DOMINICANS had been sending missionaries from Manila to Annam — what is today central and south Vietnam — from the 17th century, making a considerable success in the conversion of people, especially during the first half of the 19th century. This development of Christianity was not welcomed by the Nguyen dynasty, which had a policy of national isolation and persecution of foreigners, especially friars. As a consequence, Bishop José María Díaz Sanjurjo, OP, was martyred in 1857. Fr. Melchor García Sampedro, OP, suffered the same fate in 1858 — and today is a saint.

The area was not being evangelized by Spanish friars. The Society of Foreign Missions of Paris also had friars, and they were from France. Some of them were also martyred, like Father Augustin Schoeffler in 1851 — today a saint — and Fr. Jean-Louis Bonnard in 1852.

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