by Rev. M.
B. Cothonay, O.P., 1911
Our future martyr, like Our Lord Himself, was handed over to the
civil authority. If there was perfidy in his capture there was still greater
perfidy in delivering him over loaded with chains to the court magistrates. The
Christians had encountered so many obstacles in rescuing him from the hands of
Tinh either by force or with money, that they thought now that they would
succeed with less difficulty by going directly to the mandarin of the province
who having been informed of the affair was making preparations to take charge
of the prisoner. Two courageous Christians, John Thu and the literatus
Chong-Luang, were deputed to arrange matters with the mandarin at his own
residence.
This mandarin, whose name was Phu-Don, was both hypocritical and
avaricious; and, seeing in this business a favorable opportunity to extort
money, he received the two Christian envoys most cordially. According to the
custom, they brought with them a costly gift. He was very indignant at the
bonze declaring that his action was both despicable and illegal. The Christians
could depend upon it that the Father would be set at liberty immediately. Delighted
with their reception and with these generous promises, the two Christians
having delivered to the mandarin the sum they had collected for the ransom of
their missionary, which he accepted with pleasure, and set out at once for Thuy-Nhai.
On reaching that village in two small boats which he left in the
river he ordered a cannon to be fired to announce his arrival and to assemble
the people. The one who was most alarmed was the bonze whose house was filled
with a crowd of people, the greater number of whom were Christians. Every one
thought that they were about to liberate the holy prisoner. On the following
day, however, the mandarin gave orders that he should be bound with a rope and
conveyed to one of the small boats which he had brought with him. The mandarin
caused the arrest also of one of Tinh's attendants who declared himself a
servant of the eunuch Du-Gia-Bao, the same, it is believed, who had acted as
judge sedens pro tribunal, and had
interrogated Father Gil. The Christians then reminded the mandarin of his
promise who told them to remain quiet and he would soon restore their teacher
to them. The mandarin's two boats weighed anchor and, followed by a great number
of sampans occupied by Christians, reached the harbor called the market town of
Cho-Cat where the party remained a whole day, the Father being still a prisoner
in bonds. The Christians renewed their entreaties and the crafty mandarin
informed them that as soon as they should reach Cua-Vuang, their missionary
would be set free. But when they arrived at this place the mandarin, throwing
off the mask, told the Christians that he would certainly be pleased to
liberate their teacher but since his arrest had been so public, he could not do
otherwise and he was in duty bound to take him to the King's court and hand him
over to that tribunal.
This shameless mandarin, after having basely deceived the Christians
and pocketed their money, hoped to obtain from the Court to which he was about
to deliver his prisoner, a generous return in the shape of honors and other
advantages. Like the majority of his kind, he must have had at heart a deep
hatred for our holy religion for, from the moment that he got our martyr under
his control, he treated him with great cruelty. His wife and sons were more
kindly disposed. They took pity on the Lord's minister and spent much time in
consoling him, asking him questions about his country, about the Christian
religion and other subjects. Seeing him so weak and stricken with the fever of
which he suffered a relapse at Cua-Vuang, they brought him the best nourishment
and remedies that they could procure. The holy martyr wrote that they were so
attentive to all his needs that he had only to manifest a wish for something
when it was immediately granted. They had his linen washed and rendered him
many other services. At this place Father Gil had the great pleasure of receiving
a letter from his superior which his servant brought to him concealed in a
clean shirt.
Ill though he was, he was compelled to leave Cua-Vuang for
Hanoi. The attendant who had brought him the letter, Ou-Kiong by name, went
along to take care of him. This servant brought him a bottle of lemonade which
in the opinion of the servant of God, caused an increase of the fever. The poor
Father was so weak that he could scarcely stand; the road was almost
impassable, and several times the guards who accompanied him were obliged to carry
him on their shoulders. After travelling for four days they reached Hung-Yen,
the port of Hien. Here the mandarin seeing his prisoner so ill, sent to the
pagoda Chua-Dang for two remedies to see if they would stop the vomitings and
allay the fever which had reduced him to the last extremity. He took the first
that they offered him, but feeling that it was of no benefit to him, he refused
the other. On the 23rd or the 24th of August they reached Hanoi where the mandarin
went to the Governor's house at once with his prisoner. The following questions
were put to him by the Governor. “Is not
the Christian religion prohibited in this kingdom? Why, then, have you come
here?” “I have come,” he replied,
“to snatch souls from perdition.” “If the
King has your head cut off, what will you do then?” “I shall endure it with pleasure.”
He was given into the custody of the body guard in the outer
hall of the palace where some Christians from Luc-Thuy visited him, among whom
was Anthony Kuong, a physician, who found him lying on the ground in the rain,
wet through and clad in a very short garment with his rosary around his neck.
This Christian asked the servant of God if there was anything that he would
like to have. With his head he signified in the negative. Nevertheless, the
physician went to purchase a coconut in order to have him drink the water of
this fruit; but the guards, suspecting that he wished to poison him, compelled
Bien-Thoan, another Christian who was present to taste the liquid first. The
poor Father was scarcely conscious of what was going on about him, as he
afterwards declared, so completely prostrated was he from the effects of the
fever and the privations which he had undergone. Such was his condition while
official measures were being taken to hand him over to the Court tribunal.
Here also he found sympathetic souls, even in the Governor's household
who gave him some care. Wishing to reward them for this, he preached to them
the Christian faith though he was all but dead. A note which he wrote to his
superior at this time reveals to us the heroic dispositions of his soul. “I believe,” he wrote, “that God has sent me the fever in order
that I might have something to suffer for his love, for I considered the
annoyances of which I was the object, and the inconveniences of the prison as
being of very little account. Far from making me sad, they inspired me with a
signal joy, and I looked upon them as a great favor from God.”
It was decided to send the servant of God to the public prison for
criminals called Ba-Mon. His weakness was so great that they were obliged to carry
him in a hammock. He was not locked up, but left in the court where he was
exposed to the inclemency of the weather, with no other bed than the bare
ground. Under the surveillance of the guardhouse he had as his fellow prisoner
the wretched attendant of Thay-Tinh. During the several days which he spent here
a pious Christian woman, the wife of a mandarin, brought him food which he scarcely
touched himself, giving nearly all to the attendant of the bonze.
On the 3Oth of August the directors of the prison Nghe-Don,
which was called the oriental prison, scenting a good opportunity of extorting
money from the Christians had the venerable prisoner delivered over to them and
he was led forth the same day almost naked, for the jailors of the prison had
left him only a pair of drawers and a shirt.
While the arrangements for his transfer were being made he was
left chained under a tree at the side of the street. Many infidels and
especially the children crowded about him and derided him. They made little
crosses of small pieces of bamboo which they contemptuously threw at his feet.
The servant of God gathered them up as well as he could, and after kissing them
took them asunder. How many times before his martyrdom had he not to endure this
sacrilegious mockery! A Christian woman called Ba-Kinh brought him a cup of
cocoa milk which revived him somewhat for he was in a fainting condition. She found
means also to visit him in his new prison and to bring him linen which the Christians
had sent to him.
The new jailers at first treated the confessor of the faith very
roughly and, as a result of this treatment, he became so weak that his end was thought
to be near. The Christians alarmed by his danger brought to him the Annamite
priest, Nghai, under the guise of a physician and cousin of the Christian woman
who had by the use of money obtained permission to visit him. He thus had the great
consolation of making his confession. Three days after his arrival at this new
prison the infamous jailers, in presence of the Christian woman, Ba-Kinh, bound
his feet in fetters and loaded him with a heavy chain, saying to her that if
the Christians would have the Father freed from the fetters and the chain, and
if she herself wished to continue to bring him food they must be paid twenty
ligatures a day. For one month the Christians paid over this amount, after
which the dear prisoner, having sufficiently recovered, begged them to pay no
more. The Christian woman whom the soldiers of the prison threatened to
denounce found it no longer possible to continue her charitable office. She
was, however, acquainted with an old woman living near the prison, a pagan, but
of a natural goodness of heart, whose name was Ba-Gao. Her she requested to
replace her with reference to the Father. She gave her consent and was to him
up to his martyrdom a veritable angel of mercy.
A word here concerning the bonze Tinh. The mandarin Phu-Don
taking advantage of every circumstance to raise himself in the esteem of his superiors,
accused the rascal of having seized the missionary without authorization and of
having kept him ten days in his house. This is his explanation of the affair to
the mandarin of the court: “Learning that
a teacher of the Christian religion was travelling through my province I landed
at Thuy-Thai, I inquired into the matter and I found that an Annamite named
Tinh was supporting and keep ing in his house this religious teacher by the
name of Te, and with him several religious objects which I have the honor to
deliver with him to the king's magistrate.”
This skilfully worded accusation appeared to the magistrate to
be very serious and he resolved to bring the bonze to trial. This it was that
made the case of the Venerable Confessor of Christ drag along so slowly. The
matter could have been decided in a moment, but the quibbling of the Annamites
and their trickery, always through some motive of self-interest, kept it going
on for seven years. However, Thay-Tinh had powerful friends at Court and he had
good hopes of coming out victorious in spite of the accusations of the mandarin
of his province.
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