Vietnam was evangelized by Catholic missionaries from Portugal, Spain, and then later from France. St. Paul Le-Bao Tinh was born in Vietnam in 1793. He was sent to a Catholic seminary at the age of twelve, after which he lived as a hermit until the local bishop asked him to bring missionary priests to Laos. In 1841 persecution began. He was arrested and spent seven years in prison in Hanoi. His sentence of death was commuted in 1848. He returned to the seminary and was ordained a priest. In 1855 he was again arrested and sentenced to death. In 1857 he was decapitated, as was the original St. Paul of Tarsus. St. John Paul II canonized him in 1988.
In both persecutions we have his words describing his suffering and his readiness for death: “I, Paul, bound in chains for the sake of Christ, send to you from prison salutations which are many and final… The prison is truly a living example of hell: to chains, shackles and manacles, are added anger, vengeance, lies, obscene conversations, brawls, evil acts, swearing, slander, plus boredom, sadness, mosquitoes and flies… I write these things so that your hearts might burst with desire to be martyrs, and that your prayers might strengthen me, who lives in the arena of combat.”
"My body is in your hands, please torture it as you wish, I am very happy, without any complaint. It dies but will rise again in glory tomorrow. As for my soul, it belongs to God, nothing can make me sacrifice it, no one can shake my faith. Christianity is the right religion, the true religion. I have loved and kept that religion since I was a child, and even if I die, I cannot abandon it." St. Paul Le-Bao Tinh, pray for us.
Vatican II reestablished the order of the diaconate as a “proper and permanent rank of the hierarchy:” “It is the duty of the deacon... to administer baptism solemnly, to be custodian and dispenser of the Eucharist, to assist at and bless marriages in the name of the Church, to bring Viaticum to the dying, to read the Sacred Scripture to the faithful, to instruct and exhort the people, to preside over the worship and prayer of the faithful, to administer sacramentals, to officiate at funeral and burial services” (Lumen gentium, 29).
Today’s saint was a deacon in this same manner in Persia in the 4th and 5th centuries. St. Benjamin was martyred in AD 424 during a persecution through two kings of Persia and for about forty years. The Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius II was able to obtain his release after being imprisoned but with the condition that he not preach. St. Benjamin “declared it was his duty to preach about Christ and that he could not be silent.” He was then subjected to brutal torture, which killed him.
Today’s deacons may not be called to martyrdom, but they are called to preach the Gospel, to witness, and to serve the People of God in the ways directed by Vatican II. According to a study commissioned by the USCCB in 2021-2022, there were over 20,000 permanent deacons, with more than half of them in active ministry. We have been blessed by this ministry. Thus, we need to continue to promote vocations to the diaconate as well as to the priestly and religious vocations. The People of God need men and women to dedicate themselves to serving others so we may come closer to God. Be open to God’s call. St. Benjamin, pray for us.
Mount Carmel was where Elijah defeated the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings 18. But it is also the location of the foundation of the Carmelite religious order. However, even before the Carmelites were founded other hermits and religious men lived together on Mt. Carmel. That seems to be the case with today’s saint. St. Berthold was a priest who went with the Crusaders on the Third Crusade. He “found himself in Antioch when it was being besieged by the Saracens. Through his urgings, the Christians in Antioch turned to prayer and penance, and the city was delivered.”
It is said that he built “a monastery and church on Mount Carmel and dedicated the church in honor of the prophet [Elijah]... and lived out his days on Mount Carmel, ruling the community he had founded for forty-five years until his death about 1195. His example and way of life stamped the beginnings of the Carmelite Order,” which was formally founded later. The Carmelites have given us numerous saints, especially mystics, such as St. John of the Cross, St. Teresa of Avila, and St. Thérèse of Lisieux, all Doctors of the Church.
There is much fruit that can grow from small seeds. This was true of St. Berthold and it can be true of us. Every moment is an opportunity to do the will of God. Whatever we are doing, we can offer it up in love to God. It can be a moment of suffering, and thus we can participate in Christ’s sufferings. It can be a moment of joy, and thus we can rejoice in the gifts God has given us. It can be a moment of silence, such as when Jesus prayed to his Father. We need to offer each moment to God! St. Berthold, pray for us.
When we think of March saints we usually think of St. Patrick, whose feast day is March 17. Nonetheless, the Martyrology of Donegal lists 1000 saints of Ireland. Today’s saint was also an Irish saint who founded a monastery in Ireland. Three versions of the Life of St. Abbán show a lot of variation and confusion about him. However, according to the Martyrology, St. Abbán had great devotion to God as a child and he worked saintly miracles, such as when his maternal uncle, a bishop, took him to Rome, he was said to have power over “men, monsters, and supernatural phenomena” and “special authority over rivers and seas.” He died about A.D 520.
This sounds like a lot of Irish exaggeration, except that scholars have studied and documented his life and impact throughout Ireland. So what makes a person a saint? As stated in this column before, men, women, and children are saints because of their holiness. They dedicate themselves to knowing, loving, and serving God so they may give greater glory to God and bring others closer to him. St. Abbán was thus such a man.
St. Abbán was one of the many abbots, abbesses, and monks that helped Christianize Ireland. Irish Christianity was primarily monastic with the spread of “networks of monastic ‘city-states’ throughout Ireland that served as centers of learning for religious men and women.” Irish monasticism was influential in re-Christianizing northern Europe after the fall of the Roman empire in the West.
The impact of Irish Catholicism is worthwhile. Many of us can remember the Irish priests who taught us as children and established parishes in our dioceses. We are grateful for the Irish Catholics like St. Abbán, who, by their holiness, spread the Good News of Jesus Christ. St. Abbán, pray for us.
