Vietnamese Community Honors 117 Roman Catholic Martyr-Saints

Under a bright Sunday sky, Roman Catholic members of the Vietnamese American community gathered to remember dark days and the heroism of a brave few in their motherland.

More than 7,000 people turned out for the annual memorial in Santa Ana Stadium to honor 117 Vietnamese Catholic martyrs, slain in their homeland from the 16th to 19th centuries. All were proclaimed saints in 1988 by Pope John Paul II in the largest group canonization in church history.

For many people, the annual commemoration is one of the most significant events for this ethnic Catholic community, which is estimated at 40,000 in Orange County, said Tawni Hoang, one of the event organizers.

“We feel we are very fortunate, very privileged to be here because of what they did for us,” she said.

Among those declared saints were both Asians and Europeans, priests and laypeople. Since the late 16th century, when Christianity arrived in Southeast Asia, converts have been constantly persecuted for refusing to denounce their faith.

Adding to the religious significance of the day’s event was this year’s 200th anniversary of the Virgin Mary sighting in the small Vietnamese town of La Vang. According to legend, she appeared to a group of persecuted and desperate Catholic villagers, promising refuge and sanctuary. Grateful followers have made yearly pilgrimages to the site ever since.

On Sunday, multicolored umbrellas blanketed the stadium, as attendees huddled under the shade for the special three-hour outdoor Mass. The crowd joined the choir in singing Vietnamese hymns to start the celebration. Then an elaborate procession, representing the martyrs and Virgin Mary, marched through the stadium.

The day was also a chance for the Vietnamese American community to extend its first welcome to new Bishop Tod David Brown, appointed in June to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange to succeed retiring Bishop Norman McFarland.

Father Peter Tuyen Van Nguyen, of St. Cecilia’s Church, told Brown that those in the crowd “reflect the diversity in Orange County.”

“We are very different from Boise, Idaho,” which was Brown’s last post, Nguyen said. “We are different, but we are yours.”

The new bishop thanked the community, reminding them that he had spent time in Monterey, Calif., ministering to Vietnamese congregants before he moved to Idaho:

“I came to know many of you and love you then,” he said. “How beautiful that we have come together today. I feel very, very blessed to be called to Orange County.”