BESSON, François-Nicolas-Louis. – Bishop of Nîmes, b. at Baume-les-Dames on 5 Oct. 1821, d. at Nîmes on 18 Nov. 1888. He studied at the seminary of Besançon and was ordained priest on 17 Sept. 1845; in 1848 he became vicar of Gray and later of St. Mary Magdalene in Besançon, where he founded the seminary of St. Francis Xavier. In 1873 he was named titular canon of Besançon and in 1875, on 23 Sept., was preconized Bishop of Nîmes. Everywhere he left traces of his prodigious activity. He studied, took an interest in history and archaeology, was among the promoters of the Catholic University of Lyons, founded the Comité de l'art chrétien in 1876 and the Revue du Midi in 1886. Notable were the conferences he held at the metropolitan church of Besançon in the years 1863–74, later published separately in seven volumes (Besançon 1863–74), which form a complete course of Catholic doctrine. He devoted himself with passion to his diocese of Nîmes; generous with advice to the clergy, he aimed to spread knowledge of the catechism, «l'oeuvre par excellence» as he himself called it, among adults as well as children.
Among his writings, besides sermons, panegyrics and funeral orations, are remembered: Vie de Mgr. Cart (1856); Vie de l'abbé Busson (1862); Montalembert en Franche-Comté (1870); Vie du cardinal Mathieu (1881); Vie de Mgr Paulinien (1885); Vie de Mgr Xavier de Mérode (1886); Vie du cardinal Bonnechose (2 vols., 1887); Le pouvoir temporel des Papes, written in collaboration with Card. Mathieu.