Vincent Liem de la Paz was born in 1732 to a Christian family in Trà Lộ, in present-day northern Vietnam (then Tonkin). As a young man, he was sent on a scholarship to study at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila.
After his studies, he joined the Order of Preachers, was ordained a priest, and returned to his homeland in 1759 to begin missionary work. Due to his preaching activities, he was arrested in 1773 and sentenced to death. Together with his brother Jacinto Castañeda and other Christian missionaries, he was executed on November 7, 1773. The work depicts his fellow martyrs.

Between 1856 and 1862, Christians in Central Tonkin, and especially the Dominicans, were hit by a new persecution, during which 24 friars were tortured and executed.
Between 1739 and 1862, nearly 130,000 Christians died in Vietnam as a result of persecution. 1988. In 2011, Pope John Paul II canonized 117 Vietnamese martyrs, including Vincent Liem and his fellow martyrs who were executed with him.