Origins and Devout Life
Saint Dominic Nguyễn Văn Huyên was born in 1817 in the Đông Thành parish. His father, Mr. Thiên, and his mother, Mrs. Duyên, were devout lay Catholics. His family made their living fishing on the Nhị Bình River, near the Ba Lạt estuary.
The Trial of Faith
In June 1861, King Tự Đức issued the "Phân sáp" (segregation and exile) edict targeting Catholics. The faithful of the Đông Thành parish were not exempt. Mr. Huyên was arrested, taken to the Quỳnh Côi district mandarin’s office, and imprisoned in the Tăng Già jail. For nine months, he endured torture, hunger, and thirst, yet he remained courageous and steadfast.
Not only did he persevere himself, but Mr. Huyên also used his exemplary conduct to advise and encourage his fellow prisoners to hold firm to their faith and remain resolute to the end. At the tribunal, when forced to renounce his faith and trample on the Cross, he firmly refused. Seeing that his faith could not be shaken, the officials at the time sentenced him to death by burning.
The Glorious Moment of Martyrdom
On the morning of June 5, 1862, at the Nam Định execution ground, before a large crowd of onlookers, the witness to the faith calmly stepped into the bamboo cage. He courageously underwent execution by burning, completing his martyrdom.
When the flames died down, the supervising official allowed relatives to retrieve his remains. The faithful reverently carried his body back for burial at the Holy Name of Jesus Church in the Đông Thành parish (part of the present-day Diocese of Thái Bình).
Canonization
The fisherman Dominic Nguyễn Văn Huyên was beatified on April 29, 1951. He was subsequently canonized as a saint on June 19, 1988.
The content about the saint in this post is summarized and paraphrased from the book “Hạnh Các Thánh Tử Đạo Việt Nam” - Lives of the Vietnamese Martyrs (Vietnamese Bishops’ Conference, edited by Bishop Peter Nguyễn Văn Khảm, Tôn Giáo Publishing House, 2018). This post is not a verbatim copy but a re‑presentation based on the original source.