Simon Phan Đắc Hòa

 I have featured a couple of saints in the last couple of days who were laywomen, today I will share a brief story of a lay man. To begin with a little history, the story of Christianity in Vietnam is a bloody one. The Vatican estimates the number of Vietnamese martyrs at between 130,000 and 300,000. The first Catholic missionaries arrived in Vietnam in the 16th century. In the 17th century, the Church began to flourish. However, the peaceful coexistence of Catholicism and the Confucian tradition did not last. The Catholic Church in Vietnam was devastated during the Tay Son rebellion in the late 18th century.

With that groundwork laid, let me introduce you to St. Simon Phan Đắc Hòa. He was born in 1787, the son of a court official and a concubine. His father died early, so he was adopted by a Catholic family at the age of 12. He converted and took the name Simon. Because of his intelligence and learning he was a help to the priests and was sent to seminary. However, there were some obstacles to his seminary studies, so he returned home, studied oriental medicine and married. 

A new emperor had come to power in 1802 and tolerance of the faith was again established. Simon and his fellow Catholics were able to practice their faith in peace for a time. In 1831, under the reign of yet another emperor, Catholicism was officially prohibited. Entire communities were incarcerated, sent into exile or encouraged to renounce their faith. Within a few years, executions of missionaries and priests began. 

Simon's village was supposed to erect a shrine for the state-cult, which the doctor opposed. He also had been sheltering a missionary named Charles Delamotte. His fellow villagers pleaded with him to send the missionary away, but Simon stood his ground. His status and age protected him from being arrested until 1840, when he was put on trial. The judge pleaded with him to publicly recant; when he refused he was publicly executed.

He was martyred on December 12, 1840, so his feast can be remembered on that date as well as on the Feast Day for the Vietnamese Martyrs on November 24.

St. Simon Phan Đắc Hòa, pray for us.