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 Paris Foreign Missions Society, 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 Sept. 1659 the vicariate of Cochinchina was entrusted to Mgr. Pietro de la Motte. On 2 March 1844 the mission was divided into the apostolic vicariate of Eastern Cochinchina (now of Quinhon) and the apostolic vicariate of Western Cochinchina (now Saigon). The Christians suffered a first persecution under King Minh-Mang and a second, much more terrible one, under King Tu-Duc, during which many were martyrs, some of whom were beatified in 1900 and 1908. French intervention marked the truce of religious persecution through the Peace Treaty of 5 June 1862, ratified in Hué the following year. In 1875 religious freedom was definitively proclaimed. On 30 Aug. 1850, the vicariate of Western Cochinchina was detached
from that of Cochinchina to form the vicariate of Cambodia (now the apostolic vicariate of Phnompenh) with the contiguous part of Laos (now the apostolic prefecture of Thaikhek).
On 22 July 1870 two other provinces were detached and united to the same vicariate of Cambodia. On 9 Feb. 1900 and 10 July 1907 some districts were annexed to the vicariate of Western Cochinchina from the vicariate of Eastern Cochinchina. On 2 Dec. 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 about 2,800,000 inhabitants. According to the 1950-51 statistical data, there are 119,033 Catholics with 2,717 catechumens; 6,000 Protestants and 2,700,000 pagans. Mission personnel: 170 priests, of whom 101 are indigenous, 26 Fathers of the M.E.P., 3 Lazarists, 26 Canadian Redemptorists, 7 Benedictines and 7 Minor Franciscans; 153 brothers, of whom 29 are natives; 1,069 sisters; 40 major and 136 minor seminarians; 11 catechists; 86 male and 313 female teachers. Educational and welfare works: 105 elementary schools; 10 middle schools; 3 high schools; 3 kindergartens; 11 hospitals; 5 orphanages; one leper hospital. There are 252 sacred buildings; 13 deaneries; 16 quasi-parishes; 73 primary and 181 secondary stations. A newspaper is published there under the title *Tong-Do* with a circulation of 6,000 copies. The city of residence of the Ordinary is Saigon, an important port of southern Vietnam.