Marcel Van - The Triumph of Love
After a childhood replete with suffering, Van discovered the light through Saint Thérèse of Lisieux who manifested herself to him. She familiarly called him "Van, my dear little brother". Joining the Redemptorist Fathers, he allowed himself to be directed toward sanctity. Taken prisoner by the Communists in Vietnam, he died there truly like a martyr. "I am the victim of Love, and Love is all my happiness: an indestructible happiness..."
by Catherine St-Pierre
(1928-1959) After a childhood replete with suffering, Van discovered the light through Saint Thérèse of Lisieux who manifested herself to him. She familiarly called him "Van, my dear little brother". Joining the Redemptorist Fathers, he allowed himself to be directed toward sanctity. Taken prisoner by the Communists in Vietnam, he died there truly like a martyr. "I am the victim of Love, and Love is all my happiness: an indestructible happiness..." 192 pages, with illustrations.
Exposed to harassment and abuse from his early childhood, Van, a young Vietnamese, was all the same haunted by the desire for sanctity and the priesthood. At his Communion on Christmas eve, 1940, the mysterious meaning of suffering was revealed to him. He confided, "My soul was transformed in an instant. I was no longer afraid of suffering... God gave me a mission: to change suffering into joy."
Soon "Little Thérèse" of Lisieux made herself known to the one she affectionately called "my little brother." From day to day she taught him the secrets of spiritual childhood and the love of God.
Van eventually became a Redemptorist Lay Brother, and from that time on, his love for God and neighbor seemed to know no bounds. Arrested and imprisoned by the Communists, he died of exhaustion in a concentration camp, his soul nontheless overflowing with joy, on July 10, 1959.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction .....Page 9Blessed child .....11"The Bread of Love" .....21The "House of God" .....31Frustrated ideal .....47Rejection and abandonment .....53The harsh experience of the street .....57Christmas 1940: The gift of Love .....65Vow of virginity .....73Minor seminary at Lang Son .....81"The Story of a soul" .....87Van, the heart of a trio .....91The ultimate sacrifice .....103Waiting period .....115With the Redemptorists .....121The hidden Apostle of Love .....125The novitiate, a time of grace .....139Fruitful friendships, priestly love .....147Brief summary .....157The apostolate of the humble apostle .....163Voluntary holocaust .....171"Love cannot die....." .....179The Little Apostles of Mary .....185Bibliography .....189Data sheet
- Dimensions
- 10.5 x 17 cm
Specific References
- isbn
- 978-2-7623-2422-8