HUNG YEN, Vietnam (UCAN) -- A northern Vietnamese parish that had no resident priest for more than five decades has erected a statue of a local martyr-saint has urged parishioners to follow his example.

Four hundred Catholics and 50 non-Catholic neighbors attended the dedication of the statue of Saint Joseph Dang Dinh Vien on July 12 at Tien Chu church in Hung Yen town, 50 kilometers southeast of Ha Noi. Sacred Heart Father Pierre Nguyen Thai Van, who was ordained and assigned to the church in January, celebrated the Mass, with two other priests concelebrating.

"We received the heritage of faith from our ancestors, who bravely sacrificed their life for the Catholic faith," Father Van told the congregation before the ceremony. "I am sure that our ancestors also want us to follow their example and bear witness to the faith in our daily life."

He cited a Vietnamese proverb that means, "Children from honorable families receive good characteristics from their ancestors" (Con nha tong khong giong long cung giong canh).

Saint Vien, born in the parish in 1784, was ordained a priest in 1821 and evangelized in the northern provinces of Bac Ninh, Hung Yen, Nam Dinh and Thai Binh. After imperial soldiers arrested him, he was beheaded on Aug. 21, 1838, in Nam Dinh province.

Father Van, 37, told non-Catholic local residents at the ceremony: "You are also descendants of our venerable ancestors. This event is an opportunity for us to meet and understand one another."

The priest told UCA News he invited these people since many of them have the same family name as Saint Vien. The martyr, whose remains are buried under the church, was beatified on May 27, 1900 by Pope Leo XIII. On June 19, 1988, Pope John Paul II canonized him as one of the 117 Vietnamese Martyrs, 96 of whom were local priests and laypeople.

The 1.8-meter-high concrete statue honoring him stands in the church compound, where the remains of 34 other people born in the parish and considered martyrs, but not yet beatified, are kept.

Local Catholics are familiar with stories about Saint Vien, such as how he forgave relatives for denouncing him before imperial authorities, or how he let himself be arrested after he heard the cry of a child being tortured by soldiers.

Joseph Dang Van Ton, 82, a Catholic from Ho Chi Minh City who left the parish in 1954, provided the funding for the 70-million-dong (US$4,204) statue. At the inauguration ceremony he expressed his gratitude to local Catholics for offering their labor and told Father Van they were all happy to have the statue that would inspire them to show respect for their ancestors.

Ton recalled most local Catholics fled south in 1954, when communists defeated French troops in the north. The parish had no resident priests from then until October 2007, when Bishop Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Sang of Thai Binh entrusted it to Sacred Heart Religious. Two Sacred Heart Brothers are based at the church along with Father Van.

"God never abandons the small local lambs," parishioner Joachim Tran Van Hau said at the end of Mass, noting they had not dreamed such an event would be possible.

Hau, 55, noted local Catholics' religious life has been improving since the Sacred Heart Religious came. Many who did not go to confession for 10 or more years have returned to the Church, and young people study catechism and learn how to sing hymns, he elaborated.

Some parishioners offered incense and flowers to the statue when Father Van blessed it before the Mass, while the choir sang hymns about Vietnamese martyrs.

Ton told UCA News he hoped local people, including those who are not Catholics, would visit the statue and pray to Saint Vien, who he said always receives people's prayers.

Some local students told UCA News they prayed in front of the statue for good performance in their college-entrance exams.

The parish covers four villages and includes the church, which was built in 1934, and six other chapels within three kilometers of it, serving 400 Catholics.

END