Théophane Vénard

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Jean-Théophane Vénard (born at St-Loup, Diocese of Poitiers, 1829; died in Tonkin, 2 February 1861) was a French Catholic missionary to Indo-China. He was beatified in company with thirty-three other Catholic martyrs, most of whom were natives of Tonkin, Cochin-China, or China. Pope John Paul II canonized him, with nineteen other martyrs, in 1988.

[edit] Life

He studied at the College of Doue-la-Fontaine, Montmorillon, Poitiers, and at the Paris Seminary for Foreign Missions which he entered as a sub-deacon. Ordained priest 5 June, 1852, he departed for the Far East, 19 Sept. After fifteen months at Hong Kong he arrived at his mission in West Tonkin, where the Christians had recently been tried by a series of persecutions under Minh-Menh.

Shortly after Father Vénard's arrival a new royal edict was issued against Christians, and bishops and priests were obliged to seek refuge in caves, dense woods, and elsewhere. Father Vénard continued to exercise his ministry at night, and, more boldly, in broad day. On 30 November, 1860, he was betrayed and captured. Tried before a mandarin, he refused to apostatize and was sentenced to be beheaded. He remained a captive until 2 February, and during this interval lived in a cage, from which he wrote to his family beautiful and consoling letters, joyful in anticipation of his crown. His bishop, Mgr Retord, wrote of him at this time: "Though in chains, he is as gay as a little bird".

On the way to martyrdom Father Vénard chanted psalms and hymns. To his executioner, who coveted his clothing and asked what he would give to be killed promptly, he answered: "The longer it lasts the better it will be". His head, after exposure at the top of a pole, was secured by the Christians and is now venerated in Tonkin. The body rests in the crypt at the Missions Etrangères, Paris.

The cause of his beatification was introduced at Rome in 1879, and he was declared Blessed, 2 May, 1909.

[edit] References

Herbert, Théophane Vénard (London);
Walsh, A Modern Martyr; Thoughts from Modern Martyrs; The Field Afar; Vie et Correspondence de J. Théophane Vénard (Poitiers, 1865);
Le Bienheureux Théophane Vénard (Paris, 1911);
Lettres Choisis du Bienheureux Théophane Vénard (Paris, 1909);
Cattaneo, Un Martire Moderno (Milan, 1910)