Saint Jerónimo Hermosilla (Vọng, Liêm), Bishop

Jerónimo Hermosilla was born on December 30, 1800, in Spain, into a poor family. He entered the Dominican Order and made his final vows on October 29, 1823. He was then sent to Manila and ordained a priest in 1826.

On May 15, 1829, he arrived in Eastern Tonkin, in the Thái Bình area.

The two old bishops of the vicariate at that time were Bishop Ignacio Delgado (Y) and Bishop Domingo Henares (Minh). The name they gave him, Vọng, held everything the two old men hoped for: a young man who would shoulder the burden when they were gone.

In 1838 both bishops died for the faith. In 1841 Father Vọng was consecrated bishop and took the name Liêm. The young man they had hoped for was now their successor.

In the calmer years that followed, Bishop Liêm set about rebuilding. He repaired churches, restored the seminary, re-established the community of sisters and started regular catechism classes.

And he did something full of mercy: he sought out those who had given up the faith out of fear in the last persecution. He did not judge them. He welcomed them back.

Under Emperor Tự Đức the manhunt grew fierce again. The bishop had to change his name and hide in one place after another.

On October 21, 1861, he was hiding in the house of a man named Bính, who was not a Catholic, together with the catechist Joseph Nguyễn Duy Khang. After a family quarrel, Bính’s son went and denounced them. The bishop and Brother Khang were arrested and taken to Hải Dương.

Before the mandarins and soldiers, the bishop said:

“If I may die for this religion, it will be a happiness for me.”

The mandarin accused him of harming the country. He admitted to preaching the faith but denied that it harmed anyone, declaring:

“The religion of God is the true religion; it teaches people to worship the Supreme Being who created heaven and earth...”

On November 1, 1861, Bishop Jerónimo Hermosilla (Liêm) was beheaded at the Năm Mẫu execution ground, outside the city of Hải Dương, together with Bishop Valentín Berrio-Ochoa (Vinh) and Father Pedro Almató (Bình).

A man who was not a Catholic but thought highly of him helped bring his body to Thọ Ninh. It was later moved to Kẻ Mốt.

He was beatified on May 20, 1906, and canonized on June 19, 1988. His own feast day is November 1.

In more than thirty years in Vietnam, Bishop Liêm lived up to the name he had been given. He was the hope of two old bishops, hope for those who had weakened and left the faith, and hope for a ruined vicariate that needed rebuilding.

And it is moving that, in the end, a man who did not share his faith came forward to care for his body. Perhaps all his life he had been sowing hope in more than Catholic hearts.