Ho Chi Minh City (AsiaNews) - The Jubilee of the Vietnamese church will open on 24 November, the eve of the day on which Catholics remember the 117 martyrs of this country, raised to the altar of the saints by Pope John Paul II. But there are thousands of other people in Vietnam who paid with their lives for their love of neighbour and their fidelity to the Church. Such as a father Philipphe Phan Van Tuyen.
He was born in 1913 in the District of Cai Mon, province of Ben Tre, in a virtuous family, descended from St. Philipphe Phan Van Minh (1815-1853). His father's name was Matthew Phan Van Tri and his mother Anna Thi Nguyen Quoc.
At 13 he entered the minor seminary of St. Joseph's, Saigon, and 14 years later he was ordained priest on 21 September 1940. He returned to the Diocese of Vinh Long, as vicar of Giong Mieu, where he remained until 1947.
War was raging at that time and people were severely affected by it, living in a constant state of fear and anxiety. In 1946, when the conflict between France and Viet Minh grew in intensity, Father Philippe asked the Bishop of Vinh Long permission to take a temporary period of rest with his family, to avoid the difficult situation.
Months later, however, in obedience to the bishop, he returned to parish. It was the spring of 1947 and someone who hated Catholics and Father Philippe said falsely that the priest was working for the French troops.
On a dark night in July, an "armed group" entered the parish, beat him to death and buried him. The next day, the people of the parish did not hear the church bell as usual, nor could they find their priest.
A few days later, the parishioners found the body of their priest. They only knew that he had been buried in the area but no one remembered the exact location, given the difficult situation of the parish at the time and the Communist Party of Viet Minh’s harsh repression of religion. So no one had the courage to speak of the crime.
Father Philippe remains a good example. Especially in this Year for Priests, when, at the end of every Mass, we pray for the priests, asking God to preserve and protect them and help them overcome the temptations of life. In the context of contemporary society, the priests must keep their eyes open and pray. And never serve "two masters".
