Cornelius Jansen
Encyclopedia
Corneille Janssens, commonly known by the Latinized name Cornelius Jansen or Jansenius, (28 October 1585–6 May 1638) was Catholic
bishop of Ypres (Belgium) and the father of a theological movement known as Jansenism
.
then in the province of Holland, now in Gelderland
, the Netherlands. In 1602 he entered the University of Leuven
, then in the throes of a ideological conflict between the Jesuit
– or scholastic
– party and the followers of Michael Baius
, who swore by St. Augustine
. Jansen ended by attaching himself strongly to the latter "Augustinian" party, and presently made a momentous friendship with a like-minded fellow-student, Jean du Vergier de Hauranne
, afterwards Abbé de Saint-Cyran.
After taking his degree he went to Paris, partly to improve his health by a change of scene, partly to study Greek. Eventually he joined Du Vergier at his country home near Bayonne
, and spent some years teaching at the bishop's college. All his spare time was spent in studying the early Fathers with Du Vergier, and laying plans for a reform of the Church.
In 1616 he returned to Leuven
, to take charge of the college of St Pulcheria
, a hostel for Dutch
students of theology. Pupils found him a somewhat choleric and exacting master and a great recluse from academic society. However, he took an active part in the university's resistance to the Jesuits, for they had established a theological school of their own in Leuven, which was proving itself a formidable rival to the official university faculty of divinity. In the hope of suppressing their encroachments, Jansen was sent twice to Madrid
, in 1624 and 1626; the second time he narrowly escaped the Inquisition
. He warmly supported the Catholic missionary
archbishop (apostolic vicar) of the (Northern) Netherlands, Rovenius, in his contests with the Jesuits, who were trying to evangelize that country without regard to the archbishop's wishes. He also crossed more than once the Dutch Calvinist–Presbyterian champion, Gisbertus Voetius
, still remembered for his attacks on René Descartes
.
Antipathy to the Jesuits brought Jansen no nearer Protestantism
; on the contrary, he yearned to beat them with their own weapons, chiefly by showing them that Roman Catholics could interpret the Bible
in just as mystical and pietistic a manner. This became the great object of his lectures, when he was appointed regius professor of scriptural interpretation at Leuven in 1630. Still more was it the object of his Augustinus, a bulky treatise on the theology of St. Augustine, barely finished at the time of his death. Its preparation was his chief occupation since his return to Leuven. He had introduced in this treaty a long development favourable to contrition
(IIIrd part, De gratia Christi salvatoris, book V, chap.XXI–XXV). In its appendice, titled Erroris Massiliensium, et opinionis quorumdam recentiorum parallelon et statera, he harshly condemned the Jesuits, in particular Luis de Molina, Gabriel Vasquez
and Leonardus Lessius
.
But Jansen, as he said, did not mean to be a school-pedant all his life; and there were moments when he entertained political ambitions. He looked forward to a time when Belgium would throw off the Spanish yoke and become an independent Catholic republic, possibly even Flemish
-ruled, according to the model of the Protestant United Provinces
. These ideas became known to his Spanish rulers, and to assuage them he wrote a philippic
called the Mars gallicus (1635), a violent attack on French ambitions generally, and on Cardinal Richelieu's indifference to international Catholic interests in particular. The Mars gallicus did little to help Jansen's rather persecuted theological friends in France, but it reversed Madrid's wrath with Jansen; in 1636 he was appointed bishop of Ypres (Ieper)
in West Flanders by the Pope
and the Spanish Court. Within two years he was however cut down by a sudden illness; the Augustinus, the book of his life, was published posthumously in 1640.
Opposed to Jansenism, a little group of theological doctors from the Sorbonne
extracted 8 propositions of Jansenius's Augustinus, later reduced to 5, treating of the problems concerning the relation between nature and grace. They accused Jansenius of having misinterpreted St. Augustine, conflating Jansenists with Lutherans. This led Pope Innocent X
to condemn in 1643 these 5 propositions in the Cum Occasione papal bull
, and again ten years later, without attributing them to Jansenius in particular. The Jesuits, who then enjoyed predominant political and theological power (including a personal confessor to the King of France), then persuaded the Pope to force all Jansenists to sign a formulary leading them to admit the papal bull and to confess to their errors. The formulary controversy
led Pascal
to write the famous Lettres provinciales
(1657) in which he harshly attacked the Jesuits and their moral, in particular their casuistry
.
Following this anonymous publication, the King sent spies everywhere, condemned the librarians and successfully attempted to discover the author of the Lettres provinciales. The Jansenists of Port-Royal, Antoine Arnauld
, Pierre Nicole
, la Mère Angélique
, Soeur Agnès, etc., were forced to sign the formulary. Although ostensibly obeying to Papal authority, they added that the condemnation would only be sensible if the 5 allegedly heretical propositions were in fact found in Jansenius' Augustinus, and claimed that they did not figure there. The Jansenists' reasoning was that the Pope had of course the power to condemn heretical propositions, but not to make that what did not figure in Jansenius' Augustinus be there. This strategy would impose decades of theological disputes and debate, thus allowing them to gain time.
On the other hand, Pascal and some other Jansenists adopted a radical strategy, alleging that condemning Jansenius was equivalent to condemning the Father of the Church, St. Augustine himself, and adamantly refused to sign the formulary, with or without reserve. This in turn led to the further radicalization of the King and of the Jesuits, and in 1661 the Convent of Port-Royal was closed and the Jansenist community dissolved – it would be ultimately razed in 1710 on orders of Louis XIV
. The controversy did not involve only Papal authority, but rather his authority concerning Biblical exegesis.
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
bishop of Ypres (Belgium) and the father of a theological movement known as Jansenism
Jansenism
Jansenism was a Christian theological movement, primarily in France, that emphasized original sin, human depravity, the necessity of divine grace, and predestination. The movement originated from the posthumously published work of the Dutch theologian Cornelius Otto Jansen, who died in 1638...
.
Biography
He was born of humble Catholic parentage at AcquoyAcquoy
Acquoy is a village in the Dutch province of Gelderland, it is pronounced "Akkooi". It is a part of the municipality of Geldermalsen, and lies about 12 km east of Gorinchem.In 2001, the village of Acquoy had 278 inhabitants...
then in the province of Holland, now in Gelderland
Gelderland
Gelderland is the largest province of the Netherlands, located in the central eastern part of the country. The capital city is Arnhem. The two other major cities, Nijmegen and Apeldoorn have more inhabitants. Other major regional centers in Gelderland are Ede, Doetinchem, Zutphen, Tiel, Wijchen,...
, the Netherlands. In 1602 he entered the University of Leuven
Old University of Leuven
The Old University of Leuven is the name historians give to the university, or studium generale, founded in Leuven, Brabant , in 1425, and closed in 1797, a week after the cession to the French Republic of the Austrian Netherlands and the principality of Liège by the Treaty of Campo Formio.When...
, then in the throes of a ideological conflict between the Jesuit
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
– or scholastic
Second scholasticism
In philosophy, the term second scholasticism denotes the 16th-century revival of the scholastic system of philosophy, that arose, in part, to counter the Protestant Reformation, by returning to biblical language usage, and to the Fathers of the Church...
– party and the followers of Michael Baius
Michael Baius
Michael Baius was a Belgian theologian. He came up with the school of thought Baianism.He was born at Meslin L'Eveque near Ath in Hainaut as Michel De Bay. Educated at the Catholic University of Leuven, he studied philosophy and theology with distinguished success, and was rewarded by a series of...
, who swore by St. Augustine
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo , also known as Augustine, St. Augustine, St. Austin, St. Augoustinos, Blessed Augustine, or St. Augustine the Blessed, was Bishop of Hippo Regius . He was a Latin-speaking philosopher and theologian who lived in the Roman Africa Province...
. Jansen ended by attaching himself strongly to the latter "Augustinian" party, and presently made a momentous friendship with a like-minded fellow-student, Jean du Vergier de Hauranne
Jean du Vergier de Hauranne
Jean du Vergier de Hauranne, Abbé of Saint-Cyran was a French monk who introduced Jansenism into France.In the early 17th century, Jean du Vergier de Hauranne studied theology at the Catholic University of Leuven...
, afterwards Abbé de Saint-Cyran.
After taking his degree he went to Paris, partly to improve his health by a change of scene, partly to study Greek. Eventually he joined Du Vergier at his country home near Bayonne
Bayonne
Bayonne is a city and commune in south-western France at the confluence of the Nive and Adour rivers, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, of which it is a sub-prefecture...
, and spent some years teaching at the bishop's college. All his spare time was spent in studying the early Fathers with Du Vergier, and laying plans for a reform of the Church.
In 1616 he returned to Leuven
Leuven
Leuven is the capital of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region, Belgium...
, to take charge of the college of St Pulcheria
Pulcheria
Aelia Pulcheria was the daughter of Eastern Roman Emperor Arcadius and Empress Aelia Eudoxia. She was the second child born to Arcadius and Eudoxia. Her oldest sister was Flaccilla born in 397, but is assumed she had died young. Her younger siblings were Theodosius II, the future emperor and...
, a hostel for Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
students of theology. Pupils found him a somewhat choleric and exacting master and a great recluse from academic society. However, he took an active part in the university's resistance to the Jesuits, for they had established a theological school of their own in Leuven, which was proving itself a formidable rival to the official university faculty of divinity. In the hope of suppressing their encroachments, Jansen was sent twice to Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, in 1624 and 1626; the second time he narrowly escaped the Inquisition
Inquisition
The Inquisition, Inquisitio Haereticae Pravitatis , was the "fight against heretics" by several institutions within the justice-system of the Roman Catholic Church. It started in the 12th century, with the introduction of torture in the persecution of heresy...
. He warmly supported the Catholic missionary
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
archbishop (apostolic vicar) of the (Northern) Netherlands, Rovenius, in his contests with the Jesuits, who were trying to evangelize that country without regard to the archbishop's wishes. He also crossed more than once the Dutch Calvinist–Presbyterian champion, Gisbertus Voetius
Gisbertus Voetius
Gisbertus Voetius was a Dutch Calvinist theologian.-Life:...
, still remembered for his attacks on René Descartes
René Descartes
René Descartes ; was a French philosopher and writer who spent most of his adult life in the Dutch Republic. He has been dubbed the 'Father of Modern Philosophy', and much subsequent Western philosophy is a response to his writings, which are studied closely to this day...
.
Antipathy to the Jesuits brought Jansen no nearer Protestantism
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
; on the contrary, he yearned to beat them with their own weapons, chiefly by showing them that Roman Catholics could interpret the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
in just as mystical and pietistic a manner. This became the great object of his lectures, when he was appointed regius professor of scriptural interpretation at Leuven in 1630. Still more was it the object of his Augustinus, a bulky treatise on the theology of St. Augustine, barely finished at the time of his death. Its preparation was his chief occupation since his return to Leuven. He had introduced in this treaty a long development favourable to contrition
Contrition
Contrition or contriteness is sincere and complete remorse for sins one has committed...
(IIIrd part, De gratia Christi salvatoris, book V, chap.XXI–XXV). In its appendice, titled Erroris Massiliensium, et opinionis quorumdam recentiorum parallelon et statera, he harshly condemned the Jesuits, in particular Luis de Molina, Gabriel Vasquez
Gabriel Vásquez
Gabriel Vasquez was a Spanish Jesuit theologian....
and Leonardus Lessius
Leonardus Lessius
Leonardus Lessius was a Jesuit moral theologian and a pioneer in business ethics.-Life:...
.
But Jansen, as he said, did not mean to be a school-pedant all his life; and there were moments when he entertained political ambitions. He looked forward to a time when Belgium would throw off the Spanish yoke and become an independent Catholic republic, possibly even Flemish
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
-ruled, according to the model of the Protestant United Provinces
Dutch Republic
The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...
. These ideas became known to his Spanish rulers, and to assuage them he wrote a philippic
Philippic
A philippic is a fiery, damning speech, or tirade, delivered to condemn a particular political actor. The term originates with Demosthenes, who delivered several attacks on Philip II of Macedon in the 4th century BC....
called the Mars gallicus (1635), a violent attack on French ambitions generally, and on Cardinal Richelieu's indifference to international Catholic interests in particular. The Mars gallicus did little to help Jansen's rather persecuted theological friends in France, but it reversed Madrid's wrath with Jansen; in 1636 he was appointed bishop of Ypres (Ieper)
Ypres
Ypres is a Belgian municipality located in the Flemish province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Ypres and the villages of Boezinge, Brielen, Dikkebus, Elverdinge, Hollebeke, Sint-Jan, Vlamertinge, Voormezele, Zillebeke, and Zuidschote...
in West Flanders by the Pope
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
and the Spanish Court. Within two years he was however cut down by a sudden illness; the Augustinus, the book of his life, was published posthumously in 1640.
Opposed to Jansenism, a little group of theological doctors from the Sorbonne
Sorbonne
The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...
extracted 8 propositions of Jansenius's Augustinus, later reduced to 5, treating of the problems concerning the relation between nature and grace. They accused Jansenius of having misinterpreted St. Augustine, conflating Jansenists with Lutherans. This led Pope Innocent X
Pope Innocent X
Pope Innocent X , born Giovanni Battista Pamphilj , was Pope from 1644 to 1655. Born in Rome of a family from Gubbio in Umbria who had come to Rome during the pontificate of Pope Innocent IX, he graduated from the Collegio Romano and followed a conventional cursus honorum, following his uncle...
to condemn in 1643 these 5 propositions in the Cum Occasione papal bull
Papal bull
A Papal bull is a particular type of letters patent or charter issued by a Pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the bulla that was appended to the end in order to authenticate it....
, and again ten years later, without attributing them to Jansenius in particular. The Jesuits, who then enjoyed predominant political and theological power (including a personal confessor to the King of France), then persuaded the Pope to force all Jansenists to sign a formulary leading them to admit the papal bull and to confess to their errors. The formulary controversy
Formulary controversy
The Formulary Controversy, in 17th century France, pitted the Jansenists against the Jesuits. It gave rise to Blaise Pascal's Lettres Provinciales, the condemnation by the Vatican of Casuistry, and the final dissolution of organised Jansenism.- Context :...
led Pascal
Blaise Pascal
Blaise Pascal , was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer and Catholic philosopher. He was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a tax collector in Rouen...
to write the famous Lettres provinciales
Lettres provinciales
The Lettres provinciales are a series of eighteen letters written by French philosopher and theologian Blaise Pascal under the pseudonym Louis de Montalte...
(1657) in which he harshly attacked the Jesuits and their moral, in particular their casuistry
Casuistry
In applied ethics, casuistry is case-based reasoning. Casuistry is used in juridical and ethical discussions of law and ethics, and often is a critique of principle- or rule-based reasoning...
.
Following this anonymous publication, the King sent spies everywhere, condemned the librarians and successfully attempted to discover the author of the Lettres provinciales. The Jansenists of Port-Royal, Antoine Arnauld
Antoine Arnauld
Antoine Arnauld — le Grand as contemporaries called him, to distinguish him from his father — was a French Roman Catholic theologian, philosopher, and mathematician...
, Pierre Nicole
Pierre Nicole
Pierre Nicole was one of the most distinguished of the French Jansenists.Born in Chartres, he was the son of a provincial barrister, who took in charge his education...
, la Mère Angélique
Marie Angelique Arnauld
Jacqueline-Marie-Angélique Arnauld or Arnault, called La Mère Angélique was abbess of Port Royal, a center of Jansenism....
, Soeur Agnès, etc., were forced to sign the formulary. Although ostensibly obeying to Papal authority, they added that the condemnation would only be sensible if the 5 allegedly heretical propositions were in fact found in Jansenius' Augustinus, and claimed that they did not figure there. The Jansenists' reasoning was that the Pope had of course the power to condemn heretical propositions, but not to make that what did not figure in Jansenius' Augustinus be there. This strategy would impose decades of theological disputes and debate, thus allowing them to gain time.
On the other hand, Pascal and some other Jansenists adopted a radical strategy, alleging that condemning Jansenius was equivalent to condemning the Father of the Church, St. Augustine himself, and adamantly refused to sign the formulary, with or without reserve. This in turn led to the further radicalization of the King and of the Jesuits, and in 1661 the Convent of Port-Royal was closed and the Jansenist community dissolved – it would be ultimately razed in 1710 on orders of Louis XIV
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
. The controversy did not involve only Papal authority, but rather his authority concerning Biblical exegesis.
See also
- UltrajectineUltrajectineUltrajectine defines the tradition of the Old Catholic Church of the Netherlands headquartered at the city of Utrecht in the Netherlands. It is used to describe the anti-Papal-Primacy and Jansenist tendency of that independent church and its sister churches, which were founded in later centuries ....
- JansenismJansenismJansenism was a Christian theological movement, primarily in France, that emphasized original sin, human depravity, the necessity of divine grace, and predestination. The movement originated from the posthumously published work of the Dutch theologian Cornelius Otto Jansen, who died in 1638...
- GallicanismGallican ChurchThe Gallican Church was the Catholic Church in France from the time of the Declaration of the Clergy of France to that of the Civil Constitution of the Clergy during the French Revolution....
- Old Catholic Church of the NetherlandsOld Catholic Church of the NetherlandsThe Old Catholic Church of the Netherlands; , is the mother church related to the Old Catholic Churches. It is sometimes called Ancient Catholic Church, Church of Utrecht or Dutch Roman Catholic Church of the Old Episcopal Order...