Nguyễn Văn Thiện

Antoine Nguyên Van Thien ( born March 13, 1906 in Cai Côn, province of Can Tho, Vietnam, † 13, 2012 in Nice) was the Roman Catholic Bishop of Vinh Long in Vietnam. Its name combines Western tradition names (Antoine as a first name before the family name Nguyen ) with Vietnamese ( Van Thien as a personal name stands behind the family name ).

Life

Nguyên Van Thien occurred in 1923 in the seminar in Phnom Penh. He was ordained priest on 20 February 1932. He was a professor at the Theological Faculty Banam.

In 1960 he was called by Pope John XXIII. appointed Bishop of Vinh Long. He received his episcopal consecration on January 22, 1961 in the Basilica of Our Lady in Saigon Archbishop Pierre Martin Ngo - dinh - Thuc. He was a Council Father of all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council.

After the Tet Offensive in the Vietnam War, he resigned due to a serious eye injury by the Office. With his resignation on July 12, 1968, he was called by Pope Paul VI. Titular Bishop of Hispellum, the former Italian diocese of Spello, appointed. Since 1975 he lived in France from 1985 in the south of France, Nice.

Bishop Nguyen Van Thien was since the death of Ettore Cunial on October 6, 2005, the oldest living bishop of the Roman Catholic Church. He experienced a total of nine popes.