Remembering Ngô Đình Diệm in a State Uneasy With Even Incense Smoke

Incense smoke drifts thickly over Lái Thiêu Cemetery in the former Bình Dương Province—now part of Hồ Chí Minh City—where hundreds of Catholics pray quietly before two small, unnamed graves. The stones bear only the inscriptions “Gioan Baotixita Huynh” and “Giacôbe Đệ” (“Huynh” means older brother and “Đệ” means younger brother in Vietnamese.) Yet, everyone present knows these are the resting places of former President Ngô Đình Diệm and his brother, Ngô Đình Nhu.

Outside the cemetery fence, taffy vendors blast music from loudspeakers while police, both in uniform and plain clothes, stand scattered among the crowd. Inside, the solemn Mass continues.

More than six decades have passed since the 1963 coup that killed Diệm and his brother. However, every Nov. 2, Catholics in certain areas of Việt Nam still light iincense and offer prayers for the first president of the Republic of Vietnam, a devout Catholic himself.

The thread of this event stretches back to a specific pew at Cha Tam Church, officially Saint Francis Xavier Church, located in Sài Gòn’s Chợ Lớn neighborhood. Serving the local Chinese Catholic community, the church houses a pew so historically significant that parish priests attached a brass plaque to it, explaining its importance to parishioners and visitors.

The inscription is engraved entirely in English, French, and Chinese. A literal translation reads: “This is the pew where President Ngô Đình Diệm and his brother Ngô Đình Nhu sat before they were taken onto a tank and killed on the way to Sài Gòn on Nov. 2, 1963.”

A President and a Believer

Ngô Đình Diệm was born into a deeply Catholic family with faith spanning generations. His older brother was Bishop Ngô Đình Thục, while his nephew, Cardinal Nguyễn Văn Thuận, later emerged as a leading figure in the Catholic Church in Việt Nam. However, Diệm’s close ties to the church reflected both his presidential policies and his family background.

The clearest example of this was the 1954 resettlement, when hundreds of thousands of people fled communist rule in the North for the South. [1] Because the majority of these refugees were Catholic, they became the constituency most loyal and grateful to Diệm, significantly broadening the base of support for his government.

Following the 1963 coup that killed Diệm and Nhu, many Catholics in the South began organizing Masses to pray for the brothers. Yet, a president’s death is never solely a religious matter; it is inherently political. From then on, memorial Masses for the two men have faced a turbulent history—sometimes banned and sometimes allowed, held openly or in secret—a reality that persisted under the republic and continues under communism.

A Contested Memory Under the Republic

The assassination of President Ngô Đình Diệm in 1963 did more than end the First Republic; it created a deep fracture in South Vietnamese politics that haunted his successors.

Following the coup, the Republic of Vietnam fell under the rule of the Military Revolutionary Council—the very faction that had opposed Diệm. Consequently, no official commemorations were permitted during this period. Nevertheless, the politically sensitive and dangerous memory of Diệm’s death persisted, resurfacing whenever Catholic groups and certain officials grew bold enough to hold Masses for him and Nhu.

It was not until 1970, seven years after the assassination, that Nguyễn Văn Thiệu’s government finally allowed Catholics and other citizens to officially mark the anniversary of the brothers’ deaths. [2] By 1971, Diệm’s grave was adorned with a large portrait and the yellow flag with three red stripes bearing a dragon, though his name remained absent from the headstone. That same year, First Lady Nguyễn Thị Mai Anh, a devout Catholic, attended Mass at Sài Gòn’s Đức Bà Cathedral on Nov. 2 to pray for the brothers.

While President Thiệu avoided officially attending the anniversary Masses in subsequent years, he did personally donate $1,000 to the memorial committee at the burial site. [3]

After the government relaxed its restrictions, up to 3,000 attendees would gather at the cemetery for the memorial Mass. But by the 1973 anniversary, military objections caused attendance at Mạc Đĩnh Chi Catholic Cemetery, where Diệm was originally buried, to drop to around 1,000, with local leaders advising citizens to observe the memorials in their own towns instead.

After April 30, 1975

The graves of Ngô Đình Diệm and Ngô Đình Nhu were eventually relocated to Lái Thiêu Cemetery in Bình Dương. Just as they did under President Thiệu, the graves bear no formal names, only the baptismal inscriptions: “Gioan Baotixita Huynh” for Diệm and “Giacôbe Đệ” for Nhu.

According to Rev. Phanxicô Xaviê Nguyễn Văn Nhứt, a Dominican priest, commemorating the former president and his brother became exceedingly difficult after 1975. The communist government banned any activity connected to the previous regime, branding such actions as “reactionary.” As a result, the government did not allow public memorial Masses and tributes to the two men.

However, a coincidence provided a workaround: the two men died on Nov. 2, which is All Souls’ Day, a time when the Catholic Church traditionally remembers all the dead.

Nhứt noted that many priests, religious order members, and lay Catholics used this occasion to honor the brothers. By joining in prayer at All Souls’ Day Masses without naming Diệm or Nhu directly, believers established a discreet practice in the early post-1975 years to continue remembering and praying for them.

The Current Government’s Limited Goodwill

As one of the priests who regularly celebrates Mass at Lái Thiêu Cemetery in memory of Diệm, Nhứt provided insight into how authorities treat memorials for this “sensitive” figure.

According to Nhứt, holding Mass at the grave of President Ngô Đình Diệm only became possible after the Vietnamese government adjusted its policies to take a more conciliatory stance—a shift initially proposed by Redemptorist priests.

Today, Masses at Lái Thiêu Cemetery proceed normally and draw massive crowds, with Catholics traveling from as far as the North and Cà Mau. While police surround the cemetery—employing both uniformed officers and plainclothes agents mingling among the worshippers beneath overhead cameras—the atmosphere remains remarkably courteous and peaceful.

However, noise from taffy carts and portable speakers blasting at full volume over the cemetery fence sometimes interrupts the solemnity. Addressing this disruption, Nhứt noted, “To be fair, it is not anyone’s policy, but the state should not ignore such ignorant behavior. It does no good and only makes the regime look bad.”

Authorities impose no formal restrictions on organizing or attending these Masses. “In principle, Nov. 2 is All Souls’ Day,” Nguyễn Văn Nhứt added. “That falls under the church’s authority. The government has no right to interfere, because that place is holy ground.”

“The government has no document banning Masses for Diệm, and neither does the church,” Nhứt said.

He acknowledged the Vietnamese government’s recent goodwill toward national reconciliation, citing their acknowledgment of the Republic of Vietnam and the honoring of the 75 Republic of Vietnam soldiers who died defending Hoàng Sa (the Paracel Islands). [4] [5]

Yet, that goodwill has its limits. Elaborating on this point, the Rev. Phanxicô Xaviê Nguyễn Văn Nhứt added:

“If a government is confident in its legitimacy, it should not treat the losing side so harshly. They feel insecure and inferior, afraid that if they cannot keep absolute control, it will undermine the state’s legitimacy. That shows they are still not truly confident, even after more than 50 years in power in the South.”

“If possible, they should reconcile generously, as the Americans did after their Civil War. They were able to set the past aside, and now they prosper. Places that fixate on small things never develop. That is the sad part for the Vietnamese people. As long as the government is not sincere and keeps chanting slogans for show, it is still ‘a bait-and-switch’,” Nhứt said bluntly.

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Thúc Kháng wrote this article in Vietnamese and published it in Luật Khoa Magazine on November 1, 2025. The Vietnamese Magazine translated it into English.