Nha Trang Carmelite Nun

Nha Trang Carmelite Nun –  Sister Marie des Saints Anges Le Thien Hung, O.C.D.
“Zelo zealatus sum pro Domino Deo exercituum”
“With zeal I have been zealous for the Lord God of Hosts”
†  The first Carmel Monastery established in Vietnam  †

Foundress:  Mother Philomène de L’ Immaculée Conception  (from Lisieux, France)

Place:  From the monastery of St. Thérèse in Lisieux, to Saigon in Cochinchina, Vietnam

Year:  1861 A.D.

Her Charism:  This Carmelite’s charism is about God’s all-conquering love – a love that has touched the other heart and made it ache.  Dedicated to the nuptial encounter with God through the Eucharist, she serves the Church as a “lightning rod” receiving confidences, distresses, sufferings, disasters, and misfortunes from all people.  This nun prays fervently and relentlessly to God, fasts, and does penance for their peace, communion, and bliss.     She goes on the paths of life by the hand of St. Teresa of Ávila, and, with fidelity to Mary the Mother of God, she echoes her “Yes” to the movement of God’s Spirit.  Renouncing family, social position, material goods, and ambitions, she chooses to spend her life in a monastery doing good for others.  Her separation from the world is for the sake of the world with its joys, sorrows, problems, and fears.  In her cloister she becomes a little and humble woman before God carrying out little acts of exquisite love (painting, sewing vestments, making altar breads and creating artificial floral arrangements).  And she has the courage to believe that it is through these little sacrificial acts of love that God saves the world.  Her friendship with and trust in Jesus embraces all.  There is no end to the daily struggle to love and to fight against temptation and the pursuit of holiness.  With her missionary heart full of joy for the Gospel and ready to spread Christ’s love in every corner of the world, she takes God’s yoke in her life to bear witness to the Good News.  Through her littleness, humility, prayers and manual labors she pours roses, love, holiness, and peace to all people.  She is a signpost pointing to the Infinite and her footprints lead us always to Jesus and His Holy Mother Mary. †  Despite the persecutions suffered during the Communist era in the 1970’s, these Carmelites now number 260 in the “Land of the Dragon” and vocations are prospering. The blood of these nuns and martyrs is the seed of present-day Christianity in Vietnam.  † **An interesting footnote:  St. Thérèse, the “Little Flower”, always wanted to be a missionary in Vietnam.  Her heart was set on being part of Mother Philomène’s mission, but her declining health made that journey impossible.  She offered up her chronic physical pain and disappointment as a prayer for the safety of the nuns and the success of their mission.  This is why the “Little Flower” is known as the “Patron Saint of Missionaries.” Thérèse continues to spend her Heaven doing good upon the earth by surrounding it with prayer (and often, lets fall a heavenly rose or two).**