Martyr 98 of 117 · Catechist
Saint Francis Xavier Nguyễn Cần
“Mother, do not worry about me”
1803 – 1837 · Feast day November 20
Catechist, from Sơn Miêng, Phủ Ưng Hòa district, Hà Nội province · Vietnamese
His aged mother came to see him in prison. Years before, she had not wanted to let him give his life to the Church, because she loved him and could not bear to be apart from him. Now she saw him in a cangue behind bars. And it was the son who comforted the mother: Mother, do not worry about me; I have long desired this.
A son who asked to serve the Church
Francis Xavier Nguyễn Cần was born in 1803 in the village of Sơn Miêng, Phủ Ưng Hòa district, Hà Nội. He was the second of five children.
Again and again he asked his mother to let him go and live at the presbytery. She loved him and did not want to lose him, so she held back. But he kept asking, and in the end she agreed.
He studied, became a catechist and helped the bishops in Western Tonkin. Those who worked with him remembered him as honest and hard-working, always ready to help the poor.
A trap in his luggage
In March 1836, under Emperor Minh Mạng, the catechist Cần was traveling near Kẻ Vác when someone slipped religious pictures into his luggage and then reported him. He was arrested and taken to Thanh Oai.
“I dare not step on His image”
He spent eight months in prison at Thanh Oai and was tortured three times, three days each time. The mandarin ordered him to step on the cross. He answered:
“We worship the one Lord of heaven and earth who made us; I dare not step on His image.”
Grace before meals
One small, everyday detail is very moving. In prison, whenever a servant brought his rice, he made the sign of the cross and prayed before and after eating. Curious, the mandarin asked what he was doing. He explained:
“When we have finished eating, we give thanks, because we have been given food to nourish our bodies so that we may live.”
The mandarin told him to say the prayers aloud, and he did.
Even in captivity he gave thanks for a bowl of prison rice. And the prison became a place where he taught the simple habits of Catholic life, habits he had kept since childhood.
His mother’s visit
His aged mother came to visit him in prison. The mother who had once tried to keep him from this path now had to watch him suffer for it. She must have wept a great deal.
Cần comforted his mother:
“Mother, do not worry about me; just keep the faith well. This is something I have long desired.”
Last words
The last time the mandarin pressed him to step on the cross, he answered with spirit:
“A loyal subject does not have a divided heart. I thank Your Excellency for your kindness; please do as the law requires.”
A loyal servant has only one heart. He thanked the mandarin for his goodwill but asked him simply to carry out the law.
On November 20, 1837, the catechist Francis Xavier Cần was strangled near the Cầu Giấy city gate. His body was later taken to Sơn Miêng, and part of his remains was moved to France.
He was beatified on May 27, 1900, and canonized on June 19, 1988. His own feast day is November 20.
Two ends of one story
Cần’s story begins and ends with his mother. At first she did not want to let him go. At the end, he comforted her so that her heart could be at peace.
No mother can bear to watch her child suffer. But Cần helped his mother see that what looked like a loss was in fact what her son wanted most. And the love between mother and son, through prison bars, stayed whole to the end.
Biography on the website of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Vietnam ↗