Vietnam: He Made His Chains ‘The Most Severe Rosary in the World”

This is an astounding conversion story of a poet, musician and soldier, who was sentenced to life while a prisoner from the time of the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. The grace of God is an awesome gift. In the case of J.B Nguyễn Hữu Cầu, the grace of the Catholic Faith kept him alive in the most dire circumstances for twenty-eight of his forty years in prison. I have read inspiring Rosary stories, many involving miracles, but this one, which tops the list for me of the great ones, contains no visible miracle. Forty years, enduring the horrors of slave labor, and shackled with a ninety-link chain, he emerges from his baptism on Easter in 1986 a new man, a child of God, a child of Mary, a “giant running the way” (Ps. 18:6). His chains became rosary beads, which he calls, ” the most severe Rosary in the world”. I am in awe of this man. As of March 22 this year, J.B Nguyễn Hữu Cầu is a free man, freed on account of his ill health. I need to see if my Vietnamese priest friend can get in touch with him. Imagine what a story he could write as a poet and composer!

AsiaNews: “Easter 1986, 28 years ago, I was baptized and christened in the prison by Fr. Joseph Nguyen of the Society of Jesus”. The priest taught him the fundamentals of Christianity, prayers and catechism . He would recite seven Rosaries and make the Way of the Cross five times a day.

To those who approached him in prison, he used to repeat “I was shackled by a long chain of 90 links. I made the chain my Rosary with 50 links. This is my first Rosary. Perhaps the “most severe” Rosary in the world”. A cellmate, brother Paul, gave him a small cross made with coconuts, and ” I have also composed a song dedicated to the Holy Cross: The Holy Cross comes to me from the deepest depths in the world […] it sustained men in this earthly prison”. He adds: ” I ​​have always believed in the love of God”.

Free from the bonds and the chains of communist prisons, the Vietnamese poet and dissident confesses that “the love of God and the Virgin Mary have changed me . I no longer feel resentment for my ‘brothers and sisters’ (of the regime). We all have the same roots. We descend all from King Hùng Vương. This is why we must love one another. And once more I believe in the Trinity and the Virgin Mary. Which helped me to overcome the pitfalls of fate and prevented me from killing myself during the years in jail”. Read the full report here.