Jansenism

Border Augustinus1640 edition.

Jansenism was a religious movement started by the theologian and bishop Cornelius Jansenius (1585-1638), which enjoyed some popularity in Europe during the 17th century and later, and which was condemned as heretical by the Catholic Church due to its theses on salvation, which ultimately denied the competition of human freedom.

Jansenism, as a Puritan movement, emphasizes original sin, human depravity, the need for divine grace that will save only those to whom it was granted from birth, and the belief in predestination, without free will. Jansenism is generally considered synonymous with intransigence.

The fundamental work of Jansenism is the Augustinus, written by Jansenio, published posthumously (Louvain, 1640) due to the theological controversy it might have generated. Based on this book, a movement emerged that developed into three branches: theological Jansenism, moral-spiritual Jansenism (influential in moral rigorism in the 18th and 19th centuries) and political-anti-Jesuit-Gallicanist Jansenism (considered the majority movement within Jansenism).).

Historical development of Jansenism

The discussions of the Council of Trent on the role of freedom and its relation to divine grace had not ended with the De Auxiliis controversy. Jansenio thought to find in the writings of Agustín de Hipona a more satisfactory answer. For this reason, he elaborated his work & # 34; Augustinus & # 34; where he mainly deals with three points:

• Summary of the Pelagian controversy.
• Denying the state of pure nature.
• Development of its conception on the notion of "effective grace".

In this writing, he defines his position as Augustinian, but announcing that he submitted to what the Pope sentenced in relation to his book (he affirms the same in his will).

The Abbot of Saint Cyran

Jean Duvergier de Hauranne, abbot of Saint Cyran, was spiritual director at the monastery of Port Royal des Champs where a rigorist movement related to the Arnauld family had been born: Antoine Arnauld (1612-1694), theologian of the Sorbonne and the Abbess Angelica Arnauld (1591-1666). The "great Arnauld" he is a controversial character who has received strong criticism from historians such as Bremond and by others he is considered the best spiritual director. He was against the Society of Jesus and under the pseudonym Petrus Aurelius had published a series of writings against them and their supposed independence from the bishops.

Duvergier owes Jansenism a growing fame and the publication and extension of Jansenio's writing. This earned him the enmity of Cardinal Richelieu, who sought to quench all sources of discord in the French church. Pope Urban VIII prohibited the reprinting of the Augustinus but the book continued to be printed since it had been dedicated to Cardinal Ferdinand, Infante of Spain, who allowed and popularized the publication. An edition was even made in Rome in 1643. But several pontifical documents and the Holy Office had already banned the book. The first was the bull In eminenti of Urban VIII (1642). Then came the constitution Cum occasione of Innocent X (1653) and another constitution published by Pope Alexander VII, Ad sacram beati Petri sedem.

In France the movement had its main detractors, one of them the most popular French saint in the Gallic lands, Saint Vincent de Paul. Saint Vincent alerted his congregation to fall into what he called the worst evil for the Church of the time, and he totally distanced himself from the abbot of Saint Cyran.

The Arnaulds

The Arnauld brothers were direct followers of the work of Duvergier, Abbé de Saint-Cyran.

Being in the court of Poitiers, Robert d’Andilly, the eldest of the Arnauld, knows him, turns him into his spiritual director and invites him to the family abbey, in fact he urges him to visit her and to carry her word because he suspects that his sister Angelica would be happy to hear her sermons. About a decade later, in 1635, the same year that also visits the institute of the Holy Sacrament, Saint Cyran will become spiritual director of Port-Royal. If we want to commit the arbitrariness of reducing history to the mere facts, synthesize it at a time that summarizes it all—the crossing of the Rubicon, the battle of Actium, the word of St. Helena in the soul of Constantine—we can well say that for the phenomenon we are studying, the preaching of Saint-Cyran in Port-Royal is the formal and real beginning of the work of Jansenism as a cultural and religious expression and the disappearance of sixty- The sermons and counsels he gave to the nuns, of which he also became a confessor and spiritual director, and the influence that by dispersion of fame extended to the people who approached the abbey, define the arming of the Jansenist plot on the stage of European history.

Doctor in Theology Antonio Arnauld, at enmity with the Jesuits, and for that reason expelled from the Sorbone at the time, dedicated himself to propagating the ideas of Jansenio, trying to present them as pure and consistent Augustinism. He sharply criticized the custom of frequent communion, adding this aspect to the devotion of his followers. He also institutionalized Jansenism, offering it its own asceticism, its own modification of the dogmas and the necessary changes in the liturgy and in the sacraments. Antoine was soon joined by Pierre Nicole who especially criticized the formulation of pontifical infallibility and proposed that of the Jansenists, which is conciliar in nature.

Angelica Arnauld, her sister, was a nun at the monastery of Port Royal des Champs and later an abbess. She imposed a strong experience of the Cistercian rule, and after the death of Francisco de Sales, she assumed Duvergier as spiritual director, who advised her to follow the path of rigid demand for fidelity to the religious rule. Thus, the monastery of Port Royal became the center of Jansenism, where Eucharistic communion was practiced less and less.

From this monastery, the Jansenist doctrine and praxis were maintained and spread throughout France. After years of various condemnations by the Pope, the monastery was destroyed in 1710 and the nuns who inhabited it dispersed.

Quesnel

Later, the theologian Pasquier Quesnel (1634-1719) gave a revival to the Jansenist doctrines by taking their main theses, along with conciliarist ideas and Gallicanist tendencies. With the publication of his Réflexions morales he managed to win the sympathy and support of the high clergy. Theological disputes multiplied and the atmosphere heated up to the point that the French bishops asked for a new pontifical intervention.

On this occasion, Pope Clement XI with the Constitution Unigenitus Dei Filius (1713) formally condemned 101 propositions contained in Quesnel's writings. Then, the Jansenist movement (no longer able to evade condemnation as its followers had previously done through multiple interpretations of pontifical texts) appealed to a council and, for this reason, its supporters were called "appellants". Clement XI excommunicated them through the bull Pastoralis officii (1718).

After these convictions, the movement gradually died out, either due to the separation of its members (who created new sects such as convulsionarios or figuristas), or due to the influence of the Enlightenment.

Jansenist Theology

The theology proposed by Jansenius is based on a literal interpretation of the texts of Augustine of Hippo. However, he was influenced by the historical development and the adventures of the defenders of him. Thus, in Jansenius we find the theology of grace; in Arnauld, sacramental theology; in Saint Cyran, discipline and in Quesnel, its unification with Gallicanism.

Regarding the subject of grace, Jansenio affirms that the original state is the natural state of man. A state of grace and friendship with God, immortality and integrity (true freedom). Adam, in that state, was truly free and possessed sufficient grace (God's help) to avoid sin. However, effective grace is not only the help to avoid sin, but the help of God to do good. Adam in Paradise had sufficient grace, but he did not have efficacious grace, because for Jansenio efficacious grace is always victorious. He who possesses efficacious grace cannot sin. After sin, man has lost freedom. In man there is an invincible delectatio terrestris (taste for earthly things). Jansenio also affirms that in order to get out of this situation after sin, sufficient grace is not enough, but effective grace is necessary, that is, the help without which man cannot avoid sinning: with effective grace, man is invincibly directed towards the good. A help that gives him the possibility of not sinning is not enough, but he needs an effective help not to do it. Efficient faith is absolute: it changes the delectatio terrestris for a delectatio coelestis: it rejoices in the good. Grace provokes such a great taste for the things of God that man invincibly does them. Now, freedom is maintained because grace awakens in man the will to do good. Whoever does not act moved by effective grace sins infallibly.

So, predestination is the reason why some men possess efficacious grace and others do not. God has predestined some to salvation and others to damnation. According to this doctrine, works are either good or bad. There can be no probabilistic morality, because it leads to laxism.

Regarding the sacraments, it is the movement's own asceticism that progressively distances them from their practice, especially from the Eucharist. This was established with the writing De la frequente communion by Arnauld, who, arguing from the penitential praxis of the Ancient Church, invoked this practice to use it in a series of conditions that it was necessary to meet in order to receive the Reconciliation or communion. Hence also his rigorism in moral matters was increasingly extreme.

The successive condemnations by the Roman Headquarters led them to hold conciliarist positions that led them to Gallicanism. The movement, from the beginning, showed itself to be the sworn enemy of the Jesuits and, therefore, it became a political position thanks to the support of Blaise Pascal. The Movie: 'The Milky Way' by Luis Buñuel includes a scene with a sword duel between a Jesuit and a Jansenist, while they discuss theology, which is reminiscent of a scene from: 'Women in love', a film by Ken Russell.