Ernest Nyssens (10 July 1868 – 14 March 1956) was a Belgian homeopath, naturopath, theosophist and vegetarianism activist.
Biography
Nyssens studied homeopathy in the United States which he introduced to Belgium."Belgium Theosophy". Theosophy World. Retrieved 6 July 2020. He was a naturopath who was interested in the ideas of Sebastian Kneipp. In the 1930s he was a bishop in the Free Catholic Church. Nyssens was a pioneer of the theosophical movement in Belgium. In 1897 with Elisabeth Carter, he created the first theosophical branch of Brussels. Between 1910 and 1915 he was active at a naturist and theosophical institute in Ter Nood, Overijse.
Nyssens was the director of a Theosophical educational community known as "Communauté Monada" at Uccle (1921–1938). The school issued vegetarian food, had a large public garden and the countryside nearby offered beautiful walks. Nyssens taught Swedish gymnastics. The school dissolved at the beginning of World War II.
In 1935, he married Berthe Deseck-Nyssens (1891–1981), secretary general of the Belgian Theosophical Society.
Vegetarianism
Nyssens was a strict vegetarian. He founded the Belgian Vegetarian Society and edited its journal the La Reforme Alimentaire.Fenton, Alexander. (2000). Order and Disorder: The Health Implications of Eating and Drinking in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. Tuckwell Press. pp. 209-226. "Dr. Ernest Nyssens". International Vegetarian Union. Retrieved 6 July 2020. Nyssens authored the book Du traitement alimentaire du diabete par le regime vegétarien (1901), it was published by the French Vegetarian Society.Crossley, Ceri. (2005). Consumable Metaphors: Attitudes Towards Animals and Vegetarianism in Nineteenth-Century France. Peter Lang. p. 242.
Nyssens was a member of the International Vegetarian Union (IVU) Provisional Committee in 1909 and a speaker at the 1913 IVU Congress.
Selected publications
Du Traitement alimentaire du diabète (1900) La Cuisine rationnelle, précis d'hygiène alimentaire (1900)
References