Saint Joseph Marchand | |
|---|---|
 Catholic Martyr Joseph Marchand | |
| Martyr | |
| Born | 17 August 1803 Passavant, France |
| Died | 30 November 1835 (aged 32) Huế, Vietnam |
| Beatified | 27 May 1900 |
| Canonized | 19 June 1988 by Pope John Paul II |
| Feast | 30 November 24 November (with the Vietnamese Martyrs) |
Joseph Marchand (17 August 1803 – 30 November 1835) was a French missionary in Vietnam and a member of the Paris Foreign Missions Society.[1] He is now a Catholic saint, celebrated on 30 November.
Marchand was born in Passavant, in the Doubs department of France. At the age of 25 he joined the Paris Foreign Mission, whose primary goal was (and still is) to evangelize countries in Asia.
In 1833, he was invited to join the Lê Văn Khôi revolt led by Lê Văn Khôi, son of the late governor of southern Vietnam Lê Văn Duyệt. He vowed to overthrow Emperor Minh Mạng and replace him with My Duong, the son of Minh Mạng's late elder brother Nguyễn Phúc Cảnh, who were both Catholics. Khoi appealed to other Catholics to join in overthrowing Minh Mạng and installing a Catholic emperor. They quickly seized the Citadel of Saigon in an uprising lasting two years.[citation needed]
In 1835, he was arrested and later executed in Huế,[2] subsequently becoming a Catholic martyr after having his flesh pulled from his bones by tongs,[3] known as death by a thousand cuts.
Marchand was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1988. His feast day is 30 November and his joint feast day with the Vietnamese Martyrs is 24 November.[1][4]
