"Even if I must endure a thousand pains from beatings, or even face death, I am willing to accept it all." These words of village leader Joseph Hoàng Lương Cảnh became the unyielding profession of faith from a layperson living through a time of severe religious persecution.

Born in 1763 in Làng Vạn (now part of Bắc Ninh City) and later settling in Làng Thổ (Bắc Giang Province), Saint Joseph Hoàng Lương Cảnh was known throughout the region not only as a skilled healer but also as a kind and devoted man. What spread his reputation far and wide was his compassionate heart, as he readily provided free medical care to countless poor people.

Despite his busy medical practice, the life of village leader Cảnh was always fully dedicated to God. As the head of his congregation at Thổ Hà parish, he joined the Dominican Third Order and fervently engaged in apostolic work. Familiar images of him included nights spent in prayer and his presence at sickbeds to baptize the dying, especially children.

When the village leader was 74 years old, jealousy from some people in the village led to him being denounced to the mandarin authorities for harboring a religious leader and possessing religious items. One day, when summoned to treat and baptize a sick child, fully aware that traveling during such a strict prohibition on Christianity was extremely dangerous, he did not hesitate to go, for the sake of the children's souls. At the Thổ Hà ferry landing, he was surrounded and arrested by mandarin soldiers, then taken to the Bắc Ninh prison along with Father Phêrô Nguyễn Văn Tự, Brother Đaminh Úy, and other faithful.

In prison, the courage of the elderly healer commanded respect from his enemies. When forced to step over an image of the Holy Cross, elder Cảnh knelt down and reverently kissed the Cross. Faced with the mandarin's sweet-talking temptations to renounce his faith, he replied with unwavering conviction: "I have kept the faith since childhood; now the mandarins tell me to abandon it—that is absolutely impossible."

On September 5, 1838, the elderly village leader Joseph donned his beloved Dominican Tertiary habit, tenderly holding the small image of the Holy Cross that had accompanied him throughout his imprisonment. Though his steps were slow and labored due to old age and weakness, he calmly proceeded to the execution ground at Cổ Mễ, about 5 kilometers from what is today the Bắc Ninh Diocese Bishop's residence, to face decapitation. His body was buried near the execution site, but two nights later, the faithful of Thổ Hà village ransomed it for 36 quan and brought it back for burial in their clan chapel.

Today, the relics of the holy village leader Joseph Hoàng Lương Cảnh are still solemnly preserved in the Hương La clan chapel, Tử Nê parish, Bắc Ninh Diocese. He was beatified by Pope Leo XIII on May 27, 1900, and was canonized by Pope John Paul II on June 19, 1988.