History of Catholic Church in Vietnam
The history of Catholic Church in Vietnam can be divided into 3 periods:
- The beginning stage of Catholic Faith in Vietnam,
- The Challenging and Persecution Period,
- From the hierarchy establishment to current time.
1. The beginning stage of Catholic Faith in Vietnam
Catholicism came to Vietnam from of European missionaries during the sixteenth century. According to The Royal Vietnamese Annals, in the year of Nguyên Hòa (1533), under the reign of King Lê Trang Tông, there was a decree that banned Christianity. The decree mentioned the name of a European individual, Ignatio, who by seaway had landed and preached the religion at Ninh Cường and Quỳnh Anh Villages, district Nam Chân (present Nam Định). The document did not mention his congregation, but probably Ignatio belonged to a religious order.
Based on the above decree, it is understandable to presume that the Gospel had been preached in Vietnam before the year of 1533. The missionaries have traveled all over the country. They came from different European countries via neighboring countries such as the Philippine Islands, Malacca, Macao, Japan... They were accompanied by European merchants and belonged to a variety of congregations: Society of Jesus (SJ), Dominican Fathers (OP), Order of the Minor Friars of St. Francis (Franciscans, OFM) and the Foreign Mission of Paris (MEP).
2. The Challenging and Persecution Period
The seed of the Gospel was sowed into Vietnam with the new waves of commercial ventures of Europeans. In the beginning, there was an acceptance in tranquility, and sometimes with curiosity about the Western culture and religion. But then, because of misunderstanding that those who followed Western Religion would denied their traditional customs and not loyal to the Royal Court, the persecutions have broken out with innumerable arrests, imprisonments and killings throughout four centuries, under three dynasties. 130,000 Vietnamese Catholics have shed their blood to defend their faith, braving all kinds of tortures and sufferings.
But the saying of Tertullian that “the blood of the martyrs is the seeds of Christians” proved once more to be true in Vietnamese situation. The number of Vietnamese Catholics has increased more and more. The first seminary in Vietnam was established in 1665 and from there the first Vietnamese priests were ordained: Father Joseph Trang (March 1668), Fathers John Huệ and Benedict Hiền (August 1668). Thanks to the zeal of these Vietnamese priests and European missionaries, the Gospel seeds have sown day and night into the field of Vietnamese society, and their plants have born a lot of grains.
At the first years of 19th century, the Vietnamese Church was composed of 320,000 believers, 119 Vietnamese priests, 15 missionary priests and 3 foreign bishops. The constant increase of followers as well as a wide development of evangelization have led to the consecration of the first Vietnamese bishop, Most Reverend John Baptist Nguyễn Bá Tòng, on June 11, 1933 at St. Peter’ Basilica by Pope Pius XI who installed him as the coadjutor bishop of Phát Diệm with the right of succession.
3. From the hierarchy establishment to current time
On November 24, 1960 Pope John XXIII issued a decree to establish the hierarchy of the Church at Vietnam that consisted of 3 archdioceses: Hà Nội, Huế, Sài Gòn, and 17 dioceses: Lạng Sơn, Hải Phòng và Bắc Ninh, Hưng Hóa, Thái Bình, Bùi Chu, Phát Diệm, Thanh Hóa, Vinh, Qui Nhơn, Nha Trang, Kontum, Vĩnh Long, Cần Thơ, Đà Lạt, Mỹ Tho và Long Xuyên.
Consequently in 1976, the Holy See elevated Archbishop Joseph Mary Trịnh Như Khuê as the first Vietnamese cardinal. Succeeding him in 1979 was Joseph Mary Cardinal Trịnh Văn Căn, and on October 30, 1994, Paul Joseph Cardinal Phạm Đình Tụng. The other well known Vietnamese Cardinal is Archbishop Nguyễn Văn Thuận, who was imprisoned by the Communist government from 1975-1988. He was appointed President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace on 24 June 1998. On February 21, 2001 he was elevated Cardinal by Pope John Paul II. And on October 21, 2003, the Archbishop John Baptist Pham Minh Mẫn of Hochiminh City Archdiocese was elevated Cardinal by Pope John Paull II. On September 16, 2007, the fifth anniversary of the Cardinal Nguyễn Văn Thuận's death, the Roman Catholic Church began the beatification process for him.
Another special event of Vietnamese Church is that: on Sunday, June 19, 1988, at the St. Peter Square, Pope John Paul II solemnly canonized 117 Vietnamese Blessed Martyrs: 8 bishops, 50 priests, 16 catechists, 1 seminarian and 41 laymen and 1 laywoman. Their feast day is to be celebrated on November 24.
In 2009, there are 5,658,000 Catholics in Vietnam, representing 6.87% of the total population. There are 26 dioceses (including three archdioceses) with 2,228 parishes and 2,668 priests.
In 2010, the Congress of Catholic Church in Vietnamese was organized in the Pastoral Center of Hochiminh City Archdiocese.
Source: tgpsaigon.net
