BAIUS, or DE BAY, Michael, Belgian theologian: b. 1513, at Melin, near Atli, in Hainaut ; educated at Louvain, he was appointed professor of Scripture at this university in 1562, and was sent by the King of Spain (Charles V) to the Council of Trent, where he arrived when it was nearly over. Baius was one of the greatest theologians of the Roman Catholic Church in the 16th century. He founded systematic theology directly upon the Bible and the Christian fathers, leaving the scholastic method. He studied specially the writings of Saint Augustine and had his own interpretations of that father. The doctrines that the human wilt, when left to itself, could only sin; that even the mother of Jesus was not free from hereditary and actual sin; that every action which did not proceed from pure love of God was sinful; and that no penance was effectual for the justification of the sinner, but everything was to be attributed solely to the grace of God, through Christ, caused the superior of the Franciscan Order in Belgium to submit 18 of his propositions to the Sor bonne in Paris. The Sorbonne fat ty con demned three of the propositions as Ise se and 13 as contrary to Catholic teaching. Baius disavowed the condemned sentences, claiming that some of them had not been taught by him and that others had been presented incorrectly.
After his return from Trent, he published theses which contained doctrines that were rejected by the Spanish and Italian universi ties to which they had been submitted. Finally 76 sentences taken from his works were con demned by Pius V in 1567 and some dispute arising about the meaning of this bull, it was confirmed by Gregory XIII and entrusted to the Jesuit Cardinal Toletus to deliver to Baius. Baius submitted; yet the opposition still con tinued, as did also his defense of some of his interpretations of Augustine in his lectures; and as the theological faculty at Louvain was entirely in his favor, he not only remained in the quiet possession of his dignities, but was also appointed dean of Saint Peter's in 1575, and in 1578 chancellor of the university. He died in 1589, and left the reputation of great learning, pure morals and a rare modesty. His interpretations of Augustine, which were called Baianism, were adopted by the Jansen ists and were defended by them against their Jesuit opponents. His doctrine of pure undi vided love to God has also been adopted by the Quietists. His writings, mostly polemical, were published at Cologne (4to 1696). Con sult Duchesne, 'Histoire du Bayanism' ; Lin senmann. 'Bayus and die Grundlegung des Jansenismus.>