Priest Jean Théophane Vénard, a member of the Paris Foreign Missions Society (Missions Étrangères de Paris), was born on November 21, 1829, in the village of Saint-Loup-sur-Thouel, in the southwestern region of France. His birth fell on the feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and from then on, he held a special devotion to Our Lady.
From a young age, the boy Théophane was eager to read books, especially stories of the saints. One time, the parish priest had him copy a book of stories about missionaries who preached the Gospel to pagan peoples. Among these was the story of Saint Jean Charles Cornay, a priest (martyred in Sơn Tây on September 20, 1837), a saint from the same diocese. Instead of being afraid, the boy Théophane wished to suffer death for the faith like Father Tân.
Seeing their son's desire to become a priest, his parents were overjoyed and arranged for him to study introductory Latin with the parish priest. Afterwards, he entered the minor seminary, then the major seminary. In 1852, he was ordained a priest.
After his ordination, Father Théophane received his mission assignment to serve in the Apostolic Vicariate of Western Tonkin (Vietnam). He was a gentle and honest man, full of love for the poor and fervent in preaching the Gospel.
At that time, during the first year of the reign of Emperor Tự Đức, the emperor issued an edict banning Catholicism. However, most mandarins were not primarily focused on arresting Catholics but used it as a pretext to extort money. Hence, a folk saying circulated: “No Westerner seen, but the money mandarin appears.”
On July 13, 1854, Father Théophane was sent to the Kẻ Vĩnh parish house to assist Bishop Liêu and Vicar General Khiêm, while also learning the Vietnamese language. In 1855-1856, Father Ven accompanied Bishop Liêu on a pastoral visitation and unfortunately contracted tuberculosis.
On July 20, 1857, soldiers surrounded the Kẻ Vĩnh parish house to arrest Father Tịnh, Teacher Lương, and the village chief and deputy chief. At the time, Bishop Liêu, missionary priest Đoài, and Father Ven were also there and had to take refuge in the homes of the faithful.
During the period of severe persecution, Father Ven continued to travel to distant parishes to administer the sacraments. Seeing that he was weak from illness, the faithful asked him to rest, but he replied: “Now that I am alive, I must work hard; when I die, then I will rest in heaven.”
By 1858, the schools at Hoàng Nguyên, Kẻ Non, and Kẻ Vĩnh were destroyed. Father Ven had to hide at Nhà Mụ Bút Đông, then went to Phúc Châu village for a month, then to Kẻ Bèo to conduct a retreat for about a month, before going to do a retreat in Bút Sơn village. While administering the sacraments in Kim Bảng village, he and the other teachers were taken back to Kẻ Bèo, where they were arrested.
Father Ven was taken to Phủ Lý, and then was transferred to Hà Nội. When he met a district chief named Đô Tú, who made a profession of arresting Catholics, Father Ven said: “Your profession of arresting Catholics is very lowly, for the scriptures say: ‘He who puts righteousness before profit is noble; he who puts profit before righteousness is disgraceful.’ Therefore, you must know that your rank of the ninth order is like a flower that blooms in the morning and fades by evening; it will not last long.”
Bishop Chiêu wrote a letter to Father Thịnh, instructing him: “When Father Ven’s sentence is announced, if you know early, you must go immediately to the provincial capital. When Father Ven walks three hundred steps out of the city gate and places his hand on his chest, then you should hear his confession.”
However, on February 2, 1861, when Father Ven was taken to the execution ground, Father Thịnh did not receive the news in time and so could not come as agreed. Father Ven was beheaded, and his body was exposed for three days, then thrown into the river. A group of fishermen found it and brought his remains back for burial. Later, his relics were transferred for veneration at the chapel of the Paris Foreign Missions Society.
Missionary priest Jean Théophane Vénard was beatified on May 2, 1909, 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.