<p>In the 16th century Christian missionaries went to live among the people of Vietnam. From the 17th to 19th centuries, some 130,000 Christians were martyred. Andrew Dung-Lac (born 1785) and Peter Thi, Vietnamese priests, were beheaded on December 21, 1839.</p>
<p>A letter written in 1843 by Paul Le-Bao-Tinh, an imprisoned martyr, describes his faith in God's love and mercy:</p>
<p>"I, Paul, in chains for the name of Christ, wish to relate to you the trials besetting me daily, in order that you may be inflamed with love for God and join with me daily in his praises, 'for his mercy is forever.' The prison here is a true image of everlasting hell: to cruel tortures of every kind - shackles, iron chains, manacles - are added hatred, vengeance, calumnies, obscene speech, quarrels, evil acts, swearing, curses, as well as anguish and grief. But the God who once freed the three children from the fiery furnace is with me always..."</p>
<p>In June 1988, Pope John Paul II declared 117 Vietnamese martyrs saints of the Church.©2011 <em>Living with Christ, </em>Novalis - Bayard Press Canada Inc., <strong>http://www.livingwithchrist.ca/</strong>. Reprinted with permission.</p>
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