Jean-Claude Miche | |
|---|---|
| Bishop of Dansara | |
 | |
| See | Dansara |
| Appointed | 13 June 1847 |
| In office | 1847–1873 |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 5 June 1830 |
| Consecration | 13 June 1847 by Dominique Lefèbvre |
| Rank | Bishop |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 9 August 1805 Bruyères, Vosges, France |
| Died | 1 December 1873 (aged 68) Saigon, Vietnam |
| Buried | Paris Foreign Missions Society chapel, Rue du Bac, Paris, France |
| Nationality | French |
| Denomination | Catholic Church |
Jean-Claude Miche M.E.P. (9 August 1805 – 1 December 1873) was a French missionary and bishop of the Catholic Church. He played an instrumental role in the establishment of the French Protectorate of Cambodia. Ordained in 1830, Miche entered the seminary of the Paris Foreign Missions Society (M.E.P.) in 1835. After a brief course on the geography of Southeast Asia, Miche departed for Cochinchina the next year. After sojourns in Malaysia, Siam, and the Mekong Delta, Miche arrived in Battambang in December 1838.
Miche was forced to leave about a year later, when Ang Em, a rebelling prince of Cambodia, declared himself king of Battambang, and the town was all but emptied of its inhabitants. He traveled up a tributary of the Ba River to the Central Highlands of Vietnam, hoping to convert the Montagnard people to the Catholic faith. Minh Mạng, the Emperor of Vietnam, who was opposed to missionaries, had him arrested. Minh Mạng's successor, Thiệu Trị, however, pardoned him in 1843 after an appeal by King Louis Philippe I of France. Miche continued his mission in Cambodia and Laos.
In 1856, under instructions from French diplomat Louis Charles de Montigny, Miche unsuccessfully petitioned King Ang Duong of Cambodia to accept French protection to free his country from the influence of Siam. Duong's death in 1860 triggered a political crisis when his successor Norodom's brothers, Sisowath and Si Votha, rebelled. Norodom was forced out of the country and into Siam. Miche, together with five French soldiers, organized an army that expelled the rebels. By around 1863–1864, Miche had secured Norodom's trust and Ernest Doudart de Lagrée, a French naval officer, convinced Norodom to allow the establishment of the French Protectorate of Cambodia. Miche continued his missionary activities in Indochina until his death in 1873 in Saigon.