Besson, Joseph-Antoine

BESSON, JOSEPH-ANTOINE. - Priest and historian, b. at Flumet (Savoy) on 10 Feb. 1717, d. at Chapeiry, in the diocese of Geneva, on 26 March 1763. Ordained priest in 1741, he was chaplain of the Monastery of the Visitation of Annecy and then parish priest of Chapeiry (3 Aug. 1757). He was a passionate researcher of local records, to whom the Benedictine dom Stefano Gabriele Brice, continuator of the Gallia Christiana, and the Protestant pastor Baulacre, learned librarian of the City of Geneva, gave generous advice.

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), but in reality printed clandestinely, following the hostile attitude of the local clergy, at Annecy, by Jean-Baptiste Burdet, whence the numerous typographical errors. These Mémoires, elaborated according to the method of the Gallia Christiana, contain, for the dioceses listed in the title, brief notices on their origin, the chronology of the bishops and of the capitular dignities, a list of ecclesiastical personalities who distinguished themselves outside the diocese and, finally, a rich handful of documents. B. personally visited the dioceses he illustrated and in each he knew how to choose intelligent collaborators, whose names he gives in the avis préliminaire (p. IV). The work is today somewhat outdated, but it is the best that was written on the subject in the 18th century; it should be noted that the compilers of vol.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) drew extensively from it. A reprint was made by the publisher Marc Cane at Moûtiers in 1871. The complete list of B.'s minor works will be found in the study by Pettex.

A. Pietro Frutaz