The Soul Instructed in Christian Doctrine and Life, Volume Two

Manuscript Borg.tonch.14, “Alma Instruida na Doutrina e vida Christão pello Padre Mestre Manoel Fernandes da Companhia de Jesu, Tomo Segundo” (The soul instructed in Christian doctrine and life, Volume Two), is the second part of Borg.tonch.13, written in 1690 by Father Manuel Fernandes, SJ, chaplain to King Pedro III of Portugal, and copied by Father Philiphê do Rosario Nguyễn Văn Bỉnh, CO. It was copied in 1811 in Lisbon, Portugal. As with the preceding volume, the table of contents is in Vietnamese and the text entirely in Portuguese. It runs to 547 pages in twenty-four sections, or “documentos”, across two chapters, each section carrying accounts of miracles and passages from scripture and the lives of the saints to illuminate Catholic doctrine. The first chapter treats the origin and meaning of the Creed; belief in God; the human propensity to falsehood; God as eternal, all-knowing and infinitely powerful; divine providence; God's mercy and justice; the longest-lived of the patriarchs; the mystery of the Incarnation; the Nativity; the Passion of Christ; the Passion at Jerusalem and the seven last words; Our Lady of Sorrows; the five wounds; Easter; the Ascension; the end of the world and the Second Coming; the Holy Spirit; and life everlasting. The second chapter treats faith and teaches the doctrine of the Trinity. This manuscript offers scholars of Vietnamese studies further material on the Catholic devotional works then popular among ordinary readers in Portugal.