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29-05-2006, 11:22 AM
June 13
Saint Augustine PHAN VIẾT HUY
Soldier
(1795-1839)
Saint Nicholas BÙI ĐỨC THỂ
Soldier
(1792-1839)
Saint Dominic ĐINH ĐẠT
Soldier
(1803-18.7.1839)
* The Petition of Faith
On a summer day in 1839, King Minh Mạng left the imperial palace for a leisurely tour as well as surveillance of his subjects in Huế. All activities had to temporary stop and everyone had to step to the side of the road waiting for the royal carriage to pass before resuming. Suddenly, two soldiers, who were not affiliated with the royal bodyguard regiment, appeared and kneeled before the dragon carriage; a soldier held in front of their foreheads a petition in Chinese Han. A bodyguard took the petition and presented it to the king. There were only two soldiers present, but the petition was signed by three men who were: Phan Viết Huy, Bùi Đức Thể and Đinh Đạt. The petition content was as followed:
“Our forefathers had believed in Christianity. Last year, due to tortures and pressure from the mandarins forcing us to walk over the cross, we hesitantly obeyed, but in our hearts we did not want to. Now, we want to continue with our faith to fulfill our filial duty with our forefathers.”
That was the event leading to the martyrdom of three soldiers of Lục Thuỷ district, Xuân Trường prefecture in Nam Định province.
Augustine Phan Viết Huy was born in 1795 in the village of Hạ Linh. Early in his life, we had offered his life to God, preparing to become a catechist. But he asked to leave religious life to get married. He had served in the military for 10 years.
The second man was Nicholas Bùi Đức Thể. He was born in 1792 in the village of Kiên Trung. Including the day he was arrested, he was in the military for just a single month.
The third man was Dominic Đinh Đạt who was born in 1803 in the village of Phú Nhai. Even though he was the youngest, he had been in the military for 12 years.
* Not All Soldiers Are Brave
At the time, the governor of Nam Định was Trịnh Quang Khanh. In 1838 he was summoned to the royal capital and censured for neglecting to implement the king’s order of Christian persecution. From then on, he became a “gray tiger” of Nam Định, vowing not to live under the same sky with the “bad religion” of Christianity, and sent soldiers out to search for Christians. To be effective, his first objective was to reassess soldiers under his command whom he would send to carry out his campaign.
After days of planning and preparation, the governor organized a party for all Catholic soldiers of Nam Định, based on their personnel file. About 500 soldiers attended the party that day. In the party, the governor made promises and rewarded those who were loyal to the king. He also cleverly threatened those who were too stubborn to abandon their faith. After the party, he invited all to his headquarter to test their loyalty. Here, he already had on display tools of torture like cangues, shackles, chains, canes, vises... and a cross on the ground. The soldiers were free to choose, either walking over the cross or tortures. Unfortunately among the 500 soldiers, only 15 were brave enough to refuse trampling on the cross, the rest were scared into abandoning their faith. Immediately the 15 brave soldiers were thrown into jail.
The following day, soldiers brought these 15 Christians to the tribunal, beat and forced them to step on the cross. Six men surrendered, the other 9 were beaten savagely. The 9 were then put back in jail. The three men Huy, Thể, and Đạt were among this group. Because he had taken on a mistress in the city, Mr. Huy in particular sneaked out that night to confess his sins and wrote an affidavit to leave his mistress with the help of Fr. Năng of the community of Phúc Đường, then returned to join his fellow inmates.
On the third day, the 9 were again brought before the mandarin who promised money to those who renounced their faith. At first, nobody took the offer, the mandarin ordered them tortured viciously, and then had soldiers beat on the fingertips of each man. Unable to withstand the pain four more men gave up leaving only five men who resolutely remained faithful to God. Early June, King Minh Mạng dispatched General Lê Văn Đức and 2000 soldiers to reinforce the military in Nam Định. This general became a valuable collaborator to the governor in the persecution. On June 25, when the authorities led Bishop Henares Minh and Catechist Chiểu out to be executed, General Lê Văn Đức also had the five hardheaded men brought along to the execution field to scare them. However, all five men appeared happy because they thought they were going to die for faith.
* Only Three Left
Seeing their cheerful demeanor at the prospect of being executed, the general sent them back to jail. A few days later, the mandarin summoned the five men back to the tribunal; at first he sweet-talked the men into renouncing their faith but to no avail, furious, he had soldiers dragged the men by the cangues over Christ’s icon, but they pulled their legs up. Soldiers then used canes to beat on them while pulling their legs down to press on the icon. As a result two more men gave up, leaving only three men left, Huy, Thể, and Đạt, who affirmatively told the mandarin: “you force us to walk over God’s icon, but our hearts are not in it, so it does not mean that we renounce our faith.”
From then on, the three men had to suffer more tortures at times 24 lashes each or 150 at other times. Once, the mandarin used logic to urge them to abandon their faith, Mr. Huy responded for the others: “His Honor instruct us to denounce Christianity, so what religion should we believe in? We will only believe in a true religion.” The mandarin yelled: “If your religion is the true religion, why is the king strictly banning it?” Then, Mr. Huy has the opportunity to utilize what he had learned during his preparation to be a catechist, to explain Christian’s values and to reply with clarity to questions posed by the mandarin. Losing out, the mandarin ordered them incarcerated in the same cell with Fr. Jacob Năm, Mr. Lý Mỹ and Mr. Đích, president of the pastoral council. Fr. Jacob Năm asked the three: “How is it today, win or lose?” They joyfully replied: “We did not walk over the cross, so the mandarin had decided to execute us.”
However, their sentences had not been approved by King Minh Mạng. The king instructed the mandarins to by all means make the three repudiating their faith. During this time Trịnh Quang Khanh’s governorship was suspended by the king, General Lê Văn Đức temporary filled in. He had Christ’s three warriors put in cangues and displayed in public, Messrs. Huy and Thể at the east gate, Mr. Đạt at south gate, for 21 continuous days, and allowed passersby to ridicule or insult at will. One more time, the mandarin was unsuccessful.
In October 1838 Trịnh Quang Khanh’s governorship was restored, therefore he tried his best to return the favor to the king. The governor had those soldiers, who had renounced their faith earlier, visit the inmates in jail to urge them to reject their faith. However they were reprimanded by the inmates for their despicable cowardice; embarrassed the government abettors gave up. The governor then changed tactics, he threatened the inmates families coercing them to plead with their husbands to give up their faith. But the three resolutely maintained their loyalty to God.
Saint Augustine PHAN VIẾT HUY
Soldier
(1795-1839)
Saint Nicholas BÙI ĐỨC THỂ
Soldier
(1792-1839)
Saint Dominic ĐINH ĐẠT
Soldier
(1803-18.7.1839)
* The Petition of Faith
On a summer day in 1839, King Minh Mạng left the imperial palace for a leisurely tour as well as surveillance of his subjects in Huế. All activities had to temporary stop and everyone had to step to the side of the road waiting for the royal carriage to pass before resuming. Suddenly, two soldiers, who were not affiliated with the royal bodyguard regiment, appeared and kneeled before the dragon carriage; a soldier held in front of their foreheads a petition in Chinese Han. A bodyguard took the petition and presented it to the king. There were only two soldiers present, but the petition was signed by three men who were: Phan Viết Huy, Bùi Đức Thể and Đinh Đạt. The petition content was as followed:
“Our forefathers had believed in Christianity. Last year, due to tortures and pressure from the mandarins forcing us to walk over the cross, we hesitantly obeyed, but in our hearts we did not want to. Now, we want to continue with our faith to fulfill our filial duty with our forefathers.”
That was the event leading to the martyrdom of three soldiers of Lục Thuỷ district, Xuân Trường prefecture in Nam Định province.
Augustine Phan Viết Huy was born in 1795 in the village of Hạ Linh. Early in his life, we had offered his life to God, preparing to become a catechist. But he asked to leave religious life to get married. He had served in the military for 10 years.
The second man was Nicholas Bùi Đức Thể. He was born in 1792 in the village of Kiên Trung. Including the day he was arrested, he was in the military for just a single month.
The third man was Dominic Đinh Đạt who was born in 1803 in the village of Phú Nhai. Even though he was the youngest, he had been in the military for 12 years.
* Not All Soldiers Are Brave
At the time, the governor of Nam Định was Trịnh Quang Khanh. In 1838 he was summoned to the royal capital and censured for neglecting to implement the king’s order of Christian persecution. From then on, he became a “gray tiger” of Nam Định, vowing not to live under the same sky with the “bad religion” of Christianity, and sent soldiers out to search for Christians. To be effective, his first objective was to reassess soldiers under his command whom he would send to carry out his campaign.
After days of planning and preparation, the governor organized a party for all Catholic soldiers of Nam Định, based on their personnel file. About 500 soldiers attended the party that day. In the party, the governor made promises and rewarded those who were loyal to the king. He also cleverly threatened those who were too stubborn to abandon their faith. After the party, he invited all to his headquarter to test their loyalty. Here, he already had on display tools of torture like cangues, shackles, chains, canes, vises... and a cross on the ground. The soldiers were free to choose, either walking over the cross or tortures. Unfortunately among the 500 soldiers, only 15 were brave enough to refuse trampling on the cross, the rest were scared into abandoning their faith. Immediately the 15 brave soldiers were thrown into jail.
The following day, soldiers brought these 15 Christians to the tribunal, beat and forced them to step on the cross. Six men surrendered, the other 9 were beaten savagely. The 9 were then put back in jail. The three men Huy, Thể, and Đạt were among this group. Because he had taken on a mistress in the city, Mr. Huy in particular sneaked out that night to confess his sins and wrote an affidavit to leave his mistress with the help of Fr. Năng of the community of Phúc Đường, then returned to join his fellow inmates.
On the third day, the 9 were again brought before the mandarin who promised money to those who renounced their faith. At first, nobody took the offer, the mandarin ordered them tortured viciously, and then had soldiers beat on the fingertips of each man. Unable to withstand the pain four more men gave up leaving only five men who resolutely remained faithful to God. Early June, King Minh Mạng dispatched General Lê Văn Đức and 2000 soldiers to reinforce the military in Nam Định. This general became a valuable collaborator to the governor in the persecution. On June 25, when the authorities led Bishop Henares Minh and Catechist Chiểu out to be executed, General Lê Văn Đức also had the five hardheaded men brought along to the execution field to scare them. However, all five men appeared happy because they thought they were going to die for faith.
* Only Three Left
Seeing their cheerful demeanor at the prospect of being executed, the general sent them back to jail. A few days later, the mandarin summoned the five men back to the tribunal; at first he sweet-talked the men into renouncing their faith but to no avail, furious, he had soldiers dragged the men by the cangues over Christ’s icon, but they pulled their legs up. Soldiers then used canes to beat on them while pulling their legs down to press on the icon. As a result two more men gave up, leaving only three men left, Huy, Thể, and Đạt, who affirmatively told the mandarin: “you force us to walk over God’s icon, but our hearts are not in it, so it does not mean that we renounce our faith.”
From then on, the three men had to suffer more tortures at times 24 lashes each or 150 at other times. Once, the mandarin used logic to urge them to abandon their faith, Mr. Huy responded for the others: “His Honor instruct us to denounce Christianity, so what religion should we believe in? We will only believe in a true religion.” The mandarin yelled: “If your religion is the true religion, why is the king strictly banning it?” Then, Mr. Huy has the opportunity to utilize what he had learned during his preparation to be a catechist, to explain Christian’s values and to reply with clarity to questions posed by the mandarin. Losing out, the mandarin ordered them incarcerated in the same cell with Fr. Jacob Năm, Mr. Lý Mỹ and Mr. Đích, president of the pastoral council. Fr. Jacob Năm asked the three: “How is it today, win or lose?” They joyfully replied: “We did not walk over the cross, so the mandarin had decided to execute us.”
However, their sentences had not been approved by King Minh Mạng. The king instructed the mandarins to by all means make the three repudiating their faith. During this time Trịnh Quang Khanh’s governorship was suspended by the king, General Lê Văn Đức temporary filled in. He had Christ’s three warriors put in cangues and displayed in public, Messrs. Huy and Thể at the east gate, Mr. Đạt at south gate, for 21 continuous days, and allowed passersby to ridicule or insult at will. One more time, the mandarin was unsuccessful.
In October 1838 Trịnh Quang Khanh’s governorship was restored, therefore he tried his best to return the favor to the king. The governor had those soldiers, who had renounced their faith earlier, visit the inmates in jail to urge them to reject their faith. However they were reprimanded by the inmates for their despicable cowardice; embarrassed the government abettors gave up. The governor then changed tactics, he threatened the inmates families coercing them to plead with their husbands to give up their faith. But the three resolutely maintained their loyalty to God.