Antoine Nguyễn Văn Thiện

In this Vietnamese name, the surname is Nguyễn. In accordance with Vietnamese custom, this person should be referred to by the given name, Thiện.

The Most Reverend Antoine Nguyễn Văn Thiện
Bishop of Vĩnh Long
Church	Catholic
Province	Sài Gòn
See	Vĩnh Long
Appointed	24 November 1960
Installed	3 April 1961
Term ended	12 July 1968
Predecessor	Pierre Martin Ngô Đình Thục (as Vicar Apostolic)
Successor	Jacques Nguyễn Văn Mầu
Orders
Ordination	21 February 1932
Consecration	22 January 1961 by Pierre Martin Ngô Đình Thục
Personal details
Born	(1906-03-13)13 March 1906 Cái Cồn, Sóc Trăng province, French Cochinchina
Died	13 May 2012(2012-05-13) (aged 106) 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.

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.

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

Sources

• "Bishop saved from rebels", Spokane Daily Chronicle, 9 November 1961