JANSENISTS. The Jansenists were a school rather than a sect. They were so named after Cornelius Jansen or Jansenius (1585-1638). The theological question to which they attached special importance was that of Grace. In 1588 L. Molina (1535-1600), a Spanish Jesuit, published a work " On the Agreement of Free-Will with Grace and Predestination." His views have been sum marized as follows: " (1) A reason or ground of God's predestination is to be found in man's right use of his free will. (2) That the grace which God bestows to enable men to persevere in religion may become the gift of perseverance, it is necessary that they be foreseen as consenting and co-operating with the Divine assistance offered them, which is a thing within their power. (3) There is a mediate prescience, which is neither the free nor the natural knowledge of God, and by which be knows future contingent events before he forms his decree. (4) Predestination may be considered as either general (relating to whole classes of persons) or parti cular (relating to individual persons). In general pre destination there is no reason or ground of it beyond the mere good pleasure of God, or none on the part of the persons predestinated; but in particular predestination (or that of individuals) there is a cause or ground of it In the foreseen good use of free-will " (Blunt. p. 330). The Dominicans (Thomists) regarded these views as Semi-Pelagian. The Jesuits denied that they were such, and maintained that they might be held. This led to hot disputes. In 1597 Pope Clement VIII. Instituted Congregations de Auxiliis (concerning the helps, i.e., of grace) to investigate the views of Molina. These held a number of sessions, which were continued under Pope Paul V. In 1607 the College of Cardinals met and deliberated, with the final result that " the theologians of each party were allowed to bold and teach their respective opinions, provided they did not stigmatise their opponents with theological censures" (Addis and Arnold). Cornelius Jansen became In 1617 Professor at Louvain, and in 1635 Bishop of Ypres. He was greatly interested in the study of St. Augustine, and prepared a great work " Augustinus." Before he could publish it, he died (163S). When it was published (1640), the Jesuits succeeded in getting it sup pressed; and on its reappearance it was condemned by the Inquisition (1641) and by I'ope Urban VIII (1642). It found a vigorous defender in Antoine Arnauld (1612 1694), Doctor of the Sorbonne. In 1049, however, Nicolas Cornet, a Jesuit father, submitted to the Sorbonne five propositions which he professed to have drawn from the " Augustinus." The Parliament, however, took the matter out of the hands of the Sorbonne, and referred it to an assembly of the clergy. In 1653 Pope Innocent X. condemned the propositions in a Bull " Cum occasione." The five propositions were as follows : I. " Some precepts of God are impossible to just men, wishing and striving (to obey them), according to the strength which they then have; also they lack grace which would make them possible." II. " Resistance is never made in the state of fallen nature to interior grace." III. " For merit and demerit in the state of fallen nature, there is not required in man freedom from necessity, but freedom from compulsion is sufficient." IV. " The Semi Pelagians admitted the necessity of prevenient interior grace for single actions, even for the beginning of faith; but they were heretical in holding that grace to be of such a kind that the human will could resist or yield to it." V. " It is Semi-Pelagian to say that Christ did shed His blood for all men together." Jansen's friend, Jean du Verger de Hauranne, who in 1620 became the Abbe de St. Cyran, had founded a Jansenist Society called the Port Royal Society. Its original members included Antoine Arnauld, Le Maitre, De Sericourt, and De Sac]. Others who became members of the Society were : Nicole, Fontaine, and Blaise Pascal (1623-1662). In 163S the Port Royal Society removed from Paris to the monastery of Port Royal des Champs near Versailles.
In 1643, when St. Cyran died, Antoine Arnauld became leader of the Port Royalists, who had removed in the meantime to a farm called Les Granges in order to make room for a body of nuns from Port Royal de Paris (Marie Angelique Arnauld's Sisters). When Jansen's five pro positions were condemned by the Pope, Arnauld was expected to approve of their condemnation. But Arnauld was not prepared to admit tha.t the propositions could be found in the book of Cornelius Jansen. Moreover, he drew a distinction between things de facto and de jure. Whatever the tendency of Jansen's views de jure might be, the terms of the propositions de facto were not his. " The distinction was pressed home, and while infalli bility was allowed to the Court of Rome in synod assembled de jure ' in matters of doctrine its complete fallibility was shewn from several historical instances. in which it was seen that the Holy See had often erred in matters of fact " (J. H. Blunt). The Jansenist could agree to the condemnation of the propositions regarded from the de jurc point of view. Arnauld's reasoning was condemned by Pope Innocent X. (1654). It was con demned also by the Sorbonne, and Arnauld was driven from the ranks of its Doctors (1650). The next important step in the controversy was the publication by Blaise Pascal of his " Provincial Letters " (1656). These attacked not only the doctrines, but also the morals of the Jesuits. Pascal was a satirist, and satirists always exaggerate. But the letters contained a great deal of truth, and at the time were of great service to the Jan etaists. " No one who has Teed the ' Provincial Letters ' is likely to lose the impression which they make; it may be said without exaggeration that they touch every chord of the human heart, and the sudden transitions from logic and wit to sublime and pathetic eloquence produce an effect which can neither he resisted or effaced " (Cath. Diet.). In 1665 Pope Alexander VII. demanded submission to the condemnation de facto. The Bishops of Alet, Angers, Beauvais, and Pamiers would only silently submit on the question de facto. In 1669 the new Pope, Clement IX., restored them to the papal favour, which they had lost. This was called " the peace of Clement." Antoine Arnauld was succeeded by Pasquier Quesnel (1634-1719), of the Oratory of Cardinal Berulle. In 1671 he published a work, " Moral Refiexions on the Gospels " (enlarged later). He was afterwards banished to Orleans, and finally sought refuge in Brussels. In 170S Quesnel's book was condemned by the Pope. In 1710 the Port Royalists of France were suppressed or exterminated. In 1713 the papal bull " Unigenitus " condemned one hundred and one propositions drawn from Quesnel's book. But the bull raised a constitutional question. Those who accepted it formed a party called the Con stitutionists or Acceptants. Those who rejected it con stituted another party called the Anticonstitutionists, Appellants (because they wished to appeal to a general Council), or Recusants. The Bull " Pastoralis Officii " of Clement XI. excommunicated all who wished to refer the matter to a general Council. In 1727 a Jansenist deacon, Francois de Paris, died, and miracles are sup posed to have taken place at his tomb in the cemetery of St. Medard. People made pilgrimages to the tomb and fell into ecstasies and convulsions. On this account the Jansenists were called Convulsionnaires or Convuls ionaries, and from this time Jansenism In France began to decay. The Jansenist Church of Holland has main tained itself down to the present time. It is an inde pendent Roman Catholic Church, awl claims to be Old Roman or Old Catholic. When the Old Catholics (q.v.) were in need of an episcopal successor of the apostles to consecrate Prof. J. H. Reinkens (1821-1S96) as their bishop, they applied to the Jausenist Church of Holland. See J. H. Blunt; Prot. Dict.; Cath. Dict.; Brockhaus.