Northern Catholic Refugees in South Vietnam, 1954-64

The Virgin heads South: Northern Catholic Refugees in South Vietnam, 1954-64.

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment

of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

Peter Hansen Melbourne College of Divinity Kew Victoria 3101

To the people of Tai A Chau Detention Centre, 1991-3

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All these died in faith, before receiving any of the things that had been promised, but they saw them in the far distance and welcomed them, recognizing that they were only strangers and nomads on the earth. People who use such terms about themselves make it quite plain that they are in search of their real homeland. They can hardly have meant the country they came from, since they had the opportunity to go back to it; but in fact they were longing for a better homeland, their heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, since he has founded the city for them. (Heb 11:13-16)

ABSTRACT

When the Accords of the Geneva Conference brought an end to the First Indochina War in July 1954, more than 800,000 people from north of the seventeenth parallel took the opportunity provided by the accord provisions to seek refuge in what was to become the Republic of Vieät Nam (RVN) in the South. They were fleeing from the regime of the Democratic Republic of Vieät Nam (DRVN) in the North. More than 75% of these were members of Vietnam’s Catholic minority. They became known as the baéc di cö ; Refugees from the North. 1

This thesis examines the evolution of the baéc di cö as a distinctive regional Catholic micro-culture within the Vietnamese Church. It examines the motivations of Northern Catholics in leaving their home areas to travel south, and critically analyses some existing commentaries as to who were the principal agents of influence in their decisions to leave.

The process of their integration into southern society was complex and prolonged. Under the Catholic president of the Republic of Vietnam (RVN), Ngoâ Ñình Dieäm (President from 1955 until his assassination in 1963), they had a significant influence on the polity and institutions of the southern state. But their influence on the Church in the South was even more marked. Not only were they a Catholic cohort more numerous than the southern church itself; they were also heirs to a quite different ecclesiastical culture, social structure, and mode of leadership. These differences meant that their assimilation into the southern Church – like that of their assimilation into southern society as a whole – was by no means a facile process.

Using archives from the Dieäm presidency, fieldwork interviews, and contemporary press sources (particularly the Catholic press), this dissertation describes the process of their departure from the North, and their reception and resettlement in the South. Particular reference is made to the role of Catholic Church agencies, both domestic and international, in aiding the Dieäm administration in ensuring their transition from temporary evacuees to integrated permanent residents. This interaction led to a complex inter-dependence between Dieäm’s government, the southern Catholic hierarchy, and the Northern Catholics themselves. The thesis will assert that, contrary to some historiography of the era, no one of these entities was entirely beholden to the others.

No less complex was the relationship between the eùmigreù church and the indigenous church of the RVN. For a period, the former functioned autonomously within the territory of the latter, before the process of ecclesiastic integration began in earnest. But even then, the baéc di cö church in many ways came to dominate its southern hosts. This thesis asserts that the insular worldview, tight social structures

v and dominant ecclesiastical leadership which characterized the northern Church was largely replicated in its re-establishment in the South, and that this, as much as their numerical strength, accounts for the profound influence which the baéc di cö exercised over the host church.

Statement of Authenticity

This thesis contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university, and that, to the best of my belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person, except where due reference is made in the text of the thesis. The thesis (including footnotes, but excluding bibliography and appendices) is approximately 96,698 words in length.

Dated the fourth day of June, 2008.

......

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Acknowledgements

I consider myself uniquely fortunate to have had as my supervisors Rev. Dr. Austin Cooper OMI, of Catholic Theological College, Melbourne, as my principal supervisor, and Professor David Marr, of Australian National University, Canberra, as associate supervisor. I owe them an enormous debt of gratitude. Not only do both have an exhaustive knowledge of their respective areas, they have been unstinting in their enthusiasm, encouragement, and sage advice. To have had Austin as a mentor, colleague, advisor and friend for more than twenty years, and to have drawn on the warm support and knowledge of David Marr for more than a decade, has been a great blessing.

One of the many ways in which David assisted me was to arrange for my placement as a research fellow at the Vieän Nghieân Cöùu Toân Giaùo (Religious Affairs Institute) of the Trung Taâm Khoa Hoïc Xaõ Hoäi vaø Nhaân Vaên Quoác Gia (National Centre for Social Sciences and the Humanities) in Hanoi during 2003. Whilst I am greatly indebted to Professor Ñoã Quang Höng, and to all staff of the Institute, who made my stay there so profitable and enjoyable, I am particularly grateful to Dr. Nguyeãn Hoàng Döông, Deputy Director of the Institute, who organized my field work in his native Ninh Binh Province, and accompanied me during it. Apart from offering warm hospitality, I must acknowledge that Professor Höng and the Institute took something of a risk in accepting me; a foreigner, a priest, and working on a controversial, albeit historical topic; all of these were firsts for the Vieän. I hope I justified their faith in me. I thank everyone at the Institute.

Whilst in Hanoi, I was befriended by Dr. Nguyeãn Quang Höng , from the Philosophy Department of the National University in Hanoi, whose research was of great assistance to me, as was his kindness in making me feel at home.

Professor Ñoã Quang Höng and Dr. Nguyeãn Hoàng Döông arranged for my access to two vital sources of primary research material in Hoà Chí Minh City, where I spent three months in 2003; the Restricted Reading Room at the Thö Vieän Khoa Hoïc Toång Hôïp (General Sciences Library), and the Löõu Trö Quoác Gia Soá 2 (National Archive No. 2). My requests for assistance were dealt with patiently and graciously by Miss Höông Giaûng at the Library, and Dr. Phan Ñình Nham and his staff at the Archive. Mr. Vöông Ñình Chöõ, Deputy Director of Coâng Giaùo vaø Daân Toäc [Catholicism and the Nation] magazine, also allowed me considerable access to their office’s library, which proved very useful, whilst the Sisters who administer the Library of St. Joseph’s Seminary in Hoà Chí Minh City, allowed me to look in dusty places where no one had ventured for a very long time. I also acknowledge with great gratitude viii

the care given to me in Hoà Chí Minh City by Michael Hardie, my great friend, sounding-board, and landlord.

Back in Australia, my thanks also go to Dr. Shane Mackinlay at Catholic Theological College, Tony McCumstie, Rosalie Cotter, and Lisa Gerber of the Mannix Library, and to Dr. Matthew Martin, Dr. Anne Elvey and Dr. Albert Haig, of the Melbourne College of Divinity. Oanh Collins, Rob Hurle, Ben Kerkvliet, Stan Tan, Nola Cooke and Jacob Ramsay, all of ANU, also provided assistance, materials, and advice, for which I’m grateful. I also thank Cardinal George Pell, former Archbishop of Melbourne, his successor, Archbishop Denis Hart, and his Vicar-General, Msgr. Les Tomlinson, for their support for my studies. Msgr. Ian Waters, Judicial Vicar for the Archdiocese of Melbourne, provided extremely helpful advice concerning Canon Law.

Frs. Vincent Leâ Vaên Höông and Philip Leâ Vaên Sôn acted as occasional translators when the Vieät-Anh dictionary no longer sufficed. In the United States, Dr. Ed Miller, Charlies Keith and Hoaøng Tuaán have all been truly helpful correspondents, as has Associate Professor Thomas Dubois of the National University of Singapore. My particular thanks go to Stephen Denney, who gave me the greatest assistance in accessing the Indochina Archive of UC Berkeley, for which he was then curator.

The staff of the Parish where I minister – Kerin Conway, Louise Critchley, Arthur Donovan, Anne Hill and George Kurisingal have all been extraordinarily understanding and helpful, and have graciously filled in for me in the Parish when I was off working on this thesis. Particular thanks to Louise for help with tables and illustrations.

My final thanks go to the Catholic people of Vietnam – clergy, religious and laity – who gave of themselves so generously, and whose enthusiasm and faithfulness both encouraged and inspired me.

Notwithstanding all of the above, who contributed in no small part to this work, its deficiencies are entirely my own.

Peter Hansen Melbourne June 2008

Table of contents Page

Statement of Authenticity vi Acknowledgements vii Abbreviations xvi Select Glossary xvii A Note on Translation xviii A Note on statistics xxi

1. Introduction 1

2. The Development of Vietnamese Catholicism 21 (a) Early background 21 (b) The Church in the South 27 (c) The Church in the North 39 (d) Strategies, structures and organization in the Northern and Southern Churches 54

3. Prelude to departure 64 (a) Church leadership 64 (b) The Church and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam 77

4. Departure 101 (a) The Geneva Accords 101 (b) Moving a million people 104 (c) Reasons for leaving 123

5. Arrival 141 (a) Patterns of resettlement 141 (b) Resettlement organizations 163

6. Resettlement 190 (a) The role of the Catholic clergy 192 (b) North-South relations 223

7. The baéc di cö and the Southern Church 246 (a) A chosen people? 246 (b) The formal end of the baéc di cö era. 253

8. Conclusions 283 (a) Baéc di cö in the Southern polity 283 (b) Just another migrant church? 296

Bibliography 303

Appendices 352

I. Select bibliography of pamphlets, books, booklets and pamphlets published in the DRVN concerning the transmigration. 353

II. UÛy Ban Hoã Trôï Ñònh Cö [Resettlement Assistance Committee], Tìm Hieåu Veà UÛy Ban Hoã Trôï Ñònh Cö [A Brief History of the Resettlement Assistance Committee]. 355

III. From the Uỷ Ban Hoã Trôï Ñònh Cö [Resettlement Assistance Committee] to President Ngoâ Ñình Dieäm, October 7, 1955. 357

IV. Nguyeãn Ñình Taïo, “Caùc V ị Tr ại Tr ưởng K ẻ c ả Những vò Linh M ục C ần laøm saùng t ỏ Haønh đồng c ủa minh,” [Camp leaders, including the priests, must declare the motives for their actions] Thôøi Luaân, July 26, 1955. 359

V. From Buøi Vaên Nho, Nhöõng Trang Söû Ñaãm Moà hoâi Cuûa Hoï Chôï Lôùn Vieät Nam. [The Pages of history of the sweat and blood of Cholon Parish, Vietnam] Saigon: Jeanne D’Arc Parish, 1972, 103-4. 361

VI. Various reports from PTUDCTN to PTT arising from camp visits. 363

VII. Difficulties facing Bùi Văn L ương as PUTDCTN; his handwritten note to file, March 1955 (PTTDCH 4041). 368

VIII. Letter of Apostolic Visitor, Archbishop Giuseppe Caprio, To the ordinaries [bishops] of the Apostolic Vicariates concerning the Baéc Di Cö clergy. 369 xi

IX. Archbishop Simon Nguyeãn Vaên Hieàn to baéc di cö priests residing in the Archdiocese of Saigon. 371

X. Origin of Vietnamese Bishops appointed from 1955 372 to 2008. xii Index of Tables

Table Description Page Proportions of foreign and Vietnamese Clergy, 2.1 25 1949. Parishes in the Diocese of Saigon, Xuaân Loäc and 2.2 BaØ Ria (as at 2000 boundaries) established prior 28 to and after 1954 Ratio of Catholics per priest, 1939, 1949 and 2.3 1964 31 2.4 The Southern Church as at 1949 32 2.5 The Northern Church as at 1949 43 Numbers of registered departures from North to 4.1 110 South, July 20 1954 – October 31, 1955 Ship voyages carrying refugees from North to 4.2 112 South, From July 1954 Evacuation of northern Parishes, Archdiocese of 4.3 114 Hue, 1954-5 Total Catholic population, and as a percentage of 4.4 116 overall population, 1954. Emigration of Laity and Priests from northern 4.5 117 Dioceses, 1954 Effects of emigration of laity and priests from 4.6 117 Northern dioceses, 1964 4.7 Bishops of the Northern Dioceses, 1954 122 4.8 Events in the Archdiocese of Hue, 1946-53 128 Resettled baéc di cö camps and populations by 5.1 150 region, October 1955. Registered baéc di cö populations per province, 5.2 152 Oct. 1955, Dec. 1955. Registered baéc di cö as proportion of provincial 5.3 population in selected provinces, 153 November 1957. Houses constructed by or under auspices of the 5.4 167 PTUDCTN, to November 1955 Distribution chain for funds channeled through 5.5 170 the PTUDCTN (May 1955- June 1956) Refugee Relief as proportion of U.S. government 5.6 Aid to the RVN 173 Donations from other national Catholic Churches 5.7 to the UÛy Ban Hoä Trôï Ñònh Cö (Resettlement 186 Assistance Committee) of Bishop Phaïm Ngoïc Chi, as at December 16, 1955. Geographic Distribution of Resettlement 190 xiii

6.1 Centres, 1957 Geographic distribution of Resettlement Centre 6.2 191 residents, 1957 Principal economic activity across Resettlement 6.3 191 Centres, 1957 Baéc di cö seminaries in the Archdiocese of 7.1 267 Saigon, 1964 Baéc di cö Houses of Doøng Meán Thaùnh Giaù 7.2 271 Sisters, 1964 Composition of Southern clergy by place of 7.3 origin (i.e., local, baéc di cö, and foreign 280 missionary), 1964 7.4 Vietnamese Bishops, 1955-2008; place of origin 281

Index of Maps

Map Description Page 1 The Catholic Dioceses of Vietnam, 2005. xxiii 2 Ecclesiastical Province of Saigon, c. 1975. 30 Ecclesiastical Provinces of Hueá and Saigon, c. 3 35 1975. The Ecclesiastical Province of Hanoi, indicating 4 39 its ten dioceses. 5 Nình Binh Province 44 6 Nam Ñònh Province. 48 Vieät Minh controlled zone as at the Geneva 7 102 Conference. 8 Location of camps, 1954. 145 9 Saigon and environs, c. 1964 151 Caùi Saéùn Resettlement area, c. 1957, showing 10 155 canals 11 Provinces of the RVN, 1962 162

12 From Soá Caùc Laøng Đnh Cö [A list of refugee villages], indicating resettlement camp locations 208

Index of Illustrations Illustration Description Page Bishop Thaddeus Leâ Höõu Töø lying in state at 1 71 Phuù Nhuaän, Saigon, 1967.

2 Bishop Pierre Phaïm Ngoïc Chi, at Qui Nhôn 73 xiv

Cathedral, 1957.

Apostolic delegate Antonin-Fernand Drapier OP 3 96 at the Tam Toøa Parish, Ñoàng Hôùi, 1946 Apostolic Delegate, John Dooley, at Haøm Long 4 99 Church, Hanoi, 1957 “A flight carrying refugees from Hanoi to 5 109 Saigon.” “A train journey unexpectedly delayed taking 6 compatriots from Hanoi down to Haiphong into 111 order to enter the South”. A Northern Catholic woman carries an image of 7 Our Lady of Perpetual Succour with her meagre 126 belongings. “A Father shoulders his trunk to head to the 8 136 South.” Priest and parishioners on the journey South on a 9 140 U.S. Naval vessel “I decided to try out this ‘cheap, mobile 10 147 refugees’’ model home.” 11 Baéc di cö housing near Bieân Hoøa. 151 12 Caùi Saén Resettlement Zone 159 Commissioner for Refugees, Buøi Vaên Löông 13 (centre), being welcomed by village notables at 164 Caùi Saéùn Resettlement Centre, 1956. Food aid for a baéc di cö family with unsubtle 14 174 branding from the USOM. MSU consultants at the Nam Haûi Resettlement 15 176 Camp. Buøi Vaên Löông and Bishop Phaïm Ngoïc Chi at a 16 ceremony for the integration of a resettlement 188 camp into local administration, early 1957 Ngoâ Ñình Dieäm: “I have opened for those 17 refugees who have come south a bright path to 211 the future.” St. Anna Leâ Thò Thaønh (Ñeâ), a Catholic 18 laywoman from Phaùt Dieäm, martyred in 1841 at 229 Nam Ñònh St. Paul Leâ Baûo Tònh, a Thanh Hoùa priest 19 230 martyred in 1857. Buøi Chu Church; not the original in Nam Dònh, 20 231 but in the baéc di cö parish in Hoá Nai. Buøi Phaùt Parish Church, in suburban Hoà Chí 21 244 Minh City, 2003. xv

Sisters of the Order of the Lovers of the Holy 22 Cross (Doûng Meán Thaùnh Giaù) at a religious rally 270 in Saigon, 1959. Ngoâ Ñình Dieäm and Pham Ngoïc Chi at a baéc di 23 284 cö settlement. A polling booth (Phoøng Ñaàu Phieáu) at the Baéc 24 288 Haø resettlement Camp, Hoáù Nai.

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Abbreviations

CGDT Coâng Giaùo vaø Daân Toäc [Catholicism and the Nation], Magazine, Hoà Chí Minh City CRS Catholic Relief Services DRVN Democratic Republic of Vietnam ĐMHCG Đức M ẹ H ằng C ứu Giuùp [Our Lady of Perpetual Succour]. Catholic Magazine, Hanoi until May 1954, thereafter Saigon. LÑCGVN Lieân Ñoaøn Coâng Giaùo Vieät Nam [Catholic Leaguge of Vietnam] LM Linh Muïc; lit., priest. As prefix to a personal name; Reverend. MEP Socieùteù Des Missions Etrangereù De Paris [Paris Overseas Missionary Society] MSU Michigan State University NCLS Nghieân Cöùu Lòch Söû [Historical Research], Journal, Hanoi NCTG Nghieân Cöùu Toân Giaùo [Religious Research], Journal, Hanoi NCWC National Catholic Welfare Coference NXB Nhaø Xuaát Baûn [Publishing House] OP Order of Preachers (i.e., Dominican order) PTT Phuû Toång Thoáng [President, Office of the President] PTTÑNCH Phuû Toång Thoáng Ñeä Nhaát [(Office of) the President of the First Republic]. This is the designation used by the Löu Tröõ Quoác Gia Soá 2 (Number two National Archives) in Hoà Chí Minh City for the Archives of Ngoâ Ñình Di ệm, both as Prime Minister under B ảo Đại, and then as President of the Repulic of Vietnam. PTUDCTN Phuû Toång UÛy Di Cö Tî Naïn [Commissioner for Refugees] RVN Republic of Vietnam SS Social Science, Journal, Hanoi TPHCM Thaønh phoá Hoà Chí Minh [Ho Chi Minh City] UBHTÑC UÛy Ban Hoã Trôï Ñònh Cö [Resettlement Assistance Committee] USOM United Ststaes Operations Mission VC Vietnam Courier, Journal, Hanoi

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Select Glossary

Baéc Di Cö Refugees/transmigrants from the North Chreùtiente ù Catholic Village Coâng Giaùo Catholic Doøng Meán Thaùnh Giaù Order of the Lovers of the Holy Cross Ñaøng Trong The Southern region Ñaøng Ngoaøi The Northern region Giaùo Xöù Catholic Parish Giaùp Local mutual aid fraternity Hoï Ñaïo Catholic Sub-Parish Hoäi Coâng Giaùo Cöùu Quoác Catholic National Salvation Association Kinh Majority ethnic group in Vietnam Laøng Coâng Giaùo Catholic Village Lieân Ñoaøn Cong Giaùo Catholic League Loái Thöù Ba The Third Way Luïc Löông Töï Veä Self-Defence Forces Lieân Khu Inter-region, inter-zone Löông Non-Catholics Maët Traän Toå Quoác Fatherland Front Nieân Giaùm Yearbook Phong Traøo Vaên Thaân Scholars Movement, the Phong Traøo Caàn Vöông Support the King Movement, the Queâ Home area

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A note on translation

1. The Vietnamese terms usually employed to refer to the movement of persons to either side of the seventeenth parallel in the period 1954-55 are di cö and ngöôøi di cö, which I have chosen to translate as ‘transmigration’ and ‘transmigrants’ respectively (the transmigrants were also commonly known as ‘baéc di cö’ , or ‘Northern transmigrants’). However, I readily concede that this or any other translation of the term is problematic. Several English verbs (from which the personal nouns originate) capture some, but not all of the meaning of di cö . For example, Taûn Cö better translates as ‘evacuation’, and thus refers only to the immediate phase of departure. Tò Naïn is usually translated as ‘to seek refuge’, but was seldom employed to describe the 1954-5 migrants. Ñònh Cö , ‘to resettle’, refers properly to only the post-evacuation phase, whilst di truù, ‘to migrate’, does not possess the quality of urgent or forced departure. It is for this reason that I normally refer to the refugees without translation, as ‘ Baéc di cö’ (a term by which are almost universally known throughout Vietnam), and to their process of their departure and resettlement as ‘transmigration’. See Vietnamese Studies Group discussion on this issue at http://www.lib.washington.edu/SouthEastAsia/vsg/elist_2004/di%20cu.ht ml .2

2. The name Vieät Nam has only been the official name of the nation of Vietnam since 1803. Names such as Nam Vieät, Ñaïi Vieät and Ñaïi Nam had been used earlier to describe the totality of the Vietnamese State. Similarly, the division of Vietnam into constituent geographic parts on a North-South basis, both formally and informally, is a recurring phenomenon throughout Vietnamese history. Sometimes this has occurred on the basis of a two-way division between North and South, sometimes on a three-way division between North, Centre and South. In regard to the pre-colonial period (i.e., prior to 1862), I will refer to the North-South division as between Ñaøng Ngoaøi (the North) and Ñaøng Trong (the South). For the tripartite division of Vietnam during the French colonial period, I will employ the French-derived terms of Tonkin (the North), Annam (the Centre) and Cochinchina (the South). The Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRVN) was proclaimed in Hanoi in 1945, and the Associated State of Vietnam, as a client state of the French, continued under the former emperor Baûo Ñaïi from 1949 until

2 Accessed April 20, 2004. See also a discussion on nomenclature for those involved in the transmigration in Leâ Xuaân Khoa, Vi ệt Nam 1945-1995: Chi ến Tranh, T ị N ạn; Baøi H ọc L ịch S ử, [Vietnam 1945-95: War, Refugees, Historical Lessons] 2 vols (Bethesda, MD: Tiên R ồng, 2004), 1:238-9.

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1954. After the Geneva Conference of 1954, the Republic of Vietnam (RVN) was created in the South in 1955, before being reunified with the DRVN in 1976 as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRVN). For the sake of simplicity, in this study, the term Vietnam is used throughout when referring to the totality of the Vietnamese nation, irrespective of historical period. When referring to a given sector during periods of division or partition, the term will be used which pertained to the period and/or place under discussion.

3. The term for a Catholic Priest in Vietnamese is Linh Muïc, which is also used as a formal term of address to priests by non-Catholics, approximating ‘Reverend’. However, they are customarily addressed by Vietnamese Catholics as Cha (Father).

4. The Vietnamese term for a Catholic Parish is Giaùo Xöù. But the term is more strictly used for local church structures in established dioceses, which only occurred in Vietnam in 1960. Prior to that date, the dioceses of Vietnam were Apostolic Vicariates, which are not necessarily divided into parishes. Thus the use of the term ‘parish’ when used in this study is employed in a generic rather than a technical or canonical sense. The matter is compounded by the problematic use of the term hoï ñaïo , which is sometimes used to mean a sub-parish, or unit of division within a parish, and sometimes used to refer to a de facto parish within apostolic vicariates. The term hoï ñaïo bears different meanings in the South, Centre and North of Vietnam. The concept of a sub-parish is purely informal and not known to Catholic Canon Law.

5. All Vietnamese Catholics have a teân thaùnh, or baptismal name, which precedes their teân hoï (family name) in formal or religious usage. These names often derive from French versions of well-known Christian saints. They are not used in this study, unless of particular relevance.

6. The Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRVN) was proclaimed by Hoà Chí Minh on September 2, 1945, although it had only partial control over the territory of even North Vietnam for the period up to the Geneva Accords in June 1954. The political-military embodiment of Hoà Chí Minh’s forces was the Vieät Minh or Vieät Nam Ñoäc Laäp Ñoàng Minh Hoäi (League for the Independence of Vietnam), which was the mass organization effectively controlled by the Communist Party of Indochina (ICP). It was often difficult to determine whether particular interactions between the church and the the DRVN were with the ICP, the government of the DRVN, or the Vieät Minh. Interactions in the early post-independence period between the Catholic Church and these new entities were with the coalition governments of the DRVN, but many later interactions, particularly those involving the breakdown of relations xx

between the Church and the Vietnamese State, more specifically involved the Vieät Minh. Although the line of responsibility between the government of the DRVN and the Vieät Minh often blurred, this study endeavours to use the most appropriate term in the given context; from 1946 onwards, that was predominantly the Vieät Minh.

7. The boundaries of provinces within the Republic of Vietnam were altered on several occasions during the Presidency of Ngoâ Ñình Dieäm. Any reference in this study to the province in which a given place was located refers to the relevant province at that time, rather than to any subsequent entity.

8. Translations into English from Vietnamese texts are, unless otherwise indicated, my own.

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A note on statistics

1. For figures as to the number of Catholics, and particularly of clergy, in a given area, it is necessary to rely almost entirely on figures provided by the Church. The French Colonial Administration, and thereafter the Republic of Vietnam, provided very little statistical information on religious practice. Moreover, the government’s population statistics were based on provincial statistics, which were often not in alignment with those of Catholic dioceses.

2. The last comprehensive church-conducted census prior to the 1954 transmigration occurred in 1939, and was published by the Socieùteù Des Missions EÙtrangeøres De Paris in Les Missions Catholiques en Indochine 1939 (Hong Kong: 1940). The advantage of the study is that it is a product of local church administrators. It is widely used in reputable secondary sources, and is considered to be very accurate. Its obvious disadvantage for the current study is that it was some fifteen years removed from the transmigration of 1954-5; fifteen years which saw Japanese occupation (1941-5), widespread famine (early 1945), the outbreak of the First Indochina War (1946-54), and large ensuing displacements of the population.

3. In 1949, the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith (Propaganda Fide), undertook a survey of the Church in mission nations under their jurisdiction. It was published as Le Missioni Cattoliche: Dipendenti Dalla Sacra Congregazioine De Propaganda Fide [The Catholic Missions, According to the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith] (Rome: Consiglio Superiore della Pontificia Opera della Propagazio, 1950). The work is less detailed than the 1939 survey, and is not referred to in standard histories of the Vietnamese Church. However, it appears to be based on reliable returns provided to the Apostolic Delegate in Hue by the various vicariates, and hence is used – together with the 1939 figures – in this dissertation.

4. Another set of figures is published in the Annuario Pontificio [Pontifical Yearbook] published by the Holy See. The statistics provided in the yearbook are based on returns submitted to the Vatican by the various dioceses, via the Apostolic Delegate or Nuncio in each country from 1951 onwards. Unfortunately, many of the Vietnamese dioceses either failed to submit returns, or used the same figures year after year, rendering them essentially useless. Consequently, figures from the Annuario Pontificio are used rarely (and with attribution) in this study.

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5. A further difficulty arises from the fact that in calculating clergy numbers, the 1939 and 1949 compilations calculate their figures on different bases; the 1939 figures separating missionary from local clergy, whereas the 1949 figures separate diocesan from religious clergy (a completely different cross-section, given that many Vietnamese priests were members of religious orders). This makes comparative studies of the components of clerical numbers all but impossible.

6. The ten dioceses of Northern Vietnam have had no boundary changes since 1939, making statistical comparisons from one period to another relatively accurate and straightforward. By contrast, significant changes occurred in the dioceses of the South in the period from 1939 until 1964 (the concluding date for this study). Of particular importance is the increase in the number of dioceses from five to eleven. New dioceses were often formed from parts of several other dioceses. Consequently, figures quoted for a given Southern diocese almost invariably refer to a different territorial entity from one set of statistics to the next. This makes comparative studies of diocesan statistics extremely difficult. On some occasions, primary and secondary sources provide for a breakdown on a province by province basis, so that due allowance can be made, and a particular part of a diocese examined. This is, however, the exception rather than the rule.

7. Statistical analysis of the Catholic Church in Vietnam during the subject period relies heavily on figures relating to clerics; the episcopal hierarchy, the presbyterate, etc. This is because these figures are more readily available than for the laity and, in particular, for members of religious congregations. It would have been particularly helpful to have had figures available as to the numbers of religious women in the baéc di cö church; however, these figures were not available.

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Map 1. The Catholic Dioceses of Vietnam, 2005. From Vaên Phoøng Toång Thö Kyù, Hoäi Ñoàng Giaùm Muïc Vieät Nam, [Office of the General Secretary of the Bishop’s Conference of Vietnam] Giaùo Hoäi Coâng Giaùo Vieät Nam: Nieân Giaùm 2005 [The Vietnamese Catholic Church: 2005 Yearbook] (Hanoi: NXB Toân Giaùo, 2005), 259.