From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   November 24th - Dominican Martyrs by King Tu-Duc in Vietnam   
      
    1856-1862   
      
   Christians who died in the persecution conducted by King Tu-Duc in Central   
   Tonkin, Vietnam. Five martyrs were beatified in 1906. The following were   
   canonized in 1988: Joseph Diaz Sanjurjo, Meichior Garcia Sampedro, Dominic   
   Ninh,   
   Laurence Ngon, Dominic An-Kham, Luke Cai-Thin, Joseph Cai-Ta, Dominic Mao,   
   Vincent Tuong, Dominic Nguyen, Andrew Tuoung Dominic Nhi, Peter Da, Joseph   
   Tuan,   
   Peter Dung, Peter Tuan, Vincent Duong, Dominic Mau, Dominic Toai, Dominic   
   Huyen,   
   Joseph Tuan, Dominic Cam, Thomas Khuong, Paul Duong and Joseph Tuc. Some   
   were   
   ordained priests and others Dominican tertiarie   
      
   Through the missionary efforts of various religious families beginning in   
   the   
   sixteenth century and continuing until 1866, the Vietnamese people heard the   
   message of the gospel, and many accepted it despite persecution and even   
   death.   
   On June 19, 1988, Pope John Paul II canonized 117 persons martyred in the   
   eighteenth century. Among these were ninety-six Vietnamese, eleven   
   missionaries   
   born in Spain and belonging to the Order of Preachers, and ten French   
   missionaries belonging to the Paris Foreign Mission Society.   
      
   Among these saints are eight Spanish and French bishops, fifty priests   
   (thirteen   
   European and thirty-seven Vietnamese), and fifty-nine lay people. These   
   martyrs   
   gave their lives not only for the Church but for their country as well. They   
   showed that they wanted the gospel of Christ to take root in their people   
   and   
   contribute to the good of their homeland.   
      
   On June 1, 1989, these holy martyrs were inscribed in the liturgical   
   calendar of   
   the Universal Church on November 24th.   
      
      
   Another Version:   
      
   Martyrs of Vietnam   
      
   Several groups of martyrs called the Martyrs of Annam who were slain for the   
   faith in Vietnam from 1798 until 1861.   
      
   Between 1798 and 1853, sixty-four were martyred, receiving beatification in   
   1900. Those who died in a second group, between 1859 and 1861, were   
   beatified in   
   1909. There were twenty-eight courageous men and women who died for the   
   faith   
   during a long period of persecution.   
      
   A Portuguese missionary arrived in Vietnam, once called Annam, Indo-China,   
   Cochin-China, and Tonkin, in 1533. An imperial edict in Vietnam forbade   
   Christianity, and it was not until 1615 that the Jesuits were able to   
   establish   
   a permanent mission there, in the central region of the country. In 1627, a   
   Jesuit went north to establish another mission. By the time this missionary,   
   Father Alexander de Rhodes, was expelled from the land in 1630, he had   
   baptized   
   6,700 Vietnamese. In that same year the first Christian martyr was beheaded,   
   and   
   more were executed in 1644 and 1645 . Father Rhodes returned to Vietnam but   
   was   
   banished again in 1645. He then went to Paris, France, where the Paris   
   Seminary   
   for Foreign Missions was founded. Priests arrived in Vietnam, and the faith   
   grew. Between 1798 and 1853, a period of intense political rivalry and civil   
   wars, sixty-four known Christians were executed. These were beatified in   
   1900.   
   In 1833, all Christians were ordered to renounce the faith, and to trample   
   crucifixes underfoot. That edict started a persecution of great intensity   
   that   
   was to last for half a century. Some twenty-eight martyrs from this era were   
   beatified in 1909. The bishop, priests, and Europeans were given "a hundred   
   wounds," disemboweled, beaten, and slain in many other grisly fashions. For   
   a   
   brief period in 1841 the persecution abated as France threatened to   
   intervene   
   with warships. However, in 1848, prices were placed on the heads of the   
   missionaries by a new emperor. Two priests, Father Augustin Schoffier and   
   Father   
   Bonnard, were beheaded as a result. In 1855, the persecution raged, and the   
   following year wholesale massacres began. Thousands of Vietnamese Christians   
   were martyred, as well as four bishops and twenty-eight Dominicans. It is   
   estimated that between 1857 and 1862, 115 native priests, 100 Vietnamese   
   nuns,   
   and more than 5,000 of the faithful were martyred. Convents, churches, and   
   schools were razed, and as many as 40,000 Catholics were dispossessed of   
   their   
   lands and exiled from their own regions to starve in wilderness areas. The   
   martyrdoms ended with the Peace of 1862, brought about by the surrendering   
   of   
   Saigon and other regions to France and the payment of indemnities to France   
   and   
   Spain. It is now reported that the "Great Massacre," the name given to the   
   persecution of the Church in Vietnam, resulted in the following estimated   
   deaths:   
      
   Eastern Vietnam - fifteen priests, 60 cathechists, 250 nuns, 24,000 Catholic   
   lay   
   men and women. Southern Vietnam - ten priests, 8,585 Catholic men and women.   
   Southern Tonkin region - eight French missionaries, one native priest, 63   
   cathechists, and 400 more Christians slain - in all, an estimated 4,799 were   
   martyred and 1,181 died of starvation. Some 10,000 Catholics were forced to   
   flee   
   the area. Pope John Paul II canonized 117 Martyrs of Vietnam on June   
   19,1988.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   No one is to be called an enemy, all are your benefactors, and no one does   
   you   
   harm. You have no enemy except yourselves.   
   -St. Francis of Assisi   
      
   Bible Quote   
   And they sung to thy holy name, O Lord, and they praised with one accord thy   
   victorious hand. For wisdom opened the mouth of the dumb, and made the   
   tongues   
   of infants eloquent.  (Wisdom 10:20-21)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   THIRTY-ONE DAYS OF PRAYER FOR THE HOLY SOULS   
   FROM THE PURGATORIAN MANUAL   
    (Imprimatur 1946)   
      
   Tenth Day   
      
   THE DURATION OF PURGATORY   
      
        Concerning the duration of Purgatory, the Church simply tells us that   
   it is   
   not a place of eternal pain, but will end at the last judgment; neither are   
   we   
   informed of the length of time required for the purification of a soul.   
   According to St. Thomas Aquinas, the soul, to be reunited to her Creator in   
   Heaven, must be in the state of primitive innocence which adorned her when   
   she   
   proceeded from His hand. The image of God must be entirely restored within   
   her,   
   commensurate to the degree of glory awaiting her in Heaven.   
      
        From this it is evident that the suffering souls cannot enter Heaven   
   until   
   perfectly cleansed, either by their pains or by the suffrages of the   
   faithful.   
   With the royal Prophet they cry out in plaintive voice: "As the hart panteth   
   after the fountains of water, so my soul panteth after Thee, O God! When   
   shall I   
   come and appear before the face of God ?" (Ps. xli. 2-3.) They suffer until   
   entirely purified, until the last farthing of their debt is discharged.   
   Increased and intensified pain will probably supply the want of time for the   
   souls who shall not have rendered full satisfaction by the last day of   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)