From: hildegard8@excite.com   
      
   November 24th - St. Andrew Dung Lac and companions   
      
   St. Andrew was one of 117 martyrs who met death in Vietnam between 1820 and   
   1862. Members of this group were beatified on four different occasions   
   between 1900 and 1951. Now all have been canonized by Pope John Paul II.   
   Christianity came to Vietnam (then three separate kingdoms) through the   
   Portuguese. Jesuits opened the first permanent mission at Da Nang in 1615.   
   They ministered to Japanese Catholics who had been driven from Japan.   
      
   The king of one of the kingdoms banned all foreign missionaries and tried to   
   make all Vietnamese apostatize by trampling on a crucifix. Like the   
   priest-holes in Ireland during English persecution, many hiding places were   
   offered in homes of the faithful.   
      
   Severe persecutions were again launched three times in the 19th century.   
   During the six decades after 1820, between 100,000 and 300,000 Catholics   
   were killed or subjected to great hardship. Foreign missionaries martyred in   
   the first wave included priests of the Parish Mission Society, and Spanish   
   Dominican priests and tertiaries.   
      
   Persecution broke out again in 1847 when the emperor suspected foreign   
   missionaries and Vietnamese Christians of sympathizing with the rebellion of   
   one of his sons.   
      
   The last of the martyrs were 17 laypersons, one of them a 9-year-old,   
   executed in 1862. That year a treaty with France guaranteed religious   
   freedom to Catholics, but it did not stop all persecution.   
      
   By 1954 there were over a million and a half Catholics-about seven percent   
   of the population-in the north. Buddhists represented about 60 percent.   
   Persistent persecution forced some 670,000 Catholics to abandon lands, homes   
   and possessions and flee to the south. In 1964, there were still 833,000   
   Catholics in the north, but many were in prison. In the south, Catholics   
   were enjoying the first decade of religious freedom in centuries, their   
   numbers swelled by refugees.   
      
   During the Vietnamese war, Catholics again suffered in the north, and again   
   moved to the south in great numbers. Now the whole country is under   
   Communist rule.   
      
   Comment:   
      
   It may help a people who associate Vietnam only with a recent war to realize   
   that the cross has long been a part of the lives of the people of that   
   country. Even as we ask again the unanswered questions about United States   
   involvement and disengagement, the faith rooted in Vietnam's soil proves   
   hardier than the forces which would destroy it.   
      
   Quote: "The Church in Vietnam is alive and vigorous, blessed with strong and   
   faithful bishops, dedicated religious, and courageous and committed   
   laypeople....The Church in Vietnam is living out the gospel in a difficult   
   and complex situation with remarkable persistence and strength" (statement   
   of three U.S. archbishops returning from Vietnam in January 1989).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   If it were given a man to see virtue's reward in the next life, he would   
   occupy his intellect, memory and will in nothing but good works-regardless   
   of danger or fatigue.   
   -St Catherine of Geona   
      
   Bible Quote   
   27 For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels:   
   and then will he render to every man according to his works.   (Matthew   
   16:27)   
      
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   Hymn to the Holy Ghost   
      
   Come, Holy Ghost, Creator come, From Thy bright heavenly   
   throne; Come take possession of our souls, And make them   
   all Thine own.   
      
   Thou who art called the Paraclete, Best gift of God above;   
   The living spring, the living fire, Sweet unction and true love.   
      
   Thou who art sevenfold in Thy grace, Finger of God's right   
   hand; His promise, teaching little ones To speak and   
   understand.   
      
   O guide our minds with Thy blest light With love our hearts   
   inflame; And with Thy strength which ne'er decays Confirm   
   our mortal frame.   
      
   Far from us drive our hellish foe, True peace unto us bring;   
   And through all perils lead us safe, Beneath Thy sacred wing.   
      
   Through Thee may we the Father know; Through Thee the   
   eternal Son, And Thee the Spirit of them both; Thrice blessed   
   three in one.   
      
   Now to the Father and the Son, Who rose from death, be   
   glory given, With Thee O holy Comforter, Henceforth by all in   
   earth and heaven. Amen.   
      
   V. Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created   
   R. And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth.   
      
   LET US PRAY:   
      
   O GOD, who didst teach the hearts of Thy faithful by the light   
   of Thy Holy Spirit, grant us by the same Spirit, to have a right   
   judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy   
   comfort, through Jesus Christ our Lord.   
      
   Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)