John-Baptiste Nguyễn Phúc Bửu Đồng (1912 – February 4, 1968) was a Vietnamese

Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in common English usage ''priest'' refe ...

from the city of

Huế Huế (formerly Thừa Thiên Huế province) is the southernmost coastal Municipalities of Vietnam, city in the North Central Coast region, the Central Vietnam, Central of Vietnam, approximately in the center of the country. It borders Quảng ...

. He was murdered by the

Việt Cộng The Viet Cong (VC) was an epithet and umbrella term to refer to the communist-driven armed movement and united front organization in South Vietnam. It was formally organized as and led by the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, and ...

during the Huế massacre, which took place during the Tết Offensive of the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

Biography

Born as a prince of the

Nguyễn dynasty The Nguyễn dynasty (, chữ Nôm: 茹阮, chữ Hán: 朝阮) was the last List of Vietnamese dynasties, Vietnamese dynasty, preceded by the Nguyễn lords and ruling unified Vietnam independently from 1802 until French protectorate in 1883 ...

, Bửu Đồng was a parish priest in a village to the east of Huế. He was a great-grandson of emperor

Minh Mạng Minh Mạng (), also known as Minh Mệnh (, vi-hantu, 明命, lit. "the bright favour of Heaven"; 25 May 1791 – 20 January 1841; born Nguyễn Phúc Đảm, also known as Nguyễn Phúc Kiểu), was the second emperor of the Nguyễ ...

, while his father was the minister of interior during the reign of

Bảo Đại Bảo Đại (, vi-hantu, , , 22 October 191331 July 1997), born Nguyễn Phúc (Phước) Vĩnh Thụy (), was the 13th and final emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty, the last ruling dynasty of Vietnam. From 1926 to 1945, he was ''de jure'' em ...

. During the Vietnam War, as his area was inhabited by many Việt Cộng, he worked to stay on good terms with both them and the

Army of the Republic of Vietnam The Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN; ; ) composed the ground forces of the Republic of Vietnam Military Forces, South Vietnamese military from its inception in 1955 to the Fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. Its predecessor was the ground forc ...

. In 1967, he reportedly invited Việt Cộng guerrillas and South Vietnamese soldiers to sit together for

Christmas dinner Christmas dinner is a meal traditionally eaten at Christmas. This meal can take place any time from the evening of Christmas Eve to the evening of Christmas Day itself. The meals are often particularly rich and substantial, in the tradition of t ...

. He accepted sewing machines for his parishioners from the

United States Agency for International Development The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an agency of the United States government that has been responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. Established in 1961 and reorganized in 1998 ...

Death

On 30 January 1968—the first day of the Tết Offensive—Việt Cộng guerrillas detained Bửu Đồng and took him to a nearby pagoda for questioning, but later released him after accepting a passionate appeal by the elders of his parish. Five days later, the Việt Cộng returned and searched his rectory. Seizing his binoculars, camera, typewriter, and a picture of North Vietnamese leader

Ho Chi Minh (born ; 19 May 1890 – 2 September 1969), colloquially known as Uncle Ho () among other aliases and sobriquets, was a Vietnamese revolutionary and politician who served as the founder and first President of Vietnam, president of the ...

, the guerrillas took Bửu Đồng and two seminarians away. His corpse was found in Lương Viên on 8 November 1969, about to the northeast of Huế. The bodies of two other Catholic priests were in the same grave. This location contained a series of mass graves, with a total of 20 bodies.Catholic Currents 1969 - Volumes 1-3 Father "John Buu Dong, a Vietnamese priest, was discovered in a mass grave. Father Urbain David, a French Benedictine, was found with seven other victims in an eight-foot deep grave in which they were apparently buried alive."

Letters

In his eyeglass case were three letters. One was addressed to his parents and another to his siblings and cousins. The third letter was to his parishioners:

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nguyen, Buu Dong John-Baptiste 1912 births 1968 deaths People from Huế Tet Offensive People murdered in 1968 20th-century Roman Catholic martyrs 20th-century Vietnamese Roman Catholic priests Martyred Roman Catholic priests Place of birth missing People murdered in Vietnam Victims of anti-Catholic violence in Vietnam Vietnamese people of the Vietnam War Vietnamese murder victims Vietnamese anti-communists Civilians killed in the Vietnam War Vietnam War crimes by the Viet Cong

Biography

Death

Letters

See also

Sources