Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 1.djvu/820

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
744

ARNAULD


744


ARNAULD


condemned this proposition; "Jansenism is a phan- tom", as false, scandalous, rash, injurious to the French Clergy, to the Sovereign Pontiff, to the Uni- versal Church"; as "schismatical, and favouring the condemned errors". Arnauld died at BriLssels, at the age of eighty-two. Nicole, who had accompanied him into exile, had, by revising his writings, kept him for a time within the bounds of moderation, but when Nicole was replaced by Father Quesnel of the Oratory, Arnauld allowed himself all the extremes of lanu;uage, and his passion for polemics was given full scope. He died in the arras of Quesnel, who ad- ministered Extreme Unction and the Viaticum, al- though he had no power to do so. He was interred privately, and his heart taken to Port-Royal. Boi- leau, Racine, and Santeuil composed for him epitaphs which have become famous. Arnauld's w-orks are classed under five heads: on belles-lettres and phi- losophy; on grace; controversial works against Protes- tants; those against the Jesuits; on Holy Scripture. The mass of his wTitings is enormous, and seldom read to-day. There is no pretence at style. He was a learned man and a subtle logician, but he entirely ignored the art of persuading and pleasing, and his erroneous teachings mar his best pages. His "Gram- maire gen^rale", and "Logique" are the works most easily read.

II. Jacqueline-Marie-.\ngelique Arnauld, sis- ter of the preceding, b. 1591, d. 6 August, 1661, was the third of the twenty children of Antoine Arnauld. While still a child she showed great keenness of in- tellect and wonderful endowments in mind, will, and character. To please her grandfather Marion, the advocate, she consented to become a religious, but only on condition that she be made abbess. At the age of eight (1599) she took the habit of a Benedic- tine novice at the monastery of Saint-Antoine in Paris. She was soon transferred (1600) to the Abbey of Maubuisson, ruled by Ang^lique d'Esti^es, sister of the beautiful Gabrielle d'Estr^es, mistress of Henry IV. The child was brought up in liberty, luxury, and ignorance, and was left entirely to her own im- petuous and fantastic impulses. At Confirmation she took the name Ang^lique, in compliment to the ab- bess, and gave up that of Jacqueline, which she had hitherto borne. A reprehensible fraud of the Ar- naulds obtained from Rome abbatial bulls for An- gi51ique, then eleven years of age. She was named coadjutrix to the Abbess of Port^Royal (1602) and continued to live, as she had lived before, without serious irregularities, but also without religious fer- vour. Her days were taken up with walks, profane reading, and visits outside the monastery, all of which could not prevent a deadly ennui which nothing could dispel. "Instead of praying", she tells us, "I set myself to read novels and Roman history". She felt drawn by no call. Too proud to retrace her steps, at the age of .seventeen she confirmed the promise made at eight and, " bursting with spite", signed a formula her father placed before her, which was to forge on her forever the heavy chain of a vocation imposed on her. A sermon preached by a visiting Franciscan (1608) was the occasion of her conversion. She re.solved to change her mode of life at once, and to effect a reform in her monastery. She began with her.self, and determined, despite every obstacle, to follow the rules of her order in all their rigour. She had infinite trouble in encompassing the reform of Port-Royal, but she succeeded, and such was the steadfastness of the young abbess that she closed the doors of the monastery to her own father and brothers despite their indignant protests. This wa-s the "day of the grating" which remained famous in the annals of Jansenism. After the reform of Port-Royal, Mc-re Ang(;iique undertook to recall to a regular life the abbey of Maubuisson, six leagues from Paris, where scandals were frequent. .\ng<v


lique d'Estrdes, the abbess, led such a life that her sister Gabrielle reproached her as being " the dis- grace of our house". It is impossible to tell in a few lines what patience, courage, and gentle, per- sistent firmness were necessary to bring about this reform. Mere .\ng61ique was guided and sustained at this time by St. Francis de Sales. She even thought of abandoning the crosier to enter the Visi- tation Order, which the saint had just founded. She was one of those characters, however, who yield be- fore those they consider superiors, but stand firm and immovable in the face of others. The saint understanding her, gently diverted her from this project. The years that followed (1620-30) were the best years for Port-Royal, years of regularity, prayer, and true happiness. There were many nov- ices; the reputation of the abbey went far and wide. In 1625, thinking that the valley of Port-Royal was unhealthy for her religious, Mi-re Ang^lique estab- lished them all in Paris, in the Faubourg Saint- Jacques. It was at this time that the abbess made the acquaintance of Zamet, Bishop of Langres, who had reformed the Benedictine .\bbey of Tai-d, near Dijon, and was thinking of founding an order in honour of the Blessed Sacrament. He considered the fusion of the two monasteries an opportunity sent by Provi- dence. He broached it to the abbess, who agreed to the project, and together they began the erection of a new monastery near the Louvre. The bishop's sumptuous taste, however, contrasted with the ab- bess's spirit of austere poverty. Mi" re Angdlique, being self-willed to the point of falling ill when op- posed, wished to have it built according to her ideas and to impose her will on those around her. She was replaced as abbess, although it was her sister Agnfs who was elected .4bbess of Tard. Even when second in rank Ang^lique gave as much trouble, when the "affair of the Secret Chaplet" caused a diversion. The " Secret Cliaplet " was a term used to designate a mystical treatise of twenty pages composed by M6re .4gnes, sister of Angclique, in which the Sacrament of Love was represented as terrible, formidable, and inaccessible. This little book was disturbing, on account of the false spiritual tendencies it revealed, and it was condemned by the Sorbonne (18 June, 1633). For the first time Port-Royal was looke 1 on with suspicion, as having clouded the integrity of its doctrine. Nevertheless an anonymous champion had issued a brochure in apology of the "Chaplet". which caused a tremen- dous scandal. The author was soon known to be Jean du Vergier de Hauranne, Abb6 of Snint-Cyran. Mere .4ng61ique had known the Abbd for ten years, in the character of a family friend, but she felt no sympathy whatever with his teachings. From 1633, however, she took sides with him, introduced him into her community, and made him the confessor of her religious and the oracle of the house. The Bishop of Langres tried in vain to displace him. but Angdlique entrenched herself deeper in obstinacy. This marks the separation between Tard and Port- Royal; from this time, also, the history of Mi^re Angdlique is merged with that of Jansenism. Saint- Cyran became master of Port-Royal. He took away the sacraments, blinded .souls, and subjugated wills. To dispute his ideas w.is rci^anled :is a crime deserving of punishment. About the monastery were groupeil twelve men of the world, most of them of the family of .\rnauld, who led a life of penance and were called the "Solitaries of Port-Royal". Further, M^re .\n- gC'liipic had gathered under her crosier her five .sisters and many <>f her nieces. It may be said with truth that tlie Port-Royal of the .seventeenth century was her creation. With Saiiil-Cyriui it Ix'came a centre of alarming error. Richelii'U urulerstood this, ,ind caused the arrest (15 May, 1(')3,S) of the dangerous Abb<^, and his confinement in the prison at Vincennes