Jansenism, in Roman Catholic church history, a movement of religious reform
especially important in 17th- and 18th-century France.
The name of the movement is taken from that of the Flemish theologian and bishop of
Ieper, Cornelis Jansen, whose ideas were summarized in the treatise Augustinus (1640).
Relying on the strictest possible interpretation of one aspect of St. Augustine's
philosophy, Jansen defended the doctrine of absolute predestination. All individuals, he
argued, are incapable of doing good without God's unsolicited grace; they are destined by
God to be either saved or damned, and ultimately only a chosen few will receive
salvation. In this respect, the doctrine closely resembles Calvinism, and Jansen and his
followers were accused from the start of being Protestants in disguise. The Jansenists,
however, always proclaimed their adherence to Roman Catholicism and announced that
no salvation was possible outside the Roman Catholic church. As Jansenism was taught
in France, especially by Jansen's friend Jean Duvergier de Hauranne, known as the Abbé
of Saint-Cyran, it also entailed an austere form of piety and a strict rigoristic morality.
Thus, it was in sharp opposition to the more tolerant ethics and the opulent religious
ceremony favored by the dominant factions within the church, especially the powerful
Jesuit order.
Beginning in the 1640s, the spiritual center of Jansenism was the convent of Port-Royaldes-Champs near Paris, where numerous nobles, royal judges, and intellectuals
sympathetic to the movement made religious retreats. Almost from its beginning,
Jansenism aroused the hostility not only of the Jesuits but also of the French government,
which associated the Jansenists with various political opposition movements. In 1653 five
propositions relating to predestination, supposedly found in Jansen's writings, were
condemned by the pope. Led by the theologian and philosopher Antoine Arnauld, SaintCyran's protégé, and by the scientist and religious philosopher Blaise Pascal, the
Jansenists vigorously defended themselves, claiming that the five propositions were not
actually found in Jansen's treatise; at the same time they launched a counterattack against
the Jesuits. Finally, in 1713, under pressure from King Louis XIV, 101 propositions in a
treatise by another French Jansenist, Pasquier Quesnel, were condemned by the papal bull
Unigenitus. (The king had already closed Port-Royal-des-Champs and had had the
convent razed in 1709.)
During the 18th century, Jansenism maintained a strong appeal, especially among the
French parish clergy. Hundreds of clergymen refused to accept the bull Unigenitus,
calling instead for a church council to examine the issue independently of Rome. The
movement also spread to other areas of Europe, including Spain, Italy, and Austria. In the
royal courts of France, the Jansenists increasingly allied themselves with the Gallicans,
who also disliked the Jesuits and who were opposed to all papal intervention in French
internal affairs (see Gallicanism). The civil courts defended the Jansenists when certain
bishops, supported by the royal government, attempted to deny them the last rites. A
major political clash between the courts and the government developed over the issue in
the 1750s. The greatest triumph of the Jansenist-Gallican faction came in the 1760s,
when the courts forced the expulsion of the Jesuits from France. Thereafter, the
movement declined in importance, although small groups of Jansenists survived into the
19th and 20th centuries.
Contributed By:
Timothy N. Tackett
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