Saint Dominic Đinh Văn Đạt

Dominic Đinh Văn Đạt was born in 1803 in Phú Nhai, Nam Định province. He was a soldier, with a wife and children. An ordinary man, carrying on his shoulders both his duty to the court and his responsibility to his family.

Under Emperor Minh Mạng, Catholic soldiers were always in a difficult position. They had to serve the court, while that very court was banning their religion.

The governor wanted to test the hearts of the Catholic soldiers. He placed a cross at an exit. Whoever stepped over it could go home. Whoever did not was put in chains.

At first, Đạt was among those who refused and were chained. But the beatings came thick and fast, and the promise of going home to his wife and children kept ringing in his ears. Together with two comrades, Augustine Phan Viết Huy and Nicholas Bùi Đức Thể, he stepped over the cross and took the reward money.

The Church does not hide that fear and that moment of weakness. And precisely because it does not hide them, his story touches people’s hearts.

Đạt was allowed to go home. But he had no peace. He was tormented and ashamed. With his two friends, he sought out a priest, fasted and prayed. Then all three went to the mandarin, asking to give back the money and to publicly take back their faith.

The mandarin refused. The result had already been reported to the court and could not be changed.

His two friends decided to walk to Huế and present a petition to Emperor Minh Mạng himself. But Đạt had to stay with his unit and could not go with them. His two friends presented the petition on his behalf as well. They were executed at the Thuận An estuary on June 13, 1839.

As for Đạt, he too was condemned, in Nam Định.

On July 18, 1839, Đạt was led to the execution ground. On the way, he met his wife and children. Try to picture that moment: the soldier with a cangue around his neck, the wife holding the hands of their little children. Not knowing what to say, not knowing what to do. Đạt said to his wife:

“I entrust you and the children to God. God will take care of you and the children.”

That was all he could leave behind. No money, no fields. Only the faith that God would care, in his place, for those he loved most.

He was strangled. His body was first buried in the garden of his older brother’s house, and later taken to Phú Nhai.

He was beatified on May 27, 1900, and canonized on June 19, 1988. His own feast day is July 18.

Đạt’s story has three parts: a decision made out of fear, a long shame, and the courage to bear the consequences of putting it right. Without any one of them, the story would not be complete.

We often want to put things right without paying a price. Đạt put things right and was willing to pay with everything. And in the midst of it, he still thought of his wife and children and placed them in God’s hands. The third soldier never made it to the capital, but he walked his own road to the end.