Antoine Nguyễn Văn Thiện Explained

Type:Bishop
Honorific Prefix:The Most Reverend
Antoine Nguyễn Văn Thiện
Bishop of Vĩnh Long
Church:Catholic
Province:Sài Gòn
See:Vĩnh Long
Appointed:24 November 1960
Term Start:3 April 1961
Term End:12 July 1968
Predecessor:Pierre Martin Ngô Đình Thục (as Vicar Apostolic)
Successor:Jacques Nguyễn Văn Mầu
Ordination:21 February 1932
Consecration:22 January 1961
Consecrated By:Pierre Martin Ngô Đình Thục
Birth Date:13 March 1906
Birth Place:Cái Cồn, Sóc Trăng province, French Cochinchina
Death Place:Nice, France
Motto:Opere et Veritate
(Practice and Truth)

Antoine Nguyễn Văn Thiện (13 March 1906 – 13 May 2012) was a Vietnamese Roman Catholic bishop and the oldest of the Catholic Church at 106 years of age. He was also one of the last living bishops to have served in South Vietnam.[1]

Born in Cái Cồn, in the Sóc Trăng province of French Cochinchina, Thiện was ordained a priest on 20 February 1932. He was appointed the bishop of Vĩnh Long in November 1960 and received episcopal consecration in January 1961. He resigned that position in 1968 and was appointed a titular bishop of Hispellum the same month. He became the oldest living Roman Catholic bishop on 6 October 2005, with the death of Bishop Ettore Cunial at age 99.[2]

Thiện died in Nice, France, on 13 May 2012, aged 106.[3] France's Géry Leuliet then became the oldest living Catholic bishop.[4]

Sources

Notes and References

  1. http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bngvta.html Biodata from Catholic Hierarchy website
  2. http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/sage2.html Oldest Roman Catholic bishops per Catholic Hierarchy website
  3. http://gpcantho.com/Bai-Viet-Giao-Phan-Can-Tho-C%C3%A1o-Ph%C3%B3-%C4%90%E1%BB%A9c-Cha-Ant%C3%B4n-Nguy%E1%BB%85n-V%C4%83n-Thi%E1%BB%87n-2028.aspx Cáo Phó Đức Cha Antôn Nguyễn Văn Thiện
  4. http://www.la-croix.com/Religion/Urbi-Orbi/Carnet/Mgr-Gery-Leuliet-doyen-de-l-episcopat-mondial-_NG_-2012-05-15-806492 "Mgr Gery Leuliet, doyen de l'épiscopat mondial"