The Lovers of the Holy Cross (French: Amantes de la Croix de Jésus-Christ, Vietnamese: Dòng Mến Thánh Giá, Thai: คณะรักกางเขน) is a Roman Catholic female congregation, founded in 1670 by the first vicar Apostolic in Tong-king and Cochin China Pierre Lambert de la Motte. By 2002 statistics, it has about 4822 members.
It is the first female religious congregation to be distinguished by its East Asian characteristics, both contemplative and apostolic, and created in Vietnam. During its 335 years of existence, the Lovers of the Cross community, went through various trials and tribulations : persecutions, disasters, wars and changes of political regimes.
Until 2005, there are currently 24 communes of the Lovers of the Cross nuns of Vietnamese origin of which one is in the United States. Three of them are in Thailand and two others in Laos. [1]