PIGNEAU DE BEHAINE, PIERRE-JOSEPH-GEORGES. - Missionary, b. at Origny-en-Thiérache (Aisne, France), he pursued his studies in Paris at the Collège des Trente-Trois and entered the priesthood at the Seminary of Foreign Missions of Paris in 1765.

On September 9 of the same year he departed for Cochinchina, and was subsequently professor (1767) and superior (1769) of the seminary founded by Msgr. Pallu for the native clergy. Appointed in 1771 bishop of Adran and coadjutor of the vicar apostolic of Cochinchina, whom he succeeded, on June 21 of the same year, he was consecrated at Madras on February 24, 1774, and then settled in Cambodia. During the civil war he took under his protection the young prince Nguyen-anh, the last representative of the royal family massacred by the Tay-son rebels, and he had signed at Versailles on November 28, 1787 a treaty of alliance between the king of France Louis XVI and the pretender to the throne of Annam, whom he helped to regain power. The political role played by the P. did not cause him to neglect his duties as vicar apostolic. His aim was to convert the young Emperor and make him the Constantine of Indochina. He died on October 7, 1799 near Quinhon and was buried with royal honors in a rich mausoleum.

Bibliography

BIBL.: A. Launay, Memorial de la Société des Missions Étrangères, part 2, Paris 1916, pp. 515-16.

Antonino Anoge

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Pigneau de Behaine, Pierre-Joseph-Georges

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