After growing up in a Christian family in Tonkin, in present-day northern Vietnam, Vincent de la Paz was offered a scholarship to study at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila. After his studies, he joined the Dominican Order, was ordained a priest, and returned to his homeland in 1759. in. Due to his preaching activities, he was arrested in 1773 and sentenced to death. Along with Brother Jacinto Casteñada and other Christian missionaries, he was executed on November 7, 1773. in.

Between 1856 and 1862, another vague persecution of Christians, and especially of the Order of Preachers, struck the Central Tonkin region. A group of 24 Dominicans underwent the worst tortures before being executed.

On June 19, 1988, 117 Vietnamese martyrs were canonized out of an estimated 130,000 between 1739 and 1862, among whom were many Dominican friars and lay Dominicans.