Saints' Discussion Forums

I was pleasantly surprised this evening to find an account of the martyrdom of Saint Joseph Marchand on a generally secular website. He was a French missionary to Viet Nam in the 1830's. The Vietnamese emperor was anti-Christian and attempted to expel all missionaries and force converts to recant. This triggered a rebellion which the emperor blamed on Fr. Marchand, who had arrived in the country two years earlier and quickly fallen ill. The priest was ordered to apostatize and to step on a cross. He would do neither, and after two days of torture where heated tongs were used to strip the flesh from his body, he died from his injuries, and passing beyond this sad world, entered paradise, where he dwells in the company of the martyrs and all the elect.

Thanks for great post.  My Delaney Saints book adds that St Joseph had joined the Society of Foreign Missions in Paris, was ordained, and sent to Vietnam.  He was martyred in 1835 and beatified in 1900, still reported as Blessed in 1980.  Pray for us, St Joseph Marchand.