Martyrs of Vietnam

[Martyrs of Vietnam]
Also known as
Martyrs of Tonkin; Martyrs of Annam; Martyrs of IndoChina
Memorial
24 November; several of these saints have another memorial day as they were beatified and on the calendar prior to the canonization of the group
Profile
Between the arrival of the first Portuguese missionary in 1533, through the Dominicans and then the Jesuit missions of the 17th century, the politically inspired persecutions of the 19th century, and the Communist-led terrors of the twentieth, there have been many thousands of Catholics and other Christians murdered for their faith in Vietnam. Some were priests, some nuns or brothers, some lay people; some were foreign missionaries, but most were native Vietnamese killed by their own government and people.

Record keeping being what it was, and because the government did not care to keep track of the people it murdered, we have no information on the vast bulk of the victims. In 1988, Pope John Paul II recognized over a hundred of them, including some whose Causes we do have, and in commemoration of those we do not. They are collectively known as the Martyrs of Vietnam (or Tonkin or Annam or the other older names of that country).

The following is a list of those whose stories we know, and links to those I have profiled to date.

Died
martyred in various ways and in various locations in Vietnam
Canonized
19 June 1988 by Pope John Paul II
Additional Information
Daily Catholic
Kirken i Norge
Print References
John Paul II's Book of Saints
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