On August 3rd, 1843, a sealed coffer arrived at the Seminary of Rue du Bac. It contained the remains of Pierre Borie, decapitated in Vietnam on November 24, 1838, and other souvenirs of the Martyr, including his huge cangus. By sending this in the midst of the first all-out persecution to which the Paris missionnaries were confronted, Father Masson, General Vicary of Western Tonkin, had a more or less pronounced foreboding that something was at play, which was about to exert a profound influence upon the identity and perception of the Society of Foreign Missions (« Société des Missions Étrangères »). A tradition was being born, that of the « Seminary of the Martyrs », tragically confirmed not long after that by events in Korea, then by others in China, in Cochin China, in Tonkin and in Korea once again.

Later on, the remains and souvenirs of several Martyrs were sent in from other missions. Then paintings of the Tonkin Martyrs came in. After a few years, the room on the first floor became too small, and unpractical because of the rising number of outside visitors, asking to « walk up to the Martyrs’ Room ». The entire contents of the Room were thus brought down into a larger space on the Ground Floor, and most of the casings containing the Martyrs’ remains were placed under the Altars in the Chapel’s Crypt.

Then occurred the Beatifications of 1900, 1909, 1925, 1968, followed by the Canonizations of 1984, 1986 and 2000. The Room only became wealthier with new souvenirs decade after decade, and a new audience, constantly growing in numbers, started visiting: Asian pilgrims wishing to worship their Fathers in Faith. Another space was then set up, half profane, half cultural, with the bookstore, and a space for prayer and worship, with the Crypt. Totally present to our world, but signs of another world, such was the position which best suited the Martyrs.

In the same way as the premises devoted to the Martyrs have changed, so have their image and reputation after one and a half century. The heroic, glorious and sometimes slightly pompous image of the « Grande époque » - the echoes of which may be found in Cantiques composed by leavers and a now-outdated but extensive literature - has given rise, for several decades, among some people, to a misunderstanding which is just as unfounded. Here, we will attempt to re-discover the Martyrs in their true nature: Human beings, with all of the weaknesses and relativity which that implies, but inhabited by a Force which extended way beyond their own selves: the strength which descends, even in the worst possible terrestrial circumstances, thanks to the three theological virtues of Faith, Expectation and Charity.