JOYFULLY SERVING THE MOST HIGH IN THE SPIRIT OF HUMILITY
ORDER OF THE DISCALCED AUGUSTINIANS - OAD Asia
OAD VIETNAM
 |  |  |
|---|---|---|
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  | |
 | |
Started on
May 4, 2008
Vietnam is not new to the OAD Mission, with the most honored Mons Hilario Costa having been a
missionary and a bishop in the Diocese of Hai Phong in the north of Vietnam back in the 1600’s, along with some missionaries from the Order from Italy serving the Church of Vietnam with local OAD brothers and ordained priests, most of whom died during the Christian persecution as our OAD martyrs.
However, back in 2007, Fr. Harold Toledano, our priest of the Philippine Province of St. Nicholas of Tolentino, then a delegation, met Fr. Peter Tran Duc Cuong, a Vietnamese priest of the Diocese of Da Nang, in Central Vietnam, who invited him and whose bishop, His Excellency Bishop Joseph Chau Ngoc Tri, welcome him to do the mission in Da Nang. Thus, it began the reestablishment of our lost mission in Vietnam.
From those first tentative, exploratory visits and later on the apostolate of mainly serving the foreigners in Da Nang through the English Sunday mass and other pastoral concerns with Fr. Christian Limbaring after Fr. Harold Toledano, the Vietnam mission grew and slowly began to have vocations.
Now, we already have 2 established communities in Vietnam: the St. Monica community of Da Nang and
the Hilario Costa scholasticate community of Ho Chi Minh City. From Vietnam, the Province has
currently produced 2 priests, ordained in 2019, and has currently 1 deacon, ___ solemn professed
brothers, 13 simple professed brothers, 12 novices, 9 postulants and a good number of aspirants. candidates this August 2021.
As of now, our main task in Vietnam is to work for religious vocations and for the first steps of training Vietnamese candidates for the future work of establishing OAD communities for the various needs of the Church of Vietnam.
November - December, 2007– first time to set foot in Vietnam in Ho chi Minh City (Saigon) and "mission scouting" to other dioceses began
March 2008 – visited to Bishop of Hải Phòng, Mons. Joseph Vũ Văn Thiên (Diocese of Mons. Hilario Costa)
May 4, 2008 – first time to set foot in Da Nang through Rev. Fr. Peter Tran Duc Cuong and was welcomed by Bishop Joseph Ngoc Tri and his clergy (presbyterium) of the Diocese
July 21, 2009 – arrival in Ho chi minh with new mission partner Fr. Christian Limbaring
August 5, 2009 – formal acceptance of 3 aspiring OAD sisters in Ho chi minh and dedication of the community to our lady of Good Council
August 12-25, 2010 - Canonical Visit of the Superior General, Rev. Fr. Luigi Pingelli, OAD con P. Emilio Kisimba in Danang, Vietnam
Mission and vision:
-
Our intention was primarily to find vocations from the local people, form them and after their studies in Italy or Philippines, they themselves will be the ones responsible to set up the local mission.
-
The OAD has a nostalgia of missions after our confreres’ missionary activity in extreme orient (China and Vietnam) on 1600’s banished due to persecution, religious and civil war on that era. They were apostolic missionaries sent by Propaganda Fidei and labored there for 60 years in the mission field. So my superiors wanted to revive our missionary presence here in Asia starting in the Philippines, then the possibility of Indonesia mission was presented which brought us closer to the realization in reviving our presence in Vietnam and China.
The seeds of mission and vocation were spread and sown, it will be God’s creative and nurturing hand which will make them grow and bear fruit.
May God bless the mission He entrusted us!
Prepared by Rev. Fr. Harold Maurin Niῆo Maria Toledano, OAD