Louis Laneau was a French Bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

 of the 17th century who was active in the kingdom of Siam (modern Thailand

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

). He was a member of the Paris Foreign Missions Society

Paris Foreign Missions Society

The Society of Foreign Missions of Paris is a Roman Catholic missionary organization. It is not a religious order, but an organization of secular priests and lay persons dedicated to missionary work in foreign lands....

. He was initially nominated as the replacement of Mgr Ignace Cotolendi

Ignace Cotolendi

Ignace Cotolendi was a French bishop. He was a founding member of the Paris Foreign Missions Society and became a missionnary in Asia.-Life:...

 in charge of Nankin.

Career

In 1669, Louis Laneau was nominated Bishop of Metellopolis

Metellopolis (titular see)

Motella, Metellopolis, or Pulcherianopolis was a city in the Roman province of Phrygia Pacatiana, in Asia Minor, probably on the site of the modern Medele....

 and apostolic vicar of Siam. He was head of a Roman Catholic mission in Indochina

Indochina

The Indochinese peninsula, is a region in Southeast Asia. It lies roughly southwest of China, and east of India. The name has its origins in the French, Indochine, as a combination of the names of "China" and "India", and was adopted when French colonizers in Vietnam began expanding their territory...

, with his headquarters at Ayutthaya

Ayutthaya kingdom

Ayutthaya was a Siamese kingdom that existed from 1350 to 1767. Ayutthaya was friendly towards foreign traders, including the Chinese, Vietnamese , Indians, Japanese and Persians, and later the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and French, permitting them to set up villages outside the walls of the...

. Laneau became bishop of Ayutthaya

Ayutthaya kingdom

Ayutthaya was a Siamese kingdom that existed from 1350 to 1767. Ayutthaya was friendly towards foreign traders, including the Chinese, Vietnamese , Indians, Japanese and Persians, and later the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and French, permitting them to set up villages outside the walls of the...

 in 1674.

Monseigneur Laneau worked at propagating the Christian faith and also took care of Annamite Christians and Japanese Christian communities in Siam. The Siamese king Narai

Narai

Somdet Phra Narai or Somdet Phra Ramathibodi III was the king of Ayutthaya from 1656 to 1688 and arguably the most famous Ayutthayan king. His reign was the most prosperous during the Ayutthaya period and saw the great commercial and diplomatic activities with foreign nations including the...

 warmly welcomed these missionaries, providing them with land for a church, a mission-house and a seminary (St. Joseph's colony). Laneau had a key role in convincing the Siamese king to send an embassy to France.

During the 1688 Siamese revolution

Siamese revolution (1688)

The Siamese revolution of 1688 was a major popular upheaval in the Siamese Ayutthaya Kingdom which led to the overthrow of the pro-foreign Siamese king Narai...

, Laneau and his missionaries were taken hostage by the Siamese, as guarantors for the execution of the retreat agreement negotiated between the French and the Siamese. As the French failed to respect several elements of the agreement, Laneau and his missionaries were emprisonned by the resentfull Siamese.

Laneau was only freed from the Siamese jails in April 1691. He would die in Ayutthaya

Ayutthaya kingdom

Ayutthaya was a Siamese kingdom that existed from 1350 to 1767. Ayutthaya was friendly towards foreign traders, including the Chinese, Vietnamese , Indians, Japanese and Persians, and later the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and French, permitting them to set up villages outside the walls of the...

 in March 1696.

Works

• Rencontre avec un sage bouddhiste (English: "Encounter with a Buddhist sage").

A dialogue between a Christian missionary and a Buddhist sage, with a representation of the Christian doctrine with the words and concepts of Buddhism. The book was initially written in Siamese

Thai language

Thai , also known as Central Thai and Siamese, is the national and official language of Thailand and the native language of the Thai people, Thailand's dominant ethnic group. Thai is a member of the Tai group of the Tai–Kadai language family. Historical linguists have been unable to definitively...

.

• La Déification des Justes (Latin: "de Deification iustorum", English: "The deification of the Just").

A book written during captivity.