November 24
The saints and feasts remembered on November 24, each with a short life, a Bible passage and a prayer.
Saints Andrew Dung-Lac and Companions
Vietnamese priest named first among 117 martyrs killed for their faith
Andrew Dung-Lac was born around 1795 in northern Vietnam, into a family that was not Christian. As a young man he came to faith through a catechist, was baptised Andrew, and was ordained a priest in 1823. He served his people while laws against Christians grew harsher under Emperor Minh Mạng.
He was arrested more than once; on one occasion his parishioners collected money to buy his release. He changed his name to Lạc to avoid being recognised, but he was caught again and beheaded in Hanoi in December 1839.
He is remembered together with 116 others killed in Vietnam between 1745 and 1862: Vietnamese priests, catechists, soldiers, farmers, fathers of families and one mother, Agnes Lê Thị Thành, alongside Spanish and French missionaries. Most were lay people. Pope John Paul II canonised them together in 1988, honouring a Church that kept its faith through more than a century of persecution.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
Romans 8:35–37 · BSB
A prayer
God of all peoples, you gave Andrew Dung-Lac and his companions courage to stay faithful to Christ when it cost them their freedom and their lives. Strengthen Christians who suffer for their faith today, and help us to follow Jesus with the same quiet steadiness, whatever it may cost. Amen.
The lives are written with AI help from public-domain histories and checked before publishing; the prayers are ours. Bible quotations are from the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), in the public domain. How we write.