Léon Vouaux

Léon Vouaux (1870 – 1914) was a French priest, philologist and lichenologist. He was executed by German forces in the second month of the First World War. The Académie Française awarded him the Prix Saintour posthumously in 1915.

Early life and education Vouaux was born 25 February 1870 in Baccarat, Meurthe-et-Moselle in Lorraine, France. He studied at seminaries in Pont-à-Mousson and Nancy and was ordained a priest in 1893. He then attended the University of Nancy from 1894 until 1898. Vouaux was awarded an Arts degree (license dès-lettres) in 1895 and in 1898 he passed the grammar aggregation competition (licence l'agrégation de grammaire) as a prelude to appointment to an academic post.

Career He was appointed to the staff of the ecclesiastical college of Malgrange, near Nancy, where he taught literature and mathematics until his death. He was promoted to be a first grade teacher (professeur de première). He wrote in Greek and Latin and was able to translate texts from these languages into French. From around 1912 he wrote a series of books about The Apocrypha of the New Testament. The first was published in 1913. This was The Acts of Paul and his Apocryphal Letters (Les actes de Paul et ses lettres apocryphes). The second, The Acts of Peter (Les actes de Pierre), was unpublished at Vouaux's death but published in 1922. His death is recorded on a monument in Jarny and also among the inscribed within the Pantheon in Paris. Several fungal taxa have been named in his honour, including the genera Vouauxiella