Peter Phan, " Mary in Vietnamese Piety and Theology," Theology Digest 49:3 (Fall, 2002)

Vietnamese Catholicism bears the imprint of four centuries of missionary activity, especially the French Societe des Missions-Etrangeres de Paris, which left an indelible mark on Vietnam with its activities from the 17th century to 1975. Another influence was the Congregation of Mary CoRedemptrix, founded by a Vietnamese priest in 1941 ( 170 members of this congregation settled in Carthage, Missouri, after the fall of Saigon, 1975). Alexandre de Rhodes, most responsible for the transcription of the Vietnamese language into a Romanized script, introduced traditional Vietnamese postures of bowing as part of Marian devotion. Two Marian apparitions occured, both during time of persecution: Our Lady of La Vang (1802) and Our Lady of Tra Kieu (1885), Vietnamese culture and tradition would welcome an image of Mary compassionate and all powerful, as a response to Confucian patriarchalism and to androcentric dominance. In a land where Catholics form less than one-tenth of the population, Mary could also be the topic of dialogue with Buddhism and Confucianism.