Jean-Charles Cornay

Jean-Charles Cornay (; 27 February 1809 – 20 September 1837) was a French missionary of the Paris Foreign Missions Society who was martyred in Vietnam. He was executed in Ha Tay, Tonkin, now Vietnam, during the persecutions of Emperor Minh Mạng.

Cornay was beatified on 27 May 1900, and canonized by Pope John Paul II on 19 June 1988. after traveling along the Red River disguised as a Chinese. In January 1836, he was told in a letter from the Apostolic Vicar of Szechwan that it was impossible to send him new guides, and gave him the choice between remaining in Tonkin or returning to Macao. With no hope of reaching China from Tonkin, he chose to stay there. In his grueling ministry he was always calm, even joyous. Even his deteriorating health did nothing to reduce his faith.

Cornay was arrested in 1837, accused of being the leader of an evil sect and of fomenting a rebellion. He was subjected to the cangue (a wooden torture collar) and then the cage. His response to torture was to sing. "After fifty blows I was untied. Arriving at the prison, I sang the Salve Regina, the hymn to the Virgin".

He was sentenced to death by lang-tri. On 20 September 1837, as decreed by the Emperor Minh Mang, he was dismembered and beheaded near the Son-Tay citadel, not far from Hanoi. The executioner tore out his liver, took a piece of it and ate it.

Statue of Jean-Charles Cornay, in the church of Saint-Pierre du Marché, Loudun.

Cornay was declared Venerable on 19 June 1840 by Pope Gregory XVI. He was included in the Martyrology on 2 July 1899 by Pope Leo XIII after he had been beatified by that pope on 27 May 1900. He was canonized by Pope John Paul II on 19 June 1988 as one of the 117 Martyrs of Vietnam, whose feast day is celebrated on 24 November.