By CAROLE BRESLIN
For most Americans, North Vietnam has had negative connotations, ever since the Vietnam War when Communists from the North invaded South Vietnam. Nevertheless, it is inspiring that some heroic men and women from there sacrificed a great deal to persevere in their faithfulness to the Catholic Church.
In a suburb of Hanoi, the national capital of the then North Vietnam, there lived a tailor. His wife, who worked in the rice paddies, was a devout Catholic. Together they had three children — the oldest and the youngest were girls and the middle child was a boy. They named him Joachim Nguyen Tan Van. Nguyen was the family name, Tan indicated his generation and Van was his given name, with Joachim being his Christian name. He was born on March 15, 1928 in Ngam Giao.
Although Van’s mother was meek, kind, and charitable, his father deteriorated into bad habits — gambling and drunkenness. This caused great hardship and suffering in the family, drawing Van ever closer to his pious mother.
Van was also kind, sensitive, loving, and very close to his younger sister, Anne-Marie Te, from the time when she was born. He would gather his cousins and organize processions to honor the Blessed Virgin Mary and take his younger sister with him.
Because of his uncommonly deep attachment to Te, his parents sent him to live with his aunt. When he was six, he returned to his parents. Eager to receive his First Holy Communion, Van began studying his catechism, so Van and his mother prayed the rosary together frequently as part of his preparation.
In 1934, Van received his First Holy Communion as he petitioned the Lord for two special graces: “to keep his heart pure so that he could love Him with all his heart [and] to give all men and women perfect rock solid faith.”
His love for our Lord increased rapidly as he received Holy Communion daily whenever possible. Soon he also received the Sacrament of Confirmation, further deepening his longing to love God more. He wanted to become a priest to bring the Gospel to non-Christians.
He went to school, but his health began to fail through the shock of being treated brutally by the teacher. “…It is because of the very strict education system that I came to such a state of exhaustion.”
This cruel treatment stemmed from a catechist who resented Van’s practice of daily Holy Communion. This teacher would allow the child to receive our Lord only when he agreed to be beaten, withholding his meals, and keeping him from praying the rosary. Thankfully, the laundry woman noticed the blood on Van’s clothes and reported it to the pastor who banned the teacher from having any contact with Van.
Van survived, as he wrote, only by the support of the Blessed Virgin Mary: “Thanks to her, the Devil was never able to win.” His suffering and persecution intensified when typhoons destroyed the family farm, leaving the family poverty stricken. Van fell from his position as student to one of servant, and from servant to slave, thereby denying him any means of becoming a priest.
Even though one teacher had been refused contact with Van, the other catechists interrogated Van and accused him; they beat him, and stripped him of his clothes. The students of those catechists would then join their mentors in drinking alcohol and entertaining neighborhood girls. Such behavior greatly disturbed Van.
Because of these new difficulties, Van escaped from the rectory where he had been enslaved. He could find neither another seminary that would accept him nor work to earn his keep. Thus he returned to the seminary, but things became so bad that he left once again to return home. His mother, however, was unable to provide for him so he returned to the school once again.
Van could tolerate the depraved conditions for only two months. Then he left for the last time to become a beggar on the streets. “I found this life of a poor vagabond not at all difficult. On the contrary, I felt a peaceful joy in suffering for God. I knew that by escaping I had avoided sin; I had avoided what grieves the Heart of God.”
After more trials, Van landed at the Parish of St. Therese of the Child Jesus in Qang-Uyen. There he became discouraged as he thought that he could not endure the painful penances he believed were necessary to become a saint.
Then Van read The Story of a Soul by St. Therese of Lisieux. He shed many tears as he embraced the simple act of holiness — to give and receive love. The next morning, he prayed before Mary asking her to give him St. Therese as his guide so that he could offer himself to God with complete confidence. Then he turned to Jesus, asking Him for the same favor.
Van went to a nearby hill to pray and heard St. Therese address him, accepting him as her little brother and messenger of God’s love. He was to bring all to God in prayer: his prayers, joys, and sufferings were to share with the One who loves him most. (See the Autobiography by Marcel Van.) The joy of this visitation never left Van.
In a subsequent visitation Therese told Van he would not be a priest. After expressing his great sorrow, she told him love is more important and that his prayers and sacrifices would save more souls.
He then had a dream of St. Alphonsus Liguori and joined the Redemptorists, becoming a postulant on October 17, 1944 as Brother Marcel. Jesus said to Van, “My child, for the love of mankind, offer yourself with me so that they may be saved.”
Once again, as foretold by Jesus, Van would suffer from his superiors and confreres. His consolations ceased, leaving him the constant sorrow of the cross, which he embraced with love for God and man.
In 1950 he was sent to Saigon and then to Dalat. The Communists took over North Vietnam in 1954, so many Catholics fled to the South. Van returned to Hanoi to assist the Redemptorists who remained to shepherd the remaining Catholics.
On May 7, 1955 he was arrested and sent to the central prison in Hanoi where he met many other priests. He was sentenced to 15 years in a “re-education” camp. Although Van longed for death, God told him: “I am ready to follow your will as you always follow Mine, but there are many souls that still need you.”
The government then transferred Van in August 1957 to another prison, where he was beaten because he had escaped to search for consecrated Hosts. Then they locked him in a cell with inhuman conditions where he contracted tuberculosis and beriberi, which took his life on July 10, 1959. He was 31 years old.
His cause for canonization was opened in the Diocese of Belley-Ars, France, on March 26, 1997.
Dear Brother Marcel, there still are many more souls that need to be saved. Obtain for us the special graces needed to embrace suffering, persecution, humiliations, and all the trials in life for the sake of saving souls. Amen.
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(Carole Breslin home-schooled her four daughters and served as treasurer of the Michigan Catholic Home Educators for eight years. For over ten years, she was national coordinator for the Marian Catechists, founded by Fr. John A. Hardon, SJ.)
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