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02-03-2006, 12:12 PM
April 2
Saint Dominic VŨ ĐÌNH TƯỚC
Dominican Priest
(1775-1839)
* Completing a Mass
From the moment of arrest to the time of his death for Christ’s sake, Saint Dominic Tước’s martyrdom lasted only a few hours. However, this martyrdom was one in a lifetime event writing a unique page in the history of the Vietnamese Church. And the Piusus priest had lived the last moment of his life like a Mass. Lying mortally wounded on his own blood surrounded by his parishioners, he continued to encourage them, gave thanks and his life to the Lord Jesus whose name he never stopped calling in his final moment.
* Fleeing is Best
Dominic Vũ Đình Tước was born in 1775 in the village of Trung Lao, Nam Định province. At an early age, he had shown his strong faith. As a priest, Fr. Dominic Tước worked tirelessly in sanctifying Christians. On 4/17/1811, he joined the Dominican community and professed the solemn vow on April 18 the following year. Bishop Delgado Y assigned him to provide pastoral care to Catholics in Xương Điền, a village with a large Catholic population in the east vicariate of Tonkin.
Beginning in 1838 when King Minh Mạng’s persecution became brutal in the East vicariate, he had to hide in parishioners’ homes. Mr. Dominic Đoài recounted: “Fr. Dominic Tước hid in my home for two months during which we got to witness his profound Piusus live. He stayed up all night to pray and celebrated Mass at the break of dawn as I stood watch in the yard. One day I asked him: “I they come to arrest you, what would you do?” He immediately replied: “Fleeing if possible; if not then let God’s will be done!” What he worried about was how to prevent danger or trouble to us, those who harbored him!
* Work Is Performed by Man
Near Fr. Dominic Tước’s hiding place lived a mandarin of the 8-grade name Phan, the magistrate of Cẩm Hà. Previously he had been well rewarded for participating in the arrest of Bishop Henares Minh and the catechist Chiểu, so he was very vigilant in pursuing other priests. On 4/2/1839, from secret intelligence, the magistrate led 40 men to arrest Fr. Dominic Tước at Mr. Nhiêu Tĩnh’s home, his hiding place.
In the middle of Mass, as commotion reached his ears, he immediately took of vestments and attempted to run across the yard to another home. However, the men saw and stopped him. Following the Holy Teacher in the Garden of Gethsemane, he demanded: “Who are you looking for?” And when the reply was priests, he affirmed: “It’s I.” Exactly like his prediction, he followed God’s will when fleeing was fruitless. They bound and escorted him to Cẩm Hà, Giao Thuỷ district, Nam Định.
At first Xương Điền parishioners were tentative because they thought that the arrest was made by royal soldiers. When they realized that the men were with mandarin Phan, they immediately tried to pay a ransom to free the priest. But the Phan men refused holding out for the royal rewards. So when the Phan men started to move, Catholics including women rushed in with canes and sticks trying to rescue their beloved priest.
* Success Granted By God
The Phan men calculated that they could not complete their plan if they had to drag along a “prisoner” all tied up, they decided to kill the prisoner in their hands. Following the order of the leader, a man named Ngọc swung his ax at the priest’s head felling him in pool of blood. They then scattered away to save their life. Parishioners arrived, some tended to the priest while the rest ran after the killers, they caught a few men including the leader. All were taken to the authorities.
For his part, Fr. Dominic Tước was very calm during his moment of death. Looking at the teary parishioners surrounding him, he consoled and encouraged them to be strong to give witness to faith. A parishioner tried to tear a piece of rag from his clothes. to dress the head wound, but the priest stopped him and gathered everyone to pray. He then sincerely thanked God for all the graces that he has received all his life, especially the grace of spilling blood for faith.
Blood kept pouring out of his mortal wound, his strength weakened, his voice trailed off, and in the end people could only hear him calling out the most holy name Jesus. The incomplete morning Mass was now completed with the sacrifice of life of the celebrant. Parishioners considered him a martyr, so they collected his blood for holy relics.
His remains were brought back for burial at Xương Điền church. The Church had approved the martyrdom of Fr. Dominic Vũ Đình Tước, a priest of the order of preachers. Pope Leo XIII beatified him on 5/27/1900.
Hoàng Tôn Thất
Saint Dominic VŨ ĐÌNH TƯỚC
Dominican Priest
(1775-1839)
* Completing a Mass
From the moment of arrest to the time of his death for Christ’s sake, Saint Dominic Tước’s martyrdom lasted only a few hours. However, this martyrdom was one in a lifetime event writing a unique page in the history of the Vietnamese Church. And the Piusus priest had lived the last moment of his life like a Mass. Lying mortally wounded on his own blood surrounded by his parishioners, he continued to encourage them, gave thanks and his life to the Lord Jesus whose name he never stopped calling in his final moment.
* Fleeing is Best
Dominic Vũ Đình Tước was born in 1775 in the village of Trung Lao, Nam Định province. At an early age, he had shown his strong faith. As a priest, Fr. Dominic Tước worked tirelessly in sanctifying Christians. On 4/17/1811, he joined the Dominican community and professed the solemn vow on April 18 the following year. Bishop Delgado Y assigned him to provide pastoral care to Catholics in Xương Điền, a village with a large Catholic population in the east vicariate of Tonkin.
Beginning in 1838 when King Minh Mạng’s persecution became brutal in the East vicariate, he had to hide in parishioners’ homes. Mr. Dominic Đoài recounted: “Fr. Dominic Tước hid in my home for two months during which we got to witness his profound Piusus live. He stayed up all night to pray and celebrated Mass at the break of dawn as I stood watch in the yard. One day I asked him: “I they come to arrest you, what would you do?” He immediately replied: “Fleeing if possible; if not then let God’s will be done!” What he worried about was how to prevent danger or trouble to us, those who harbored him!
* Work Is Performed by Man
Near Fr. Dominic Tước’s hiding place lived a mandarin of the 8-grade name Phan, the magistrate of Cẩm Hà. Previously he had been well rewarded for participating in the arrest of Bishop Henares Minh and the catechist Chiểu, so he was very vigilant in pursuing other priests. On 4/2/1839, from secret intelligence, the magistrate led 40 men to arrest Fr. Dominic Tước at Mr. Nhiêu Tĩnh’s home, his hiding place.
In the middle of Mass, as commotion reached his ears, he immediately took of vestments and attempted to run across the yard to another home. However, the men saw and stopped him. Following the Holy Teacher in the Garden of Gethsemane, he demanded: “Who are you looking for?” And when the reply was priests, he affirmed: “It’s I.” Exactly like his prediction, he followed God’s will when fleeing was fruitless. They bound and escorted him to Cẩm Hà, Giao Thuỷ district, Nam Định.
At first Xương Điền parishioners were tentative because they thought that the arrest was made by royal soldiers. When they realized that the men were with mandarin Phan, they immediately tried to pay a ransom to free the priest. But the Phan men refused holding out for the royal rewards. So when the Phan men started to move, Catholics including women rushed in with canes and sticks trying to rescue their beloved priest.
* Success Granted By God
The Phan men calculated that they could not complete their plan if they had to drag along a “prisoner” all tied up, they decided to kill the prisoner in their hands. Following the order of the leader, a man named Ngọc swung his ax at the priest’s head felling him in pool of blood. They then scattered away to save their life. Parishioners arrived, some tended to the priest while the rest ran after the killers, they caught a few men including the leader. All were taken to the authorities.
For his part, Fr. Dominic Tước was very calm during his moment of death. Looking at the teary parishioners surrounding him, he consoled and encouraged them to be strong to give witness to faith. A parishioner tried to tear a piece of rag from his clothes. to dress the head wound, but the priest stopped him and gathered everyone to pray. He then sincerely thanked God for all the graces that he has received all his life, especially the grace of spilling blood for faith.
Blood kept pouring out of his mortal wound, his strength weakened, his voice trailed off, and in the end people could only hear him calling out the most holy name Jesus. The incomplete morning Mass was now completed with the sacrifice of life of the celebrant. Parishioners considered him a martyr, so they collected his blood for holy relics.
His remains were brought back for burial at Xương Điền church. The Church had approved the martyrdom of Fr. Dominic Vũ Đình Tước, a priest of the order of preachers. Pope Leo XIII beatified him on 5/27/1900.
Hoàng Tôn Thất