Martyred for religious freedom

By Tony Staley
Compass Editor

	St. Andrew Dung Lac When: 1789-Dec. 21, 1839 Where: Vietnam Feast: Nov. 24 Additional: One of 96 Vietnamese, 11 Spanish and 10 French Christians martyred in 1840-62 and canonized in 1988 whose feasts are celebrated this day

Martyrdom of Christians ended early in the 4th century in the Roman Empire, but it continues today elsewhere.

One particularly brutal era was from 1840 to 1862 in Vietnam, when many Catholics were killed, including St. Andrew Dung Lac and 116 other Vietnamese, French and Spanish Christians, including 58 lay people, whose feast we celebrate Nov. 24. Many of them were slowly mutilated before being decapitated.

Portuguese Jesuits opened the first permanent mission at Da Nang in 1615 to minister to Japanese Catholics who had been driven from their own country.

The persecutions in the 19th century began when the ruler of one of three kingdoms in the country banned missionaries, who sought safety by hiding in the homes of Catholics.

During three separate periods of persecution, 100,000 to 300,000 Catholics were killed or forced to suffer.

St. Andrew, who heads the list of saints commemorated this day, was born into a poor family. Although his parents were not Christians, they sent him to a catechist. After his baptism, he began studying for the priesthood and was ordained March 15, 1823.

Andrew worked in several parishes before he was arrested. His parishioners paid a ransom for his release. He then changed his name from Dung to Lac and continued his ministry. He was arrested again on Nov. 10, 1839, when he went to see Fr. Peter Thi to receive the Sacrament of Penance.

Both priests were ransomed, but soon were rearrested and taken to Hanoi, where they were beheaded.

The main persecutions ended in 1862 after the martyrdom of 17 laypersons, including a nine-year-old, with the signing of a religious freedom treaty with France. Even with that, some persecution continued.

By 1954, there were more than 1.5 million Catholics in North Vietnam, but nearly half of them fled to the South because of persecutions under the communist government of Ho Chi Minh.

During the Vietnam War, more Catholics fled to the South for religious freedom. In the three decades since the war's end, Vietnamese Catholics have gradually gained greater freedom as dialogue with the Vatican continues.

In October, Pope John Paul elevated Abp. Jean-Baptiste Pham Minh Man of Ho Chi Minh City to the College of Cardinals, a move hailed by the Vietnamese government. He joins Card. Paul Joseph Pham Dinh Tung of Hanoi, 84, marking the first time the country has had two cardinals.

Last week, a delegation of Vietnamese bishops visited the U.S. bishops' fall general meeting in Washington, following visits by delegations of U.S. bishops to Vietnam in 1989 and 1999.