Saint Pierre Néron – A Martyr Priest for the Love of God in the Heart of Vietnam - The Saints Martyred for the Faith in Vietnam
Saint Pierre Néron was born on September 21, 1818, in France, into a simple and devout farming family. From a young age, he diligently worked in animal husbandry to help his parents while also seizing time for his studies. Carrying within him a desire for evangelization, at the age of 19, he met with the parish priest to express his wish to consecrate himself to God. Subsequently, he joined the Paris Foreign Missions Society, was ordained a priest on June 17, 1848, and was sent to the Western Tonkin Vicariate.

On March 28, 1849, he arrived in Hanoi and received the Vietnamese name Bắc. Initially, he was sent to the parish of Kẻ Vĩnh to study Vietnamese and participate in pastoral work in the Hanoi parish.

In 1854, he was assigned the task of teaching 150 seminarians at the Vĩnh Trị Seminary. Here, he lived an austere and exemplary life, fasting every Friday of the week. One year later, he was entrusted with the missionary mission in the Sơn Tây region – the most populous parish in the vicariate with over 16,000 faithful.

As the situation of the persecution of the faith grew increasingly severe, Father Bắc frequently moved between the two parishes of Tạ Xá and Yên Tập – places with hilly terrain convenient for hiding. On March 13, 1857, while celebrating Mass at the Tạ Xá Convent of the Lovers of the Holy Cross, he was surrounded and arrested by a local official (cai tổng) leading soldiers due to someone's denunciation. He was beaten on both shins and then bound and taken by boat for interrogation.

At the tribunal, on August 7, 1860, officials questioned him about the villages he had passed through, the families that had hidden him, or the faithful who had helped him escape. But he resolutely remained silent. The soldiers staked him to the ground and administered 40 fatal lashes.

During three months of imprisonment, the judges tried to force him to confess to the crime of inciting the people against the court. He clearly affirmed: he had left his homeland only to come here to preach the "good religion." To prove his sincerity, he fasted for a full 21 days – astonishing and earning the admiration of the guarding soldiers and the faithful who came to visit.

On November 3, 1860, he was taken to the Sơn Tây execution ground and beheaded. His body was buried within the Bách Lộc church.

Father Pierre Néron – Bắc was elevated to the rank of Blessed by Pope Pius X on May 2, 1909, and was canonized as a Saint by Pope John Paul II on June 19, 1988.