Saint Jeronimo Hermosilla - Vọng (Liêm), a Dominican bishop, was born on December 30, 1800, in Spain into a poor and pious family. At the age of 19, he entered the Monastery of Saint Dominic in Valenza and received the religious habit. On October 29, 1823, he made his perpetual vows and received the diaconate.
With a desire to be a missionary in the Far East, on March 2, 1825, he departed with 11 other Dominicans for Manila, Philippines. Ordained a priest in 1826, he served as director of the Rosary Confraternity in Manila. On October 23, 1828, he was sent by his superiors to do missionary work in Vietnam, arriving in Thái Bình, within the Diocese of Đông Đàng Ngoài, on May 15, 1829.
During the period of persecution under Emperor Minh Mạng (1830-1832), the vast diocese was left with only three elderly priests. Bishop Delgado - Y and Bishop Henares - Minh gave Father Hermosilla the Vietnamese name Vọng, signifying that he was the young generation who would succeed the elder predecessors. On March 25, 1841, he was consecrated bishop after the martyrdom of Bishops Delgado and Henares. During the seven years of Emperor Thiệu Trị’s reign, he actively repaired churches and chapels, opened schools to teach prayer books and catechism. He placed special emphasis on organizing parish missions, seeking out lapsed Catholics, encouraging the recitation of the Rosary, and concurrently re-established the seminary and religious houses, gathered dispersed nuns, and ordained seven new priests.
Under Emperor Tự Đức, the persecution became more severe. Bishop Hermosilla twice changed his Vietnamese name to Liêm or Tuấn to go into hiding. While he and catechist Nguyễn Duy Khang were taking shelter in the home of Mr. Bính, a non-Catholic family, a conflict arose between the father and son of this household. The son went to denounce them to the authorities, reporting that a Western religious leader was hiding in the house. The bishop and Catechist Khang were arrested on October 21, 1861, and taken to Hải Dương.
Before the tribunal, Bishop Hermosilla - Vọng firmly declared: “The religion of God is the true religion, teaching people to worship the Creator of heaven and earth and to love their fellow beings, so that after death they may go to Heaven to enjoy eternal happiness; it is not a false religion. To die for this religion is, for me, a happiness.”
On November 1, 1861, the bishop was sentenced to beheading at the execution ground of Năm Mẫu, on the outskirts of Hải Dương. His body was brought back by Mr. Tổng Oánh, a non-Catholic who held him in high regard, and buried at Thọ Ninh parish. It was later brought to be venerated in the chapel of the Lovers of the Holy Cross Congregation in Kẻ Mốt.
Bishop Hermosilla - Vọng was beatified on May 20, 1906, and canonized 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.