by Rev. M. B. Cothonay, O.P., 1911
The servants and friends
of the martyrs strictly fulfilled the orders of the Vicar Apostolic and the Vice
Provincial concerning the disposition of their remains. They had quickly
secured a boat in which they deposited the mutilated bodies and the two heads
and, on the day after the martyrdom with a happiness as great as if they were
bearing a great treasure, they sailed down the river accompanied by many of the
leading people of Hanoi and its vicinity, on their way to Luc-Thuy-ha where a
great number of Christians together with Fathers Louis Espinosa and Pius de la
Sainte Croix, awaited them.
When they had come near
the place and the catechists Dien and Loan were preparing to carry the holy
bodies ashore, a dispute arose among the representatives of the villages of
Ke-Bui, of Tru-Linh and of Tru-Le, all of them wishing to have the remains
deposited in their churches. The quarrel grew very bitter and the contestants
armed with bamboo sticks were on the point of coming to blows when fortunately
Father Espinosa appeared in their midst. He begged of them to cease their cries
and listen to reason: “These two martyrs,”
said he, “were made prisoners in
Luc-Thuy-Ha; it seems, therefore, fitting that their remains should be interred
there. In the absence of the superior I decide that this shall be done.”
All submitted to this order with docility.
On the 26th,
after the multitude had satisfied its devotion by kissing the feet and the
hands of the martyrs and by applying their beads and other objects to their
bodies, they were buried in the house in which they had been taken as
prisoners. Three days after the interment the Vicar Apostolic and the Vice
Provincial with several Fathers and a great number of Christians having
arrived, all were disappointed to find that the holy bodies had already been
buried. They readily yielded to the request of a deputation of leading
Christians who came to ask permission to have the bodies transferred to the church
as being a more fitting place for them. The burial place was therefore opened
on the 29th when not only was there no bad odor detected, but many
perceived a heavenly perfume differing from anything they had ever known. All
were enthusiastic and eloquent of the great number of favors and graces
obtained through the intercession of the martyrs. Again thousands of persons
wept as they kissed the feet of the confessors of the faith.
A splendid procession was
arranged and the bodies were carried to the church where they were interred with
great solemnity, each in his own coffin. The Te Deum was chanted and the bishop gave orders that the usual steps
taken for the beatification of saints should be begun at once in behalf of the servants
of God.
The holy remains were kept
in the church of Luc-Thuy-Ha, under the devoted and watchful care of the
missionaries and the Christians until the 12th of November, 1903,
when, in obedience to an order from Rome they were removed by Bishop Fernandez
assisted by several of his priests. All the bones, even the smallest joints of
the fingers, were found in a good state of preservation.
The outcome of the legal
process for the beatification of Blessed Gil de Federich was that he was always
a fervent religious, an apostle devoured by zeal for the salvation of souls,
pious, mortified, charitable, united with God by constant prayer, so much so
that before becoming a martyr for Christ, he had reached an eminent degree of
sanctity which was many times attested by the gifts of prophecy and of
miracles.
Although his humility led
him to conceal the gifts of God, he declared that notwithstanding all the obstacles
which stood mountain high in his way, he would in the end be sent on the
Asiatic missions where he would shed his blood for the faith. He clearly
foretold to his confrere, Father Liciniana, that he too would be a martyr. He
predicted to the Christians of Tonkin several events which afterwards came to
pass.
While he was still exercising
his sacred ministry, he was, one day, on the river in a small fishing boat on
his way to attend a sick call. Some pagans who were determined to seize him
knowing this, began to pursue him and overtook his sampan into which they threw
themselves with savage cries. They turned everything upside down and after
having searched every corner of the boat, and though they jostled him in their
search they did not see him – to their great astonishment and the wonder of the
Christians present.
He converted and cured
either by his prayers or by the simplest remedies a great number of sick persons,
especially the sister of Rosa Gao, an obstinate and extremely superstitious
pagan who ridiculed him whenever he exhorted her to be converted, and, foretold
to her that she would die a Christian. Having contracted a serious illness, she
acted so strangely that all believed that she was possessed by the devil. Of
her own accord she asked to have the servant of God pray for her. He did so,
and at once she grew quiet and begged to be baptized. After the reception of
the sacrament she recovered her health. A month later she fell sick again, received
the last sacraments with piety and died an edifying death. “I
have great confidence,” wrote Blessed Gil, “that God will receive her into the heavenly company.” One witness
deposed that the head keeper of the prison had a special love for him out of
gratitude for the cure of his wife of a serious illness by causing her to drink
a certain potion.
“Every
one regarded as in some way miraculous,” says Cardinal Pieroti, “the
fact that as they were on their way to be martyred, the sky hitherto clear became
suddenly overcast. The crowd who accompanied the servants of God were alarmed
and cried out: ‘The sentence is unjust and heaven is showing its displeasure
because they are about to put these two just men to death, while so many criminals
in the kingdom are allowed to remain unmolested.’”
The same multitude saw
with astonishment two doves flying above the two servants of God some moments
after their heads had been cut off.
Agnes Su-Ri who testified
during the process of beatification, affirmed that many infidels and some even
who were possessed by the devil were cured by contact with the blood of the
martyrs. A still greater number of Christians were freed from various diseases
by making use of pieces of paper stained with their blood.
Even the picture of
Blessed Gil, as his biographers assure us, which were widely distributed after his
glorious martyrdom wrought numberless prodigies. Among the most remarkable of
these were the cure of Don Jose, dean of Barcelona, of Don Philip Francis de
Hone, a nephew of Blessed Gil, of Mrs. Mary Teresa Lleida, of Don Jose Antonio Talern,
a lawyer of Barcelona, and several Annamite Christians and pagans.
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