PHAT-DIEM, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE of. — On the southern coast of Tonkin, Viet-Nam. On 24 July 1678, the apostolic vicariate of Tonkin was divided into those of Eastern Tonkin (today Haiphong) and Western Tonkin (today Hanoi).
From the latter were detached, on 17 March 1846, the apostolic vicariate of Southern Tonkin (today Vinh); on 15 December 1895, the apostolic vicariate of Tonkin (today Hung-Hoa); and on 15 April 1901, the apostolic vicariate of Maritime Tonkin, which on 3 December 1924 was named P.-D. On 7 May 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 P.-D. mission is considered to be Mgr. 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 Vietnamese secular clergy (7 May 1932). Mgr. G. B. Tong was the first indigenous bishop in Viet-Nam; he was consecrated in Rome by Pius XI on 11 June 1933 in the Vatican Basilica.
In 1615 the gates of this country had opened to the Genoese Jesuit Fr. Buzzoni. Fr. Alessandro de Rhodes arrived there nine years later. Two hundred and seventy years of almost continuous persecution (1615–1885) failed to destroy the Catholic faith in the soul of the Vietnamese people; rather, they served to consolidate II. Among the indigenous clergy, Fr. Tran Luc, commonly called “Father Six,” distinguished himself: he was parish priest, viceroy of Annam, man of letters, architect, and builder of the beautiful cathedral of P.-D.
The apostolic vicariate of P.-D. covers 1,700 sq km and has 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; 3 hospitals; and one orphanage.