NGUYỄN-CATHOLIC HISTORY (1770S-1890S) and the GESTATION of VIETNAMESE CATHOLIC NATIONAL IDENTITY
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NGUYỄN-CATHOLIC HISTORY (1770s-1890s) AND THE GESTATION OF VIETNAMESE CATHOLIC NATIONAL IDENTITY A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Georgetown University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History By Lan Anh Ngo, M.A. Washington, DC March 2, 2016 Copyright 2016 by Lan Anh Ngo All Rights Reserved ii NGUYỄN-CATHOLIC HISTORY (1770s-1890s) AND THE GESTATION OF VIETNAMESE CATHOLIC NATIONAL IDENTITY Lan Anh Ngo, M. A. Thesis Advisors: Peter C. Phan, Ph.D., and James A. Millward, Ph.D. ABSTRACT The historiography of Vietnamese Catholicism has tended not only towards a polemical French-centric narrative but also one in which the local converts rarely have a voice. Nguyễn’s dynastic chroniclers, in the first wave of scholarship, portrayed Catholics as instigators of rebellions and followers of a so-called heterodox cult. In the late nineteenth century, French missionary historians often patronizingly cast Vietnamese Catholics as passive recipients of the Catholic faith in an internally united and supportive community created by the sacrifices of missionaries in a hostile external world. Subsequently, mainstream scholars, journalists and popular writers of the Cold War era, along with Vietnamese state-sponsored researchers after 1975, were interested in proving the collaborative role of Catholicism in the period of European expansionism. Current historiography, spearheaded by scholars trained at Australian National University in the 1980s, has gradually moved from a binary polemic to a more nuanced view of the past through the perspective of regionalism. And the research from this local-centered angle no longer views Catholicism as a separate, external force but as an integral part of nation-building. This direction toward regionalism contextualizes and situates Catholicism within its larger social and cultural milieu rather than continuing with the conventional binary of revolutionaries and collaborators. But to do this, it is important to bring forth the missing voices of local Catholics. iii My dissertation, while including much information from Nguyễn official records and missionary reports, pays greater attention to the sources produced by indigenous Catholic converts and local historians. Moreover, despite the turbulent Nguyễn-Catholic relationship and their history of mutual recrimination, my research demonstrates that the Nguyễn-Catholic interactions, more than any other factors in the nineteenth century, shaped the course of modern Vietnam. The transformation from disconnected Catholic communities into a national political entity was not coincidental with the rise and fall of the Nguyễn dynasty, but very much the result of their interactions. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation could not have been complete without the support and encouragement of many people. To the following people, I express my deepest gratitude: First, to the Jesuits of the Society of Jesus of California Province, who have been so generous and accommodating for the past twenty-two years. To the Georgetown Jesuit Community, to St. Ignace Jesuit Community of la rue Sala in Lyon, to the Leonard Neale House Jesuit Community, to the Most Holy Trinity Jesuit Community in San Jose of California, who have made my studies in Washington, D.C., my research in France, and then the completion of the dissertation possible. To Georgetown University and to the History Department at Georgetown University, who provided scholarships under the Jesuit Tuition Deferment Program during my first two years and then the department tuition support for the last five years. Second, to the late Father John Witek, S.J., who believed the importance of my interest in the pursuit of the historical development of Vietnamese Catholicism. To the faculty and administrative staff of the History Department at Georgetown University, who have gone above and beyond of the call of duty providing me invaluable guidance following the untimely death of Father Witek. Above all, I would like to thank Professor James Millward, Professor Sandra Horvath-Peterson, Professor Aparna Vaidik, Reverend Professor Peter Phan, and Reverend Professor John W. O’Malley, S.J. Third, to the members of my dissertation committee, whom I am especially indebted— besides the aforementioned Professor James Millward, Professor Sandra Horvath-Peterson, and Reverend Professor Peter Phan—Professor Carol Benedict also from Georgetown University, and Professor Nhung-Tuyet Tran from the History Department, University of Toronto, Canada. This dissertation simply would not have been possible without the careful feedback from v Professor Benedict, Professor Horvath-Peterson, Professor Millward, and Professor Phan. I would also like to thank Reverend Professor Michael Sheeran, S.J., who had corrected, edited, as well as offered challenging and valuable suggestions in my first draft. Fourth, I am grateful for Cardinal Phêrô Nguyễn Văn Nhơn of Hanoi, Bishop Nguyễn Văn Yến of Phát Diệm Diocese, and Father Provincial Nguyễn Văn Liêm of the Society of Jesus of Vietnam Province who assisted me in my research in Vietnam. I also owe a great deal to the late Reverend Đỗ Quang Chính, S.J. of Vietnam, Professor Nguyễn Đăng Trúc at University of Strasbourg, Professor Trần Văn Cảnh at ECOTEC, Paris, Reverend Professor Phạm Hưng, S.J., Reverend Professor Trần Quốc Anh, S.J., and Mr. Ngô Anh Tuấn, who spent time to guide me through the sources of Vietnamese Church history. Several other faculty members of the Asian Theological Summer Institute of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia have been sources of inspiration during my proposal stage. I would like especially to thank Professor J. Paul Rajashekar and Professor Kwok Pui Lan. I am also indebted to many wonderful directors and staff of various archives and libraries: Madame Odile Lolom, Madame Laurence Brodly, and Madame Bernadette Truchet of Œuvres Pontificales Missionnaires in Lyon; Madame Lucie Perrault of Missions Étrangères de Paris; Ms. Rosa Chow of Holy Spirit Study Center in Hong Kong; Ms. Nguyễn Quỳnh-Trâm of Nhóm Hán Nôm Công Giáo in Hồ Chí Minh City; Reverend Doctor Leon Hooper, S.J and Ms. Amy Phillips of Woodstock Theological Library; and Doctor Lenore Rouse of the Rare Books and Special Collections at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Finally, I want to thank my family, especially my parents—Gioan Ngô Văn Phong and Maria Nguyễn Phước Huyền Tôn Nữ Thị Hạnh. I am also grateful for the constant support of my friends, including Father Robert Ballecer, S.J., Father Nguyễn Công Chánh, S.J., the Christian vi Life Community of the Diocese of Arlington in Virginia, and friends from the Most Holy Trinity Parish in San Jose of California. vii To the memory of Reverend Professor John Witek, S.J. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction: If Tombstones Could Tell Their Stories…………………………....………………1 I. A Brief History of Vietnamese Catholicism...………..………….........………..…………3 II. Historiography………..……………………………………..…………..………….........16 III. General Outline of the Dissertation……...………………..…………………..…………22 Chapter 1: Cultural Purity, Doctrinal Purity, and Spiritual Purity—Three Foundational Facets in the History of Vietnamese Clergy Formation as Reflected in the Công Đồng Tứ Xuyên ...……27 I. Correcting the Monolithic Representation of Catholicism.………………........………...29 II. From Toledo in 1449 to Tonkin in 1873…………………………………………..…..…31 III. The 1873 Công Đồng Tứ Xuyên (CĐTX)…………………………...…………………..34 IV. Iberian Cultural Purity Found in the 1873 Công Đồng Tứ Xuyên ………………...……37 V. Post-Tridentine Doctrinal Purity Found in the 1873 Công Đồng Tứ Xuyên….…...….....46 VI. French Dévot Spiritual Purity Found in the 1873 Công Đồng Tứ Xuyên………….........53 VII. Conclusion to Chapter One...………………………………………..…………………...66 Chapter 2: Nguyễn-Catholic Alliance in the Late Eighteenth Century…..………………...........68 I. Eurocentric Perspective in Nguyễn-Catholic Histories……………..……………...……70 II. From the Fall of the Phú Xuân Court to the Rise of the Gia Định Regime (1788-1802)..72 III. Dynastic Records of the Nguyễn-Catholic Encounter and Its Lacunae…………......…...74 IV. Convergence of the Two Groups on the Fringe……………………………………….…77 V. The Military Advantage of the Nguyễn-Catholic Alliance……..………………………..84 VI. Prominent Đàng Trong Catholic Personages…..………………………………………...92 VII. Beginning of the Conflict………………………………………………………….……107 VIII. Conclusion to Chapter Two..…………………………………………………………...115 ix Chapter 3: Tension during the Early Years of the Nguyễn Dynasty………...………..….....….118 I. The Confessional Interpretation and Its Influence on Nguyễn-Catholic Histories……..120 II. From the Gia Định Regime (1788-1802) to the 1832 Nhâm Thìn Edict…………….…122 III. The 1832 Nhâm Thìn Edict…………………………………………….………….……123 IV. The Beginning of Prickly Relations under Gia Long……………………….………….125 V. Boiling Tension in the Early Minh Mạng Reign toward Missionaries……………....…141 VI. Three Important Local Cases before the 1832 Nhâm Thìn Edict………………………152 VII. Conclusion to Chapter Three……………………………...…………….….…………..158 Chapter 4: Catholicism—an Affront to the Nguyễn Imperial State-Building....…..….……......161 I. The Marxist Eurocentric Interpretation on Modern Vietnam...………………………...163 II. Four Stages that Transformed the Catholic Issue from Domestic Tensions to International Affairs……………………………………..…...……………………………………….164 III. Entanglement between Catholics and Lê Văn Duyệt’s Legacy………………………...166 IV. Nguyễn Centralization in