Saint Dominic Nguyễn Đức Mạo

Dominic Nguyễn Đức Mạo was born in 1818 in the hamlet of Phú Yên, Ngọc Cục village, Xuân Trường prefecture, Nam Định province. The villagers trusted him with the post of deputy headman, or village security officer, responsible for keeping order in the village.

Being the security officer meant guarding the village, dealing with thefts and quarrels, and being on hand whenever something happened in the night. He was the one the villagers relied on in times of trouble. A tough man, used to bearing responsibility.

On September 14, 1861, the prefect of Xuân Trường summoned him and ordered him to trample on the cross. He refused. He was exiled to the village of Bạch Cốc, together with four fellow villagers from Ngọc Cục.

The edict of dispersal also required Catholics to be marked on the face. They used a red-hot iron awl to carve the words “Tả Đạo” (“false religion”) on one of his cheeks, and on the other the name of his village, “Ngọc Cục”.

Try to imagine that pain. Red-hot iron pressed into the flesh. And the scar would stay with him for life, with no way to hide it. The security officer who had kept the whole village safe was now branded like a criminal.

In prison he wore chains and was beaten. But every day he and his fellow prisoners still prayed, said the Rosary, and fasted. The five men of Ngọc Cục held together like brothers of one house.

On June 15, 1862, the mandarin again laid the cross before him. Again he refused. The soldiers tied him up in the sun and gave him nothing to eat or drink.

The next day, the mandarin changed tactics. No more rods, only coaxing and promises. Just step over it once, and everything would be forgiven.

Mạo heard it all, and then answered:

“Why do you try to entice us like this? If we were going to trample on the Holy Cross to avoid being arrested and beaten, we would have done it right away in our home village; why would we be so foolish as to suffer all this here? Now do as you please; we will never give up our religion.”

There is something very down to earth, very “Nam Định”, about those words: frank, reasoned, and a little wry. He did not need lofty words. He only needed to point out something obvious: the nine months of suffering just past were the answer. His decision was not a last-minute one. It had been tested by fire, day after day.

On June 16, 1862, Dominic Mạo was beheaded at Bạch Cốc, together with his four friends. His body was taken to be buried at the church of Phú Yên, where he had been born.

He was beatified on April 29, 1951, and canonized on June 19, 1988. His own feast day is June 16.

Some decisions are spoken in a single sentence. Some are spoken in nine months of endurance. Mạo’s was the second kind.

When our life of faith is tested, we tend to think there has to be a heroic moment. But Mạo shows that true faithfulness is built day by day, one small refusal at a time, until it is as solid as rock.