INDO -CHINA
775
INDO-CHINA
I
was entrusted to M^r. Pallu and Mgr. de la Motte-
Lambert, the first vicars Apostolic of the Society of
Foreign Missions. Under their direction parishes
were established, seminaries built, and many founda-
tions of the Amantes de la Croix (i. e. Votaries of the
Cross) instituted. Recognizing that amicable rela-
tions with a Catholic country could not fail to incul-
cate a deeper respect for and knowledge of Christian-
ity, Mgr. Pallu's great ambition was to establish
friendly commercial relations between France and
Tong-king. In 1672 he urged Colbert, the French
minister, to establish a French counting-house in the
latter covmtry, and later petitioned Louis XIV to use
his influence to prevail on King Le-hi-tong to allow
the freedom of Christian worship. Louis dispatched
a letter accompanied by presents to the Annamite
monarch, in which he made overtures for a commercial
agreement between the countries, described the
beauty and grandeur of the Christian Faith, and urged
the king to protect and embrace it. Although Louis'
mission did not effect the removal of the interdiction
of Catholic worship, it secured for the Christians a few
years of comparative peace and the cessation of the
many annoyances caused them by the avaricious and
spiteful mandarins. In 1678 the Vicariate Apostolic
of Tong-king was divided into two vicariates, those of
Eastern and Western Tong-king: the former was en-
trusted to the Spanish Dominicans, who were destined
later to bear the brimt of one of the terrible persecu-
tions, and the latter to the Society of Foreign Missions.
The rapidly growing religious influence exercised by the
priests and bishops soon led to a renewal of persecu-
tion, and for over 100 years the missionaries had to
contend with every imaginable obstacle. Banished
repeatedly from the country, they had scarcely lost
sight of shore before they turned their ships towards
land again. Their single-minded, vmremitting zeal
during this period presents none of those striking situ-
ations which constitute the frame-work of history: it
was only when the day of active persecution later
called for martyrs, and thousands of the Annamites —
a race whose name has become a byeword for fickle-
ness — gladly laid down their lives for the Faith, that
we recognize how exceedingly fruitful had been the
ministry of those hidden apostles.
On 2 November, 1741, was born at BiJhaine, France, a man who was destined to influence profoundly the whole subsequent religious and secular history of Indo-China. This was Pierre-Joseph Pigncaux. After the usual preparation for the priesthood, he set out for the Far East in 1765, and there displayed such zeal that in 1771 he was named Vicar Apostolic of Cochin China and Bishop of .\dran. On one of his journeys through his spiritual dependencies, he met Nguyen-an, then a fugitive from the rebellious Tay-shons. A friendship having quickly sprung up between the bishop and the exiletl prince, who had already spent years of fruitless effort in trying to recover his lost kingdom, Mgr. Pigneaux offered to enlist the help of France against the Tay-shons. Nguyen-an accepted the proposal, and entrusted his young son and the grand seal of Camliodia to the bishop to serve as his credentials at the French Court. Without delay Mgr. Pigneaux set out for France, and, as plenipotentiary of the Annamite prince, signed a convention on 28 November, 1787, according to which France was to assist Nguyen-an to recover his throne, and was to receive in return the Port of Turan and the Island of Poulo-Condore, as well as the exclusive privilege of trading with Cochin China. Assured of French a.s- sistance, the Ijishop returned to his vicariate, but on his arrival was dismayed to find that France had — owing [irobably to the terrible crisis at home — en- tirely abandoned its project of aiding Nguyen-an. Setting out immediately for Pondicherry, Mgr. Pi- gneaux succeeded in prevailing on 20 officers and about 500 men to accompany him. Thanks to the assist-
ance of this force — far from insignificant when
contrasted with the badly-armed, ill-disciplined
Annamites — Nguyen-an succeeded not only in recov-
ering his lost territories in Cochin China, but in mak-
ing himself Emperor of Annam.
Christianity made wonderful progress throughout the Annamite Empire thu'ing the reign of Gia-long (Nguyen-an), as if in preparation for future trials. In 1819 the Christian community included 4 bishops, 25 European and 180 native priests, 1000 catechists, and 1500 nuns. Gia-long was succeeded by the cruel and profligate Minh-mang (1820-41), who immedi- ately manifested his fierce hatred of Christianity. Having dismissed M. Chaigneau, the French Consul and Cia-long's trusted friend, he engaged on a campaign to obliterate every vestige of Christianity within his realms. He first issued an order excluding all new missionaries and summoning those already in the country to appear at court, believing that the flock, deprived of its pastors, would be rapidly dis- persed. His oljject was, however, defeated at once by the zeal of the missionaries, who regardless of per- sonal danger neglected the decree, and by the venality of the mandarins, who, granted that sufficient bribes were forthcoming, were always willing to close their eyes when new missionaries arrived in port. The ad- vocacy of the Viceroy of Cochin China, an old soldier of Gia-long who fearlessly remonstrated with Minh- mang for his persecution of the missionaries to whom his father owed his throne, prevented the emperor from adopting more serious measures for the time, but the viceroy's death in 1832 was quickly followed by the Edict of 6 January, 1833. This ordered all Chi'is- tians to renounce their Faith, and, in token of tho sincerity of their recantation, to trample the crucifix under foot. All churches and religious houses were to be razed to the ground, anfl teachers of Christianity to be treated with the utmost rigour. In 1836 all ports were closed to Europeans except Turan, and penalty of death pronounced against priests. Ships coming to port were submitted to a rigid examination, and all officials were commanded under threats of the severest penalties to hunt down the missionaries, for which duty special troops were also appointed. A secret clause to the edict ordered the immediate dispatch of all priests to the capital. These edicts were the signal for the outburst of a persecution, which, with short intermissions, lasted for fifty years.
In 1S33 Father Gagalin, Pro-vicar of Cochin China, was arrested and beheaded. Father Marchand was sentenced in 1835 to "the hundred wounds", Father Cornay to dismemberment in 1837. Martyrdom awaited Mgr. Borie in 1838, in which year Bishop Delgado, tlien in his eighty-fourth year, died in prison, his coadjutor (aged eighty-one) being exe- cuted with numerous Dominicans and native Chris- tians. In 1840 Father Delamotte died in prison. Flying from place to place to administer the consola- tions of religion and to instruct their spiritual children, the intrepid missionaries managed to keep the lamp of Faith burning during this terrible period. No little credit is due to the fidelity of the natives to their pas- tors: regardless of danger, they sheltered the pros- cribed priests, escorted them by concealed paths to their next place of hiding and ministry, and, although the prisons were filled with Christians, cases of apos- tasy were extremely rare. Even the unfortunate Christians, who. subjected to horrible tortures, re- nounced their religion, seized in almost every instance the first opportunity of becoming reconciled with the Church, which only physical weakness had led them to forsake.
The persecution abated somewhat on the death of Minh-mang in 1841. The new emperor, Tien-tri (1841-7), had not the energy of his predecessor, and was in addition sobered by the English successes in China and the threat of France to intervene, if The
