Apocalypse 18.1-2,21-23; 19.1-3,9; Ps 99; Luke 21.20-28
The Martyrs of Vietnam include 117 people (8 bishops, 50 priests and 59 laymen) who died between 1625 and 1886 and were canonised together in 1988. They form a witness to the extraordinary difficulties encountered by those who laboured to bring Christianity to this land. An imperial edict of 1533 forbade Christianity, and only in 1615 did the Jesuits manage to establish a permanent mission there. The martyrs include European missionaries and native Vietnamese. Many of them were branded on their faces with the words ‘ta dao’ (false religion).
Andrew Dung-Lac was born in 1795 and at his baptism he took the name of St Andrew. He was ordained a priest on 15thMarch 1823. During persecution he changed his surname from Dung to Lac in order to avoid capture. He was beheaded on 21st December 1839 during the reign of Minh Mang.