Saint François-Isidore Gagelin (Kính)

François-Isidore Gagelin was born on May 10, 1799, in Montperreux, France. He lost his father when he was only two.

When he grew up he entered the seminary, and then joined the Paris Foreign Missions Society. In 1821 he came to Vietnam. On September 28, 1822, he was ordained a priest in Quảng Trị and took the Vietnamese name Kính.

He traveled to a great many places. From the Huế area he went south to Lái Thiêu, Sài Gòn and Bà Rịa. He was in charge of the seminary at Lái Thiêu, forming young men. Then he was given the regions of Phú Yên, Bình Định and Quảng Ngãi as well.

Those were years of walking, of boats, of learning the language, of meeting the faithful throughout central and southern Vietnam. The orphan of long ago had become a father to so many communities stretched across Vietnam.

In 1833, Emperor Minh Mạng issued an edict against the faith. The great persecution began. Father Kính went up into the mountains north of Bình Định to take refuge.

But when the mandarins could not find him, they turned on the faithful at Bồng Sơn. They were arrested and beaten to make them reveal where he was hiding.

He heard the news. He asked the bishop’s advice, and then made his decision. At the end of May 1833, he gave himself up to the mandarin at Bồng Sơn.

He was taken to Huế. In the days of waiting for his sentence, he wrote a letter. In it are lines that are astonishing from a man about to suffer torment:

“The prospect of seeing Jesus crucified makes me forget all pain.”

And:

“I desire nothing more than to be freed quickly from this mortal body so as to be united with Christ for ever.”

The son who had lost his father at two was now eager to go home to his Father in heaven.

Early in the morning of October 17, 1833, Father Kính was strangled at Bãi Dâu, Huế. He was thirty-four. He was one of the first martyrs of the persecution under Emperor Minh Mạng.

His body was buried at Phủ Cam, and later taken to the chapel of the Paris Foreign Missions Society.

He was beatified on May 27, 1900, and canonized on June 19, 1988. His own feast day is October 17.

Father Kính could have stayed hidden in the mountains. No one would have blamed him. But he could not bear knowing that people were being beaten because of him.

Among the 117 Vietnamese martyrs, we meet that gesture again and again: priests stepping out of hiding when the faithful were being tortured. It was something beautiful the shepherds of that time shared. They understood that the flock is not a shield for the shepherd; it is the people he must shield.