St. Francis Xavier Church in the China town of former Vietnamese capital Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) lives the memory of Father Pierre D’Assou (Cha Tam in Vietnamese), a priest from China’s Macau Island who played a pivotal role in construction of the first church for local Chinese Catholics in 1900-1902.
Today, the church is mostly known as Cha Tam Church in an honor to contributions of the missionary priest. Vietnamese priest and architect Father John Baptist Huynh Tinh Huong designed the church complex that accommodates the church building, large compound, a house of charity, houses for rent, a kindergarten, a community house, a school, and a meeting hall.