Saint Peter Nguyễn Văn Lựu

He was born in 1812 in Gò Vấp, Gia Định province. He was sent to study at the seminary in Penang, on the Malay Peninsula, and then returned as a priest, caring in turn for the Catholic communities of Mặc Bắc, Sa Đéc and Mỹ Tho.

It was a land of countless canals and creeks. To visit a family or teach the catechism in a Catholic hamlet, he usually had to go by boat. He went to every house, met every person, and the faithful trusted and loved him dearly.

His biography keeps a small and very human story. He had a habit of drinking when socializing. Once, while traveling by boat on the river, Father Thuyết, a fellow priest, frankly spoke to him about it. Father Lựu was not angry, nor did he make excuses. He simply said:

“From today, I will not drink any more.”

And he kept his word. Holiness, it turns out, also begins with simple things like this: being able to listen to a word of advice, and being able to change.

In 1853 he was moved to the community of Ba Giồng, near Mỹ Tho. In the winter of 1860, when many Catholics in the area were imprisoned, he decided to go right into the prison to visit them.

That was more dangerous than any journey before. A priest slipping into the middle of a prison: a single suspicious glance would have been the end. But his people were inside, suffering, in need of comfort and Holy Communion. He disguised himself and went.

Then he was discovered. He immediately admitted that he was a priest. He was imprisoned, beaten and put in the cangue. Before the court, when the mandarin pressed him to give up his faith to save his life, he gave an answer that people of the Mekong Delta still repeat:

“The holy religion has soaked into the marrow of my bones; how could I give it up?”

On April 7, 1861, Father Lựu was beheaded at the execution ground outside the citadel of Mỹ Tho. The faithful brought his body back to Ba Giồng for burial. They also took the cangue he had worn and an earthen jar still stained with his blood, as sacred keepsakes.

He was beatified in 1909 and canonized on June 19, 1988. Later, the Diocese of Mỹ Tho chose him as its patron saint. His own feast day is April 7.

People usually try to escape from prison. Father Lựu looked for a way in, because the people he loved were inside. For the people of the Mekong Delta, he remains the image of a shepherd who does not leave his flock alone, even in the darkest place.