Cistercians in Vietnam - A Brief History (They're THRIVING)

[Luigi]

The former Trappist abbey in Ava, Missouri is now officially a Cistercian abbey. That is, the monks used to be Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (OCSO), but now they are Order of Cistercians O. Cist.). The community's web page is at the same address as it always has been, but it's been updated to reflect the new reality. Luckily, the page is in English! (Some Vietnamese communities' pages are in Vietnamese.) The most salient part for Vocation Station is perhaps the numbers in the last cou0ple of paragraphs. They're THRIVING! That's one reason they're transplanting monks to the US. This article doesn't mention the Dominicans, or the Redemptorists, or the Carmelites, but they're thriving similarly in Vietnam.

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A French missionary priest, Henry Denis, AKA Benedict Thuan, in the first half of the 1900’s kept proposing to his bishop the need for a contemplative monastic community in Vietnam. Finally the bishop told him to establish such a group of monks himself. He began the first monastery at Phuoc Son (the Mount of Grace), called Our Lady of Annam, in Quang Tri province, Hue Archdiocese, on 15 August 1918. Rev. Benedict Thuan went through a novitiate formation himself and worked out the constitution for this monastic foundation, in reference to the Trappist Constitution

Gradually vocations entered the monastery of Our Lady of An Nam and from this monastery several new monasteries were born. The success of the community on the level of local dioceses encouraged Rev. Benedict Thuan to seek acceptance by the international Cistercian Order. The Trappist reformers were not open to that congregation for their Order. Later, the request of Rev. Benedict was accepted for incorporation into the Common Observance of the Cistercian Order on May 24, 1934, the Holy Family Congregation of Vietnamese Cistercians was established.

About 1970, many young women, who desired to devote themselves to God in the contemplative life, petitioned for a Cistercian monastery for nuns in Vietnam. Dec 08, 1973 the first Cistercian monastery for Nuns was officially founded. They have grown to 3 monasteries.

Our Lady of Thien Phuoc is situated in Vung Tau city, Ba-Ria Vung Tau Diocese. It is a filial foundation of Phuoc Son, founded May 31, 1975 and become independent in May 1999.  It is a big monastery with 124 monks (64 perpetual vows, 34 temporal vows, 18 novices, and 8 aspirants).

They celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Cistercian Congregation of the Holy Family in August 2018.

At present there are 9 monasteries of monks in Vietnam and 3 monasteries of Cistercian nuns there. There are also 3 new foundations of Vietnamese monks in the USA, and 2 new foundations of their nuns in the USA. The total number of Cistercian Vietnamese monks is approximately 1002, and of Cistercian Vietnamese nuns about 244.

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[asimina]

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