Joseph Tuan Van Tran

Vietnamese Version

Joseph Tran Van Tuan (1825-1859) was borned at Dien Nam, Nam Dinh province, now part of Bui Chu diocese. He lived by agriculture, farming, and growing rice. Though his life was hard, he and his family were devout Christians who never gave up daily Mass and Rosary offering every morning and evening. His family life is very simple he alway treated people with such kind courteous and gentleness, as well as humility and love. He often tended to the injured and help people in the neighborhood, such as the elderly and the sick. Everyone praised his family for being a role model.

Unfortunately, he also had enemies who vied for his lands. They conspired to report to local magistrates of his Christian activities. Being a parishioner, he offered little value to the authority who only wanted to crack down native born clergies or foreign missionaries. The magistrate took pity and treated him kinder than other prisoners. He was imprisoned and was often coerced into abandoning his faith, even with the act of stepping on the Cross. Joseph Tuan refused and held onto his faith. At certain point, the kind treatment turned hostile with frequent lashing and beating. Joseph Tuan still refused to either disclose the locations of any known clergies or abandoning his faith.

The local magistrate finally ordered his execution, after taking him repeatedly to the sites observing other Christians executions. Joseph Tuan cried out the names of Mary and Jesus, asking them to deliver him from the pretense of the authorities. He was beheaded on January 7, 1862. His remains were collected by a kind-hearted couple, who returned them to his family for proper Christian burial.

Pope Pius XII beatified him on April 29, 1951 and Pope John Paul II cannonized him on June 19, 1988.

Reference:

Dung Lac.org

The holiness of the church in the nineteenth century: saintly men and women