Tac Say Church in Bac Lieu: Mekong tours & Religion

Overview:

Tac Say Church is located on National Highway 1A, when the car passes about 500m from 2218, people see a church in a beautiful high fence. That is Tac Say church.

TOC SAY CHURCH is located in Hamlet 2, Tan Long Commune, Gia Rai District, Bac Lieu Province. The Tac Say family is larger, including Hamlet 2, Ho Phong Town; Hamlet 2, Khuc Treo B hamlet, Tan Phong commune; Thanh Thuong hamlet; Quyet Thang hamlet, An Trach commune, Gia Rai district. Tac Say place name, according to local elders: there is a shortcut, small, passing the church in the middle of the reeds, because of the Southern pronunciation, the word “Tac" becomes the word “Tac"

History:

The first deity was a few people from far away such as Tra Long, Kinh Notre Dame, Ho Phong, etc. Currently, there is no one who has lived more than 80 years in the parish to provide documents for the early years. However, from the baptismal book and the oral traditions of the ancients, we can know that Father Jules DUCQUET, a French, of the Paris Missionaries Association, pastor of Bac Lieu family is the founder of the religion. Perhaps Tac Say is a branch of Bac Lieu. The first signature in the baptismal book at the parish of Father Jean Chrysostome CHE THANH TRI is dated June 10, 1925. This is considered as a milestone of the founding of the religion. As of today, March 10, 2000, they have just turned 75 years.

In the early days, there were only a few parishioners scattered in the dense forest of reeds, mangroves, acacias… Because there was no security, Father Duquet and Che Thanh Tri sometimes stopped by to baptize and comfort them. , support the laity. By August 1926, they became the main religious family. The first pastor was Father Paul TRAN MINH Kinh. During Father’s time, there was a small temporary chapel made of forest trees and leaves, located on the riverside, in Thanh Thuong hamlet, An Trach commune, Gia Rai, on the land of Mr. Ba Thai, the first pastor lived from August 1926 to March 1930. .

In March 1930, Father Francis TRUONG BAU Diep returned to his office, he moved the chapel to the side of the national highway, before the National Highway 4 going from Can Tho to Ca Mau, roofed with wooden panels, and built the house of the pastor and aunt. blessing. During his time as a pastor, he had a relationship with religious teachers, many people converted to religion… He established many religious groups around Tac Say area such as Khuc Treo, Ba Doc, An Hai, Chu Chi, Dau Sau, Dong Go. , Rach Snake… Working with him were two blessed Aunts of Divine Providence and three advocates. He is a person who has made a lot of contributions to the religious people of this area. The morning and evening bells ring every day, inviting the flock to God. On the bell is the name of Father Francis Truong Buu Diep. It is a memento of Father still in the parish. The social situation was bleak, the parishioners were displaced. After the heroic sacrifice, dying for more than 70 of Father’s faithful on March 12, 1946, the church was scattered, the church, the common house, the property was robbed, burned, only a few families remained for many days. yield. From 1946 to 1956, Fathers John Bt. Pham Bia Vang, Peter Tran Minh Ky, Michael Le Tan Cong, Alphonsus Nguyen Thien Tu, Francis Nguyen Van Duong from the families Bac Lieu, Cai Huu (Vinh My), Ca Mau came to help.

In 1952, Bishop John Bt. Chaabalier, Bishop of Phnom Penh (Nam Vang) Cambodia, and two French officers who wanted to re-establish their parish, called on Dominico Tran Dai Phuoc and Peter Nguyen Van Manh, from Ho Phong, to rebuild the house. worship. The situation was peaceful, the parishioners gathered gradually. The chapel was re-formed, with a melaleuca tree thatched with leaves, two eight-meter apartments, to pray early in the evening. In 1956, Father Louis Marcello DANG TUAN ANH (Allbéza) was sent by his superior to take care of the flock. He expanded the chapel into four 12-meter-long apartments, the aunt’s house and the rectory, though simple, but also a warm place for humanity, a place for children to study. Father stayed in the parish until February 1958.

In August 1958, Father John Bt. HO VAN DAI about taking care of the religious family. Because of the lack of security, the pastor often stayed up in the district, 7km from the parish, from there, there were more chapels, rectory, and Auntie’s house in Gia Rai. The war happened again, and he was reluctant to form a force to keep his parish and the surrounding area safe. In 1963, Father built the church with solid materials, 10 meters wide, 32 meters long, tin roofed on the present land. Unfortunately, He was mortally wounded. The two religious families, Tac Say and Gia Rai, have no priests, their common house is quiet, and some parishioners are looking for a safe place to live.

In early 1956, Father Joseph NGUYEN VAN TÍCH returned to work as a pastor. Accustomed to endure tough times in difficult times, they revived again. Social activities, missions, and industrial facilities were established at Hoi Chamber. The school is solidly built, consisting of two rows, each row of 4 rooms, meeting the learning needs of the children of the clergy. The Father’s part is in a small house on the platform. He gathered parishioners displaced by the war in Dau Sau, Chu Chi and Cho Hoi to form Hoa Binh parish, in hamlet 3, Tan Phong. He left the remains of Father Francis Truong Buu Diep, buried in the sacristy of Khuc Treo church towards the head of Tac Say church in 1969. Father stayed at the parish until May 1970.

From May 1970 to June 1971, Father Francis LE ELEGANT returned to continue his growing work at the parish. After a year, Father changed to Da Lat University to receive a new assignment.

In July 1971, Father Anthony NGUYEN TRI VIEN was named pastor by his superiors. With the available facilities, he paid more attention to the people in terms of religion, often going up and down in two families Gia Rai – Tac Say. The great event of the country in 1975 changed people’s skin, some people were confused and worried, some people were happy. Father stayed in the parish until August 1976. At this time, Father Peter Le Van Duyen came to help when the pastor was sick for a while and was away. During the transitional period, Father James Le Van To and Francis Huynh Van Son came to the parish to administer the sacraments.

Architecture:

The church has a strange and unique architecture consisting of 3 floors, the ground floor is a place for guests to rest, the 2nd and 3rd floors are the place to celebrate Mass with a very large foyer. The place where the tomb is located is designed as a large building with three roofs, in which the middle roof is higher than the two auxiliary roofs with large clocks, creating a prominent highlight for the whole building. Many wooden statues here are mostly of precious wood, the 2.5m high Huu Thao wooden statue was placed at Tac Say church on December 24, 2008 with sophisticated wood carvings, making the sacred atmosphere of the place even more sacred. This is more formal. Coming to Tac Say church, in addition to visiting the grave of Father Truong Buu Diep, people can admire the unique architecture of the Catholic church, which is considered one of the most beautiful churches in the western provinces. .

In the church grounds, there is a tomb containing the remains of Father Francis TRUONG BAU DIEP, many people believe in the sacred, many pilgrims visit, every day has been increasing since the 1990s. His tomb house was restored. and inaugurated on June 4, 1989, on the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, patron saint of the parish. After years of preparation, during the annual retreat of the diocesan priests, Bishop Emm. Le Phong Thuan, Bishop of Can Tho diocese, raised the Tac Say facility to the CENTER of the pilgrimage of Saint Francis on January 21, 1997.

Management:

Father Francis Xavier Truong Buu Diep (commonly known as Father Diep, 1897 – 1946) was a Catholic priest in Vietnam. He is well known for dying for his fellow believers.

Up to now, information about the arrest and murder of priest Truong Buu Diep is inconsistent. It is said that on March 12, 1946, Father Truong Buu Diep was arrested by the Viet Minh along with more than 70 parishioners in the Tac Say family, was herded away and locked up with the priest in the rice barn of the teacher Su in Cay. Gua.. According to the stories that support this view, they piled straw around to burn everything, but Father Diep stood up to fight for the people, and at the same time comforted those in prison. He tried to save his parishioners and was killed.

According to the biographical summary of Father Truong Buu Diep currently erected at his resting place, he was arrested “because of a dispute between sects” (this table does not specify which sect the arrestee belongs to). Currently, there are two streams of opinion that: either the Viet Minh or the Japanese did it.

In 1969, the remains of Father F.X Truong Buu Diep were reburied in the grounds of Tac Say church (photos 1 and 2), where he ministered for 16 years (he was the second head priest of the Tac Say family). ). On March 4, 2010, His remains were reburied again, but only about ten meters from the old place, and also in the campus of Tac Say church.

Every year, especially on March 11 and 12 of the solar calendar (the day of Father Diep’s death), a large number of people from many places come to make pilgrimages and visit Tac Say Cathedral and Father Diep’s grave.

Since 2012, the investigation into diocesan canonization for Father Truong Buu Diep has begun.

Tac Say church has been around for a long time, but before it was just a semi-permanent, narrow and tin-roofed church. In order for the church and the grave of Father F.X Truong Buu Diep to rest in a more spacious and dignified campus, on February 24, 2004, the ceremony of laying the first stone to build a new church was held. Later, thanks to the support of parishioners and visitors from all over the world, now the new church area (now called Tac Say Cathedral) has been basically completed on an area of ​​thousands of m². And many people still call it Father Diep Church.