ARNAULD, ANG 'ELIQIJE, a daughter of Robert Arnauld d'Andilly, was b. on the 28th Nov., 1624. From her earliest years she exhibited an extraordinary force and resolute ness of character, and excited much anxious speculation concerning her future career among her relatives. When not quite twenty years of age, she became a nun at Port Royal des Champs, where she had been educated by her aunt, Marie Jaqueline Angel ique Arnauld, sister of the great Arnauld. Nine years after, she was made subprioress; and on removing some years later to Port Royal de Paris, she held the same office. During the persecution of the Port Royalists, A. A., by her piety and courage, sustained the spirit of the sisterhood. The whole family, male and female, were determined Jan senists, and none more so than mother Angelique de Saint-Jean (her conventual name). She had much to endure, but she met misfortunes with earnest Intrepidity. A royal order was issued to break up the nunnery. The police arrested the inmates, who were dispersed in various convents throughout France, and constant efforts were made by the .Jesuits to induce them to sign the " formulary of Alexander VII." A. A. was alone exempted from listening to their arguments and solicitations, her "obstinacy" being supposed invincible. At length, by command of the archbishop of Paris, the nuns were restored to Port Royal des Champs; but for some years they were subjected to a strict surveillance by soldiers, who watched all their movements, and allowed them no intercourse with persons out of the convent. In 1669, however, was issued the edict of
Clement IX. for the peace of the church, which was a kind of compromise on this vexed question of Jansenism and Jesuitism. The nuns received back the privileges of which they had been stripped, and constituted their society anew. A. A. was again elected prioress. In 1678, she was made abbess. The next year, her protectress, the Duchesse de Longueville died, and the persecution recommenced by the prohibition to receive any more novices. Still Angelique did not despair. She consoled the nuns, and exerted all her influence with persons in power, but with little effect. At last she sank under a complication of griefs, and expired on the 29th of Jan., 1684, leaving behind her as bright and beautiful a memory as any of her countrywomen. She was learned with out being pedantic, pious without bigotry, and gentle to others in proportion as she was severe to herself. A. A. wrote several works, the most valuable of which is Memoires pour servir a la Vie de la Mere Marie Angelique Arnauld de Sainte Madeleine, Reformatfiee de Port Royal.