Catholicism has developed in Vietnam for 400 years, but we have not any book on complete history of Catholicism in Viet Nam.
In the past, most of books on missionary history in Viet Nam were written in foreign languages by foreign writers as Louvet, Launay, Gispert…. These books only mentioned missionary areas, not any book wrote about over picture of Catholicism in Viet Nam
In the beginning of 20th century, Vietnamese Catholics and writers compiled some books on Catholicism
In August, 1942 Dai Viet Thien Ban – Hue issued 10,000 registration forms for set of books “History of Christianity in Viet Nam” with 2,000 pages, but only Volume 1 was published.
In 1958, priest Phan Phát Huôn published “ History of Viet Nam”. This book consists of two volumes, in the 1st volume, writer mentioned the history of Viet Nam from 1533 to 1933. This volume has 402 pages. The second volume has 592 pages. It mentions the history of Viet Nam from 1933 to 1960.
The book “History of Mission in Viet Nam” was published in 1959. it was written by priest Nguyễn Hồng Thuận – doctor of Laws in Hồ Chí Minh city. It has 300 pages. In this book, writer used many historical documents but he only dealt with Society of Jesus.
In 1972, priest Bui Duc Sinh wrote a chapter on missionary process in Viet Nam in “History of Catholic Church”
The weekly magazine “Catholicism and Nation” No. 685 dated October 10th 1988 announced the project on compiling the history of Catholicism in Viet Nam. This book consists of 2 parts: part 1: “the development of Catholicism in Viet Nam”; part 2: “the position of Catholicism in the nation”. Because of many difficulties, only the part 1 was compiled by priest Trương Bá Cần – doctor of History and some others such as Mr. Vương Đình Chứ, Mr. Nguyễn Thanh Long, Mr. Nguyễn Nghị, Mr. Chương Thâu . This book has 3 volumes.
The book “History of Catholic Development in Viet Nam” which was written by Trương Bá Cần can meet the need of Catholics in Viet Nam who would like to know the history of Catholicism in Viet Nam. This book has 44 chapters with over 1,400 pages (the first volume has 20 chapters; 24 remaining chapters and a appendix are in the second volume), the author outlines a panorama of Catholicism in Viet Nam from the beginning to August 1945. This book mentions rather completely the history of Catholicism in Viet Nam although the content of this book stops in August, 1945.
Thanks to documents at home and aboard, Dr. Trương Bá Cần and his colleagues help readers and researchers to understand the history of Catholicism in Viet Nam. This book is a valuable and reliable publication.
Because of carefulness of a scientist, emotional responsibility of Vietnamese citizen and religious belief of a priest, the author Trương Bá Cần compiled a valuable book. After reading this book, readers not only know valued historical documents but also experience historical lessons.
Although the book “History of Catholicism in Viet Nam” has not completed yet (it is short of Volume 3 from unsuitable period to modern period), priest Trương Bá Cần has published Volume 1 and Volume 2 in order to celebrate 50th anniversary of establishment of Vietnamese Episcopal hierarchy (1960 - 2010). The book is published by Religion publication in 2008
We hope this book helps readers to learn more about the history of Catholicism in Viet Nam.
Tri Dung
