History of the Catholic Church from the Renaissance to the French Revolution — Volume 1MacCaffrey, James
Religion
History of the Catholic Church from the Renaissance to the French Revolution — Volume 1
MacCaffrey, James
Catholic Church -- History -- Modern period, 1500-
The real struggle regarding /Augustinus/ was to be waged, however, in
Paris and France. There, the Abbot of St. Cyran had been busily at
work preparing the way for Jansen's doctrine, by attacking the modern
laxity of the Church, and advocating the necessity of a complete
return to the rigorous discipline of the early centuries. He had made
the acquaintance of the family of the celebrated lawyer, Antoine
Arnauld, six of whose family had entered the convent of Port Royal, of
which one of them, Angelique,[2] was then superioress, while his
youngest son, Antoine, a pupil of St. Cyran, was destined to be the
leader of the French Jansenists. St. Cyran insisted on such rigorous
conditions for the worthy reception of the Eucharist, that people
feared to receive Holy Communion lest they should be guilty of
sacrilege, and for a similar reason many priests abstained from the
celebration of Mass. He attacked the Jesuits for their laxity of
doctrine and practice in regard to the Sacrament of Penance. He
himself insisted on the absolute necessity of perfect contrition and
complete satisfaction as an essential condition for absolution. These
views were accepted by the nuns at Port Royal and by many clergy in
Paris. On account of certain writings likely to lead to religious
trouble St. Cyran was arrested by order of Cardinal Richelieu (1638)
and died in 1643. His place was taken by his brilliant pupil, Antoine
Arnauld, who had been ordained priest in 1641, and who like his master
was the determined opponent of the Jesuits. In 1643 he published a
book entitled /De la frequente Communion/, in which he put forward
such strict theories about the conditions required for the worthy
reception of the Eucharist that many people were frightened into
abstaining even from fulfilling their Easter Communion. Despite the
efforts of St. Vincent de Paul and others the book was read freely and
produced widespread and alarming results.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account