Saint Paul Nguyễn Văn Mỹ

Paul Nguyễn Văn Mỹ was born in 1798 in the village of Kẻ Non, Thanh Liêm district, Hà Nam province. His name in the village register was Nguyễn Văn Hựu. At home, his parents called him Hào.

At fifteen he went to the presbytery and was given a new name, Mỹ. The new name seemed to mark a new life: a life given to God.

He helped the parish priest for a time, and then studied Latin at Vĩnh Trị. After that he worked at the mission house and in the parish of Bầu Nọ.

At Bầu Nọ, the catechist Mỹ did a catechist’s work: helping the faithful prepare to receive the sacraments, encouraging those who wanted to come back to the practice of the faith, teaching the catechism to newcomers.

No one recorded that work. No famous homilies, no dramatic stories. Only catechism lessons by an oil lamp, hours spent listening to someone who had lost their way, gentle and patient words of advice.

He worked beside Father Jean-Charles Cornay (Tân), together with the catechist Peter Trương Văn Đường and young Peter Vũ Văn Truật.

On June 20, 1837, in the reign of Emperor Minh Mạng, soldiers surrounded the village of Bầu Nọ to hunt for Father Tân. Mỹ was arrested along with the catechist Đường and young Truật, and taken to Sơn Tây.

Father Tân was executed first, in September of that year. His three disciples remained, awaiting their own sentences.

The records say little about Mỹ’s interrogations. None of his words have been preserved. But this much is certain: through more than a year in the prison of Sơn Tây, he refused to give up his faith.

There is a verse of Scripture that seems written for him:

“If we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.” (Rom 6:8)

On December 18, 1838, the catechist Paul Mỹ was strangled together with Đường and the catechist Truật. The faithful recovered his body and buried it secretly, and later reburied it in his home village of Kẻ Non.

He was beatified on May 27, 1900, and canonized on June 19, 1988. His own feast day is December 18.

Among the 117 Vietnamese Martyrs, some left words that will never be forgotten. And some, like Mỹ, left no words at all. Only three names, and a life.

But perhaps those silent saints are the closest to us. Most of us will not leave any sayings for posterity either. We have only one life, lived day by day, doing small things. And Mỹ reminds us: that is enough to become holy, if we live it wholly for God.