PHAT-DIEM, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE OF. – On the southern coast of Tonkin, Vietnam. On 24 July 1678 the apostolic vicariate of Tonkin was divided into that of Eastern Tonkin (now Haiphong) and Western Tonkin (now Hanoi).
From the latter were detached, on 17 March 1846, the apostolic vicariate of Southern Tonkin (now Vinh), on 15 December 1895 the apostolic vicariate of Tonkin (now Hung-Hoa), and on 15 April 1901 the apostolic vicariate of Maritime Tonkin, which on 3 December 1924 was renamed P.-D. On 7 May 1932 this vicariate was itself divided, to form, with its civil provinces of Thanh-Hoa and Sam-nua, the apostolic vicariate of Thanh-Hoa. The founder of the P.-D. mission is considered to be Msgr. A. Marcou, of the Paris Foreign Missions, first apostolic vicar. The vicariate of P.-D. remained entrusted to this Society until its transfer to the Vietnamese secular clergy (7 May 1932). Msgr. G. B. Tong was the first indigenous bishop in Vietnam; he was consecrated in Rome by Pius XI on 11 June 1933 in the Vatican Basilica.
In 1615 the gates of this country were opened to the Genoese Jesuit Fr. Buzzoni. Fr. Alessandro de Rhodes arrived nine years later. Two hundred and seventy years of almost continuous persecutions (1615–1855) did not succeed in destroying, but rather served to consolidate, the Catholic faith in the soul of the Vietnamese people. Among the indigenous clergy, Fr. Tran Luc, commonly called “Father Six,” stood out; he was parish priest, viceroy of Annam, man of letters, architect, and builder of the fine cathedral of P.-D.
The apostolic vicariate of P.-D. extends over 1,700 km² 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; one dispensary; three hospitals; one orphanage.