The MEP in Vietnam: an overview (1664-1975)
The MEP presence in Vietnam dates back to the seventeenth century. In 1662, Mgr Lambert de la Motte becomes the first vicar apostolic of Cochinchina. As for P. Louis Chevreuil, he is the first MEP missionary to arrive in Cochinchina on the 26th of July 1664, as vicar delegate to Mgr Lambert. In Tonkin, P. François Deydier arrives in 1666, later joined by Mgr de la Motte, who holds the first synod there in 1670.
The missionaries experience difficult beginnings because of a hostile political context, a series of edicts against Christianity and cycles of persecutions. A dangerous environment also plays against the missionaries: few manage to reach their vicariate and many die early on because of difficult living conditions. Maintaining the numbers on the field therefore stays an issue up until the end of the eighteenth century. In 1790, there are still only four MEP missionaries in Tonkin. The French Revolution and the shutdown of the Paris seminary bury any hope of missionary reinforcements until 1815.
In 1802, with the help of France, Nguyen Ang unifies the country and becomes emperor Gia Long. Whilst the start of Gia Long’s reign is favourable for the mission’s development, violent persecutions against Christians are perpetrated under the reigns of Minh Mang (1820-1840), Thiêu-Tri (1840-1847) et Tu Duc (1848-1883). Many missionaries live through martyrdom, like P. Joseph Marchand, sentenced to death by a thousand cuts in 1835. Persecutions calm down with the Hué treaty of 1862, signed between France, Spain, and Vietnam, and guaranteeing the freedom to practice Christian worship. However, the consequences of the persecutions on local Christian populations are disastrous. Moreover, whilst it guarantees religious liberty, the 1862 treaty does not remedy the precarious situation of the missionaries, as they will continue to suffer persecutions for the next twenty-five years.
Over the second half of the nineteenth century, France strengthens its grip on Vietnam. First establishing a protectorate over Cochinchina in 1874, the French then take over Annam and Tonkin ten years later with the Hué treaty. French Indochina is instituted in 1887. From then on, missionaries can reorganise: the country is divided into several vicariates, the numbers are replenished, and conversions are abundant. During the twenty-five-year episcopacy of Mgr Puginier (1868-1892), the Catholic population in Tonkin grows from 140,000 to 220,000.
Over the first decades of the twentieth century, the situation gets more complex for the missionaries because of difficulties with the French administration, famine and the economic crisis favouring the rise of nationalist and communist ideas. Simultaneously, the MEP proceed to the transfer of ecclesiastical offices to a local Vietnamese clergy. This process begins in 1933, when Mgr Nguyen Ba Tong becomes the vicar apostolic of Phat Diêm. Between 1939 and 1945, the missionary activity is greatly impacted by the war, numbers are reduced because of the conscription. Moreover, the Japanese invade Indochina in September of 1940.
The Japanese capitulation in September 1945 is followed by the Indochina War between 1946 and 1954. The MEP situation in Vietnam varies across different vicariates, according to their location, whether they are located in Vietminh or French occupied territory. When the Democratic Republic of communist Vietnam takes control of the North, 700,000 Catholics flee to the South. There are no more MEP missionaries in the North from 1970. After the proclamation of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in 1975, all the remaining missionaries are deported from the country.
A chronology
1662: Mgr Lambert de la Motte is nominated first vicar apostolic of Cochinchina.
1664: P. Louis Chevreuil is the first missionary to arrive in Cochinchina.
1666: François Deydier arrives in Tonkin.
1668-1669: the first Vietnamese priests of Cochinchina and Tonkin are ordinated.
1670: first synod of the Church of Tonkin.
1691: Mgr François Pérez is nominated vicar apostolic of Cochinchina. He is the first local bishop from the local Vietnamese clergy.
1728: only 4 MEP missionaries are working in Cochinchina.
1766: the Hon Dat College is opened by P. Jean-Baptiste Artaud.
1773: a papal brief from Clément XIV assigns the jurisdiction of Tonkin and Cochinchina districts to the MEP.
1790: only 4 MEP missionaries are in Tonkin.
1802: Nguyen Ang unifies Vietnam and becomes emperor Gia Long.
1815: the Cochinchina mission is made of 3 missionaries, 18 Vietnamese priests, and approximately 60,000 Christians.
1820-1833: violent persecutions are perpetrated by the Vietnamese emperors against the Christians.
1862: the Hué treaty is signed, guaranteeing the freedom to exercise Christian worship.
1868-1892: episcopacy of Mgr Puginier. The Catholic population grows from 140,000 to 220,000.
1885-1910: Mgr Louis Pineau is vicar apostolic of Southern Tonkin.
In 1896, there are 116,000 Christians, 54 Christian communities, and 58 parishes in the vicariate.
1887: Tonkin, Annam, and Cochin china are placed under the authority of the French Indochina general governor.
1933: Mgr Nguyen Ba Tong is nominated vicar apostolic of Phat Diêm.
1939-1945: Second World War. Missionary numbers are reduced.
1940: Japanese invasion of Indochina.
1946-1954: Indochina War. 700,000 Catholics flee to the South after the communist takeover of the North.
1960: the Holy See institutes the ecclesiastical hierarchy organised in dioceses.
1954-1975: Vietnam War.
1975: proclamation of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
The remaining 54 MEP missionaries are deported.
5 fathers die during the confrontations preceding the reunification (1968-1975).
Learn more
- NAISSANCE D’UNE EGLISE VIETNAM 1615-1840 | Missions Étrangères de Paris (missionsetrangeres.com)
- L’INTERRUPTION DE LA TREVE VIETNAM | Missions Étrangères de Paris (missionsetrangeres.com)
- LE GRAND MASSACRE VIETNAM | Missions Étrangères de Paris (missionsetrangeres.com)
- L’OCCUPATION FRANÇAISE | Missions Étrangères de Paris (missionsetrangeres.com)
- INDOCHINE 1940-1954 2EME GUERRE MONDIALE ET DECOLONISATION | Missions Étrangères de Paris (missionsetrangeres.com)
- INDOCHINE 1954 1975 | Missions Étrangères de Paris (missionsetrangeres.com)
ALLAIN Alexandre, La France de Guizot et l’Extrême-Orient (1840-1848), thèse sous la dir. d’Etienne Taillemite, Ecole nationale des Chartes, 1999.
BACHELET Hervé, « Les minorités ethniques du Centre Vietnam vues par les missionnaires français », in Cahiers de l’Asie du Sud-Est, Paris, 1989, 2e semestre, vol. 26, pp. 7-38.
BUNEL Laurent, Le contact protocolonial franco-vietnamien en centre et nord Vietnam (1856-1883), thèse sous la dir. de Daniel Hémery, Paris, 1997, 3 vol.
COOK Nola, « Strange brew : Global, regional and local factors behind the 1690 prohibition of Christian practice in Nguyen Cochinchina », in Journal of Southeast Asia Studies, 39 (3), October 2008, pp. 383-409
COOK Nola, « Early Ninetheenth-Century Vietnamese Catholics and Others in the Pages of the Annales de la Propagation de la Foi », in Journal of Southeast Asia Studies, 35 (2), June 2004, pp. 261-285
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GARCIA Luc, Quand les missionnaires rencontraient les Vietnamiens (1920-1960), Paris : Karthala, 2008.
HALLOT Mathieu, Mission de Cochinchine occidentale entre spiritualité et temporalité : la colonisation française en Cochinchine, thèse sous la dir. d’Alain Forest, Paris, 2004
JACQUES Roland (OMI), “Le premier synode du Tonkin (14 février 1670)”, mémoire de licence canonique, sous la dir. de Jean Passicos, Paris, 1993, 109 p.
KEITH Charles, Catholic Vietnam: a Church from Empire to Nation, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012, 312 p.
LA GRANGE Arnaud (de), La conquête du Tonkin et les missions catholiques, à travers la correspondance de Monseigneur Puginier, mémoire sous la dir. de Jean Martin, Paris, 1987
LANGE Claude (MEP), « L’Église catholique au Viêtnam » in Les Chemins de la décolonisation de l’empire colonial français, Paris : CNRS, 1986, p. 179-188.
LANGE Claude (MEP), « Des vicaires apostoliques missionnaires à l’épiscopat vietnamien au XXe siècle » in Des missions aux Églises / actes de la 10e session du CREDIC, Lyon : CREDIC, 1999, p. 132-141.
LANGE Claude (MEP), L’Église catholique et la société des Missions étrangères au Vietnam. Vicariat apostolique de Cochinchine XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles, Paris : L’Harmattan, 2004.
LANGE Claude (MEP), « Les Missions étrangères au Vietnam », in Les Missions étrangères en Asie et dans l’océan Indien, Paris : Les Indes savantes, 2007, p. 187-203.
LANGE Claude (MEP), « L’Église catholique au Vietnam aux XIXe et XXe siècles : conflits et coexistences » in Concurrences en mission : propagandes, conflits, coexistences : XVIe-XXIe siècle, Paris : Karthala, 2011, p. 199-214.
LE GUIADER Pascal, Les missions catholiques au Tonkin : l’œuvre des Missions-étrangères (1868-1912), Mémoire de maîtrise, Université du Maine, 1987.
LE Thi Hoa Marie, L’enseignement catholique aux prises avec les mutations de la société et de l’Eglise au Vietnam de 1930 à 1990, thèse sous la dir. d’Emmanuel Poisson, Paris, 2018, 541 p.
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Võ Ðưć Hạnh Etienne, La place du catholicisme dans les relations entre la France et le Vietnam de 1887 à 1903, Bern : P. Lang, 2002
Sources
DOURISBOURE Pierre (MEP), Les sauvages ban’hars (Cochinchine orientale) : souvenirs d’un missionnaire, Paris : Lecoffre, 1904, 332 p.
DOURISBOURE Pierre (MEP) & SIMMONET Christian (MEP), La mission des Grands plateaux, Paris : France-Empire, 1961.
LAUNAY Adrien (MEP), Histoire ancienne et moderne de l’Annam : Tong-king et Cochinchine depuis l’année 2700 avant l’ère chrétienne jusqu’à nos jours, Paris : Challamel Aîné, 1884, 251 p.
LAUNAY Adrien (MEP), Monseigneur Retord et le Tonkin catholique, Lyon : E. Vitte, 1893, 446 p.
LAUNAY Adrien (MEP), Histoire de la mission de Cochinchine : 1658-1823, Paris : Téqui, 1923, 3 vol. (643 p., 447 p., 538 p.)
LAUNAY Adrien (MEP), Histoire de la mission du Tonkin, 1, Documents historiques : 1658-1917, Paris : Maisonneuve frères, 1927, 600 p.
LANDRY-DERON Isabelle & HINGHO Chan, Inventaire des ouvrages en Han Nôm conservés aux Missions étrangères, Paris : Archives des Missions étrangères de Paris, 2004, 255 p.
SEITZ Paul (MEP), Des hommes debout : les Montagnards du Sud-Vietnam, Kontum : Hnam in Kuenot, 1975.
Films
SIMONNET Christian (MEP), L’Exode du Nord-Vietnam, 1956
SIMONNET Christian (MEP), La mission des hauts-plateaux, 1959
- (1662-1741) Edification de la mission
- (1741-1760) Mgr Lefebvre
- (1762-1799) Mgrs Piguel et Pigneau de Béhaine
- (1666-1670) Création du diocèse du Tonkin
- (1679-1700) Division en deux vicariats apostoliques
- (1700-1739) Premières expulsions et début de la clandestinité
- La mission à la fin du XVIIIème siècle : des effectifs peinant à s’accroître
- (1803-1911) Tonkin occidental
- (1846-1911) Tonkin méridional
- Haut-Tonkin
- Tonkin maritime
- Hauts-Plateaux du Vietnam
