St. Domingo Hanh Van Nguyen

Domingo Hanh Van Nguyen, of Nang-A, Vietnam, served his countrymen as a Dominican priest. During the ongoing persecution of Catholics under the Vietnamese emperor Minh Mang, Father Hanh was arrested together with a recently excommunicated elderly priest named Pham Van Duyet. In response to a judge who was pressuring them to trample upon a cross, Father Hanh asked him by way of comparison whether he thought the emperor would want to trample upon the remains of his own ancestors. Father Hanh added, “I would never trample over the picture of God I have worshiped.” In contrast to Father Hanh, the excommunicated priest Pham Van Duyet agreed to trample repeatedly on the cross. Appalled by this, Father Hanh rebuked him, asking, “How dare you betray God for your short remaining time of life?” The other priest dismissed this reproach with contempt, and was released by the authorities. After suffering torture, Father Hanh was executed on August 1, 1838.