BRISSON, LOUIS-ALEXANDRE. - French priest, b. at Plancy (Aube) in 1817, d. there on 2 Feb. 1908. Under the influence of the Visitandine Mother Maria de Sales Chappuis (d. in 1875), he founded in 1868 the Congregation of the Oblate Sisters of St. Francis de Sales, and in 1871 a Congregation of priests, the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales (known as those of Troyes, to distinguish them from the Oblates of St. Francis of Annecy, established in 1833 by Abbé Mernier). During his generalate he saw them expand in France, Austria, Germany, and England, and establish missions in the two Americas and in Africa. He left a Vie de la vén. mère Marie de Sales Chappuis, Tours 1891 (2nd ed.). His teachings on the interior life and the apostolate, in the spirit of St. Francis de Sales, are known to us through his disciples.
BIRL.: P. Dufour, Le T. R. P. L. B., fondateur des Oblates et des Oblats de St François de Sales, Parigi 1937; id., s. V. in D.Sp. I, cols. 1962-66. Edmondo Lamalle