View source for Losea, Abraham de (1619-1690)

Abraham de Losea was a Reformed theologian, born at Murten, [[Switzerland|Switzerland]], who stemmed from a family of Aries, Provence, [[France|France]], whose progenitor, the canon Jean, joined the Reformation and came to [[Geneva (Switzerland)|Geneva]] in 1523. Abraham de Losea received his first pastorate in 1641 in Könitz near [[Bern (Switzerland)|Bern]], and in 1647 he was made third assistant at the cathedral in Bern. This office gave him citizenship in the city. In the following years he rose in ecclesiastic position. In 1662 he was made the second pastor at the cathedral. Above him there was only one position, that of first pastor, which was usually associated with the deanship of the Bernese clergy.

In January 1659 de Losea was appointed by the government to the newly constituted [[Commission for Anabaptist Affairs (Täuferkammer)|Anabaptist committee]] <em>(Täuferkommission), </em>and conducted many examinations of Anabaptists confined in the orphanage and penitentiary. As a member of the <em>Kirchenkonvent </em>he helped to formulate several opinions on the Anabaptists. In them he always advised tolerance and a more lenient and just judgment, and opposed measures of violence. Evidence of this attitude is found in the opinion of the <em>Kirchenkonvent </em>("first opinion") of 1670 (reprinted in Müller, 140-143), in which only five of the clergymen of the city advocated lenience. The majority ("second opinion") favored intolerance, increasing the government mania for persecution. De Losea died in 1690 as pastor in [[Thun (Bern, Switzerland)|Thun]].
= Bibliography =
"Bernische Pfarrer 16.-19. Jahrhundert." Manuscript. Archives of the Canton of Bern.

Geiser, Samuel. Die <em>Taufgesinnten-Gemeinden: eine Kurzgefasste Darstellung der wichtigsten Ereignisse des Täufertums</em>. Karlsruhe: H. Schneider, 1931.

Hege, Christian and Christian Neff. <em>Mennonitisches Lexikon</em>, 4 vols. Frankfurt &amp; Weierhof: Hege; Karlsruhe: Schneider, 1913-1967: v. II, 691 f.

<em>Historisch-Biographisches Lexikon der Schweiz</em>. Neuenburg, 1924: II, "Delosea."

"Kirchenwesen" II D. 85, E. 86, and F. 87, Archives of Bern.

"Miss. Hist. Helv." III 272, in City Library of Bern.

Müller, Ernst. <em>Geschichte der Bernischen Täufer</em>. Frauenfeld: Huber, 1895. Reprinted Nieuwkoop: B. de Graaf, 1972.
{{GAMEO_footer|hp=Vol. 3, p. 397|date=1957|a1_last=Geiser|a1_first=Samuel|a2_last=|a2_first=}}