dominican saints

Blessed Dominic Henares was a Dominican auxiliary bishop. He was born in 1765 in Baena, Cordova, Spain. He died June 25, 1838, in Nam Ðịnh (near Hà Nội), Tonkin. He was appointed bishop-coadjutor in 1803 to St. Ignatius Delgado, vicar apostolic of Tonkin.

In 1838, Bishop Henares, Bishop Ignatius Delgado, the apostolic-vicar of Tonkin, and Francis Chien were captured during a persecution stirred up by the mandarin. The prelates and a young priest had been hidden in the village of Kien-lao, and were accidentally betrayed by a little child who was cleverly questioned by a pagan teacher searching for the foreigners.

Alarmed at the sudden activities, the captors of Bishop Delgado put him into a small cage which was locked around him, and then put into jail with criminals. Delgado was tortured but refused to hint at the location of the others and was eventually killed. The young priest escaped.

After working for about 50 years in Vietnam, Bishop Henares hid himself in the village of Kien-lao with his bishop during a renewed outbreak of persecution. He managed to escape immediate arrest by hiding himself in a fishing boat. Unfortunately, the nervousness of the boatman gave him away. A detachment of 500 soldiers was sent to arrest Henares and his catechist Bl. Francis Chien. They were kept separate from Delgado and beheaded 2 weeks after their bishop’s death. Bl. Dominic died praising God and proclaiming his faith. His body was recovered and buried by Hermosilla. He was beatified in 1900 by Pope Leo XIII.

Blessed Francis Chien, was a Dominican tertiary and lay catechist; born 1796-97 at Trung Lễ, Liên Thủy, Nam Ðịnh (near Hà Nội), Tonkin, He died on June 12, 1838 at Nam Ðịnh. Francis aided the Dominican priests in their Vietnamese mission. He was captured in the village of Kien-lao with Bishop Dominic Henares, whom he was serving as catechist, and beheaded with him. His remains were also retrieved by Christians seeking their preservation. The relics of all three martyrs were recovered in part, and were honorably buried by the next Dominicans to come on the scene– Bishop Hermosilla and his companions, who would, as they knew, also be the next to die. Bl. Francis Chien was beatified in 1900 by Pope Leo XIII.