QUINHON, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE OF. — Formerly, this mission constituted the principal part of the Apostolic Vicariate of Cocinica, Cambodia and Champa, erected in 1658.
On 2 March 1844 the territory was divided into the Eastern Apostolic Vicariate (since 3 December 1924 of Q.) and the Western Apostolic Vicariate (now Saigon; V. INDOCHINESE FEDERATION, II: Evangelization). In 1659, the then-erected Vicariate of Cocinica, Cambodia and Champa was entrusted to the Paris Foreign Missions Society, under the jurisdiction of Msgr. Pierre Lambert de la Motte. The preaching of the Gospel meanwhile met with happy success everywhere. Indeed, by the end of the 18th century, the number of faithful amounted to about 100,000. The Christian community was the victim of cruel persecutions for more than two centuries, which culminated in 1833 in an open war of extermination against the Christian name.
Over an area of 35,000 sq. km., the mission of Q. has a population of about 2,500,000 inhabitants. There are 69,230 Catholics with 300 catechumens; 83 native priests and 27 from the Paris Foreign Missions Society; 61 native brothers and 14 foreign; 254 native sisters and 21 foreign; one major and one minor seminary; 67 primary stations and 368 secondary ones; 53 churches and 356 chapels; 50 elementary schools; 5 middle schools; 3 normal schools; one hospital; 3 dispensaries; 16 orphanages; one home for the elderly; one leper colony; one printing press.