Ernest Nyssens
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| Born | 10 July 1868
Chimay, Belgium
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| Died | 14 March 1956 (1956-03-15) (aged 87)
Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, Belgium
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| Occupation(s) | Homeopath, writer |
Ernest Nyssens (10 July 1868 – 14 March 1956) was a Belgian homeopath, naturopath, theosophist and vegetarianism activist.
Nyssens studied homeopathy in the United States which he introduced to Belgium.[1] He was a naturopath who was interested in the ideas of Sebastian Kneipp.[2] In the 1930s he was a bishop in the Free Catholic Church. Nyssens was a pioneer of the theosophical movement in Belgium.[2] 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.[2]
Nyssens was the director of a Theosophical educational community known as『Communauté Monada』at Uccle (1921–1938).[2][1] 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.[1]
In 1935, he married Berthe Deseck-Nyssens (1891–1981), secretary general of the Belgian Theosophical Society.[2]
Nyssens was a strict vegetarian.[2] He founded the Belgian Vegetarian Society and edited its journal the La Reforme Alimentaire.[3][4][5] Nyssens authored the book Du traitement alimentaire du diabete par le regime vegétarien (1901), it was published by the French Vegetarian Society.[6]
Nyssens was a member of the International Vegetarian Union (IVU) Provisional Committee in 1909 and a speaker at the 1913 IVU Congress.[5]
