Nguyễn Văn Thuận Explained

Type:Cardinal
Honorific-Prefix:Venerable
François-Xavier Nguyễn Văn Thuận
President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace
Native Name:Phanxicô Xaviê Nguyễn Văn Thuận
Native Name Lang:vi
Church:Catholic
Appointed:24 June 1998
Term End:16 September 2002
Predecessor:Roger Marie Élie Etchegaray
Successor:Renato Raffaele Martino
Other Post:Cardinal-Deacon of Santa Maria della Scala (2001–2002)
Ordination:11 June 1953
Consecration:24 June 1967
Consecrated By:Angelo Palmas
Cardinal:21 February 2001
Created Cardinal By:Pope John Paul II
Rank:Cardinal-Deacon
Birth Date:17 April 1928
Birth Place:Huê, French Indochina
Death Place:Rome, Italy
Buried:Santa Maria della Scala, Rome, Italy
Nationality:Vietnamese
Religion:Catholic
Partner:-->
Coat Of Arms:Coat_of_arms_of_Francis-Xavier_Nguyễn_Văn_Thuận.svg
Motto:Gaudium et spes
(Joy and hope)

Phanxicô Xaviê Nguyễn Văn Thuận, also known as Francis-Xavier Nguyễn Văn Thuận (in Vietnamese pronounced as /ŋʷjə̌ˀn van tʰwə̂ˀn/; 17 April 1928 – 16 September 2002), was a Vietnamese cardinal in the Catholic Church. He was a nephew of South Vietnam's first president, Ngô Đình Diệm, and of Archbishop Ngô Đình Thục.[1] [2] [3]

Pope Francis named him as Venerable on 4 May 2017, a significant step on the road towards canonization.[4]

Early life

Thuận was born in Huế in 1928, the son of Nguyễn Văn Ấm and Elizabeth Ngô Đình Thị Hiệp, daughter of Ngô Đình Khả.[5] He joined the seminary at An Ninh as a teenager, and was ordained a priest on 11 June 1953, by Monsignor Jean-Baptiste Urrutia.[5] After three years of further studies in Rome, he was appointed in 1959–1967 as a faculty member and rector of the Seminary of Hoan Thiện, Huế.

Cardinal Name:François Nguyễn Văn Thuận
Dipstyle:His Eminence
Offstyle:Your Eminence
See:Vadesi (titular)

Episcopal career

He was appointed Bishop of Nha Trang on 13 April 1967 and received episcopal consecration on 4 June 1967 at Huế from Angelo Palmas, Apostolic Delegate to Viêt Nam (and later Nuncio to Colombia and to Canada), assisted by Archbishops Philippe Nguyễn Kim Điền, titular archbishop of Parium and Apostolic Administrator of Huế, and Jean-Baptiste Urrutia, titular archbishop of Carpato. On 24 April 1975, he was appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of Sài Gòn. Six days later, Sài Gòn fell to the North Vietnamese Army. Thuận, targeted for his faith as well as his family connections to Ngô Đình Diệm, was detained by the communist government of Vietnam in a re-education camp for 13 years, nine in solitary confinement.[6]

In prison, he smuggled out messages to his people on scraps of paper. The brief reflections, copied by hand and circulated within the Vietnamese community, have been printed in the book, The Road of Hope. Through a network of influential Overseas Vietnamese, including dignitaries, like his former classmate Monsignor Trần Văn Hoài, The Road of Hope was distributed worldwide. Another book, Prayers of Hope, contains his prayers written in prison. The bishop fashioned a tiny Bible out of scraps of paper. Sympathetic guards smuggled in a piece of wood and some wire from which he crafted a small crucifix.[7]

In exile

On 21 November 1988, Thuận was released by the communist government but kept under house arrest in the archbishop's house in Hanoi, impeded from returning to his see, Hồ Chí Minh City. He was allowed to visit Rome in 1991 but not to return. The following year, he was given a post at the International Catholic Commission for Migration in Geneva, Switzerland. On 24 November 1994, he was appointed President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, and at the same time resigned from his post of Coadjutor Archbishop of Sai Gon. As President of the Pontifical Council, he handled issues such as Third World debt. In 1995, he was appointed Postulator of the Cause of Beatification of Brother Nguyễn Tan Văn, also known as Marcel Van. On 21 February 2001, Thuận was created a Cardinal Deacon of Santa Maria della Scala. He died of cancer in a clinic in Rome, Italy, on 16 September 2002, at the age of 74.

Legacy

On 16 September 2007, the fifth anniversary of the cardinal's death, the Catholic Church began the beatification process for Thuận.[8]

Pope Benedict XVI expressed "profound joy" at news of the official opening of the beatification cause.[9] Catholics in Vietnam also positively received the news on beatification process opening for the cardinal. In the words of a catechist from the Archdiocese of Hồ Chí Minh City, "Nguyễn Văn Thuận is an example of holiness for Vietnamese Catholics and for the entire world."[10]

In his 2007 encyclical, Spe Salvi, Benedict XVI referred to Thuận's Prayers of Hope, saying:

During thirteen years in jail, in a situation of seemingly utter hopelessness, the fact that he could listen and speak to God became for him an increasing power of hope, which enabled him, after his release, to become for people all over the world a witness to hope—to that great hope which does not wane even in the nights of solitude.

Dr. Waldery Hilgeman is postulator of the cause for Thuận's canonization.[11]

Writings

Quotes

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. André Nguyen Van Chau The Miracle of Hope
  2. André Nguyen Van Chau The Road of Hope: A Gospel from Prison(French edition: Une vie d'espérance) 2007
  3. Michael D. O'Brien, Road of Hope: The Spiritual Journey of Cardinal Nguyen Van Thuan Ignatius Press 2010
  4. Web site: 12 beatification causes advance, including Father Solanus Casey, 2 cardinals : News Headlines. catholicculture.org. 13 February 2019.
  5. Web site: Biography of Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan. Cardinal F.X. Thuan. Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan Foundation. 3 July 2014. 18 October 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20191018031810/http://www.card-fxthuan.org/about-cardinal/bio-english.php. dead.
  6. Web site: Spe Salvi – Encyclical Letter of His Holiness Benedict XVI on Christian Hope. 17 March 2013. The late Cardinal Nguyen Van Thuan, a prisoner for thirteen years, nine of them spent in solitary confinement, has left us a precious little book: Prayers of Hope..
  7. News: Cardinal Nguyen Van Thuan . 19 September 2002 . . Obituaries . 29 January 2017 . https://archive.today/20170129203208/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1407591/Cardinal-Nguyen-Van-Thuan.html . 29 January 2017 . live .
  8. News: Late Vietnamese cardinal put on road to sainthood. Reuters. 17 September 2007. 17 September 2007.
  9. News: Pope rejoices at opening of cause for beatification of Vietnamese 'prophet of Christian hope'. UCANews. 18 September 2007. 17 June 2011. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20110606064013/http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=25397. 6 June 2011.
  10. News: Card Van Thuan, from prison towards the altar. AsiaNews.it. 25 September 2007. 17 June 2011.
  11. Web site: Pope's Address to Participants of Cause of Sainthood for Cardinal Francois-Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan. 7 July 2013. 13 February 2019.
  12. News: Address by Cardinal Nguyễn Văn Thuận's sister, Elizabeth. Zenit News Agency. 19 June 2008. 17 June 2011. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20110607224515/http://www.zenit.org/article-22959?l=english. 7 June 2011.