The Society of Jesus in Vietnam has begun a year of celebrations leading up to the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the Jesuits in the country. On January 18, 1615, the first Jesuits arrived at the port of Hoi An – Italian Jesuit Fr Francesco Buzomi and Portuguese Jesuits Fr Diogo Carvalho and Br Antonios Dias with some other 70 Jesuits expelled from Japan. They took refuge with the Japanese Catholic community taking asylum in Hoi An, after fleeing the furious persecutions of Christians in Japan.
At the mass held to launch the Jubilee Year on January 18, Fr Joseph Phạm Thanh Liêm SJ, the Jesuit Provincial of Vietnam said the Jubilee Year would “broaden the Jesuit sense of mission and deepen our desire for evangelization in this contemporary world”.
“This is also a special occasion for the faithful and all fellow Vietnamese to comprehend the history of Christian evangelization in this country and acknowledge many contributions the Catholic Church has made to our national culture,” he added.
It was an early Jesuit, Alexandre de Rhodes, whose work led to the Romanization of the Vietnamese script, called “Quoc Ngu” from its Chinese Character format. This was a cultural engagement of lasting and extensive impact in Vietnam, Fr Liêm said.
The Jubilee Year of celebrations will include seminars on the history of Jesuit missionaries in Vietnam and the Romanisation of the Vietnamese script, pilgrimages to the birthplace and execution site of Blessed Andrew Phú Yên, the Protomartyr of Vietnam, and retreats and monthly liturgical celebrations to promote Ignatian Spirituality. A website has also been set up for the anniversary.
The Jesuit mission in Vietnam ceased with the worldwide suppression of the Society of Jesus in 1773, and even after the Restoration of the Society in 1814, it was not until May 24,1957 that Jesuit missionaries returned to Vietnam. Today, the Vietnam Province is one of the larger provinces in the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific, with 197 Jesuits comprising a bishop, priests, scholastics, brothers and novices.
The Jesuit Province of Vietnam does not run an educational or apostolic centre. Instead the Jesuits are quietly following in the footsteps of their forefathers in solidarity with the local Church and the people of God – setting out to spiritual frontiers in response to the needs of people from all walks of life, in the cities and in the rural towns, providing food for the sick in hospitals and accompanying the migrant workers.
Vietnam Province Jubilee Year website (in Vietnamese): http://loanbaotinmung.net
See also a story in UCAN.