FELIX, FRANÇOIS-XAVIER. – Jesuit, scholar and skilled apologist, born in Brussels on 18 April 1736, died in Regensburg on 23 May 1802. After completing his studies, he began his career as a preacher in Luxembourg and Liège; but the suppression of the Society of Jesus (1773) led him to devote himself entirely to writing. In addition to his natural talent, he was aided by an exceptionally retentive memory, extensive travels throughout Europe, and a keen spirit of observation and research. The French Revolution forced him to leave Belgium and take refuge first in Paderborn and then in Regensburg.
He wrote extensively, with the sole aim of effectively defending religion against the prevailing errors of Enlightenment thought, Febronianism, and Josephinism, as well as on the question of nunciatures. From 1769, he contributed numerous articles to the *Journal de Verdun, ou La clef du cabinet des Princes de l'Europe*, a historical and political collection on contemporary matters, published in Luxembourg. This collaboration intensified in 1773 when he became its director, publishing it under the new title *Journal historique et littéraire* (60 vols., 1773–94), also issued in Luxembourg, until its printing was banned by Joseph II for openly denouncing the abuses perpetrated in ecclesiastical matters. The journal then moved to Liège in 1788 and to Maastricht in 1791.
The principal articles were later published separately under the title *Mélanges de politique, de morale chrétienne et littérature* (4 vols., Louvain 1822–24); these were reissued as *Cours de morale chrétienne et de littérature religieuse* (5 vols., Paris 1826).
An addition to the *Journal* consists of the 18 volumes of *Recueil de représentations, protestations et réclamations faites à S. M. I. par les représentants et états des dix provinces des Pays-Bas antichrétiens assemblés* (series 1, from 1773; published immediately in Flemish [Amsterdam 1787–90]). However, his major work remains the *Dictionnaire historique* (6 vols., Augsburg 1781–84). Although prohibited by the Austrian government, it went through successive updated editions, reaching the 96th in 1837, when it was retitled *Biographie universelle*, edited by M. Pérennès, T. Simonin, and C. Weiss; but the additions and revisions altered its original character. Other works to be mentioned include the *Catéchisme philosophique* (Liège 1772, under the pseudonym Fleixier de Revall), which, reprinted and updated many times both by the author and others (excluding the edition by the Countess of Genlis, Paris 1830), held a prominent place in apologetics due to its clarity and sharpness until the mid-19th century. It should not, however, be overlooked that in the *Opuscules théologico-philosophiques* (Mechelen 1824, a posthumous collection of pamphlets), F. expressed erroneous ideas regarding the errors of the Synod of Pistoia, condemned by the bull *Auctorem Fidei*; these were refuted by Cardinal Giacinto Gerdil in his *Animadversiones in notas*... cf. Feller (Rome-Venice 1793).