dominican saints

Bl. Joseph khang, Tertiary Martyr

Feast Day December 6th

Born: 1832 in Cao Mai, Thái Bình province, Vietnam

Died: December 6, 1861 at Nam Mẫu, Hải Dương province, Vietnam.

Beatified: May 20, 1906 cultus confirmed by Pope Pius X

 

Catechist Joseph (Nguyen-duy-) Khang was born in the year 1832 in the Christian community of Cao-mai in the
district of Tra-vi, province of Thai-binh. At age 16, after his father died, he said goodbye to his mother and entered the House of God with the intention of studying for the priesthood. The tempest of persecution that arose against the Christians changed all his plans. All the colleges and seminaries were closed.

The fate of catechist Joseph Khang was the same that befell Bishop Jerome Hermosilla with whom he was taken prisoner. His fidelity and constancy were admirable since he could have escaped. Nonetheless, he preferred to remain at the side of his master.

He stated: “If the Bishop dies for the faith, so will I.” For, as the Latin poet said: “There is nothing than can be disturbed in the soul of the just man who is tenacious in his purpose,” especially if his fidelity is founded on a supernatural life.

Joseph was cruelly whipped several times and subjected to other tortures but he never let out a groan nor did he get depressed. On the contrary, he was always happy and peaceful, carrying himself with utmost dignity. He exhorted all with whom he came into contact to love God and venerate Mary, the Mother of Jesus, to whom he had a special
devotion. Joseph received the habit of a Lay Dominican and accompanied Bishop Hermosilla for three years. As the Vietnamese so aptly say: “He was the hands and feet of his master, Bishop Hermosilla.”

Joseph received the palm of martyrdom by decapitation on December 6, 1861, at Nam Mẫu, Hải Dương province only a few days after his beloved bishop was beheaded. His apostolate as a catechist and his martyrdom are an honor to all Lay Dominicans in Vietnam. His relics are highly venerated in Vietnam. His head is kept at the Shrine of the Martyrs in Hải Dương, while his body is preserved in Kẻ Mốt village. 

Witnesses of the Faith in the Orient, Dominican Martyrs of Japan, China, and Vietnam.

Biography of Blessed Joseph Khang, Tertiary

Blessed Joseph Nguyen Duy Khang was born in 1832 in Cao Mai village, Tra Vi commune, Vu Tien district, Thai Binh province into a family with a tradition of morality.His father died when he was a little boy, and his mother had to take care of him by herself. She sent him to school and he received the Sacraments of the Catholic Church. At age 13, he came to live with an old priest of the Dominican Order, studying Latin for the priesthood. He was tractable and obedient.
 
A DIFFICULT TIME
 
When the king ordered a severe persecution of Christianity, Khang’s Latin school was dismissed, but he tried to remain in the village of Ke Mot in order to help Bishop Liem (Hermosilla). He had the skills of a leader, and was chosen to be a manager of the diocesan office. He tried his best to diligently do all the tasks in that office. He joined the Third Order of Saint Dominic and observed all its rules very carefully. Bishop Liem entrusted everything to him: digging, making a subterranean hiding cave, preparing Masses and other tasks. All those who knew him commented that he had an excellent character. He was honest, sacrificed so that his brothers could have comfortable conditions, and he tried hard to keep all the rules of his Order and Diocese. He ardently gave wonderful advice to all the needy Christians.
 
During that period of cruel persecution, all the religious brothers had to take turns leading prayers in the houses of the faithful so that those meek Christians could participate in worship services with them.
 
LIVING IN CHRISTIAN HOUSES
 
After the Christians were forced to live in the villages of the pagans, all the diocesan officers and rectories were destroyed. The seminarians had to be disguised as laborers to work in the houses of the pagans, as merchants and even digging mud and soil for the pagans. A priest had to be disguised as a porter, carrying baskets of goods with a bamboo cane every day in order to escape from the arrests of the persecutions at that time.
 
Joseph Khang assisted Bishop Liem and stayed with him. He did not have to adopt any disguise as others did. When the Bishop no longer could live in Ke Mot village, Khang followed the Bishop, hiding in the boat. He said to the other brothers and catechists:
 
“You all stay here, I have to go with the Bishop. If the mandarins catch him, they surely will not spare me. If the Bishop is martyred, I will be martyred, too. Our heads will be lost, but our legs will remain.” These words of his became reality.
 
BEING ARRESTED AND COMING BEFORE THE COURT
 
Bishop Liem had to move from boat to boat very often, and catechist Khang was always with him. Upon their betrayal by a Christian who was the special spy of the royal government and capture by the soldiers, catechist Khang used a bamboo pole from his boat and hit the wretches with it; but Bishop Liem told him not to do so because we should obey the Will of God. They were then brought to the mandarins.
 
Both of them were arrested, tied tightly, and taken to the provincial city of Hai Duong. Joseph Khang was confined in the same prison with other Christian lay leaders. They got together with one another three times a day in order to say prayers and make reparation and repentance for their sins. Joseph Khang was tortured and beaten three times during interrogations. The first time he was asked where and in which village Bishop Liem had been hiding himself before; but he did not answer them. He was hit and punished with so many strokes of the rattan rod that two pieces of flesh from his buttocks were torn off and he was bleeding and in extreme pain. When he was carried back to his prison cell, the Christian lay leaders boiled bamboo leaves in water to wash his wounds and massage him in order to alleviate his pain.
 
After that first torture, he wrote to the Christian seminarians: “The mandarins tortured me one time and questioned me in which village our Bishop was hidden, but I did not answer them. I decided to endure the punishment rather than reveal anything. Please pray fervently for me.”
 
TORTURED TWO TIMES
 
Then he was tortured the second time and asked about his birthplace and parents and urged to trample over the Holy Cross; but he refused to reply or to obey the orders of the mandarins. He was beaten with 180 strokes of the bamboo canes. But he only said to them: “I am twenty nine years old. I do not know where my parents, brothers and sisters are now living. The only thing I know is that I have been following European preachers since my childhood to the present. I have recently been arrested together with Bishop Liem, I do not know where all the other European preachers are. I will never forsake my Christian religion.”
 
Three days later, the mandarins had him summoned before the court and once again he definitely refused to do what he was ordered. One of the mandarins said to him: “If you renounce your faith now, I will have mercy on you, and allow you to go back home.”
 
“Oh, my mandarin,” he replied, “if you have pity on me, spare me, I will be grateful to you; please do not talk about apostasy or force me to give up my religion anymore.”
 
At those words, the mandarin became furious, and ordered him to be whipped 120 strokes.
 
Catechist Khang related all those facts, mistreatments and penalties to the seminarians of his diocese, and added to his letter: “Please send me some pants because my old ones have been completely torn by the many strokes of the whips. Give me a blanket in order to wrap my body in it for its burial when I am killed.”
 
On December 6, 1861 he was beheaded in Nam Mau (Five Acres), province of Hai Duong. His body was buried in a nearby field.
 
In 1867, Bishop Hi told the blood brother of Blessed Khang to remove his tomb and bones to the village of Ke Mot. When the Holy See opened an investigation for the procedure of his beatification, the officials on duty came to Ke Mot, asking about the location of his tomb; but no one could give them any answer about its whereabouts. They then celebrated a Mass for the suffering souls in Purgatory in order to beseech their help so that the tomb of Blessed Khang could be found. After the Mass, they tried to dig for his grave. They found beneath the kitchen of a house, where an old altar had been erected before, a large ceramic jar with a small piece of brick inscribed: “This is the body of catechist Khang, the martyr.”
 
The ceramic container had been brought up and opened; another tag of copper was also found and inscribed on both sides: “This is the body of catechist Khang martyred in Hai Duong in the year of the Rooster, fourteenth year of King Tu Duc’s reign, 1861.”

Now his holy head is venerated in the Shrine of The Martyrs in Hai Duong province, and his body is kept in Ke Mot village.
 

Prayers/Commemorations

First Vespers:

Ant. The souls of the Saints who followed in the footsteps of Christ rejoice in heaven: and because for love of Him they poured out their blood, therefore shall they reign forever with Christ.

V. Pray for us, Blessed Joseph
R. That we may be worthy of the promises of Christ.

Lauds:

Ant. The souls of the Saints, who for love of God despised the threats of men: the holy Martyrs triumph with the angels in the kingdom of heaven. O how precious is the death of the Saints, who constantly assist before the Lord and are not separated one from another!

V. Wonderful is God
R. In His Saints.

Second Vespers:

Ant. God will wipe every tear from the eyes of the Saints: and mourning there will be no more, neither weeping nor any sorrow because the former things have passed away.

V. Pray for us, Blessed Joseph
R. That we may be worthy of the promises of Christ.

Prayer

Let us Pray: O God, who dost rejoice us with the triumph of Blessed Joseph, grant us, we beseech Thee, by their merits and intercession, like constancy in faith and efficacy in action. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.