PHNOM-PENH, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE of. – It comprises the entire kingdom of Cambodia and several provinces of Cochinchina. On 19 July 1649 this territory was included in the Apostolic Vicariate of Tonkin; in 1650 it was transferred to that of Cochinchina.
The latter was divided on 3 March 1844 into two: Eastern Cochinchina (today Quinhon) and Western Cochinchina (today Saigon). Cambodia was annexed to the latter, and was subsequently detached from it on 30 August 1850, in order to constitute, together with the contiguous part of Laos, the autonomous vicariate of Cambodia. On 22 July 1870, the two provinces of Chau-doc and Hatien, detached from the vicariate of Western Cochinchina, and five other Cambodian provinces, which until then had formed part of Siam, were incorporated into II. The present designation dates from 3 December 1924.
The Cambodian race is not at all inclined toward the Catholic religion. Buddhism, as the national religion, permeates all the official ceremonies and the institutions of the Cambodian government. But there are numerous Annamites, who are readily converted to Christianity. In the great virgin forests, vestiges of indigenous tribes are found: Pears, Kouys, Kas, Phnom, Stiegs. They have nothing in common except fetishism as a religion and a nomadic life. The Jesuit Ferdinande Mendez Pinto, in 1554, and the Dominican Gaspare della Croce, in 1555, visited Cambodia. But the organization of the stations began toward the end of the sixteenth century, through the work of Franciscans, Dominicans, and Jesuits. After 1606, the Fathers of the Paris Foreign Missions arrived in Cambodia, and the vicariate is still entrusted to them. Subsequently, the mission underwent a long period of decline because of the continual wars between Cambodians and Annamites. In 1870, with the annexation of the two Annamite provinces, the vicariate entered a new period of prosperity.
Over a territory of 190,000 sq km, the population is approximately 4,500,000. The number of Catholics is 109,224. There are 106 priests; 39 brothers; 519 sisters; 16 major seminarians and 140 minor seminarians; 8 hospitals, 5 orphanages; 6 homes for the elderly; 40 elementary schools; 4 secondary schools; 2 teacher-training schools; 2 schools for catechists.
BIBL. Arch. della S. Congr. di Prop. Fide, Relatio quinquennalis, pos. prot. n. 4171/35; ibid., Prospectus Status Missuons, 1950, pos. prot. n. 4174/50; AAS, 17 (1925), pp. 25-26; H. Chappouille, Aux origines d'une Eglise, Rome et les missions de l'Indochine au XVIIe siècle, 2 vols., Paris 1943-1948, passim; MC, 1950, pp. 270-71. Edoardo Pecorano