[3] In 1908, he converted to Roman Catholicism, and began his studies at the University of Fribourg, where he received his doctorate in 1917 with a thesis on Geneva as the birthplace of Dutch Calvinism.

Among prominent board members were Giovanni Gentile, James Strachey Barnes, Marcel Boulenger, and Lord Sydenham of Combe.

The same year he published a collection of quotations (from Ackerbau (agriculture) to Zucht (breed)) from the writings of leading National Socialist ideologues.

He was a regular contributor to Ernest Jouin's anti-semitic and anti-masonic Revue internationale des sociétés secrètes [fr] (English: International Review of Secret Societies).

In the case, three young men were accused of distributing an anti-semitic tract by Philippe Lugrin which quoted anti-Christian passages from the Talmud.