Blessed Andrew of Phú Yên

I was born in 1625 in Vietnam. Jesuit missionaries came to my village in 1640 to spread the message of the Gospel. I began to study with the priests to understand more of the faith. I was baptized the same year. I became a catechist and instructed others in the faith, with great joy and deep faith. The king of Vietnam declared Christianity illegal and ordered the Jesuits to leave the country. Anyone connected with Christianity was to be arrested. I was the first to be taken down to the court. They asked me to deny my faith. When I refused, I was sentenced to death in 1644.