BESSE, Léon. - Jesuit missionary, b. March 27, 1853, at Périgueux, d. May 3, 1919, at Madras. Already a priest in the Toulouse province of the Society (1881), he departed in 1889 for the Madura mission. Until 1889, he taught theology at St. Joseph’s College in Trichinopoly, and from 1893 he directed the printing press there. Parish priest of the cathedral in the same city (1900–1903), he later became rector of St. Joseph’s College (1903–1909) and finally regular superior of the entire Madura mission (1909–1919).
He documented the history of his mission in various studies, the most important of which are: *Les Exercices spirituels dans l'ancienne mission du Madure* (Enghien 1910); *Liste alphabétique des missionnaires du Carnatic de la Compagnie de Jésus au XVIIIe siècle* (in *Revue d'histoire de l'Inde française*, 2 [1918], pp. 175–242); *Father Beschi S.I. His times and his writings* (Trichinopoly 1918); and chiefly: *La Mission du Madure. Historique de ses Pangous* (ibid. 1914).