Saint Martin Trần Ngọc Thọ was born in 1787 in the village of Kẻ Báng, Vụ Bản district, Nam Định province. His birth name was Nho, while Thọ was the name of the ninth child in the family.

Working as a tax collector, he was renowned for being incorruptible, accepting neither bribes nor currying favor with his superiors. Alongside this job, he also diligently worked the rice fields, raised silkworms, and reeled silk. He used the extra money he earned to help the poor and contribute to the common projects of his village and parish. He often advised his children: "Living justly is not enough; one must also have charity."

During the time of Emperor Minh Mạng, when the edict banning Christianity was strictly enforced, his family remained steadfast in their faith, secretly harboring priests and catechists, and keeping holy images in their home. Facing the order to demolish churches and chapels, Mr. Thọ courageously stepped forward to claim the parish house in Kẻ Báng, moving his entire family and farm tools into it to protect it from destruction.

After visiting the bodies of two martyrs, Village Chief Nguyễn Tiến Đích and Village Mayor Nguyễn Huy Mỹ, he earnestly instructed his children: "If God grants me to follow in the footsteps of those two, you should be happy. As for you, if you are arrested, be brave and hold fast to your faith."

On May 30, 1840, at the Kẻ Báng village communal house, Mr. Thọ was arrested for the crime of harboring religious leaders. At the communal house yard, under the shade of a banyan tree, he was reunited with the priests Tạ Đức Thịnh, Nguyễn Ngân, Nguyễn Đình Nghi, and Mr. Trần Ngọc Cỏn. All five, along with twenty other faithful, were placed in cangues and escorted to the Nam Định prison camp.

On November 8, 1840, Saint Martin Trần Ngọc Thọ, together with Saint John the Baptist Trần Ngọc Cỏn, suffered execution by decapitation at the Bảy Mẫu execution grounds during the reign of Emperor Minh Mạng. The bodies of the two were brought back and buried in the Kẻ Báng parish.

On May 27, 1900, the witness of the faith, Martin Trần Ngọc Thọ, was elevated to the status of Blessed and was canonized as a saint on June 19, 1988.