“I am ready to accept all tortures, even the most painful death, rather than commit the smallest offense against the religion I worship.”
These were the heartfelt words of Saint Luca Phạm Trọng Thìn, a chánh tổng (district chief) born in 1820 in Quần Cống village, Trà Lũ commune, Nam Định province (now part of Quần Cống parish, Bùi Chu diocese). He came from a well-off family, studied and passed his examinations, and held the position of chánh tổng when he was over thirty years old.
But in the early period, Mr. Thìn had wide social connections, lived a dissolute life, and grew cold in religious matters. Thanks to the admonitions of his father and his confessor, he sincerely repented. He courageously gave up his concubine, returned to a virtuous way of life, lovingly cared for and raised his children, and was zealous in apostolic activities in his role as cai tổng (village chief). As a result, he gained high prestige in both village and national affairs.
In 1858, when French and Spanish forces were threatening the Vietnamese people in Đà Nẵng, Emperor Tự Đức, in his anger, ordered the military mandarins to strictly enforce the prohibition of Christianity. Entrusted by Bishop Sampedro - Xuyên, he together with Cai Tả directly went to meet the tổng đốc (governor) of Nam Định to ask for leniency toward the faithful and promised to call upon the people to remain loyal to the emperor.
However, a disgruntled faithful from Cao Xá, angry at the local mandarins, incited the people to revolt. When news of this reached him, the tổng đốc became furious and ordered the arrest of the two men (Cai Thìn and Cai Tả), accusing them of deception.
At the court, despite being repeatedly tortured and tempted to step over the cross to be pardoned, together with his father, Cụ Án Khảm, Cai Thìn remained faithful, accepting suffering for the sake of his faith. When the mandarin asked him to write his thoughts on paper, he wrote the above statement. Faced with his resolute attitude, the mandarins saw that they could not persuade him to renounce his religion, so they prepared a death sentence and sent it to the imperial capital, Huế.
The witness of the faith, Luca Phạm Trọng Thìn, received the sentence of xử giảo (death by strangulation) on January 13, 1859, at Bảy Mẫu execution ground, in the presence of his wife and children. The faithful reverently carried his body back for burial at Quần Cống church.
He was elevated to the rank of blessed on April 29, 1951, and was 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.