Saint Simon Phan Đắc Hòa

Simon Phan Đắc Hòa was born in Mai Vĩnh, in the Thừa Thiên area, into a family that was not yet Catholic. Sources disagree on the year of his birth, some giving 1774, others 1787.

He was baptized at about twelve. He studied Chinese characters and then entered the seminary, but family circumstances kept him from going on to the priesthood.

One dream ended. But God did not shut the door on him; He opened another.

He studied traditional herbal medicine, married and had twelve children: a full, lively house and a medicine chest that was always open.

He treated the poor. As a parish elder he urged his neighbors to gamble less and drink less. He was not a priest, but like a shepherd he cared for the bodies and souls of those around him.

In the years of persecution his house also welcomed bishops and priests. The home of twelve children was a refuge for hunted men.

On the evening of April 13, 1840, under Emperor Minh Mạng, Hòa was taking Bishop De la Motte, whose Vietnamese name was Y, by boat to a safe place when they were discovered and arrested.

He was held in Quảng Trị for two months and then taken to Huế. Again and again they questioned him and tried to make him give up his faith. He would not.

One verse of Scripture could sum up his whole life:

“If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord.” (Rom 14:8)

On December 12, 1840, he was led to the execution ground at An Hòa market, near the Catholic community of Đốc Sơ.

In the crowd of onlookers he spotted a priest, Father Ngôn, hidden among the people. He gave him a quiet sign, and there in the middle of the execution ground he made his confession.

Picture that moment: amid the noise of the crowd and the soldiers’ swords and spears, a priest and a condemned man exchanged a few whispered words. And Hòa was forgiven all his sins, ready to go.

Then he knelt on a mat with a white blanket spread over it and calmly met his death.

He was beatified on May 27, 1900, and canonized on June 19, 1988. His own feast day is December 12.

Hòa could not become a priest, but he became a saint. Perhaps God wanted to show that holiness is not only for those who wear a habit or a collar.

A father of twelve, a healer of the poor, a parish elder urging people to give up drinking and gambling: that too is a road to holiness. It is probably the road for most of us, becoming holy in our work, in our families, in the ordinary tasks of every day.