Ngô Đình Thục

His Excellency Pierre Martin Ngô Đình Thục
Archbishop of Huế
Portrait of Ngo Dinh Thuc
Native name	Phêrô Máctinô Ngô Đình Thục
Archdiocese	Huế
Appointed	24 November 1960
Term ended	17 February 1968
Predecessor	Jean-Baptiste Urrutia (as Vicar Apostolic of Huế)
Successor	Philippe Nguyên-Kim-Diên
Other post(s)	Vicar Apostolic of Vĩnh Long (1938–1960) Titular Bishop of Saesina (1938–1960) Titular Archbishop of Bulla Regia (1968–1984)
Orders
Ordination	20 December 1925 by Eugène-Marie-Joseph Allys, M.E.P.
Consecration	4 May 1938 by Antonin Drapier
Personal details
Born	6 October 1897 Huế, French Indochina
Died	13 December 1984 (aged 87) Carthage, Missouri, U.S.
Buried	Springfield, Missouri, U.S.
Nationality	Vietnamese
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Parents	Ngô Đình Khả
Education	Philosophy, Theology, Canon law
Alma mater	Pontifical Gregorian University
Motto	Miles Christi (Soldier of Christ)
Signature
Coat of arms

Styles of Ngô Đình Thục
Reference style	His Excellency The Most Reverend
Spoken style	Your Excellency
Religious style	Your Excellency

Pierre Martin Ngô Đình Thục (Vietnamese pronunciation: [ŋo ɗîŋ̟ tʰùkp]) (6 October 1897 – 13 December 1984) was the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Huế, Vietnam, and later a sedevacantist bishop who was excommunicated by the Catholic Church and reconciled with the Church before his death in 1984.^[1] He was a member of the Ngô family who ruled South Vietnam in the years leading up to the Vietnam War. He was the founder of Dalat University. Today, thousands of men from various neo-Gnostic,^{[citation needed]} Independent Catholic, and sedevacantist groups claim to have derived their apostolic succession from Thục.

While Thục was in Rome attending the second session of the Second Vatican Council, the 1963 South Vietnamese coup overthrew and assassinated his younger brother Ngô Đình Diệm, who was president of South Vietnam. Thục was unable to return to Vietnam and lived the rest of his life exiled in Italy, France, and the United States. During his exile, he was involved with Traditionalist Catholic movements and consecrated a number of bishops without the Vatican's approval for the Palmarian and Sedevacantist movements. As a result, he was excommunicated by the Holy See and later reconciled with the Vatican.

Biography[]

Early life and family[]

Ngô Đình Thục was born on 6 October 1897, in Huế, French Indochina, to an affluent Roman Catholic family as the second of the six surviving sons born to Ngô Đình Khả, a mandarin of the Nguyễn dynasty who served Emperor Thành Thái during the French occupation of Vietnam.

Thục's elder brother, Khôi, served as a governor and mandarin of the French-controlled Emperor Bảo Đại's administration. At the end of World War Two, both Khôi and Thục's younger brother Diệm were arrested for having collaborated with the Japanese.^[2] Diệm was released, but Khôi was subsequently shot by the Việt Minh as part of the August Revolution of 1945 (and not buried alive as is sometimes stated).^[3] All of Thục's brothers, including Diệm, Nhu and Cẩn, were politically active. Cardinal François Xavier Nguyễn Văn Thuận (1928–2002) was Thục's nephew.

Priesthood and early episcopacy[]

At age twelve, Thục entered the minor seminary in An Ninh. He spent eight years there before going on to study philosophy at the major seminary in Huế. Following his ordination as a priest on 20 December 1925, he was selected to study theology in Rome, and is often said to have earned three doctorates from the Pontifical Gregorian University in philosophy, theology, and Canon law; this is not substantiated by the university's archives however.^[4] He briefly lectured at the Sorbonne and gained teaching qualifications before returning to Vietnam in 1927.^[4] He then became a professor at the in Huế, a professor at the major seminary in Huế, and Dean of the College of Providence.

On 8 January 1938, Pope Pius XI created the Apostolic Vicariate of Vĩnh Long in Vietnam, and personally chose Thục to be it its first Vicar Apostolic. On 4 May of the same year, with his family in attendance, Thục was consecrated a bishop by Archbishop Antonin Drapier, Apostolic Delegate to Indochina,^[5] and co-consecrators Bishop Isidore-Marie-Joseph Dumortier, M.E.P., Vicar Apostolic of Saigon, and Bishop Dominique Maria Hồ Ngọc Cẩn, Vicar Apostolic of Bùi Chu.^[1] He was the third Vietnamese priest raised to the rank of bishop. His coat of arms portrayed three dragons, a tie to the Nguyễn dynasty,^[5] and his motto was "Miles Christi" ("Soldier of Christ").

In 1950 Diệm and Thục applied for permission to travel to Rome for the Holy Year celebrations at the Vatican but went instead to Japan to lobby Prince Cường Để to enlist support to seize power. They met Wesley Fishel, an American academic consultant for the U.S. government. Fishel was a proponent of the anti-colonial, anti-communist third force doctrine in Asia and was impressed by Diệm. He helped the brothers organise contacts and meetings in the United States to enlist support.^[6]

With the outbreak of the Korean War and McCarthyism in the early 1950s, Vietnamese anti-communists were a sought-after commodity in the United States. Diệm and Thục were given a reception at the State Department with the Acting Secretary of State James Webb, where Thục did much of the talking. Diệm and Thục also forged links with Cardinal Francis Spellman, the most politically influential cleric of his time, and Spellman became one of Diệm's most powerful advocates. Diệm then managed an audience with Pope Pius XII in Rome with his brother's help, and then settled in the US as a guest of the Maryknoll Fathers.^[7] Spellman helped Diệm to garner support among right-wing and Catholic circles. Thục was widely seen as more genial, loquacious, and diplomatic than his brother, and it was acknowledged that Thục would be highly influential in the future regime.^[8] As French power in Vietnam declined, Diệm’s support in America, which Thục helped to nurture, made his stock rise. Bảo Đại made Diệm the Prime Minister of the State of Vietnam because he thought Diệm's connections would secure foreign financial aid.^[9]

Diệm's rule[]

In October 1955, Diệm deposed Bảo Đại in a fraudulent referendum organised by Nhu and declared himself President of the newly proclaimed Republic of Vietnam, which then concentrated power in the Ngô family, who were dedicated Roman Catholics in a Buddhist majority country.^{[10][11][12][13][14][15][16]} Power was enforced through secret police and the imprisonment and torture of political and religious opponents. The Ngôs' policies and conduct inflamed religious tensions. The government was biased towards Catholics in public service and military promotions, as well as the allocation of land, business favors and tax concessions.^[17] Thuc, the most powerful religious leader in the country, was allowed to solicit "voluntary contributions to the Church" from Saigon businessmen, which was likened to "tax notices".^[18] Thuc also used his position to acquire farms, businesses, urban real estate, rental property and rubber plantations for the Catholic Church. He also used Army of the Republic of Vietnam personnel to work on his timber and construction projects.^[19]

Buddhist unrest and downfall of Diệm[]

In May 1963, in the central city of Huế, where Thục was archbishop, Buddhists were prohibited from displaying the Buddhist flag during Vesak celebrations commemorating the birth of Gautama Buddha, when the government cited a regulation prohibiting the display of non-government flags at Thục's request.^[20] A few days earlier, Catholics were encouraged to fly Vatican flags to celebrate Thục's 25th anniversary as bishop. Government funds were used to pay for Thục's anniversary celebrations, and the residents of Huế—a Buddhist stronghold—were also forced to contribute. These perceived double standards led to a Buddhist protest against the government, which was ended when nine civilians were shot dead or run over when the military attacked. Despite footage showing otherwise, the Ngôs blamed the Việt Cộng for the deaths,^[21][22] and protests for equality broke out across the country. Major Dang Sy, the commanding officer in the incident, later revealed that Archbishop Thục had personally given him the order to open fire.^[23] Thục called for his brothers to forcefully suppress the protesters. Later, the Ngôs' forces attacked and vandalised Buddhist pagodas across the country in an attempt to crush the burgeoning movement. It is estimated that up to 400 people were killed or disappeared.^[24]

Diệm was overthrown and assassinated together with Nhu on 2 November 1963. Ngô Đình Cẩn was sentenced to death and executed in 1964. Of the six brothers, only Thục and Luyện survived the political upheavals in Vietnam. Luyện, the youngest, was serving as ambassador in London, and Thục had been summoned to Rome for the Second Vatican Council. Because of the coup, Thục remained in Rome during the Council years (1962–65). He was among the bishops who were against the statements of the Council.^[25]

Beginning of exile[]

After the closing of the Second Vatican Council, none of the relevant governments - American, Vietnamese or the Vatican - consented to Thục returning to Vietnam.^[26] Paul VI therefore had him resign as Archbishop of Huế. At his resignation, Paul VI did not appoint him to govern any diocese, vicariate, or any other jurisdiction, but simply appointed him titular Archbishop of Bulla Regia, and Thục began his life in exile.

He began his exile in Rome^[27] He was able to find food and lodging in a reception center in Rome, but he had to pay a fee for this. In order to obtain the funds to do this, he offered his services to a curé in the parish. The priest accepted his offer. Nevertheless, they soon fell out with each other, and Thục left.^[28]

Thục was then received and given a room in the guest house of Dom Nivardo Buttarazzi, the Abbot of the Casamari Abbey in Veroli, Frosinone, Lazio, Italy, whom Thục had previously known. He stayed there for about one and a half years, confessing the faithful of the parish which was dependent on the Abbey and the monks who came to him. One day, the religious decided to organize an exhibition of nudes in the library of the monastery. He showed his disapproval, so the religious asked him to leave the place, and so he left.^[28]

He then went to the local bishop, who had made his sympathies known to Thục on several occasions, and begged him to give him a small church that had no priest where he could serve, provided that it had a sacristy where he could place a bed and stay. The bishop agreed, and appointed him to the village of Arpino which consisted of a dozen families.^[28]

Consecrations of bishops and declaration of sedevacantism[]

A Swiss priest Thục formerly knew in Écône, Switzerland, Father Maurice Revaz, who at that time was teaching canon law in Ecône at the International Seminary of Saint Pius X of the traditionalist Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), came to Thục and invited him to go to Spain, saying that the Blessed Virgin Mary wanted him to render her a service.^[28] On the recommendation of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre (Lefebvre knew Thục quite well and considered him to be a bishop with good doctrinal views;^[28] Thuc, like Lefebvre, was against the statements of the Second Vatican Council^[25]), on 1 January 1976, in El Palmar de Troya, Spain, Thục ordained Clemente Domínguez y Gómez — who claimed to have repeatedly witnessed apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary — and others as priests, and on 11 January 1976, consecrated Dominguez and four others as bishops.^[29][30] Thục stated that he had gone to Palmar de Troya on the spur of the moment, though contemporary sources show him to have been a regular visitor since 1968.^[31] For these consecrations, he was declared excommunicated by the Vatican. He repented (and was absolved in 1976), especially after Domínguez, after the death of Paul VI, declared himself "Pope Gregory XVII" and head of the Palmarian Catholic Church.

Thục moved to Toulon, France, where he was assigned a confessional in the cathedral until about 1981. According to one sedevacantist journal, he served at the Mass of Paul VI (the new rite of Mass promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1969) as an acolyte several times.^[32] On 16 April 1981, Holy Thursday, he concelebrated the Mass of Paul VI in the vernacular with the Bishop of Toulon. He later repented from having done this, saying, "I hope that God has not judged me so cruelly, for I erred in good faith."^[33]

On 16 February 1977, he conditionally ordained Jean Laborie as a deacon and a priest, and then conditionally consecrated him as a bishop on 17 February. Laborie was an Old Catholic, but is said to have approached Alfredo Cardinal Ottaviani to be received back into the Catholic Church. Ottaviani held him in high esteem.^[34] Thục carefully examined him,^[34] and may have thought that he converted. On 19 October 1978, Thục also conditionally consecrated Roger Jean-Marie Kozik, another Old Catholic, as a bishop.^[35]

On 7 May 1981, Thục consecrated the French sedevacantist and sedeprivationist priest Michel-Louis Guérard des Lauriers as a bishop.^[29] Des Lauriers was a Dominican theologian, an expert on the dogma of the Assumption, an advisor to Pope Pius XII,^[36] a former professor at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome, and a former professor at the International Seminary of Saint Pius X of the SSPX in Écône, Switzerland. Des Lauriers himself came to Thục and asked to be consecrated. He was the formulator of the Thesis of Cassiciacum, which states that John Paul II, like Paul VI and his successors, were only materially but not formally popes. Before his consecration was decided on, des Lauriers explained this thesis to Thục, who assured him that he too believes the Holy See to be vacant since the time of Paul VI^[28] (it is to be noted that modern sedevacantists generally believe that the Holy See is vacant since the time of John XXIII). On 17 October of the same year, Thục consecrated the two Mexican sedevacantist priests and former seminary professors Moisés Carmona and Adolfo Zamora as bishops.^[37]

Thục at his consecrations of Moisés Carmona and Adolfo Zamora on 17 October 1981

On 25 February 1982, in Sankt Michael Church in Munich, Bavaria, West Germany, Thục issued a declaration that "the See of the Catholic Church at Rome was vacant," and therefore, he as a bishop "was doing everything so that the Catholic Church of Rome would continue for the eternal salvation of souls."^[38][39]

In response to his episcopal consecrations for the sedevacantists in Toulon, 1981, and to his declaration of sedevacantism, the Vatican again declared him ipso facto excommunicated.^[38]

His newly consecrated bishops did not form a united structure and organization, but became a fragmented group, many limiting themselves essentially to sacramental ministry and only consecrated a few other bishops^[40] for various sedevacantist priests or groups.

Thục may have performed other consecrations besides those for the five bishops at Palmar de Troya and the three sedevacantists in 1981. He is said to have consecrated two priests, Luigi Boni and Jean Gerard Roux, as bishops in Loano, Italy, on 18 April 1982, but Doctor Eberhard Heller of Una Voce in Munich has said that Thục was with him in Munich on that date.^[41]

In 1983, Thục departed for the United States at the invitation of Bishop Louis Vezelis, an American Franciscan former missionary priest who later became a sedevacantist bishop. Vezelis was consecrated a bishop by the American sedevacantist Bishop George J. Musey (consecrated in 1982 by Carmona) and by co-consecrators Carmona and Zamora (the two Mexican sedevacantist bishops Thục consecrated on 17 October 1981). Thục collaborated with Vezelis in the operation of a seminary in Rochester, New York,^[42][43] United States.

Reconciliation and death[]

Thục began to be increasingly sought-out by the expatriate and refugee Vietnamese community, including old friends and contacts from Huế and Saigon.^[44] They facilitated his extraction from sedevacantism and Thục returned to the jurisdiction of the Catholic Church definitively in 1984.^[1][45]

Nevertheless, his retraction is denied by some sedevacantists, such as Father Francis Miller, O.F.M., a friar who lived with Thục in Rochester, and Bishop Adolfo Zamora, one of the bishops consecrated by Thục in 1981. Miller states that there is no sufficient evidence of Thục's retraction, and claims that, on the contrary, among Thục's last words to him in New York City (where Thục had been taken by Vietnamese priests^[42]) were: "They want me to sign a reconciliation and renounce all that I have done. [Laughing now, he continued:] Why would I do this? [Then very serious:] This would destroy the work God gave me to do of preserving the sacraments for the future. I cannot do that!"^[46] Zamora states that he immediately realized the falsity of the released retraction due to the style in which it was written, which he claims was "neither the style of Mons. Thuc nor that of any Catholic bishop, but a progressivist style".^[47] Bishop Michel-Louis Guérard des Lauriers, another one of the bishops consecrated by Thục in 1981, upon hearing of Thục's released retraction, personally wrote to Thục. No reply was given.^[5]

Thục was taken from New York to Kansas City, Missouri, by air, and from there was driven down to Carthage, Missouri, to the Motherhouse of the Congregation of the Mother Co-Redemptrix. He died there on 13 December 1984, the feast of Saint Lucy,^[5] at the age of 87.

Sometime after Thục's death, another public statement was released by the Vatican which was a further retraction by Thục of his consecrations of the sedevacantists des Lauriers, Carmona, and Zamora, in 1981,^[5] and a request to them for their own retractions. Carmona stated that he received no such letter.^[48]

See also[]

• Roman Catholicism in Vietnam

References[]

Further reading[]

• Borthwick, Mark (1998). Pacific Century: The Emergence of Modern Pacific Asia. Westview Press. ISBN 0-8133-3471-3.
• Buttinger, Joseph (1967). Vietnam: A Dragon Embattled. Praeger Publishers.
• Fall, Bernard B. (1963). The Two Viet-Nams. Praeger Publishers.
• Gettleman, Marvin E. (1966). Vietnam: History, Documents, and Opinions on a Major World Crisis. Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books.
• Halberstam, David; Singal, Daniel J. (2008). The Making of a Quagmire: America and Vietnam during the Kennedy Era. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-0-7425-6007-9.
• Hammer, Ellen J. (1987). A Death in November: America in Vietnam, 1963. New York City: E. P. Dutton. ISBN 0-525-24210-4.
• Jacobs, Seth (2004). America's miracle man in Vietnam: Ngo Dinh Diem, religion, race, and U.S. intervention in Southeast Asia, 1950–1957. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press. ISBN 0-8223-3440-2.
• Jacobs, Seth (2006). Cold War Mandarin: Ngo Dinh Diem and the Origins of America's War in Vietnam, 1950–1963. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 0-7425-4447-8.
• Jarvis, Edward (2018). Sede Vacante: The Life and Legacy of Archbishop Thuc. Berkeley, California: Apocryphile Press. ISBN 978-1-949643-02-2.
• Jones, Howard (2003). Death of a Generation: how the assassinations of Diem and JFK prolonged the Vietnam War. New York City: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-505286-2.
• Karnow, Stanley (1997). Vietnam: A History. New York City: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-670-84218-4.
• Langguth, A. J. (2000). Our Vietnam: the war, 1954–1975. New York City: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-81202-9.
• Luz, Frédéric (1995). Le Soufre et l'Encens: enquête sur les eglises parallèles et les évêques dissidents. Claire Vigne. ISBN 9782841930210.
• Maclear, Michael (1981). Vietnam:The Ten Thousand Day War. New York City: Methuen Publishing. ISBN 0-423-00580-4.
• Moyar, Mark (2006). Triumph Forsaken: The Vietnam War, 1954–1965. New York City: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-86911-0.
• Olson, James S. (1996). Where the Domino Fell. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-08431-5.
• Sheehan, Neil (1989). A Bright Shining Lie. New York City: Vintage Books. ISBN 978-0-679-72414-8.
• Topmiller, Robert J. (2006). The Lotus Unleashed: The Buddhist Peace Movement in South Vietnam. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0-8131-2260-0.
• Tucker, Spencer C. (2000). Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: A Political, Social and Military History. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 1-57607-040-9.
• Warner, Denis (1964). The Last Confucian: Vietnam, South-East Asia, and the West. Sydney: Angus and Robertson.

External links[]

• Roman Catholic Hierarchy: Archbishop Ngô Đình Thục
• Episcopal lineages derived from Archbishop Ngo Dhin Thuc
• In Memoriam: Archbishop Ngô Đình Thục at the Wayback Machine (archived March 5, 2008) by Michel-Louis Guérard des Lauriers, O.P.
• Sedevacantist Declaration of Archbishop Ngô Đình Thục
• PDF Document of Einsicht, 1982; includes photographic documentation on many of Archbishop Thục's consecrations
• "The validity of the Thục consecrations" by Fr. Anthony Cekada in Sacerdotium, Spring 1992.
• A critical analysis of the invalidity of Bishop Thục's ordinations and consecrations
• Fr. Stepanich O.F.M. on the Thục-line consecrations
• Thucbishops.com – An online resource including theological treatises on the sedevacantist consecrations of bishops by Archbishop Thục.
• Thuc Admitted He Withheld his Sacramental Intention 10 Times