Motonori MAKINO

17世紀から18世紀にかけてのベトナム北部におけるキリスト教宣教の歴史を通観する。16世紀から17世紀にかけての同地域ではイエズス会、フランシスコ会、ドミニコ会、アウグスチノ会など種々の修道会系組織が布教活動を展開した。その多くは日本や中国を追われた者たちであった。新開地のベトナムは早くから重要な布教拠点と位置付けられるようになった。

This paper indicates that epoch－making changes in Vietnamese Christian history took place during the Thieu Tri era（1841－1847）of the Nguyen dyllasty． Previous researchers of Vietnamese socioreligious history have rarely focused on this Thieu Tri era in comparison with the Minh Mang era（1820－1841）and the Tu Duc era （1847－1883）when the anti－Christianity campaign of the Nguyen government came to its climax． Though the repression policy against Christianity continued， no European missionary was executed under the reign of Thieu Tri． The great number of people became converted to Catholicism and local clergies changed to三ncrease at the same rate． Thieu Tri government's adaptation of conciliatory strategy on religious matters toward Western countries after the Opium War， its lack of popularity， and the endless social unrest caused by natural disaster or plague gave a great opportunity to a Catholic Missions such as ， " L a S oc i 6 t6 de s M i ss i o ns Etrangさres de Paris（MEP）"which played the leading part of Vietnamese Christian history since the 18 th century． With the immense financial and moral support from France in the first half of the 19 th century， the MEP could gradually extend its illfluence over the North Vietnamese people in need of medical and educational help． The catholic communities of the Nghe An province enjoyed a kind of autonomy since the Minh Mang era saw in particular a great number of converts and Christian villages newly built during the Thieu Tri era． Finally the catholic communities of this province were separated as the Southern Tonkin Vicariate from the Western Tonkin Vicariate in 1847 and played a potent role in the Vietnamese socio－religious history during the latter half of the 19 th century・

19世紀中葉の阮朝によるキリスト教弾圧でしばしば発生した聖職者や信者の「殉教」事象の分析をとおして、この時期になぜベトナムで宣教活動が活発化しえたのか、その社会的要因について考察した。「殉教」によってフランスとベトナムのキリスト教世界の「一体化」は同時代的に進行した。パリ外国宣教会は殉教者の創出と体系化の作業を進めることで、フランスとベトナムの教界を連結し、弾圧下でも宣教活動を継続しつつ、教勢の維持・拡大に努めた。

This article focuses on the socio－political situation of the Christian community in North Vietnam（Tonkin）during the Tayson dynasty of 1788－1802．The main source used is a collection of manllscript letters written by French Missionaries of the Societe des Missions Etrangeres de Paris（MEP）who administered the Vicariat of Western Tonkin from the XVIIth to the XXth centuries． In previous research the image of the Tayson dynasty as a "persecutor"of Christianity has been amplified by emphasizing the "1egitimacy"of Nguyen Phuoc Anh（院福瑛）， the founder of the Nguyen dynasty which lasted from 1802－1945， and by uncritical and repetitive citation of secondary sources． New material from the archives of MEP shows however that it was during the reign of Tayson Emperor Quang Trung（光中帝）that the liberty of Christianity was assured more firmly than ever in Tonkin． Many clerical systems were introduced to the Vicariat of Western Tonkin under the direction of Bishop Longer， and furthermore there were always several high ranking mandarin officers of the Tayson government who protected the Missionaries and Christians， especially in the province of Nghe An． The Tayson era was a particularly formative period of the Christian community in North Vietnam as it developed under and endured suppression in the XIXth century．

The catechists were involved in various activities; they belonged to the <i>Société des Missions Étrangères de Paris</i> (MEP) in a province of North Vietnam called Tonkin, and they were not limited to the ordinary functions of simple preachers of catechism. After the dissolution of the Society of Jesus in the latter half of the 18th century, with authorization from Rome, the hierarchy and functions of the MEP catechists developed in a range of unique ways in the Vicariate Apostolic of Western Tonkin.<br>The Tonkinese Christians always paid their respects to the highly-ranked catechists who were literate not only in Christian dogma and rites, but also in the world of the traditional Sino-Vietnamese classics. It was the catechists who gave moral education to these Christians and connected them with the non-Christian villagers by means of their intellectual influence in the local communities of North Vietnam.<br>However, in the view of European missionaries and Tonkinese priests, the catechists had never broken free of their hierarchically determined position as followers or simple servants and became increasingly entrenched in this position from the end of the 18th century onwards.<br>The gradual tendency for catechists to be subordinated to their superiors became more widespread with the increase in their numbers and the accomplishments of the local clergy system in the Vicariate Apostolic of Western Tonkin.<br>By the early 19th century, most low-ranked catechists had already become almost mechanical in their actions. They worked in the "Maison de Dieu" of each parish, which offered food, clothing, education, and shelter to displaced people and refugees from the civil wars and famines caused by natural disasters such as droughts and floods. Candidates for such catechist work were not primarily motivated by religious reasons.<br>Though the catechists in the Vicariate Apostolic of Western Tonkin seem to have lost their early high status, they continued to act within Christian communities as indispensable intermediaries between European missionaries or Tonkinese priests and local Christian villagers. Their role cannot be considered negligible when we consider the tenacity and flexibility of Vietnamese Christian communities, which survived severe persecutions perpetrated by the Nguyen dynasty under the French military invasion in the mid 19th century.