Blessed Francis Xavier Trương Bửu Diệp

Francis Xavier Trương Bửu Diệp was born on 1 January 1897 in the Vietnamese province of An Giang, then dependent on the Vicariate of Phnom Penh, to Catholic parents, and was baptised on 2 February with the name of the great Jesuit missionary. After his mother's death in 1904 his father moved for a time into Cambodian territory, and on their return he was received in 1909 into the minor seminary of An Giang, passing thence to the major seminary of Phnom Penh; he was ordained in 1924 by Bishop Jean-Claude Bouchut of the Paris Foreign Missions. From 1924 to 1927 he was assistant priest at Hố Trư among Vietnamese immigrants in Cambodia, and from 1928 to 1930 taught in the minor seminary.

In 1930 he was named parish priest of Tắc Sậy in the province of Bạc Liêu, where he remained until his death. The parish had few faithful, so he visited neighbouring parishes and cared for at least six new mission stations founded between 1932 and 1941. He baptised many during those years, even on the day of his death while shut in a granary with a group of villagers, and sent candidates to the seminary, among them the future Cardinal John Baptist Phạm Minh Mẫn.