JANSEN, CORNELIUS, JANSENISM.
Origin of Movement (§ 1). Quesnel. The Bull Unigen-
Cornelius Jansen (§ 2). itus (§ 5).
Jansenism Condemned by Acceptants and Appellants
Pope (§ 3). (§ 6).
Arnauld and Pascal (§ 4). Convolutionists (§ 7). Close of Controversies (§ 8).
The religious movement known as Jansenism originated in the controversy on the doctrine of grace. It divided the Roman Catholic i. Origin Church of France for over a century of Move- and developed a puritanical and sepment. aratist spirit in many ways analogous to that of French Calvinism. Since the writings of Augustine, after Paul, chiefly determined the belief of both Luther and Calvin, the Counter-Reformation was driven into an attitude of practical, though veiled, hostility toward his special teachings. They had had a powerful influence in
Jan sen
THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
the Middle Ages on the mystics and the scholastics, which left its mark on the Thomistic theology of the Dominican order. At the Council of Trent, in regard to the doctrines of grace and of sin, they opposed the Scotist tendency toward semi- Pelagianism exemplified in the Franciscans and Jesuits. These latter, however, were victorious in the main, and soon boldly developed their deductions from the concessions made to them. The Pauline and Augustinian doctrine was now upheld especially by Michael Bajus (q.v.), professor of Louvain. The Franciscans obtained the condemnation of seventy-six of his propositions in 1567 and 1579. When the Jesuit Molina in 1588 taught semi- Pelagianism, the Dominicans brought serious charges against him. In order to settle the dispute between the two orders, Clement VIII. convoked in 1597 a congregatio de auxiliis to define decisively the relation of grace to conversion, but it was dissolved in 1607 by Paul V. As the gulf between the Roman Catholic Church and the churches of the Reformation became wider, the spirit of semi- Pelagianism in life and doctrine assumed larger dimensions in the Roman Catholic Church, and as Thomism degenerated into a lifeless scholasticism, it is not strange that the doctrine of Augustine became, in 1612, a new revelation for two young and zealous students of the University of Louvain, Cornelius Jansen and Duvergier de Hauranne, afterward abb6 of St. Cyran (see Duvergier de Hauranne).
Cornelius Jansen (b. at Acquoy in North Holland Oct. 28, 1585; d. at Ypres [66 m. w. of Brussels,
Belgium] May 6, 1638) studied the-
2. Cornelius ology at the college of Adrian VI. in
Jansen. Louvain, where he formed an intimate
acquaintance with Duvergier. He declined a position as teacher of philosophy, hating Aristotle as the father of scholasticism, and believing Plato's ideas of God and virtue superior to those of some Roman Catholic theologians. As president of the college of St. Pulcheria he taught theology. By continually reading the writings of Augustine, Jansen came to the conviction that the Roman Catholic theologians of both parties had deviated from the doctrine of the primitive Church, and in 1621 he resolved, with his friend Duvergier, to work for reform. For this purpose he entered into intimate connections with prominent Irish divines, and with the leaders of the new French Congregation of the Oratory. At his instigation, the University of Louvain excluded Jesuits from positions as teachers, and, in behalf of the university, he undertook journeys to Madrid, in 1623 and 1627, with reference to certain encroachments of the Jesuits. In 1630 he was appointed regius professor of Holy Scripture in Louvain, and in 1636 bishop of Ypres. He laid down the results of his studies of Augustine in his comprehensive work, Augustinus, seu doctrina Sancti Augustini de humanae naturae sanitate, aegritudine, medicina adversus Pelagianos et Massilienses (3 vols., Louvain, 1640). The first volume gives a historical exposition of the semi-Pelagian heresies; the second sets forth the Augustinian doctrine as to the state of innocence and the fall; while the third treats of
the grace of Christ and of predestination in the spirit of Augustine. While the work was still in the press at Louvain, strenuous efforts were made by the Jesuit party there, through the papal nuncio at Cologne, to prohibit its appearance, but in vain. It was immediately reprinted in Paris and Rouen. The bull In eminenli (1642) reproached Jansen for the renewal of the heresies of Bajus, but he had then been dead for four years. It was only after a resistance of several years on the part of bishops, universities, and provincial estates that the bull was published in the Spanish Netherlands and its subscription enforced.
The leader of the Jansenist party after the death of Jansen and Duvergier was Antoine Arnauld (see Arnauld), the learned doctor of the 3. Jansen- Sorbonne, who, in 1643, published De ism Con- la frequente communion on the basis of demned the doctrine of predestination as taught by Pope, by Augustine and Jansen. At the same time the Jesuits were eagerly at work to effect the condemnation of the Jansenist principles, being aided in their efforts by the French Dominicans, while the Dominicans of Spain and Italy took the part of Jansen. The University of Louvain requested the assistance of the Sorbonne in repelling the encroachments of the Jesuits and preventing the condemnation of Jansen's doctrines. As no particular doctrines of Jansen had been condemned as heretical in the papal bull, the Jesuits attempted to formulate, in the shape of definite propositions, the heresy of which they accused him. These were finally reduced to five, and in 1650 forwarded to Rome. They are as follows: (1) Some commandments of God are impossible of execution by the just, and the grace by which they might be truly fulfilled is lacking; (2) in the state of fallen nature inward grace is never resisted; (3) in the fallen state merit and demerit do not depend on a liberty which excludes internal necessity; freedom from external constraint suffices; (4) the semi-Pelagians admitted the necessity of an inward prevenient grace for the performance of every (good) act, even for the first act of faith; their heresy consisted in their assertion that this grace was of such a nature that the will of man was able either to resist or to obey it; (5) it is semi-Pelagian to say that Christ died or shed his blood for all men without exception. Pope Innocent X. condemned these theses in 1653 in the bull Cum occasione. Although this bull was confirmed neither by the assembly of the clergy nor by parliament, it was sent to the different dioceses for subscription, at the instigation of the Jesuits. The Jansenists declared their willingness to condemn the five theses in their heretical sense, but not as propositions of Jansen. Most of the Jansenists admitted the infallibility of the pope in matters of faith, but not as to facts of merely human knowledge. In 1654 the pope declared that these condemned theses were really in Jansen's Augustinus, and that their condemnation as the teaching of Jansen would have to be subscribed on pain of deprivation. Under these circumstances hundreds of the " party of grace " signed the condemnation.