Saint Vincent Nguyễn Thế Điểm

Vincent Nguyễn Thế Điểm was born in 1761 in the village of An Do Nam, Quảng Trị province. As a child he herded buffalo like so many country children.

Then he entered the seminary, studied Latin and philosophy, and was ordained a priest. The buffalo boy of long ago became a shepherd of souls.

For about thirty years, he moved among the Catholic communities of Cồn Nâm, Lũ Đăng, Đan Sa and the Bố Chính area. He taught students and looked after catechumens. Though advanced in years, he kept faithfully to his hours of prayer and to Mass.

One can picture an old priest, back already bent, still leaning on a stick to visit the communities, still sitting down to teach the catechism to newcomers to the faith.

In 1838, in the reign of Emperor Minh Mạng, Father Peter Vũ Đăng Khoa was arrested. Father Điểm looked for a place to hide. On July 27, 1838, he was arrested in the rice fields near Đan Sa, Quảng Bình.

He was taken to Đồng Hới.

In the courtroom, the mandarin shouted and threatened. The seventy-seven-year-old trembled. And in that fear, he gave the names of several families who had helped him. Those families were arrested.

Perhaps nothing is more painful for a priest: his own words had sent people dear to him to prison.

But Father Điểm did not run from it. He stood before the mandarin and said:

“Because I am old, when I heard Your Excellency shouting and threatening, I was terrified, and so I caused many faithful to be implicated. Now I ask Your Excellency to have pity, overlook it, and let them go home. As for me, I take all the responsibility.”

A humble confession: I was afraid. No excuses, no shifting of blame. Then a request: let them go; I will bear it all.

He never stepped over the cross. But he had a moment of weakness. And he used the rest of his life to put it right.

In prison he was with Father Pierre Dumoulin-Borie (Cao), Father Peter Khoa, Brother Peter Tự and the parish elder Anthony Quỳnh.

On the morning of November 24, 1838, Father Điểm was strangled at the execution ground of Đồng Hới, on the same day as Father Cao and Father Khoa. He was seventy-seven.

His body was taken to Hướng Phương.

He was beatified on May 27, 1900, and canonized on June 19, 1988. His own feast day is November 24.

We often think martyr saints are people who knew no fear. Father Điểm shows the opposite. He was afraid. He let slip words he should not have. And what made him a saint was not that he was never afraid, but that he dared to admit his fault, dared to take responsibility, dared to ask to suffer in others’ place.

If ever, out of fear, we hurt others, remember the old priest of Đồng Hới. It is never too late to say: I was wrong; let me carry it.