SAIGON, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE of. — It comprises, in addition to several civil provinces of Cochinchina, also three provinces of Annam. It is entrusted to the Fathers of the Society of the Foreign Missions of Paris, who arrived there in 1684.
The Jesuit Alessandro de Rhodes may rightly be considered the first evangelizer and organizer of Christian communities in Cochinchina, where he arrived in 1624. On 9 September 1659, the vicariate of Cochinchina was entrusted to Msgr. Pietro de la Motte. On 2 March 1844, the mission was divided into the Apostolic Vicariate of Eastern Cochinchina (today Quinhon) and the Apostolic Vicariate of Western Cochinchina (today Saigon). The Christians suffered a first persecution under King Minh-Mang and a second, far more terrible one, under King Tu-Duc, during which there were many martyrs, some of whom were beatified in 1900 and 1908. French intervention marked the end of the religious persecution through the Treaty of Peace of 5 June 1862, ratified at Hué the following year. In 1875 religious freedom was definitively proclaimed. On 30 August 1850, the Apostolic Vicariate of Cambodia (the present Apostolic Vicariate of Phnompenh), together with the adjoining part of Laos (today the Apostolic Prefecture of Thakhek), was separated from the Apostolic Vicariate of Western Cochinchina.
On 22 July 1870, two other provinces were separated from it and joined to the same vicariate of Cambodia. On 9 February 1900 and 1 July 1907, some districts taken from the Apostolic Vicariate of Eastern Cochinchina were annexed to the Apostolic Vicariate of Western Cochinchina. On 2 December 1924, the mission of Western Cochinchina received its present name of Saigon.
It has an area of 35,000 sq. km and a population of approximately 2,800,000 inhabitants. According to the statistical data for 1950–51, there are 119,033 Catholics with 2,717 catechumens; 6,000 Protestants and 2,700,000 pagans. Missionary personnel: 170 priests, of whom 101 are indigenous, 26 Fathers of the M. E. P., 3 Lazarists, 26 Canadian Redemptorists, 7 Benedictines and 7 French Friars Minor; 153 brothers, of whom 29 are natives; 1,069 sisters; 40 major seminarians and 136 minor seminarians; 11 catechists; 86 male teachers and 313 female teachers. Educational and charitable institutions: 105 elementary schools; 10 middle schools; 3 secondary schools; 3 kindergartens; 11 hospitals; 5 orphanages; one leprosarium. There are 252 sacred buildings; 13 deaneries; 16 quasi-parishes; 73 primary and 181 secondary stations. A newspaper entitled Tong-Do is published there, with a circulation of 6,000 copies. The city of residence of the Ordinary is Saigon, an important port of southern Vietnam.