Saint Paul Vu Van Dong (1802 - 1862) - Vietnamese Martyr Saint

Saint Paul Vu Van Dong was born in 1802 in the parish of Le Xa, one of the parishes with a long-standing Catholic tradition belonging to the Diocese of Trung, now part of Hai Hung province.

As a notary, from 1808 to 1814, Mr. Dong diligently managed the parish's books and assets.

After King Tu Duc issued an order banning Catholicism, mandarins went to every village to check the population, but in fact to force everyone to trample on the Cross. Anyone who refused to trample was put in shackles and taken to the province. On November 25, 1861, Mr. Dong was arrested for courageously confessing himself to be a Catholic and resolutely refusing to trample on the Cross. He was taken to An Thi district and then to Hung Yen.

In prison, day and night he had to wear heavy shackles, with his feet chained. Because Mr. Dong resolutely did not allow the soldiers to carve the two words "heretic" on his cheeks, he was imprisoned and starved until exhausted. Unable to bear the hunger, he had to chew on his clothes to forget it a little.

After many days of starvation to the point of exhaustion, the soldiers forced the two words "heretic" to be carved on his face. But he himself found a way to erase them, and then had a fellow prisoner carve the two words "orthodox" instead on his cheeks. This enraged the mandarin, who ordered him to be executed.

At the execution grounds in Nam Dinh on June 3, 1862, the heroic martyr Vu Van Dong was beheaded under the reign of King Tu Duc. Before the executioner's sword fell, he proclaimed the name of Jesus three times, and then his martyr's soul went to enjoy the Kingdom of Heaven.

The witness of faith, the notary Paul Vu Van Dong, was beatified on April 29, 1951 and canonized on June 19, 1988.