III. The Question of Fact.— Once the con demnation of Innocent X was published, the Jansenists shifted ground; and undertook their famous evasion by the question of fact. They rejected the five propositions as rightly con demned; but clung to the
They denied the fact that the,propositions were con tained in the 'Augustinus' in the meaning that had been censured as heretical; and insisted that the infallibility of the Church had nothing to do with such facts as the meaning intended by Jansenius and set forth in the 'Augustinus.' Antoine Arnauld was the mightiest champion of this evasion between 1653 and 1635. The
ops met in Paris,• 28 March 1654, and declared T that the P e had condemned the meaning in tended by ansenius; their declaration was ap proved byInnocent X the following September. The Sorbonne respectfully submitted in 1656. It was then that Pascal stepped into the arena. His 'Lewes
23 Jan. 1656 to 24 March 1657, poked fun at the Sorbonne for discussing the statements of Arnauld, reveled in raillery about the condemnation and sparkled with witty banter of the Jesuits and their casu istry. Indeed, most of the (Provinciales) are occupied with villifying the Jesuits, because of the fact that from start to finish they were the chief opponents to Jansenism. At the height of these controversies, the Assembly of the French clergy published its decision, that the infallibil ity of the Church extended to dogmatic facts, — that is, to facts connected with the deposit of faith,— and therefore to the fact that the meaning of Jansenius, set forth in the 'Angus tinus,) was that which had been condemned by the branding of the five propositions as hereti cal. This decision was confirmed by Alexander VII, 1656. who decided the fact of the heresy of the
Still the ,Jansenists went on without submis sion, either in a negative attitude of "respectful silence" or in such positive opposition to the papal decrees as was evidenced by Quesnel in
A new papal condemnation was needed. It came in the bull (Unigenitus,) 1713, whereby Clement XI condemned 101 propositions of
Rapin,
du Jan senisme) (1861) ; Dumas, H.,
des cinq propositions de Jansenius) (1699) ; Maynard, (Les Provinciales et lcur refutation' (1851) ; Lafitau, (Histoire de la Constitution Unigeni tug) (1737) ; Le Roy, (La France et Rome de 1700 a 1715> (1892) ; Saint Dechamps, (De hx resi janseniana ab Apostolica Sede merito pro scripta> (1654).