The Legacy of a Humble Man:
Reflections on the Life of
Archbishop Pierre Martin Ngô dinh Thuc
Compiled by the Staff of The Reign of Mary, published in No. 134, Spring 2009
Pierre Martin Ngô Dinh Thuc was born on October 6, 1897, to one of the leading Catholic families in Vietnam. The deeply religious atmosphere of the Ngô household is evidenced by Pierre’s entrance at the age of 12 into a minor seminary, where he spent eight years before going on to the major seminary in Hue. He was ordained on December 20, 1925, and was sent to teach at the Sorbonne in Paris. Before long Pierre Martin was selected to continue his studies in Rome, where he obtained doctorates in canon law, theology and philosophy. When he returned to Hue in 1927, he became a professor both at the major seminary and at the College of Divine Providence. At the age of 41, Pierre Martin was appointed Apostolic Vicar of Vinh-long and was consecrated on May 4, 1938. While serving in this capacity, he not only laid the foundation of the diocese but also established the University of Dalat.
Meanwhile, from as early as 1930, Vietnam had become a battleground as Communists fought for control of the country. The Ngô family, which had always been intensely Catholic, became known for being fiercely anti-Communist. One of Archbishop Thuc’s brothers, Ngô Dinh Kho, was buried alive shortly after the close of World War II for refusing to become a minister in the first Communist government. His younger brother, Ngô Dinh Diem, became the first president of South Vietnam in 1955, and it was his Catholicism and anti-Communism that eventually led to the overthrow of his government at the hands of the CIA-led rebels.
In 1962 Archbishop Thuc was called to Rome for the Second Vatican Council. In his absence a coup d’etat took place that led to the assassinations of Ngô Dinh Diem and another brother, Ngô Dinh Ngu, on November 1, 1963. The Archbishop was not allowed to return to his see at the close of the Council. The government that had toppled the regime of his brother would not allow him back into the country, nor did Paul VI feel kindly disposed to this traditional and anti-Communist archbishop. He was left to himself to find a place to stay and a means of support.
Eventually, Archbishop Thuc moved to Toulon in southern France. He was becoming more keenly aware of the destruction that was occurring within the Church as a result of Vatican II, and he eventually realized that the final responsibility for the heretical changes afflicting the Church had to rest in the highest levels of the hierarchy. It became clear to him that the men who had occupied the Chair of St. Peter since the death of Pope Pius XII, the men who had brought about the destruction of the Mass and the sacraments, the men who had promulgated and implemented the heretical decrees of Vatican Council II, and who were leading so many souls to certain ruin could not really be true Popes, the legitimate successors of St. Peter. Archbishop Thuc evidenced no disloyalty to the Papacy in reaching this conclusion.
Rather, it was his deep love and understanding of the Catholic Faith and his solid theological training that made it impossible for him to accept a public heretic as the true Roman Pontiff, the Vicar of Jesus Christ. As he keenly felt his obligation before God to ensure that the valid apostolic succession was preserved, he consecrated the eminent French theologian Fr. Guerard des Lauriers, O.P., a bishop on May 7, 1981. Msgr. des Lauriers is well known for his role in writing the Ottaviani Intervention in the late 1960’s (an exposé of the errors of the Novus Ordo Missae); he was a professor at the Angelicum in Rome and an assistant to Pope Pius XII when He promulgated the dogma of the Assumption of Our Lady. On October 17 of that same year, Archbishop Thuc consecrated two Mexican priests and former seminary professors, Fr. Moises Carmona y Rivera and Fr. Adolfo Zamora Hernandez. Both were sedevacantists and had been leaders in the traditional Catholic movement in Mexico for many years.
In February of 1982, the Archbishop made his position public. While visiting St. Michael’s Church in Munich, he issued a declaration that the Holy See was vacant. The authorities of the postconciliar Church were infuriated, and quickly drew up and published decrees of excommunication in an attempt to discredit the Archbishop and the bishops he consecrated. Is it not significant that the anathemas of the modernist Church were not hurled against the Kungs, the Rahners, nor against the perverters of tradition and the liturgy? The censures, the excommunications and anathemas are reserved for those with the courage to take positive steps to preserve and safeguard the true Church of Christ.
Archbishop Thuc was quite alone in his courageous stand. Even Msgr. Marcel Lefebvre failed to evidence such uncompromising loyalty to the teachings of the Councils and Fathers of the Catholic Church. Archbishop Thuc realized that one could not remain faithful to the Faith while recognizing the archheretics of Rome as legitimate pontiffs. As a result of his undying loyalty to the Church, the Archbishop has been much maligned by the post-conciliar modernist establishment and by some “traditional” Catholics as well. “Blessed are you when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you untruly, for My sake: Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in heaven” (Matt. 5: 11-12).
After the events in Munich, Archbishop Thuc returned to France and then traveled to the United States, where he took up residence in the Franciscan monastery of Bishop Louis Vezelis. From here, the Archbishop was abducted by a group of Vietnamese and taken to a seminary in Missouri, where he was shielded from contact with any traditional clergy.
Our Blessed Savior called Archbishop Thuc to his reward on December 13, 1984. The Conciliar Church waited until well after his death to announce that he had “recanted” his errors, repented of his actions, and called upon those he had consecrated to return to the “unity of the Church.” The same men who destroyed the Mass and the sacraments, the same men who deceitfully led millions of Catholics into a false religion, the same men who tampered with the words of consecration in the Mass — the very words of our Blessed Savior Himself — waited until the Archbishop’s death before they proceeded to contradict the traditional position he had previously held.
It has been twenty-five years since the death of Archbishop Thuc, but his legacy lives on. It is due to his faith and courage that there are still Catholic bishops today, who, without compromising with the Conciliar Church, continue to ordain priests so that the faithful may be provided with the sacraments. While it must be acknowledged that he consecrated some individuals who should never have been elevated to the episcopacy, the evidence is clear that he was a good man who was abused by some who took advantage of his trusting nature. Even when elderly and living alone in a tiny apartment, he remained dedicated to his priesthood, offering Mass devoutly every day and often hearing confessions for many hours. And let it not be forgotten that during all those years of confusion after Vatican II, he was the only bishop who had the courage to make a public statement that John Paul II was not a true Pope.
(Also see Archbishop Ngo-Dinh-Thuc’s Declaration of February 25, 1982.)