Saint Joseph Nguyen Duy Tuan (1811 - 1861) - Vietnamese Martyr Saint

Saint Joseph Nguyen Duy Tuan was born in 1811 in Tran Xa village, Cao Xa region, Hung Yen province, into a poor but virtuous farming family. It was in this virtuous environment that, after receiving his first confession and communion, young Tuan left his family and began a life of devotion.

He entered the seminary and was ordained a priest in 1857. Deeply influenced by the Dominican spirituality, Father Tuan requested to join the Order in 1858, taking the religious name Hoan.

In the context of religious persecution under King Tu Duc, Father Tuan was assigned to minister to the parish of Ngoc Dong. He had to go into hiding, serving secretly, appearing and disappearing, in order to care for the souls of his threatened and scattered flock.

In the spring of 1861, an elderly bedridden woman asked her son to call for Father Tuan to administer the last rites before she passed away. However, this greedy son was lured by the reward money. Instead of summoning the priest, he reported Father Tuan's hiding place to the district mandarin. Soldiers were immediately dispatched to surround the village and arrest the priest, shackling him and taking him to the Hung Yen prison.

At the court, the mandarin sometimes tried to persuade Father Tuan to renounce his faith with leniency; other times torturing him brutally to force him to trample on the Cross. In prison, despite being savagely tortured, Father Tuan remained steadfastly faithful, unshaken, and continued preaching the Gospel, encouraging the faithful to come visit him on pilgrimage. Father Tuan joyfully awaited the honor of martyrdom.

On April 29, 1861, the death sentence was approved by King Tu Duc. Father Tuan was subsequently taken to the execution grounds in Hung Yen and beheaded.

Father Joseph Nguyen Duy Tuan was beatified on April 29, 1951 and canonized on June 19, 1988.