Saint Luke Phạm Trọng Thìn

He was born in 1820 in Quần Cống, Trà Lũ commune, Nam Định province, the son of Judge Khảm. His family was well off, and he was educated and passed the examinations. Just past thirty, he was already a canton chief.

Youth, learning, power, family standing. He had everything a man of that time could dream of. And it was those very things that drew him far away.

He had many connections and many friends, and one round of pleasures followed another. Little by little he grew cold toward the faith. He took a concubine. His family fell apart. His first wife and children lived in sorrow and humiliation.

His biography does not hide this. The Church does not need saints to have a spotless past. It only needs them to have a sincere return.

The one who drew him back was his father. Judge Khảm did not abandon his erring son. He counseled him, reminded him, and probably prayed a great deal for him.

Thanks to his father’s advice and the guidance of his confessor, Thìn took a hard look at himself. He repented sincerely. He sent the concubine home, ended the relationship outside his marriage, and returned to care for his wife and children.

Think of those days. A man of rank and reputation had to admit he had been wrong, had to face the wife and children he had hurt. Coming back is never easy. But he did it.

From then on, the villagers saw a different canton chief: devoted to the faith, caring for the people, active in the work of the Church.

In 1858, the persecution intensified when the French and Spanish allied forces attacked Đà Nẵng. Bishop Melchor García Sampedro (Xuyên) asked Thìn and Joseph Phạm Trọng Tả to go to the governor of Nam Định to ask him to be lenient with the faithful, and to explain that Catholics only wanted to live in peace, loyal to their country.

Before anything came of it, the Catholics of Cao Xá rose in revolt. The governor flew into a rage, believing the two men had deceived him, and ordered their arrest. The men who had gone to ask for peace were accused of treachery.

They tortured him many times. Then the mandarin promised to acquit him and restore his rank, if only he would step over the cross.

The man who had once chased after fame was now offered it back into his very hands. The mandarin told him to write his thoughts on paper. He wrote:

“I am ready to accept every torment, even the most painful death, rather than commit even the smallest fault against the religion I worship.”

Even the smallest fault. The man who had once committed great faults now did not want to commit even a small one. That is the sign of a true conversion.

On January 13, 1859, he was strangled at the Bảy Mẫu execution ground, together with his father, Judge Khảm, with Joseph Tả and with seven other Catholics. His wife and children stood there and watched him go. The wife he had once hurt now stood by her husband to the last moment.

The faithful carried his body back to be buried at the church of Quần Cống, where he had been born, had gone astray, and had come back.

He was beatified on April 29, 1951, and canonized on June 19, 1988. His own feast day is January 13.

Luke Thìn makes us believe that someone who has gone astray can still come back. And sometimes the one who comes back stands firmest of all, because he knows what straying costs.

His story is also the story of a father who did not give up on his son. If you are a parent worried about a child who has gone astray, remember Judge Khảm. And if you are the one who has gone astray, remember Thìn: the door is still open.