Phat-Diem, Apostolic Vicariate of

PHAT-DIEM, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE OF. - On the southern coast of Tonkin, Vietnam. On July 24, 1678 the apostolic vicariate of Tonkin was divided into those of Eastern Tonkin (today Haiphong) and Western Tonkin (today Hanoi).

From the latter were dismembered, on March 17, 1846, the apostolic vicariate of Southern Tonkin (today Vinh), on Dec. 15, 1895 the apostolic vicariate of Tonkin (today Hung-Hoa) and on Apr. 15, 1901 the apostolic vicariate of Maritime Tonkin, which on Dec. 3, 1924 was named P.-D. On May 7, 1932 this vicariate was in turn divided, in order to constitute, with its civil provinces of Than-Hoa and Sam-mua, the apostolic vicariate of Than-Hoa. The founder of the mission of P.-D. is considered to be Msgr. A. Marcou, of the Paris Foreign Missions, its first apostolic vicar. The vicariate of P.-D. remained entrusted to that Society until its transfer to the secular Vietnamese clergy (May 7, 1932). Msgr. G. B. Tong was the first native bishop in Vietnam; and he was consecrated in Rome by Pius XI on June 11, 1933 in the Vatican Basilica.

In 1615 the gates of this country had been opened to the Genoese Jesuit Father Buzzoni. Father Alessandro de Rhodes arrived there nine years later. Two hundred and seventy years of almost continuous persecutions (1615-1885) did not succeed in destroying, but rather served to consolidate, the Catholic faith in the soul of the Vietnamese people. Among the native clergy was distinguished Fr. Tran Luc, commonly called "Father Six," who was a parish priest, viceroy of Annam, a man of letters, an architect, and the builder of the beautiful cathedral of P.-D.

The apostolic vicariate of P.-D. extends over 1,700 sq km with 330,000 inhabitants, of whom 112,027 are Catholics. There are 152 native priests; 177 native brothers; 202 native sisters; 78 major and 186 minor seminarians; 495 catechists; 170 teachers; 140 elementary schools; a dispensary; 3 hospitals; an orphanage.

Edoardo Pecoraro