the rest was women and children). Fr. Phước was sentenced to death by dismemberment (arms and legs were severed, then the body was cut into four). Fr. Marchand Du was put on trial:
- Insurgents brought into the city, and you did not help them?
- I only preached Christianity.
- What is preaching Christianity?
- I pray, celebrate Mass, and teach Christians.
- Do you know how to make drugs to seduce people?
- I only know one thing; that is preaching Christianity.
After two more tortures, Fr. Marchand Du was put in a cage and escorted to the royal capital along with Governor Trắm, Messrs. Hoành, Bang, Nhã and Lê Văn Khôi’s son named Lê Văn Viên who was just 7 years old. The group arrived in Phú Xuân on October 15; Fr. Marchand Du was jailed in Võ Lâm prison next to Tam Pháp Tower.