First Vietnamese Benedictine abbot dies at 82

Vietnam

Abbot Stephanus Huynh Quang Sanh was a close friend of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, who died in January

Vietnamese Catholics fondly remembered a recently departed Benedictine abbot for rebuilding church facilities after wars and establishing new communities abroad.

Abbot Stephanus Huynh Quang Sanh died on March 4 at the Benedictine Monastery of Thien An in Thua Thien Hue province. He was 82.

Archbishop Joseph Nguyen Chi Linh of Hue presided at his funeral at the monastery chapel on March 7.

Thank you. You are now signed up to Daily newsletter

The Mass, joined by 60 priests and attended by Benedictines, nuns and relatives, was aired on Hue Archdiocese’s website for local people due to Covid-19 restrictions.      

Archbishop Linh said the late abbot experienced wars, revenge killings, poverty and social unrest but stayed faithful to his Benedictine vocation.

The abbot, who headed Thien An Monastery from 1984 to 2013, built the chapel and bell tower along with other facilities that were ruined during the Vietnam War that killed some Benedictines while forcing others to leave their vocation.

He also provided rice and money for people in need and rebuilt their houses after natural disasters

Abbot Sanh, who used to serve as superior of the Benedictine province of Vietnam, also founded two new monasteries in the northern province of Hoa Binh and in Chiang Mai in Thailand.

“The monastery would not have been what it is today without Abbot Sanh,” Archbishop Linh said, adding that what he sowed had sprouted.

Paul Nguyen Van Bau, who lives near the monastery, said Father Sanh had maintained good relationships with local people.

“He visited and gave gifts to us on Christmas, Easter and the Tet festival. He also provided rice and money for people in need and rebuilt their houses after natural disasters,” Bau, 67, said, adding that many people were moved by his kind heart and converted to Catholicism.

Benedictine Brother Stanislas Tran Minh Vong, 85, said the first abbot of the 82-year-old monastery built good relationships with local Buddhist monks. “He paid visits to local pagodas in the annual Vesak and came to pay his last respects to deceased monks.”

Brother Vong said Abbot Sanh and Vietnam’s leading Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, who died in January, were close friends. Thich Nhat Hanh and his monks paid two visits to Thien An Benedictines in 2005 and 2007.

Born in 1940 in Quang Nam province, Sanh had eight siblings. He entered Thien An Monastery in 1956 and took his first vow in 1965. He was ordained a priest in 1972 and became head of the monastery in 1984.

Father Sanh was elected as superior of the Benedictine province of Vietnam in 1993 and installed as abbot of the monastery five years later.

He stayed at the Benedictine monastery in Chiang Mai from 2014 and returned to Vietnam last November due to poor health.

Trending Articles