PRIEST ALEXANDRE DE RHODES - VOYAGES AND MISSIONARY TO TONKIN (1627-1629)

Abstract

Alexandre de Rhodes is known as a priest who played an important role in spreading Christianity to Vietnam. In the cultural field, the Vietnamese afirmed his role in the formation of the national language. Based on historical methods, logical methods, analysis and synthesis methods, this article focuses on clarifying Alexandre de Rhodes’ journey and missionary in Tonkin. In March 1627, Alexandre de Rhodes and Pedro Marquez arrived in Tonkin on the ship of a Portuguese merchant. During 3 years of missionary in Tonkin, the Priests achieved very positive results, although sometimes the missionary work was not effective because of obstacles from Le - Trinh court and part of the population. Finally, because of many subjective and objective causes, the missionaries were expelled from Tonkin by Trịnh Lord in 1629 and they had to retured to Macao. The research contributes to recreating missionary activities in 3 years (from 1627 to 1629) in Tonkin to confirm Alexandre de Rhodes’ efforts and the introduction of Christianity into Tonkin in the 30s of the 17^th century.