The First Vietnamese Priests in Tonquin and Cochinchine (1660 - the late 17th century)
In this essay, the author examines a rather poorly researched topic of the early period of Christianity spreading in Vietnam in two first missions to Cochinchina and Tonkin. The paper attempts to investigate different issues related to the gradual replacement of Jesuit missionaries of the “Portuguese period” (early 17 th century) by French members of Paris Foreign Mission Society which was created in the 1660-s. These topical questions bring to the limelight a number of processes, which are under way in the present-day Catholic Church in Vietnam as FMP missionaries still operate in Vietnam and are tightly linked to the hierarchs of the Vietnamese Church. The author observes the process of formation of Vietnamese clergy, emergence of the first Vietnamese priests and their role in the further spread of Christianity in Vietnam.