Antoine Nguyễn Văn Thiện

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]


Antoine Nguyễn Văn Thiện
Bishop of Vĩnh Long
ChurchCatholic
ProvinceSài Gòn
SeeVĩnh Long
Appointed24 November 1960
Installed3 April 1961
Term ended12 July 1968
PredecessorPierre Martin Ngô Đình Thục (as Vicar Apostolic)
SuccessorJacques Nguyễn Văn Mầu
Orders
Ordination21 February 1932
Consecration22 January 1961
by Pierre Martin Ngô Đình Thục
Personal details
Born(1906-03-13)13 March 1906
Died13 May 2012(2012-05-13) (aged 106)
Nice, France
MottoOpere et Veritate
(Practice and Truth)

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]

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