{"id":70019,"date":"2022-07-13T06:15:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-13T10:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.worldcatholicnews.com\/vietnamese-oil-producers-owe-immense-debt-to-belgian-missionary\/"},"modified":"2022-07-13T06:15:00","modified_gmt":"2022-07-13T10:15:00","slug":"vietnamese-oil-producers-owe-immense-debt-to-belgian-missionary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.worldcatholicnews.com\/vietnamese-oil-producers-owe-immense-debt-to-belgian-missionary\/","title":{"rendered":"Vietnamese oil producers owe immense debt to Belgian missionary"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Father Raphael Antoine Fasseaux taught locals to produce tram oil that remains in high demand as a home remedy\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

Simon Huynh Viet Cay distills tram oil in his garden in Thua Thien Hue province. (Photo: UCA News)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Published: July 13, 2022 10:15 AM GMT<\/p>\n

Updated: July 13, 2022 10:18 AM GMT<\/strong>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Members of a Vietnamese parish owe a debt of gratitude to a Belgian missionary for teaching them how to distill oil from Melaleuca quinquenervia<\/em> trees that grow well in their area.<\/p>\n

The aromatic oil extracted from the gray-green leaves of the broad-leaved paper bark tree of the myrtle family, locally known as tram, is an excellent home remedy for many common ailments.<\/p>\n

Locals in Phu Loc, a rural district of Thua Thien Hue province in the North Central Coast region of Vietnam, also used tram oil as an antiseptic medicine during the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

\"Ucan<\/div>\n
\"Ucan<\/div>\n

Father Francis Xavier Ho Van Uyen, pastor of Nuoc Ngot Parish, says Belgian Father Raphael Antoine Fasseaux (1896-1969), a member of the Paris Foreign Missions Society (MEP), was known for his passionate devotion to his flock. He taught the locals, regardless of their religious or social backgrounds, to produce tram oil as they had no other medicine then.<\/p>\n

Father Fasseaux served the parish from 1925-1933 and 1937-1942, said Father Uyen. Nearly 100 years later, the locals continue to use tram oil to treat digestive problems, colds, coughs, flu, rheumatism and joint pains, asthma, burns, colic cramps, earache, headaches, skin diseases, toothaches, insect bites and wounds.<\/p>\n

The Belgian missionary also built a wooden church that still exists along with several schools and hospitals he started in the area. He also repaired and built new houses for families hit by natural disasters, and taught them how to cultivate crops.<\/p>\n

Today the parish with 2,757 members has some 50 families producing tram and other essential oils to earn steady incomes as they are in high demand locally and even abroad.<\/p>\n

Simon Huynh Viet Cay, 45, and his wife produce tram oil in their garden. They clean the leaves of the tram and pile them into a huge metal pot filled with water until it reaches boiling point. The steam is cooled as it passes through a pipe and collects in bottles. It requires patience as the whole process takes seven hours.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe distill some 3.5 liters of tram oil from 500 kilograms of fragrant leaves on a weekly basis,\u201d the 48-year-old father of three said. They buy leaves from people who collect them in forests.<\/p>\n

The couple produces some 50 liters of oil from May-September when the tropical trees have many leaves and sell it to traders from Da Nang and the provinces of Quang Tri and Thua Thien Hue. A liter of oil costs 1.9 million dong (US$79).<\/p>\n

The man of average build, who also raises poultry in his free time for some extra income, said the production of tram oil has helped save many local families from severe famine and deaths.<\/p>\n

After 1975, when the country was reunified under communist rule, many local people were forced to move to remote areas and to clear explosive ordnance left from the war. Many of them died of malaria or in landmine explosions.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince we distilled the oil to make a living we were not forced to leave for other places,\u201d said Cay, whose family has produced the oil for generations.<\/p>\n

He said his grandfather and other local people were taught how to distill the oil by Father Fasseaux.<\/p>\n

Dang Ngoc Duc, another tram oil producer from nearby Lang Co, said he learned the trade from a Catholic family from Nuoc Ngot Parish to support his family in the late 1990s.<\/p>\n

Duc, 68, who used to collect firewood from the forests for oil distillers, said at first he produced 1.5 liters of oil per day by using firewood. But now he uses an electric cooker to distill three liters of oil a day.<\/p>\n

The Buddhist father of three said he earns an annual net income of 100 million dong (US$4,170). He sells tram oil to local agents and foreign visitors.<\/p>\n

He said few people supplied him with tram leaves during the pandemic so he started to distill essential oil from other tree leaves.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not Catholic but we still respect and honor Father Fasseaux,\u201d he said, adding that he observes the Belgian missionary\u2019s death anniversary every year by paying priests to pray for his soul.<\/p>\n

Father Fasseaux died in Belgium on Oct. 12, 1969. The locals in Phu Loc pray and offer incense, flowers, fruit and other food to remember him at their homes on that day.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to keep alive this tradition to appreciate all the help he gave our ancestors,\u201d Duc said.<\/p>\n

Cay said the 50 tram-oil producers gather at the church to attend an annual Mass to commemorate the late Father Fasseaux.<\/p>\n

Phu Loc district is now home to 70 oil producers, many of whom belong to other faiths. They owe an immense debt to the Belgian missionary.<\/p>\n

Latest News <\/h4>\n

\n<\/div>\n