By the Grace of God

Monday, Nov. 24 is the memorial of the martyrdom of St. Andrew Dung-Lac & Companions. An entry in this month’s Magnificat magazine explains:

On this day we remember one hundred seventeen martyrs of Vietnam who gave their lives in various persecutions from 1740 to 1883. This group of ninety-six native Vietnamese and twenty-one Spanish and French missionaries suffered some of the most brutal tortures known to Christendom. Father Paul Le-Bao-Tinh testified, “The prison here is a true image of everlasting Hell: to cruel tortures of every kind—shackles, iron chains, manacles—are added hatred, vengeance, calumnies, obscene speech, quarrels, evil acts, swearing, curses, as well as anguish and grief…. In the midst of these torments, which usually terrify others, I am, by the grace of God, full of joy and gladness, because I am not alone—Christ is with me.”

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