Andrew Dung-Lac was one of 117 Vietnamese men and women who were canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1988, as martyrs for the Faith.
In the years between 1820 and 1880, the government of Vietnam had very anti-Catholic policies. During these six decades between 100,000 and 300,000 Catholics were killed or subjected to great hardship. In these years, there were three separate, major pushes to force the Faithful to apostatize or face torture and death, and to seek out and persecute priests and religious. Foreign missionaries were also martyred in the first push, including priests of the Parish Mission Society, and Spanish Dominican priests and tertiaries.
St. Andrew Dung-Lac was one of the priests who were captured by one of these purges. St. Andrew was born around the year 1785 and was a native of Vietnam. During one of the purges around the year 1839, he was captured and killed for the 'crime' of being a Catholic priest.