O God, source and origin of all fatherhood, who kept the
Martyrs Saint Andrew Dung-Lac and his companions faithful to the Cross of your
Son, even to the shedding of their blood, grant, through their intercession
that, spreading your love among our brothers and sisters, we may be your
children both in name and in truth.
Saint Andrew and his 117 companions are known as the Martyrs of Vietnam, killed for their faith in Christ between 1745 and 1862, but these people are few in number compared with the vast number of people thought to have been persecuted. Saint Andrew was a secular priest who was killed in 1839. Among the companions there were 8 bishops, 50 priests, 59 lay faithful of Vietnamese, Spanish and French nationalities. Pope John Paul II canonized these saints in 1988.