From 1849 to 1862, during the early years of the Vietnamese emperor

Tự Đức Tự Đức (, vi-hantu, :wikt:嗣, 嗣:wikt:德, 德, , 22 September 1829 – 19 July 1883) (personal name: Nguyễn Phúc Hồng Nhậm, also Nguyễn Phúc Thì) was the fourth emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty of Vietnam, and the country's la ...

(r. 1848–1883) of

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

, the most intense, brutal and bloodiest

anti-Christian Anti-Christian graffiti from the Alexamenos graffito">Alexamenos worships his god.") Anti-Christian sentiment, also referred to as Christianophobia or Christophobia, is the fear, hatred, discrimination, or prejudice against Christians and/or asp ...

persecution Persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group by another individual or group. The most common forms are religious persecution, racism, and political persecution, though there is naturally some overlap between these term ...

ever in history happened in Vietnam, also was the last state-sponsored persecution of Catholic Christians in Vietnam, as a part of Tự Đức's efforts to eradicate every trace of Vietnamese Christianity. The persecution suddenly stopped in 1862 after a royal decree was passed by Tự Đức himself which granted Catholicism legitimate freedom to practice and protection.

The persecution

The persecution began in 1848, the year of Tự Đức's inauguration. Accusing the Catholic Christians of abandoning ancestor worship, Buddha, and practicing superstitions, and fearing that they would revolt against his rule, Tự Đức labeled the Catholics as ''tả đạo'' (heretics), and issued a nation-wide edict to forbid Catholicism. Missionaries were thrown onto the sea. Vietnamese priests had to denounce their faith, and they would face severe punishments and be tagged as ''tả đạo'' on their cheeks. The persecution was seen as retaliatory for the French incursion on

Danang Da Nang or DanangSee also Danang Dragons (, ) is the list of cities in Vietnam, fifth-largest city in Vietnam by municipal population. It lies on the coast of the Western Pacific Ocean of Vietnam at the mouth of the Hàn River (Vietnam), Hàn R ...

last year, as Tự Đức shut down all contacts between his kingdom and the outside world. Two years later, on 21 March 1851, Tự Đức ordered a new edict against the Franciscans. Vietnamese priests who did not denounce their beliefs and trample the

cross A cross is a religious symbol consisting of two Intersection (set theory), intersecting Line (geometry), lines, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of t ...

would face the same fates as European missionaries, being executed and cut into pieces and thrown onto rivers. In September 1855, accusing Catholic sympathy of Le loyalists rebelled against his rule, Tự Đức ordered a new decree, all churches to be burned, all public Christian gatherings were banned, and all efforts were to destroy the ''tả đạo'' (Christians). In early 1857,

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was President of France from 1848 to 1852 and then Emperor of the French from 1852 until his deposition in 1870. He was the first president, second emperor, and last ...

sent Charles de Montigny to negotiate trade with Vietnam, but Tự Đức ignored. The ship captain La Capricieuse previously had sent a letter to Tự Đức demanding free trade and religious freedom. At the same time, the court was going to had Christian high-ranking mandarin

Michael Hồ Đình Hy Michael Hồ Đình Hy ( 胡廷僖; 1808– 22 May 1857) was a Vietnamese mandarin official who was martyred for his Roman Catholic belief during the persecutions by Emperor Tự Đức. He was canonized in 1988 along with another 116 Vietnamese ...

trial and execution for being "traitor". Before departing, de Montigny opened fire at the Vietnamese port of Da Nang as a threatening warning to Tự Đức, calling for stopping the persecution. Furious, Tự Đức believed that these provocations were part of Christians' plots with foreign enemies. Feeling insecure, on 6 June the emperor issued a new edict to consolidate his policy over Christianity. He forced all Christians to have weddings and funerals based on traditional Vietnamese rituals, including the worship of ancestors and spirits. In 1858, a Catholic bishop named

Tạ Văn Phụng Tạ Văn Phụng (chữ Hán: 謝文奉; ? - 1865), also Bảo Phụng, Lê Duy Phụng (黎維奉), and Lê Duy Minh (黎維明) was a Vietnamese noble, a convert to Catholicism and pretender to the Vietnamese throne. He was engaged by the French ...

Hải Dương Province Hải Dương was a former province in the Red River Delta of northern Vietnam. Its name derives from Sino-Vietnamese "ocean sun", though the modern province is in fact landlocked. Located in the Northern Key Economic Region, Hai Duong Provin ...

changed his name to Lê Duy Minh, proclaimed as the emperor of Catholic Vietnam, and rallied Le loyalists against Tự Đức. Two Dominican priests joined his rebellion. In May, the Grand bishop Melchior Sampedro of

Huế Huế (formerly Thừa Thiên Huế province) is the southernmost coastal Municipalities of Vietnam, city in the North Central Coast region, the Central Vietnam, Central of Vietnam, approximately in the center of the country. It borders Quảng ...

condemned the Tạ Văn Phụng rebellion as foolish and forbade Christians to join it. However, Tự Đức ordered Sampedro to be executed on 28 July because Tạ Văn Phụng was a Catholic. Ta Van Phung's forces later were said to be 200,000 strong. The rebellion lasted until 1865. After the French expeditionary army had invaded and seized Saigon in February 1859, Tự Đức launched a new campaign against Catholic mandarins in the government. On 15 December, he issued a new edict which demoted all Catholic officials in the government, and immediately death sentenced for those high-ranking mandarins who refuted their faith. On 17 January 1860, Tự Đức issued another decree that he would not have the ''tả đạo'' being free. In July, he banned and targeted the

Lovers of the Holy Cross The Lovers of the Holy Cross (, Vietnamese: '' Dòng Mến Thánh Giá'') is a federation of a number of congregations of diocesan right of religious sisters, founded in 1670 by the first Vicar Apostolic in Tonkin and Cochinchina Cochinchi ...

. On 5 August 1861, the worst persecution came to the Christians. The emperor issued a royal "dispersal" decree in order to eliminate Christianity at its root: * Round up and relocate all Christians to non-Christian (Buddhist, Vietnamese folk religion,...) villages. * Supervision of every Christian by five non-Christians in every village. * Destroy all Christian churches, villages and communities. * Confiscate all lands owned by Christians and distribute them to non-Christians. * All Christians are tagged in their cheeks with two words ''tả đạo'' (heretics).

End of persecution

The situation began to change in the next year, as Tự Đức lost three southern provinces to France. The

Treaty of Saigon Treaty of Saigon may refer to: * Treaty of Saigon (1862), between France and Vietnam * Treaty of Saigon (1874), between France and Vietnam {{dab ...

between France and Vietnam was signed on 6 June 1862 which forced Tự Đức to liberalize his religious policies. He issued an edict in late 1862 which reverted and abolished all of his previous anti-Christian orders. Catholicism was officially recognized, and worshipers gained protection. Tự Đức then sent a Catholic intellectual,

Nguyễn Trường Tộ Nguyễn Trường Tộ (chữ Hán: , ; 1830–1871) was a Roman Catholic scholar and reformer during the reign of Tự Đức of the Nguyễn dynasty, the last sovereign Emperor of Vietnam under which the French colonial forces colonized the ...

, to France to study European technology and philosophy.

Martyrs

Between 1848 and 1860, about 25 missionaries, 300 Vietnamese priests and 30,000 Christians died and were martyred in many ways, from suffering

decapitation Decapitation is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and all vertebrate animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood by way of severing through the jugular vein and common c ...

death by a thousand cuts ''Lingchi'' ( IPA: , ), usually translated "slow slicing" or "death by a thousand cuts", was a form of torture and execution used in China from roughly 900 until it was banned in 1905. It was also used in Vietnam and Korea. In this form of ex ...

under the hands of Tự Đức. *

Pedro Almató Bình Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician name for ''Peter''. Its French equivalent is Pierre while its English and Germanic form is Peter. The counterpart patronymic surname of the name Pedro, meaning ...

, born 1830,

Dominican Order The Order of Preachers (, abbreviated OP), commonly known as the Dominican Order, is a Catholic Church, Catholic mendicant order of pontifical right that was founded in France by a Castilians, Castilian priest named Saint Dominic, Dominic de Gu ...

, executed on 1 November 1861,

Hải Dương Hải Dương () is a city in Vietnam. It is the capital of Hải Dương Province, Hải Dương, an industrialized province in the Hanoi Capital Region and the Red River Delta in Northern Vietnam. The city is at the midpoint between the capita ...

. *

Valentín de Berriochoa Vinh ''Valentín'' is a 2002 coming-of-age comedy-drama film written and directed by Alejandro Agresti. The film features Rodrigo Noya as Valentín and Carmen Maura as the grandmother. Director Alejandro Agresti also stars as Valentín's father. Th ...

(Valentín de Berriochoa), born 1827,

, executed on 1 November 1861,

. *

Jean-Louis Bonnard Jean-Louis Bonnard (b. 1 March 1824 at Saint-Christôt-en-Jarret, Diocese of Lyon; beheaded 1 May 1852) was a French Roman Catholic missionary to Vietnam, one of the Martyrs of Vietnam, canonized in 1988.Catholic Encyclopedia Life After a col ...

, born 1824, MEP, executed on 1 May 1852,

Nam Định Nam Định () is the capital city of Nam Định province in the Red River Delta of the Northern Vietnam. History From August 18–20 of each year, there is a festival held in Nam Định called the Cố Trạch. This celebration honors Gener ...

. *

Đỗ Đình Cẩm Đỗ (Chữ Hán: 杜) is a Vietnamese family name. According to Lê Trung Hoa, a Vietnamese scholar, approximately 1.4 percent of Vietnamese people have this surname (2005).Lê Trung Hoa (2005). Họ và tên người Việt Nam, (Hà Nội), Vi� ...

, executed on 11 March 1859,

Hưng Yên Hưng Yên () is a city in the Red River Delta of the Northern Vietnam. It is the old capital of Hưng Yên Province and is a third-graded city according to Vietnam's urban classification table. History Hưng Yên city was originally the expansion ...

. * Etienne-Théodore Cuénot, born 1802, MEP, died in prison on 14 November 1861, Bình Định. * José María Díaz Sanjuro An, born 1818,

, executed on 20 July 1857,

. * Pedro Đinh Văn Dũng, burn to death on 6 June 1862,

. * Vinh Sơn Phạm Văn Dương, born 1821, burn to death on 6 June 1862,

. * Paul Vũ Văn Dương, born 1792, executed on 3 June 1862,

. * Pedro Đa, burn to death on 17 June 1862,

. * Matthew Nguyễn Văn Đắc, executed on 26 May 1861. * Melchor García Sampedro, born 1821,

, executed on 28 July 1858,

. * Paul Trần Văn Hạnh, born 1826, executed on 28 May 1859,

Saigon Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) ('','' TP.HCM; ), commonly known as Saigon (; ), is the most populous city in Vietnam with a population of around 14 million in 2025. The city's geography is defined by rivers and canals, of which the largest is Saigo ...

. * Jerónimo Hermosilla Vọng, born 1800,

, executed on 1 November 1861,

. * John Đoàn Trinh Hoan, born 1798, executed on 26 May 1861, Đồng Hới. * Lawrence Nguyễn Văn Hưởng, born 1802, executed on 13 February 1856, Ninh Bình. *

, born 1808, executed on 22 May 1857,

. * Dominic Phạm Trọng Khảm, born 1779,

, executed on 13 January 1859,

. * Joseph Nguyễn Duy Khang, born 1832, executed on 6 December 1861,

. * Paul

Lê Văn Lộc Le is a romanization of several rare East Asian surnames and a common Vietnamese surname. It is a fairly common surname in the United States, ranked 975th during the 1990 census and 368th during the 2000 census. In 2000, it was the eighth-most-co ...

, born 1830, executed on 13 February 1859,

. * Joseph Nguyễn Văn Lựu, born 1790, died in prison on 2 May 1854,

Vĩnh Long Vĩnh Long ɨn˨˩˦:lawŋ˧˧is a city and the capital of Vĩnh Long Province in Vietnam's Mekong Delta. Geography Vĩnh Long covers and has a population of 200,120 (as of 2018). The name was spelled 永隆 ("eternal prosperity") in the form ...

. * Philip Phan Văn Minh, born 1815, executed on 3 July 1858,

. * Pierre François Néron, born 1818, MEP, executed on 3 November 1860,

Sơn Tây ''Toxicodendron succedaneum'', the wax tree, Japanese Hazenoki tree (Sumac or wax tree), sơn in Vietnamese or charão in Portuguese, is a flowering plant species in the genus '' Toxicodendron'' found in Asia, although it has been planted else ...

. * Lawrence Phạm Viết Ngôn, born 1840, executed on 22 May 1862,

. * Pedro Đoàn Công Quí, born 1826, executed on 31 July 1859,

Châu Đốc Châu Đốc is a city in An Giang Province, bordering Cambodia, in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam. As of 2019, the city had a population of 101,765, and cover an area of . The city is located by the Hậu River (a branch of the Mekong Ri ...

. * Augustin Schoeffler, born 1822, MEP, executed on 1 May 1851,

. *

Théophane Vénard Jean-Théophane Vénard (21 November 1829 at Saint-Loup-sur-Thouet, Diocese of Poitiers, France – 2 February 1861 in Tonkin, Vietnam) was a French Catholic missionary to Indo-China. He was a member of the Paris Foreign Missions Society ...

, born 1829, MEP, executed on 2 February 1851, Cầu Giấy.

Notes

References

* * * * * * * * {{Nguyen Vietnam Kingdom of Vietnam History of Catholicism in Vietnam Persecution of Christians Anti-Catholicism in Vietnam