At the time when the Blessed Gil de Federich began his priestly
labors the persecution was raging with greater violence than before. In virtue
of a decree of the 12th of January, 1736, the Christians were compelled to
submit to numberless vexations including the bastinade, fine and imprisonment.
The missionaries, constantly on their guard, compelled to
conceal themselves and to keep changing their hiding places, were continually
hampered in the exercise of their ministry. Four Jesuits lately arrived from Europe
had been arrested and put to death. Terror reigned everywhere, yet the work of
God was carried on in the face of the greatest difficulty and at the cost of
the most painful sacrifices. A missionary (1) writing at this time says: “Since the martyrdom of these Fathers we go
out with more freedom than before to administer the sacraments; the Christians
have taken new courage and we are admitted more readily into their houses where
we celebrate Holy Mass before large gatherings of the faithful and even of the
pagans, many of whom are being converted. A goodly number of apostates have done
penance and are reconciled.”
The servant of God continued to spend himself without reserve in
this vineyard of the Lord who was soon to reward him for his labors and for his
zeal by affording him opportunities of proving the great charity with which his
heart was consumed, and of suffering endless torments for His love. As the
heart of a lover is never more happy than when he is suffering for the object
of his affection, so the just never receive more abundant consolations than when
they are carrying a heavy cross after their divine Master.
If the sufferings endured by Gil de Federich up to this time
were not sufficient to satisfy his holy desires, the time was coming when he
would be called upon to make a complete though prolonged sacrifice of himself
to God by a martyrdom which was to continue during seven years and to be
finally crowned, as we shall see, by a most glorious death. The two centuries
and a half of religious persecution which have been carried on in Tonkin were, almost
without a single exception, instigated by the bonzes who saw in the extension
of Christianity, a menace to their worship and a condemnation of their deceits.
As early as 1733 an influential and intriguing bonze appeared who was called
Thay Tinh, which signifies Master Tinh. Tinh had himself named chief of an
expedition set on foot by the mandarins of the Province, and directed against the
Christians and especially against the missionaries. He inflicted considerable
damage upon, our Christian settlements, above all upon that of Tru-Linh, the chief
residence of the missionaries. His main purpose was not only to gratify his
hatred for the missionaries, but at the same time to get possession of one of
them, thinking that for this brave deed the court would reward him with high
honors and great wealth. He hoped also to extort a good sum of money from the
Christians who would be sure to try to ransom their spiritual Father.
On the 3rd of August, 1737, Father Gil found himself in the village
of Lin-Thuy-ha where he proposed to celebrate the feast of St. Dominic on the day
following. On the morning of the 3rd, the weather being at the time rainy and
windy, he ascended the altar to say Holy Mass. During the Mass he noticed an
unusual agitation among the faithful. A Christian named Ba-Ri who had been keeping
watch on the river, had come to warn them that a strange and unknown individual
was prowling about his boat. Neither the Father nor the Christians who were
assisting at Mass attached any great importance to this warning. However, after
Mass, as if he had foreseen what was about to happen, Father Gil had the altar taken
down and the ornaments and sacred vessels concealed. Then he calmly withdrew to
make his thanksgiving.
At that moment he received an urgent message from the village of
Luc-Thuy-ha, begging him to flee with all the Christians who were with him. The
latter, thrown into confusion by this startling announcement, rushed towards
the river to find a sampan and to rescue their good Father. But they were too
late for the house was already surrounded by the infidels. Seeing that it was
impossible to save himself, Father Gil told the catechists and the other
Christians who surrounded him to conceal themselves or to escape if possible by
flight. Then, after having recommended himself to St. Joseph, he presented
himself with a serene countenance to the howling mob and said to them: “Whom do you seek? I am him whom you seek.”
The bonze Tinh who directed this band of brigands, ordered them to seize the
missionary. After tying his hands behind his back, they drove him brutally
before them to the boat prepared beforehand on the river. He found there several
Christian women and a man, all of them bound like himself. When the Blessed Gil
saw them he said to the bonze and his company: “Since you have me in your power why do you detain these? Let them go!”
Strange to say, the wicked Tinh when
he heard this command, had them
unbound and set at liberty without uttering a word.
By dint of rowing the pagans very soon landed their holy prisoner
at the house of the bonze in the village of Thuy-Nhai-Thuong. There Tinh asked
the Blessed Gil if he were afraid. “Not for
my own life,” he answered, “but I
fear for the people.”
As soon as the Christians of the neighborhood had been assured of
the imprisonment of their beloved leader they arose in a body to deliver him out
of the hands of this wretched pagan priest by force, if necessary, or else to
purchase his ransom. In order to deceive them the bonze had recourse to an
infamous stratagem. Accompanied by two servants and carrying a sword in his
hand, he entered with a menacing air the place where the servant of God was. He
ordered him to be tied to a field-bed and an inscription to be placed in his
hands, as is wont to be done to criminals who are about to be executed, and he
seemed to be making preparations to cut off his head. After a short time,
however, he told him not to fear, that all this had been done to frighten the
Christians and to keep them quiet.
On another occasion he led him bound like a notorious criminal
to a large house where many people were present and one in particular who pretending
to be a minister of the king, questioned him on many topics and especially on
the Christian faith. The confessor of Jesus Christ took advantage of this
opportunity to make known a few important truths to these benighted pagans. The
bonze was doing all this only to legalize in the public eye his criminal act in
having on his own authority imprisoned this teacher of the religion who was
held in such high repute in that district. By this means the scoundrel tried to
extort from the Christians a large sum of money, as the sequel will show. His eldest
son, Tsi-Ba, who had previously spoken to the Father and had even given him a
fan, approached him hypocritically and said to him: “I am a bad Christian and my name is Dominic. Your case will soon be
settled. They are only waiting for the five hundred taels demanded for your ransom
which is sure to be collected.” And in order to make his story still more plausible he gave him on behalf of Ba Nhing, a Christian woman,
a paper containing a certain kind of
powder. The servant of God suffered
much while in this prison from the odious
Thay-Tinh who kept him almost continually
bound and under observation. Once he even brought him to a pagoda and left him on the hard and damp ground for two nights and a day
which brought on a violent fever.
The imprisonment of our holy missionary was soon known throughout the mission and caused consternation among
the other Dominican religious who had
hitherto regarded Luc-Thuy as a very safe
place; the missionary, as they thought, was so well guarded by the vigilance
and affection of the Chris tians that such a stroke was out of the question.
But they had reckoned without a certain Judas, a favorite of the Bishop, as it
was supposed, who made known to Tinh the whereabouts of Father Gil, and the
best means of seizing him.
The capture of the Blessed Gil, as might have been noted,
presents circumstances strikingly similar to those attending the taking of Our
Lord – the Judas, the false priest, the personal interest, and the expressions:
“I am he whom you seek” and “Let these go,” together with the
illegal interrogatories carried on by judges without authority.
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Notes:
(1)
Father M. de Rivas: "Idea del Imperio de Anam," Ch. XV.
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