Posted December 2, 2013

The parish community of St. Helena’s, which welcomes many people of Vietnamese heritage, celebrated the feast of the 117 Vietnamese martyrs Sunday, Dec. 1, at the church in Northeast Philadelphia.

Archbishop Charles Chaput was main celebrant for the Mass that included prayers of intercession to the martyrs and other elements of traditional Vietnamese Catholic culture.

The martyrs represent hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese, including Andrew Dung-Lac, and missionaries from France and Spain, who were tortured and killed from the 17th to the 19th centuries. They were canonized in 1988 by Pope John Paul II. Read background information on the website CatholicOnline.)

Click here to view video of the Mass

(Photos by Sarah Webb)

  • St. Helena Church, located at 5th Street and Godfrey Avenue in Philadelphia, welcomes a diverse population including many Vietnamese and Hispanic Catholics. Vietnamese worshipers packed the church Dec. 1 to celebrate the feast of the 117 Vietnamese martyrs. (Sarah Webb)

  • People pray before the church’s shrine to the Vietnamese martyrs before Mass.

  • Altar servers lead the procession for Mass as behind them a banner displays some of the names of the martyrs.

  • Deacon Huan C. Tran, a permanent deacon at St. Helena Parish, carries the book of Gospels in the procession for Mass.

  • Noi Nguyen prays along with fellow faithful during Mass for the Vietnamese martyrs.

  • Archbishop Charles Chaput preaches the homily while Msgr. Joseph Trinh, pastor of St. Helena Parish, translates into Vietnamese.