François-Jean-Marie Laouënan

Archbishop François-Jean-Marie Laouënan M.E.P.
Archbishop of Pondicherry
See	Pondicherry
Appointed	24 July 1868
Installed	11 October 1868
Term ended	29 September 1892
Predecessor	Joseph-Isidore Godelle
Successor	Joseph-Adolphe Gandy
Orders
Ordination	6 June 1846
Consecration	11 October 1868 by Etienne-Louis Charbonnaux
Personal details
Birth name	François-Jean-Marie Laouënan
Born	(1822-11-19)November 19, 1822 Lannion, France
Died	September 29, 1892(1892-09-29) (aged 69) Sanatorium of Montbeton, France
Denomination	Catholic
Motto	MISERICORDIAS DOMINI IN AETERNUM CANTABO (May my prayer come before you - Psalms 82:2)
Coat of arms

Styles of François-Jean-Marie Laouënan
Reference style	His Excellency
Spoken style	Your Excellency
Religious style	The Most Reverend

Alexis Canoz

François-Jean-Marie Laouënan (19 November, 1868 – 29 September, 1892) was a member of Paris Foreign Missions Society and was the archbishop of Archdiocese of Pondicherry. On 24 July 1868 he was appointed to succeed Bishop Joseph-Isidore Godelle as Vicar Apostolic of Pondicherry. He was consecrated as a bishop on 11 October 1868. When Pope Leo XII established Catholic hierarchy in India, Mgr. Laouënan was appointed as Archbishop of the same see on 25 November 1886. He was the Archbishop until his death on 29 September 1892. He was succeeded by Joseph-Adolphe Gandy.

Laouënan was born on November 19, 1822 in Lannion, Côtes-du-Nord. After having studied at the minor seminaries of Plouguernével and Tréguier, he spent a year in the Seminary of Saint-Brieuc. Later he entered the Seminary of the MEP on September 29, 1843. He was ordained as a Priest on June 6, 1846. He was sent on August 1 to Pondicherry. In January 1847 he was appointed as a teacher at the colonial college of this city. Upon his own request he was transferred to Kumakonam in May 1857 by Bishop Bonnand.

From 1859 to 1862, he accompanied Bishop Bonnand and Bishop Charbonnaux on the Apostolic visitation of the missions of India. Based on the experience he gained in those travels, he authored the book: Du Brahmanisme Et de Ses Rapports Avec Le Judaisme Et Le Christianisme. (Brahmanism and its relation to Judaism and Christianity) which he published in 1885 at the Académie française at prix Bordin. After returning to Pondicherry, he directed the Seminary of the mission, and in 1866, resumed his former duties as the principal of colonial college.

After the death of Mgr. Joseph-Isidore Godelle in 1867, Laouënan was recommended as his successor. on June 5, 1868, Pope Pius IX appointed him as the Titular Bishop of Flaviopolis and Vicar Apostolic of Pondicherry. He wrote to the Pope expressing his unwillingness to assume this post. But pope rejected his plea. He was consecrated at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral, Pondicherry on 11 October 1868 by Bishop Charbonnaux.