https://catholicpreaching.com/wp/the-eucharistic-shape-of-cardinal-van-thuans-holy-and-heroic-life-the-anchor-september-16-2022/https://www.cardinalvanthuan.org/index.php/en/life/biographyHiep's oldest son Cd. Van Thuan
Abp. Thucs sister Hiep (Elizabeth) and her children. (She had 8)
Cardinal François-Xavier Nguyên Van Thuân was born on April 17, 1928 in Phú Cam in the Archdiocese of Huê, in Central Vietnam. His parents were Nguyên Van Am and Elisabeth Ngo Thi Hiep, daughter of Ngo Dinh Kha. He was the second of nine children; four brothers and five sisters.At the age of thirteen, he entered into the Minor Seminary of An Ninh in Huê. Afterwards he continued his studies at the Major Seminary of Phú Xuân in the same city. He was ordained a priest on June 11, 1953.
After his priestly ordination, he carried out his pastoral ministry in some parishes of Huê and, from 1956 to 1959, he was sent to Rome to study at the Faculty of Canon Law in the Pontifical Urbaniana University. He finished his studies with a thesis on the subject of “Military Chaplains According to Canon Law”, for which he received highest approval (Summa cuм Laude). During his stay in Rome, he was granted the opportunity to participate in a Pontifical Audience with Pius XII, along with his maternal uncle, His Excellency Pierre Marie Ngo Dinh Thus, Bishop of Vinh Long in Vietnam.
Upon his return to Vietnam, he was nominated Professor; later, Rector of the Minor Seminary Hoan Thien from 1959 to 1967; finally, he was designated as Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Huê from 1964 to 1967.
On April 13, 1967, Pope Paul VI nominated him as successor of Bishop Raymond Paul Piquet, a missionary of Paris Foreign Missions Society. Bishop Van Thuân then becomes the first Vietnamese Bishop of Nha Trang. His Episcopal ordination took place on June 24, 1967 in Huê, presided over by His Excellency, Archbishop Angelo Palmas, the Apostolic Delegate in Saigon for Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. The episcopal motto chosen by the new Bishop is “Gaudium et Spes” (Joy and Hope), the title of the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World of the Second Vatican Council. On July 10, 1967, he took possession of the Diocese of Nha Trang and, for a period of eight years, sought to develop its pastoral life before the oncoming of difficult times.
On the 23rd of April 1975, Pope Paul VI nominated him Coadjutor, with the right of succession, of the Archdiocese of Saigon (now: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam), raising him to the dignity of Titular Archbishop of Vadesi. The communist authorities of Saigon, however, did not permit him to remain in the city. On the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 15th of August 1975, he was arrested and transferred to Nha Trang, to be imprisoned in Cay Vong. Then, he was transferred to the Prison of the Security Forces in the city of Hanoi in North Vietnam. Sometime later, along with 250 other prisoners, he was relocated to the Re-education Camp of Vinh Quang (Vinh Phú). He was placed under house arrest at Giang Xâ, in the Province of Son Tay. During the thirteen years of his imprisonment, of which 9 years were spent in solitude, he wrote his spiritual will, “The Road of Hope”, directed towards the Vietnamese faithful living in the Homeland and in diaspora.
Photo taken in Communist prison
After his imprisonment, he underwent seven surgeries and was three times in danger of death. He underwent his last surgery on May 8, 2002 at the National Institute for the Study and Treatment of Tumours (Istituto nαzιonale per lo Studio e la Cura dei Tumori) in Milan, Italy. Upon returning to Rome for convalescence, his health deteriorated and, on the 5th of June 2002, he was taken urgently to the Roman Agostino Gemelli Hospital of the Sacred Heart Catholic University, and later transferred to the Pius XI Nursing Home in the Eternal City to continue his treatment.On the 24th of November 1994, Pope John Paul II nominated him as Vice-President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. From the 24th of June 1998 until 2002, he was President of the same Council, in this way giving a decisive impulse for the deepening and diffusion of the Social Doctrine of the Church.He died on 16 September 2002 at the age of 74, after suffering from cancer. In 2017 he was declared Venerable by Pope Francis.
Topic: Autobiography of Archbishop Thuc (Read 5359 times)