Saints
Letran can pride itself among schools (except UST whose students usually attended both schools) to have produced a saint --
 San Vicente Liem De La Paz, O.P.
Martyr of the Catholic Faith
1732 – November 1773
San Vicente Liem de la Paz was born in the Village of Tra-Lu, Tonkin to Antonio Daeon and Monica dela Cruz. At the age of twelve, Vicente was placed by his parents at the “House of God”, a mission center where the children were taught the fundamentals of faith, good manners, Chinese language, and even Latin.
He came under the tutelage of the Dominican Fr. Luis Espinosa known in his Tonkinese name as Fr. Houy. Immediately the good Dominican recognized the talent of the boy under his care and providentially planned the best for his future.
Because of the available scholarships made by the King Philip V of Spain, Fr. Espinosa through Fr. Juan Candela, Rector of Letran arranged the education of Vicente Liem in Letran, Manila’s famous center of learning. While pursuing further studies at the University of Sto. Tomas (UST), Liem doubled as instructor to the younger students. He entered the novitiate upon his graduation and was accepted on September 9, 1754. In 1758, Vicente Liem was ordained to the priesthood.
Soon after on October 3, 1758, he left for his country and arrived in Tonkin on January 20, 1759. Vicente immediately applied for an apostolic mission – to preach, convert, and to minister the sacraments from town to town. For fourteen years, the future martyr labored tirelessly in administering the sacraments to the faithful. However, he was arrested for preaching the much outlawed religion in Tonkin on October 3, 1773, feast of the Holy Rosary.
The King, because Vicente Liem was a native, was supposed to free him, but there was another prisoner, the foreigner and Dominican Fr. Jacinto Castañeda; so Vicente himself pleaded that there should be only one interpretation for priests whether foreign or native. Together with two other native Christians and Fr. Castañeda, Vicente Liem de la Paz was sentenced to die. On November 7, 1773 they were tied to the stake and decapitated.
He was beatified by Pope Pius X on May 20, 1906 and canonized on June 19, 1988. His feast has now been set on November 24 every year. San Vicente Liem de la Paz becomes the living symbol that embodies the creed of Deus, Patria, Letran.
Brief Chronology of the
Life of San Vicente Liem de la Paz
1732 Born in Tra-lu, a small village in Tonkin (now Vietnam), of noble Christian parents, Antonio and Monica Daeon. Baptized in the same year by Jose Chien de Sto. Tomas who was then a catechist but later professed Dominican religious.
1738 The King of Spain, Philip V, offered six scholarships at Letran in Manila
to enable other nationals, notably the Chinese, Japanese and Tonkinese to obtain a career in the famous institution.
1747 In May of this year Vicente arrived in Manila to study at the Colegio de San Juan de Letran with four other Tonkinese:Jose de Santo Tomas, Juan de Santo Domingo, Pedro Partir and Pablo de San Jacinto.
1751 Studied Philosophy at the University of Santo Tomas but still residing at Letran.
1753 (September 9) Took the Dominican habit at the Convent of Santo Domingo from the hands of Fr. Antonio Calonge, Prior.
1754 (September 9) Made his religious profession from the hands of the new Prior,
Fr. Andres Melendez in Santo Domingo.
1758 Ordained priest and in September of that year he was examined for the authority to hear confessions.
1759 (January 20) Arrived in Tonkin after leaving Manila on October 3, 1758.
1773 (October 3) He was arrested together with two of his sacristans. He later met in prison another Dominican from Spain, Fr. Jacinto Castañeda.
1818 The Vicar Apostolic, Most. Rev. Fr. Ignacio Delgado, O.P., who also died a marty’s death later on initiated the cause for the beatification of the two martyrs.
1906 (May 20) Beatification by Pope Pius X, who also became a saint later on.
1988 (June 19) Canonization of St. Vicente Liem de la Paz, together with 116 other martyrs of Vietnam by Pope John Paul II.
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