Marcel Van

Marcel Van
Marcel Van
Servant of God
Born	March 15, 1928 Ngăm Giáo, near Bắc Ninh (Viêt Nam)
Died	July 10, 1959 Internment camp at Yen Binh, (North Viêt Nam)
Influences	St. Therese of the Child Jesus, St. Alphonsus Liguori
Major works	Autobiography, Conversations, Correspondences.

Marcel Van (March 15, 1928 – July 10, 1959), or Marcel Nguyễn Tân Văn C.Ss.R., Servant of God, was a Vietnamese Redemptorist brother. During his life, he received locutions and visions from St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Jesus Christ, and the Blessed Virgin Mary. He is called "The Apostle of Love", continuing the teachings of St. Therese of Lisieux's "Little Way." He died in a North Vietnam internment camp, and his cause for beatification was opened in 1997 by Cardinal Nguyen Van Thuan.

Born to a devout Catholic family in Ngam Giao, a village in northern Vietnam, Van was baptized under the patronage of St. Joachim. During his childhood, he was joyful and mischievous. As early as the age of 3, he often expressed a desire to become a saint. When his sister Anne-Marie Tê was born in 1932, his family sent him to live with his aunt, since they considered his excessive displays of affection dangerous for the newborn child. He returned to live with his parents two years later at age six.

Since Van then wanted to make his First Communion, his pastor allowed him to begin his catechism. Despite his young age, Van made his First Holy Communion six months later, as he had been well prepared by his mother. On that blessed day, he asked the Lord for two graces:

Expressing a strong desire to become a priest, in May 1935 his mother took Van to live with Fr. Joseph Nha in the rectory of Huu-Bang, where he would receive special preparation for the priesthood. Such arrangements were common in Vietnam during that time period, and several other boys lived with Van. But what should have been a time of joy, in fact was a period of great difficulties. As at Ngam Giao, Van had permission to receive Holy Communion every day. This brought about admiration from his comrades, but eventually made some of the adult catechists jealous. One of them, Master Vinh, made his life particularly difficult. He tormented Van severely, allowing him to receiving Holy communion only days when he agreed to be beaten, depriving him of food, and preventing him from reciting his rosary. The pastor was unaware of all this. Van courageously resisted, attributing his strength to his devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. "Thanks to her", he writes, "The devil was never able to win." Eventually, the catechist was punished by the pastor for misbehavior and left the rectory.

In 1936, when Van was 8, two typhoons struck the region in quick succession, causing famine and destroying his family's farm. They fell into deep poverty and were unable to financially support his education. He was then forced to become a servant at the rectory, and put to the side his preparation for the priesthood. The pastor, exploited him as a slave. After Van obtained his primary school education at 12 years old, Fr. Nha definitively stopped his formation.

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