Hanoi, Apostolic Vicariate of

HANOI, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE OF. - It is located in southwestern Tonkin (Vietnam) and has an area of 4,600 sq km. From the division of the apostolic vicariate of Tonkin in 1678 came the two vicariates of eastern and western Tonkin, and from the latter, on March 17, 1846, that of southern Tonkin was detached. Finally, in 1901, the apostolic vicariate of maritime Tonkin was separated from it.

The present name of H. was given on Dec. 3, 1924. It comprises the provinces of Hadong, Hanan or Phily; part of the provinces of Namdinh, Hoabinh, Hungyèn and Sontay. The inhabitants are all Annamites, except those of the mountainous zone, who belong to the "Thai" or "Tho" people, with many idioms, and have nothing in common with the Annamitic language. There are three religions: Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism, but they have only the name of religion, because they are reduced to sects whose doctrine is a crass atheism and materialism. The cult of the ancestors is very tenacious. Some Protestant sects have transplanted themselves from America and France into the city of H., but with little proselytism. At the beginning of the 17th century various missionaries, among them the well-known Alessandro de Rhodes, preached the Gospel in Tonkin with great success. In its territory the first two Tonkinese priests were ordained in 1668; on Feb. 14, 1670 the Tonkinese Synod was held there. The Christian population counts various martyrs, of whom 28 were beatified in 1900 and 1906. There are remembered Bl. Teofano Venard of the Paris Foreign Missions and Bl. Agnes De. The vicariate of H. has always been entrusted to the Society of the Paris Foreign Missions, but by decree of Apr. 18, 1950 it passed to the secular Vietnamese clergy.

Out of a population of over 2,200,000 inhabitants, Catholics number 195,070, catechumens 6,924, pagans 2,000,000. There are 165 Annamite priests and 57 foreign; 20 Annamite brothers and 13 foreign; 427 Annamite sisters and 44 foreign; 370 catechists; 1 major seminary with 42 students and 1 minor with 110 students; the districts number 23; 87 quasi-parishes, 200 churches and 546 chapels. Teachers 1,069; elementary schools 212, with 7,285 male pupils and 2,469 female pupils; 4 middle schools, with 763 male pupils and 886 female pupils; 2 higher schools, with 825 male pupils and 496 female pupils; 1 school for catechists, with 43 pupils; 4 hospitals with 140 beds; 4 orphanages with 140 orphans; 2 homes for the aged with 1,003 residents; 1 printing press, from which various periodicals are published. H., the intellectual capital of Vietnam, is the residence of the Ordinary.

Edoardo Pecoraro