The early days of Christianity in Vietnam

Christianity is a big religion that had deep influence on the turning of Vietnam history. The religion is said to first appeared in Vietnam in the sixteen century. There was some record of a prohibition in 1533 of the spreading of Gia To (Jesus) by a western man in Son Nam province. (1) (2) The first missionaries to arrive in Cochinchine are believed to be the Portuguese Dominicans. In the 1550s, Gaspar de Santa Cruz, on his way to Cambodia, had stopped in Ha Tien and stayed there for 5 years. However, there was no historical evidence that he had carried out any missionary activities in Cochinchine. (1) In 1590, Ordonnez de Cevallos, a Spanish adventurer and priest visited Tonkin and wrote down that he saw two Portuguese priests being sent here from Macao. According to his memoir, Princess Mai Hoa, a sister of Emperor Le The Tong – whom he converted, fell in love with the Cevallos and wanted a marriage. However, the priest refused since he had to keep his his vow of celibacy. (1) Christianity did not become notable until the 1615 arrival of Father Francesco Buzomi and two other Jesuit priests in Danang and then Hoi An. They founded the first Catholic church in Vietnam (3) and since then the mission began to take root. However, difficulties arose continuously. The local religious leaders blamed the fathers for a drought afflicting the country, a church was burnt down and Father Francesco Buzomi fell seriously ill. In a response, the officials in Macao sent two new missionaries in Cochinchine: Peter Marques and Christoforo Borri – whose memoir was published under a book called “Cochinchine in 1621” (Xu Dang Trong nam 1621). (4) During the 17th and 18th century, the missionaries faced up many obstacles and the local officials or unbelievers always tried to arrest them. They experienced a hard life due to the difference of climate and food. However, the mission continued thank to the help of local Christians. Not only did the missionaries contribute to the spread of the religion, their memoirs and letters also serve as precious sources of information for historians who want to study the 17th and 18th century of Vietnam. (5) After hundreds of years, now you can pray and enjoy Christmas without fear of “being captured”. To celebrate the day, Under The Green Moss is pleased to bring you the cute art by Huong Giang, which is inspired from Christmas and mixed with the attire of officials in Restored Le Dynasty. Merry Christmas!!! ---------------- Summarized by Kim Nhu Nguyen References: (1) Peter C Phan, 2006, Mission and Catechesis: Alexandre de Rhodes and Inculturation in Seventeenth-Century Vietnam (Faith and Cultures) (2) Khâm Định Việt Sử Thông Giám Cương Mục (Text and commentary of the complete mirror of the history of Vietnam) (3) Dutton, George E., George E. Dutton, Jayne S. Werner, and John K. Whitmore. 2012. Sources of Vietnamese tradition. [electronic resource]. n.p.: [S.l.] : Columbia University Press, 2012., 2012. (4) Samuel Baron (Author), Christoforo Borri (Author), Olga Dror (Editor), K. W. Taylor (Editor), Views of Seventeenth-Century Vietnam: Christoforo Borri on Cochinchina and Samuel Baron on Tonkin (Studies on Southeast Asia) (5) Thư của các giáo sĩ thừa sai, NXB Văn học 2013 (Lettres esdifiantes des missions de la Chine et des Indes Orientales)