Louis Favre was born on November 2, 1910 in Bellevaux, Haute-Savoie, France, the third of four children of Marie Julie Voisin and Joseph Favre. Louis Favre completed his primary education in Bellevaux and his secondary studies from 1922 to 1929 in Ville-la-Grand at the Juvénat (minor seminary) in the suburbs of Annemasse, France with the Missionaries of Saint Francis de Sales. He continued his religious studies in Fribourg, Switzerland, took philosophy courses at Saint-Michel, and completed his novitiate on August 24, 1930. From 1932-1933, Favre participated in his mandatory military service in the 14th section of nurses. He took his perpetual vows in 1934 in Fribourg, and was ordained a priest on July 12, 1936. After his final year of theology, the Congregation sent Favre as a supervisor to the Florimont Institute, a French educational establishment, where Favre became the sports teacher. He was recalled by the army on September 1, 1939, reassigned to the depot of the 14th section of military nurses, and demobilized on August 3, 1940. In 1942, Favre taught in Ville-la-Grand in France, rather than the Florimont Institut, because the border with Switzerland was closed.
Louis Favre's involvement in the Resistance began in November 1942, just after the invasion of the free zone by the Germans. Alongside his intelligence activities, he helped Jews and men of the Resistance pass into Switzerland from France. Over time, Favre increased his frequency of passages and traveled very often to Geneva. On February 3, 1944 he was arrested by German customs at the Juvénat, sent to prison in Haute-Savoie, and became the longest-serving prisoner of the Gestapo in the department. Favre continued to do intelligence work and support the other members of the Kasanga resistance network who were arrested shortly after him. He was executed on July 16, 1944 in Vieugy, near Annecy, France. Favre is included in a monument at the entrance to the Annemasse cemetery and was posthumously awarded the medal of the Righteous Among the Nations.
