Saint Agnes Le Thi Thanh was the only non-clergy Vietnamese of the 117 Vietnamese martyrs canonized by Pope St. John Paul II in 1988. She was a married Catholic, mother of 6, who helped hide priests to avoid persecution during Emperor Minh Mang’s rule. In a raid to capture priests, she was arrested, savagely beaten, and tortured both physically and psychologically. Her aggressors once even put poisonous snakes in her clothes. St. Agnes stayed calm crediting Our Lady’s help and the snakes did not bite her. Her family begged her to relent and renounce her faith, but she refused and died of her wounds in prison.
