• Picture of the Vietnamese Martyrs
  

  
  
  
  

  
  

  When the Vietnamese Community of St. Justin was formed 14 years ago, Mrs. Vi Nguyen, who attended the first Mass in Vietnamese at St. Justin, donated this painting to the community. Father John Keller and Fr. John Kha Tran, who was the Pastor and Assistant Pastor at the time, recommended that the painting be framed and hung where it is hung today. In a way, this painting reminds us of the birthday of the Vietnamese Community at St. Justins.
  
  The Vietnamese Martyrs, also known as the Martyrs of Tonkin, Martyrs of Annam or Martyrs of Indochina, are saints on the Roman Catholic calendar of saints cannonized by Pope John Paul II. Their feast day is 24 November although several of these saints have another memorial day as they were beatified and on the calendar prior to the canonization of the group.
  
  It is not known precisely how many Catholics died for their faith between 1516 when the first Portuguese missionaries arrived in what is now Vietnam and the twentieth century (about 130,000 to 300,000 Vietnames martyrs were killed); however, John Paul II decided to canonize those whose names are known and unknown, giving them a single feast day.
  
  Principally, the Vietnamese Martyrs fall into several groupings, those of Portuguese missionary era (16th Century), the Dominican and Jesuit missionary era of the (17th Century), the politically inspired persecutions of the 19th Century, and the Communist purges of the 20th Century.
  
  Vietnamese Martyrs were canonized on June 19, 1988 and a young Vietnamese Martyr, Andrew Phu Yen was beatified in March, 2000 by Pope John Paul II.