Lambert de la Motte, Pierre
LAMBERT DE LA MOTTE, PIERRE
Missionary; b. La Boissière, France, Jan. 28, 1624;d. Juthia, Thailand, June 15, 1679. He was ordained Dec. 27, 1655, and went to Rome to take part with F. pallu in negotiations for vicars-apostolic under the jurisdiction of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith. With Pallu he founded the Paris Missions seminary in 1658. In 1659 he was made titular bishop of Beirut, vicarapostolic
of Cochin China, and apostolic administrator of southern China. He set out in 1660; crossed Egypt, Persia, and India on foot; and reached Siam in 1662. He and Pallu, finding the condition of the missions disheartening, prepared instructions for missionaries that were adopted by the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith. He founded a seminary in Siam and ordained two Vietnamese priests in 1668. Then he visited Tonkin (northern Vietnam), where he ordained four priests and held a synod to govern the parochial apostolate. He founded the congregation of the lovers of the holy cross for women in Vietnam (Amantes de la Croix, Dòng Mênh Thánh Giá ) in 1670.
Bibliography: j. guennou, Les Missions étrangères (Paris 1963).
[h. prouvost/eds.]