[MANUSCRIT] Memorias sobre [la vida y muerte de] XXVII venerables siervos de Dios, que en los años mil ochociontos [sic] treinta y ocho, treinta y nueve y cuarenta murieron por la Religion catolica en el Vicariato Apostolico, del Tun Kin Oriental

Precious manuscript copy of the celebrated memoir, which remained unpublished, by the Spanish Dominican friar Domingo Marti (1811–1852), senior missionary and apostolic vicar in Vietnam, composed in that country in 1841, containing the biography and account of the circumstances surrounding the violent deaths of twenty-seven Catholic martyrs, victims of the persecution carried out by Emperor Minh-Mang, the "Nero of Indochina."

Full grangerized sheep binding, spine with five raised bands framed by gilt friezes and decorated with double gilt fillets, black sheep lettering-piece, double blind-fillet border to boards, marbled pastedowns and endpapers, binding signed by Victorio Arias, bookbinder in Madrid, with his stamp printed at the head of one endpaper.

These events constitute one of the darkest chapters in the modern history of Vietnam, and one of the most painful episodes in the history of the Western presence in that country.

The document also contains valuable information on Vietnamese customs, traditions and social practices, as well as details on their judicial system and national character. Going beyond the historico-religious framework, this manuscript provides a wealth of detail on Minh-Mang's political strategies in dealing with Westerners, and on the internal power struggles between the imperial court, the mandarin class, the regional lords and the population at large.

Our copy appears to be the one cited by Palau y Dulcet, described as having "250 pages"; the collation is rigorously identical to the present manuscript. The manuscript was compiled at the Spanish missions in Vietnam in 1841 and remained in situ for many years at the House of the Dominicans of Eastern Tonkin.

Entirely legible, it was written in black ink on fine China paper.

The introduction bears the autograph signature and paraph of the author, Father Domingo Marti, together with a number of autograph corrections in his hand.

Title enclosed within a double thick-and-thin rule border and embellished with an elongated fleuron drawn in pen.

In composing this work, Father Marti had access to first-hand information supplied by eyewitnesses, as well as to original documents preserved in the archives of his diocese, in addition to events of which he was himself a direct witness. Throughout this extensive work, the author presents only what he was able to rigorously verify and document, subjecting every fact advanced to scrupulous examination in the interest of the highest fidelity to truth. By way of introduction, he provides a concise history of the missionaries and martyrs of Tonkin from 1627 through to the martyrs of 1837–1840.

The manuscript contains the life, passion and martyrdom of the Blessed, with biographical notes of considerable interest, catalogued as follows: – Agustin Huy, Christian soldier, sawn asunder on 13 June 1839. – Nicolas Thé, Christian soldier, sawn asunder on 13 June 1839. – Domingo Dat, Christian soldier, strangled on 18 July 1839. – Ignacio Delgado, Spanish, Bishop of Mellipotamia, Apostolic Vicar of Eastern Tonkin, died in prison on 12 July 1838. – Domingo Henares, Spanish, Bishop of Fesseite, beheaded on 25 June 1838. – Vincente Do Yen, priest, beheaded on 30 June 1838. – Francisco Chiêu, catechist, beheaded on 25 June 1838. – José Fernandez, Spanish Dominican, beheaded on 24 July 1838. – Pedro Juan ou Thuan, priest, died in prison on 15 July 1838. – José Uyên ou Nguyen Dinh Upen, catechist, died on 4 July 1838. – Bernardo Duê, priest, beheaded on 1 August 1838. – Domingo Hânh, called Diêu, Dominican, beheaded on 1 August 1838. – José Dang Dinh (Nien) Vien, priest, beheaded on 21 August 1838. – Pedro Tu ou Thi, priest, and six companions, among them François-Xavier Ha Thong Mâu, catechist, Domingo Bui Van Uy, catechist, Agustin Nguyen Van Moi, layman, Esteban Nguyen Van Vinti, layman, Tomas Nguyen Van Du ou Dé, tailor, all beheaded on 19 December 1839. – Domingo Tuoc, priest, murdered on 2 April 1839. – Francisco Tomas Du, priest, beheaded on 26 November 1839. – Domingo Nguyen Van (Doan) Xuyen, priest, beheaded on 26 November 1839. – Agustin Dien, catechist, throat cut, November (?) 1839. – José Do Quang Hien ou Haon, priest, beheaded on 9 May 1840, brother of Antonio Nguyen Huu Nam Quynh, layman, beheaded on 10 July 1840. – Tomas Toan ou Thieu, catechist, died on 27 June 1840. – Domingo Trach Doai, priest, beheaded on 18 September 1840. – A child, son of Augustin Huy, strangled in June 1838.

These Blessed form part of a group of sixty-four martyrs who died between 1798 and 1853, beatified on 27 May 1900 by Pope Leo XIII. They belong to the group of one hundred and seventeen Martyrs of Vietnam canonised by Pope John Paul II on 19 June 1988.

Among these Blessed were ten French priests of the Paris Foreign Missions, eleven Spanish Dominicans, fourteen religious sisters, and the heaviest toll borne by ninety-six Vietnamese faithful.

A small tear to the foot of the first leaf, endpapers browned.

Father Domingo Marti, who entered the Order of Preachers in 1827, was born in Morella (Castellón de la Plana), Spain, in 1811. On 14 May 1828, in the company of seventeen fellow friars, he sailed from Cádiz aboard the frigate Socorro bound for Manila, where he disembarked on 24 October of that same year. Ordained priest in 1834, he was sent in 1837 to Cagayan in the Philippines, and then that same year to Vietnam. Pope Gregory XVI signed a brief appointing him Apostolic Vicar in 1845, a posting that became effective under the pontificate of Pope Pius IX in 1847. Monsignor Marti was subsequently appointed to the Mission of Central Tonkin in Vietnam, and that same year assumed the title of titular Bishop of Tricomia (Palestine). It was in 1848, in his capacity as Apostolic Vicar of Central Tonkin in Vietnam, that he endured the most violent persecutions of Catholics at the hands of the Vietnamese authorities. Father Marti, known in Tonkinese as Dua Thay Gia, died in Hong Kong at the French Foreign Missions House on his return journey to Manila on 26 August 1852.

He is the author of several works and epistolary reports on the martyrs put to death in the Far East, the most significant of which is Memorias sobre XXVII venerables siervos de Dios, que en los años mil ochociontos [sic] treinta y ocho, treinta y nueve y cuarenta murieron por la Religion catolica en el Vicariato Apostolico, del Tun Kin Oriental, compiled in 1841 and remaining in manuscript. Father Marti also composed an Año Cristiano in the Tonkinese language, containing the lives of the saints of his order, which likewise remained unpublished.

History and Politics of Vietnam — This work on the martyrs of Tonkin forms part of a long continuum of historical and sociocultural events in Vietnam. Tonkin had been under Chinese domination from the early centuries of the first millennium until 939, when General Ngô Quyên (897–944) seized power, becoming the first king of Vietnam, simultaneously freeing his country from Chinese rule and founding the Ngô dynasty. Following the death of Ngô Quyên in 944, the country would be governed by viceroys engaged in perpetual fratricidal conflict, the Twelve Lords, until 968, from which date Vietnam was ruled by Dinh Bô Linh, the first emperor of Dai Cô Viêt, ancestor of modern Vietnam. This emperor, who reigned from 968 until his assassination in 979, was the founder of the Dinh dynasty. From 980 to 1009, power was held by the Former Lê dynasty, the Nhà Tiên Lê, celebrated for having repulsed the Song Chinese invasion. Three indigenous dynasties — the Former Lê, the Lý and the Trân — retained power until the beginning of the fifteenth century, at which point China briefly reasserted control. A scion of the Later Lê dynasty, which supplied an unbroken succession of rulers from 1428 to 1788 with some interruptions, Soï, leader of the national faction, secured a measure of independence for his country following a decade-long war that, according to contemporary sources, cost the lives of 300,000 Chinese, though he was nonetheless compelled to pay a tribute in kind every three years. In 1523, Lê Du deposed his father-in-law, King Coung Hoan, and inaugurated the Mạc dynasty.