François Lovis

François Lovis (born July 19, 1817 in La Racine ; died January 22, 1890 in Sion ) was a Swiss Jesuit who was also an architect as an advisor to his bishop .

Live and act

Lovis entered the Jesuit order as a novice in Avignon in October 1838 . He took studies in theology, rhetoric and philosophy from 1840 to 1847 at the St. Michael College in Freiburg , which the Jesuits had to leave after the defeat of Freiburg in the Sonderbund War . He therefore went to Savoy and was ordained priest in 1848 in Chambéry . He then completed a theology degree in Belgium ( Leuven , Drongen ) from 1848 to 1851 and then taught first in Brussels and in Leuven before he went to Germany in 1855 and taught in Paderborn .

Various functions followed in Münster and Maria Laach , where he was rector of the college. In 1869 he returned to Leuven and then took over the rectorate in Mons . He then received a call from Bishop Pierre-Joseph de Preux to Sion , where he spent the last twenty years of his life. Here he taught as a moral theologian, then as a professor of dogma and exact sciences. In 1873 he broke away from the Jesuits in order to be able to stay in Switzerland despite the culture war . In Sitten he was also active as an architect in his role as advisor to the bishop.

Buildings (selection)

• Episcopal seminary, Sitten 1874.
• Parish Church, Bürchen 1879.

literature

• Gaëtan Cassina: Lovis, François. In: Isabelle Rucki and Dorothee Huber (eds.): Architectural Lexicon of Switzerland - 19./20. Century. Birkhäuser, Basel 1998, ISBN 3-7643-5261-2 , p. 348.

Web links

• Emma Chatelain: Lovis, François. (1817-1890). In: Dictionnaire du Jura. Société jurassienne d'Emulation, April 11, 2013, accessed on May 10, 2015 (French).