Jean-Claude Faveyrial
| Jean-Claude Faveyrial | |
|---|---|
| Born | 25 March 1817 Usson-en-Forez, Loire, France |
| Died | 26 November 1893 (aged 76) Bitola (Monastir), Ottoman Empire, now Republic of Macedonia |
| Nationality | French |
| Occupation | French and philosophy professor, historian |
Jean-Claude Faveyrial (1817–1893) was a French Lazarite Roman Catholic priest and author of the first written History of Albania. Despite never being published, the book was nevertheless the first serious endeavour to document the history of the Albanians and their country since Antiquity. A long-time teacher in Bitola, he was also deeply involved with the Bulgarian movement for independence and was a friend of the Aromanian people, whose schooling he extensively helped during his lifetime.
Faveyrial was born on 25 March 1817 in the village of Usson-en-Forez, located west of Saint-Étienne in the south French province of Auvergne. Prior to joining the Congregation of the Mission in Paris in 1843, he studied in Lyon. Faveyrial moved to the order's Istanbul branch in 1847, two years after he was ordained a priest by the Lazarites.
Faveyrial was strongly supportive of the Bulgarian struggle for independence, and renowned as being among the souls of that movement. From 1867 until his death, 26 years later, he served as a professor at the Romanian high school of Bitola (Monastir), a city in west Macedonia, where he taught French and philosophy. For a year before that, he had served as a priest in Thessaloniki. In Bitola, Favyerial combined his work as a teacher with his religious duties for the Lazarite order as a local abbot.
It was in Istanbul that, between 1858 and 1867, Faveyrial started a collection of books with the purpose of building a library that would help write the history of the Albanians, the Bulgarians, and the Aromanians. His scrutiny of the history of these peoples, he thought, would assist them to prepare for their future. Faveyrial visited the Albanian lands in 1884, and along with Apostol Mărgărit, the general inspector of the Romanian schools of the Ottoman Empire, he founded Romanian-financed schools for the Aromanian population in Berat, Korça, Prizren, and other settlements.
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