{"id":220779,"date":"2026-05-05T16:03:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T16:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/220779\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T16:03:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T16:03:08","slug":"father-francis-xavier-truong-buu-diep-a-novena","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/220779\/","title":{"rendered":"Father Francis Xavier Truong Buu Diep: A Novena"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"\"The novena for Father Francis Xavier Truong Buu Diep that began May 3 at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Astoria included a special presentation to mark the start of the month May, a traditional time in the Church to honor Mary, the mother of God. (Photo: Courtesy of Msgr. Cuong Pham)<\/p>\n

ASTORIA \u2014 A\u00a0novena\u00a0began May 3\u00a0at a Queens parish, praying for the upcoming beatification of a 20th-century Vietnamese priest who, a local priest says, inspires devotions much like those of\u00a0St. Carlo Acutis.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The beatification of Father Francis Xavier Truong Buu Diep, martyred in 1946, is set for July 2 at\u00a0a shrine church built for him in\u00a0Tac Say, a small town where he served in\u00a0Vietnam\u2019s\u00a0Ca Mau province.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In advance of\u00a0the beautification,\u00a0Msgr. Cuong Pham\u00a0is leading the\u00a0novena\u00a0for the priest through June 28\u00a0at\u00a0Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Astoria, where\u00a0Msgr. Pham is\u00a0the\u00a0pastor.\u00a0He is also the coordinator for the Ministry to the Vietnamese\u00a0Immigrants\u00a0in the\u00a0diocese.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A solemn Mass of\u00a0thanksgiving\u00a0with\u00a0a\u00a0procession for\u00a0Father Diep\u00a0will\u00a0occur\u00a0at\u00a03 p.m.\u00a0on\u00a0July 12\u00a0at the parish, the day after\u00a0the feast day\u00a0celebration of\u00a0Our Lady of Mount Carmel.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Msgr. Pham\u00a0said the parish and the\u00a0apostolate for\u00a0the\u00a0Vietnamese\u00a0are adding to the worldwide excitement for the beautification of Father Diep.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s sort of like Carlo Acutis,\u201d Msgr. Pham said, \u201cbecause he is already deeply venerated in Vietnam and all throughout the Vietnamese community around the world.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Father Diep was born on Jan. 1, 1897, into a family of Catholics farmers. He\u00a0was admitted\u00a0to the Phnom Penh Major Seminary in Cambodia and ordained in 1924.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The priest\u00a0soon\u00a0gained\u00a0a\u00a0reputation\u00a0as\u00a0a\u00a0courageous preacher of the Gospel,\u00a0both\u00a0in\u00a0words and deeds, Msgr. Pham\u00a0said.\u00a0All people, he noted,\u00a0relied on\u00a0Father Diep\u2019s\u00a0corporal acts of mercy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"(Photo: Courtesy of Msgr. Cuong Pham)<\/p>\n

For example,\u00a0he\u00a0helped\u00a0anyone, including non-Catholics,\u00a0find food\u00a0during the Japanese occupation of their land during World War II.\u00a0That conflict was soon followed by the\u00a0First Indochina War (1946-1954) in which Communist forces, the so-called Viet Minh, ousted colonial rule by France.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But\u00a0Father Diep\u00a0was\u00a0targeted by\u00a0Japanese soldiers who defected from their nation\u00a0and\u00a0stayed\u00a0in Vietnam.\u00a0They wanted\u00a0revenge on Western forces that defeated\u00a0Japan.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since Father Diep reached out to anyone to find help for starving people, including the colonial French,\u00a0the Japanese\u00a0expatriates\u00a0tagged him a \u201ccollaborator\u201d with the West.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"The beatification of Father Francis Xavier Truong Buu Diep, martyred in 1946, is set for July 2 in Tac Say, Vietnam. Meanwhile, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Astoria began a novena for him on May 3. It continues through June 28, followed by a Mass of Thanksgiving for Father Diep on July 12. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)<\/p>\n

According to an investigation by Bishop Peter Le Tan Loi of the Diocese of Can Tho, they\u00a0executed Father Diep by beheading him with swords.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The investigation\u2019s findings reversed earlier assumptions that the priest\u00a0was murdered\u00a0by the Viet Minh, who\u00a0at that time\u00a0were\u00a0working\u00a0on a\u00a0campaign of solidarity with all people\u00a0in the struggle against the French.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Still,\u00a0Msgr. Pham\u00a0said,\u00a0Father Diep\u00a0inspires devotions\u00a0among\u00a0people\u00a0everywhere.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFor example,\u201d he said, \u201cthere are people in Mexico who have a huge devotion to him. I went to places in Europe\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Norway and Germany\u00a0\u2014\u00a0and I found families displaying his image in their homes and praying to him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a miracle worker, and his miracles are numerous.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Msgr. Pham said this\u00a0priest\u2019s intercession helped extend almighty protection over his father, an officer in the South Vietnamese Army, during five years in\u00a0a\u00a0post-conflict\u00a0prisoner of war camp.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Father Diep\u2019s intercession\u00a0also\u00a0protected\u00a0Msgr. Pham\u2019s\u00a0older brother, Sonny,\u00a0who\u00a0escaped Vietnam at age 13 in 1982 with fellow \u201cboat people.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pirates from Thailand robbed him of food and scuttled his boat\u2019s engine, but he eventually reached the U.S. and settled first in Flushing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The rest of the family followed when Msgr. Pham, the youngest of five children, came to the U.S. through humanitarian programs sponsored by Catholic Relief Services and Catholic Charities Brooklyn\u00a0&\u00a0Queens.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Msgr. Pham said he\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0travel to Vietnam for the beautification ceremony because he must remain in Queens for the\u00a0feast of his parish\u2019s patroness.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, he plans\u00a0to travel\u00a0there before the ceremony, to\u00a0visit Father Diep\u2019s\u00a0shrine in\u00a0Tac Say\u00a0and\u00a0gather holy cards and books about him for devotees in Brooklyn and Queens.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A statue of the future saint has already arrived at Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Msgr. Pham said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBut,\u201d\u00a0he added, \u201cwe cannot display his image or statue\u00a0yet.\u00a0We\u2019ll\u00a0wait until after the beatification, when we have a\u00a0Mass of\u00a0thanksgiving here on July 12.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The novena for Father Francis Xavier Truong Buu Diep that began May 3 at Our Lady of Mount…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":220780,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-220779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220779\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}