BESSON, JOSEPH-ANTOINE. - Priest and historian, born at Flumet (Savoy) on Feb. 10, 1717, died at Chapeiry, in the diocese of Geneva, on March 26, 1763. Ordained a priest in 1741, he was chaplain of the Monastery of the Visitation of Annecy and later parish priest of Chapeiry (Aug. 3, 1757). He was a passionate researcher of local memories, generously advised by the Benedictine Dom Stefano Gabriele Brice, continuator of the Gallia Christiana, and the Protestant pastor Baulacre, learned librarian of the City of Geneva.
The principal fruit of his research was the Mémoires pour l'histoire ecclésiastique des Diocèses de Genève, Tarantaine, Aoste, et Maurienne, et du décanat de Savoye (Nancy, chez Sébastien Hénault, 1759), though actually printed clandestinely (à la macchia), following the hostile attitude of the local clergy, in Annecy by Jean-Baptiste Burdet, which explains the numerous typographical errors. These Mémoires, prepared according to the method of the Gallia Christiana, contain, for the dioceses listed in the title, brief accounts of their origin, the chronology of the bishops and capitular dignitaries, a list of ecclesiastical personalities who distinguished themselves outside the diocese, and, finally, a rich collection of documents. B. personally visited the dioceses he illustrated and in each knew how to choose intelligent collaborators, whose names he gives in the avis préliminaire (p. IV). The work is somewhat dated today, but it is the best that was written on the subject in the 18th century; it should be noted that the compilers of vol. XII of the Gallia Christiana (Paris 1770) profited greatly from II. A reprint was made by the publisher Marc Cane in Moûtiers in 1871. A complete list of B.'s minor works can be found in the study by Pettex.