The Macao-Vietnam trade route contributed as a necessary part to trades between Macao and Southeast Asia in Ming and Qing Dynasties. Through this trade route, Portuguese in Macao had close business relations with both Nguyễn lords in Southern Vietnam and Trịnh lords in Northern Vietnam. Besides, Jesuits came to Vietnam via Macao with the protection from Portuguese Protectorate of Missions. This exhibit was a letter from Trịnh Tráng, the lord of Thanh Đô Vương in the Later Lê dynasty (Vietnamese: Nhà Hậu Lê) to Priest André Palmeiro (1569-1635) in Macao.

André Palmeiro, a Portuguese Jesuit, came to Macao in the year of 1626 and served as Padre Vistador in Far East of the Society of Jesus. He fulfilled his duty to report church services and administrations of China and Japan to the Superior General of the Society of Jesus until his death in Macao in 1635. Palmerio requested Trịnh Tráng's permission to allow missionaries to access Vietnam, and Trịnh Tráng approved it in order to require more trade products. The letter was engraved on the silver foil to show Trịnh Tráng's good intention. The two missionaries who the letter mentioned were Alexandre de Rhodes and Pietro Marches. In 1627 they both were sent to Tongking (now Hanoi) to start missionary and their works cast a lasting influence on Christianity in Vietnam.

Alexander de Rhodes was born in Avignon in 1593 and joined in Society of Jesus in 1612. He lived in Macao for one year and a half since 1623, and came to Cochin China (governed by Nguyễn lords in Southern Vietnam) for eighteen months, and then returned to Macao. In 1627 he came to Tongking (governed by Trịnh lords in Northern Vietnam), and thus developed the first Vietnamese Latin alphabet. The situation changed in 1630 when Trịnh Tráng regarded the mission of Catholic as a potential threaten, and he thus began to expel missionaries from Vietnam. Therefore, Rhodes left the country and taught theology in St. Paul's College of Macao for ten years. Later he went back to Cochin China and stayed there for six years, and then was expelled again. He then went back to Europe via Macao, and contributed to the origin of the foundation of Paris Foreign Missions Society.

Reference:

[1]. Brockey, Liam Matthew. (2014). The visitor: Andre Palmeiro and the Jesuits in Asia. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

[2]. Rhodes, Alexandre de. (1650). Relazione de' felici successi della Santa Fede predicata da' padri della Compagnia di Giesù nel regno di Tunchino, alla Santità di N.S.PP. Innocenzio Decimo. Roma, p.170.

[3]. Tràn Anh Dung, Joseph. (1985). The historical chronology of the Vietnamese Catholic Church 1533-1976. Orlando, pp. 8, 9.

[4]. 耿昇著. (2013). 北圻与中国传统文化: 法国入华耶稣会士罗历山及其对“东京王国”的研究. 中法文化交流史. 昆明:云南人民出版社, pp.687-701.

[5]. 張廷茂, 魯慎. (2002). 明清時期澳門與越南的海上貿易. 历史文献与传统文化, 第9集. 海口:南方出版社, pp.1-13.

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Data de atualização: 2020/09/08