Biography of Cornelius Jansen

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Biography of Cornelius Jansen
Name and Name Modifications:
Jansens
Jansenius
Dates of Birth and Death:
(∗) 28 October 1585 in Akkoy (Acquoi) nearby Leerdam, Netherlands
(†) 6 May 1638 in Ypern, today Belgium
Family Data:
Jansen was born into a Catholic family in the Northern Netherlands.
Jansen was a Catholic priest.
Education:
Nothing is known about Jansen’s early education. Since 1602 he studied
philosophy at the University of Leuven (Löwen), where two kinds of theology
were taught, namely an extreme Augustinism and a more “progressive”
theology influenced by Aristotelism and Humanism, its representatives being
Michel Bajus (1513-1589) and Leonhard Lessius (1554-1623) SJ, both of
whom were both condemned. In 1604 Jansen went together with his friend
Jean-Ambroise Duvergier (Jean Du Vergier de Hauranne) (1581-1643) to
Paris, where they continued their studies.
Professional Career:
In 1611 Jansen and Duvergier moved to Camp-de-Pratz nearby Bayonne,
where Jansen directed the newly founded College from 1612 to 1614. From
1614 till 1617 both studied the scriptures of the Church Fathers, especially
Aurelius Augustinus (354-430) to start a reform of the Catholic dogmatics
and morals. In 1624, Jansen took over the headship of the Dutch College S.
Pulcheria. In 1618 Jansen became Professor of theology. During 1624-1626
Jansen was in Madrid, where he tried to counteract the Jesuits’ influence
at the University of Leuven, for they had started a University of their own
there. In 1630, Jansen became professor for Exegesis in Leuven, in 1636 the
Spanish King Philip IV appointed him for bishop of Ypern.
Jansen taught a rigorous Augustinism. The human’s free will played only a
subordinate role, whereas the human redemption was dependent from Divine

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grace only and already fixed in God’s providence (predestination). Therefore
Jansen was an advocate of a strict pessimism that most humans were already
condemned by God because they all had tended to the evil.
Jansen especially fought the Jesuits in Leuven and elsewhere. He was also
an adversary of the Calvinists, in spite of the fact that his doctrine came
close to Calvinism (but besides that for Jansen as a Catholic the doctrine of
the Catholic Church was valid). In politics Jansen fought for a Flemish state
free from Spanish rule.
Jansen had much influence by his writings, which made him the founder of
Jansenism. Especially his Augustinus, started in 1628 and published posthumously
in 3 volumes by his friends led to a quarrel of one hundred years.
The book was condemned by Urban VIII (Bull “In eminenti” of 1642) and
by Innocent X (Bull “Cum occasione” of 1653). Jansenism was in connection
with Gallicanism, i.e. with the claims of the French crown against the
Catholic Church, which was continued by Antoine Arnauld (1612-1694) and
Pasquier Quesnel (1634-1719) and in 1700 it had its climax.
France was especially a stronghold of Jansenism since 1650, with Antoine Arnauld
and Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), but also with the cloister Port-Royal;
it was pulled down in 1710. The quarrel between the rigorous Jansenism
and the more moderate Probabilism/Laxism of the Jesuits led to the condemnations
of both sides by Papal Bulls, but ended with the victory of the
Jansenists: the method of accommodation of the Jesuits in China was prohibited,
the Society of Jesus was abolished in 1773.
Jansenism was in many respect close to Calvinism, and also influenced by
René Descartes (1596-1650). The sensual rituals and features of Catholicism
were refused in favor of a certain rigorism.
Publications:
• Augustinus seu doctrina S. Augustini de humanæ naturæ sanitate, ægritudine,
medicina adversus Pelagianos et Massilienses, 3 vols. (Leuven
1640, Paris 1641, reprint Frankfurt 1964), t. 1: In quo hæreses &
mores Pelagij contra naturæ humanæ sanitatem, ægritudinem & medicinam
ex S. Augustino recensentur ac refutantur; t. 2: In quo genuina
sententia S. Avgvstini de humanæ naturæ stantis, lapsæ, puræ status
& viribus eruitur & explicatur; t. 3: In quo genuina sententia profundißimi
Doctoris de auxilio gratia medicinalis Christi Salvatoris, &

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de prædestinatione hominum & Angelorum proponitur, ac dilucide ostenditur.
• Elogium divi Augustini (Würzburg 1655).
• Pentateuchus sive commentarius in quinque libros Moysis (Leuven 1641,
1660, 1685; Paris 1649, 1660, 1661, 1677).
• Paraphrasis in omnes psalmos davidicos cum argumentis et annotationibus
(Lyon 1579, 1586, 1592, 1596, 1597; Antwerpen 1614; Leuven
1569, 1574, 1579, 1580, 1597, 1688, 1692; Bruxelles 1692).
• Commentaria in Ecclesiasticum (Leuven 1569; Lyon 1575).
• Analecta in Proverbia, Ecclesiasten, Sapientiam, Habacuc, Sophoniam
(Leuven 1644; Paris 1660, 1661; Lovanii 1673).
• In proverbia Salominis accuratissime et doctissima commentaria (1577;
Antwerpen 1589, 1614; Lyon 1578, 1593), auch: Commentaria in Proverbia
Salomonis (Douai 1577; Antwerpen 1589; Leuven 1568).
• Annotationes in Librum sapientiae Salomonis (Douai 1577; Lyon 1596).
• Tetrateuchus Sive Commentarius In Sancta Jesu Christi Evangelia (Paris
1643, 1655, 1660, 1667; Leuven 1639, 1676, 1685, 1699, 1703; Paris
1688; Bruxelles 1699, 1728, 1755, 1776; Lyon 1676, 1697, 1703).
• Evangelica historia (Dillingen 1576).
• Concordia evangelica (Leuven 1549, 1558, 1559; Antwerpen 1558).
• Commentariorum in suam concordiam ac totam historiam evangelicam
epitome (Antwerpen 1593), other title: Commentaria in suam Concordiam,
ac totam historiam evangelicam (Antverp 1613; Mainz 1612,
1624; Cologne 1624; Leuven 1571, 1577, 1582, 1586, 1591, 1606, 1684;
Venice 1686; Venice 1579; Lyon 1580, 1582, 1684).
• In Sancta Iesu Christi Evangelia secundum Lucam & Joannem commentarius
(Leuven 1636).
• Homiliae in evangelia... (Cologne 1578).
• Mars gallicus, seu de Iustitia armorum et foederum regis Galliae (s.l.
1635, 1636, 1637, 1639), French: Le Mars françois ou la guerre de
France, en laquelle sont examinées les raisons de la iustice pretendue

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des armes et des alliances du roi de France (s.l. 1637), Spanish: Marte
francés, o de la justicia de las armas y confederaciones del rey de Francia
(Madrid 1637).
• Enchiridion continens Erroris Massilionsium et opinionis quorundam
Recentiorum Parallelon et Stateram (Leuven 1647).
• Alexipharmacum civibus sylvaeducensibus propinatum adversus ministrorum
suorum fascinum... (Leuven 1631, 3. ed.), Dutch: Preservatijf-dranck
aende catholijcke borghers van s’Hertoghenbosch, geschencken
tegens den toover-gift-dranck vande gereformeerde ministers aldaer, dat
is corte beantwoordinghe op het beroep-boeerken van de predicanten vanden
Bosch (s.l. 1630).
• Notarum spongia quibus Alexipharmacum ... nuper propinatum aspersit
Gisbertus Voetius... (Leuven 1631, 1666).
• Traduction d’un discours de la reformation de l’homme intérieur...(Paris
1659).
• Lettre de M. Jansenius ... au Pape Urbaine VII... (Paris 1666).
• Lettres de Cornelius Jansenius, evêque d’Ipres, et de quelques autres
personnes, à Jean Du Verger, abbé de S. Ciran. Avec des remarques
de Hauranne... (Köln 1702).
• Jean Orcibal (ed.), Correspondance de Jansénius (Paris 1947).
• Discours de la réformation de l’homme intérieur: d’après la traduction
en français établie par Robert Arnauld d’Andilly et editée en 1642;
précédé d’un extrait du “Port-Royal” de Sainte-Beuve qui fait office
d’avant-propos et dans lequel est apprécié l’importance de ce discours
dans l’édification religieuses du jeune Blaise Pascal (Houilles 2004).
Bibliography:
• Peter Hersche, “Jansenismus”, Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart
4 (Tübingen 2001) cols. 369-372.
• L. Willaert, “Jansenismus” und “Jansenius”, both in: Lexikon für Theologie
und Kirche 5 (Freiburg 1986), cols. 865-870.
• Anonym, An Reverendissimus Jansenius in suo Augustino doceat aut renovet
articulos in Bulla Pii V. & Gregorii XIII? (s.l. 1650).
• Antoine Arnauld, Seconde Apologie pour Monsieur Cornelius Jansénius

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Évesque d’Ipre, & pour la doctrine de S. Augustin expliquée dans son livre,
intitulé, Augustinus (s.l. 1645).
• Antoine Arnauld, Phantosme du Jansénisme ou justification des prétendus
Jansénistes par le livre mesme d’un savoiard docteur de Sorbonne leur novel
accusateur; intitulé Les préjugez légitimes contre le Jansénisme: avec un
abrégé de l’histoire de cette erreur depuis le commencement des troubles que
[Cornelius] Jansénius & M. Arnauld ont causé dans le monde jusques à leur
pacification (Cologne 1686).
• François Babin, Recit de tous ce qui s’est passé dans l’Université d’Angers,
Pendant les années 1676, 77, 78, au sujet de la Doctrine de Jansenius (s.l.
1679).
• Tarsicius Jan van Bavel (ed.), Jansénius et le jansénisme dans les Paysbas:
mélanges Lucien Ceyssens (Festschrift) (Leuven 1982).
• Lucien Ceyssens, La première bulle contre Jansénius. Sources relatives à
son histoire, 1644-1653 (Bruxelles, Rome 1961).
• Edmond J. van Eijl (ed.), L’image de C. Jansénius jusqu’à la fin du XVIIIe
siècle. Actes du colloque, Louvain, 7-9 novembre 1985 (Leuven 1987).
• Libert Froidment, Vita ... Corn. Jansenii Iprensis (s.l. 1650).
• Gabriel Gerberon, Histoire générale du Jansenisme contentant ce qui s’est
passé en France, en Espagne... auf sujet du livre, intitulé, Augustinus Cornelii
Jansenii, 3 vols. (Amsterdam 1700).
• Leonhard Hell, “Cornelius Jansen: konservativer Augustinismus zwischen
den Fronten”, Theologen des 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts (Darmstadt 2003)
pp. 70-87.
• Françoise Hildesheimer, Le jansénisme en France aux XVII et XVIII siècles
(Paris 1992).
• Innocentius Papa, Bulla adversus Cornelii Jansenii: Vnà cum defensione
Belgarvm contra Peregrina ivdicia et bullae istus receptionem (Freistadt 1653).
• Cornelius Jansen, Jansénius et le jansénisme dans les Pays-Bas: Mélanges
Lucien Ceyssens(Leuven 1982).
• Paule Jansen, Le Cardinal Mazarin et le mouvement janséniste français
1653-1659: d’après les documents inédits consrvés dans les Archives du Ministère
des Affaires Étrangères (Paris 1967).
• Philippe Labbé, Triumphus catholicae veritatis adversus Novatores, sive
Iansenius damnatus a conciliis, pontificibus, episcopis... (Paris 1651).
• Johannes a Lapide, Cornelii Jansenii Iprensis Episcopi sacrae theologiae
quondam doctoris laudatio funebris... (Leuven 1641).
• Gaetano Lettieri, Il metodo della grazia: Pascal e l’ermeneutica giansenista
di Agostino (Roma 1999).
• Melchior Leyderckerus, Melchiori Leydeckeri De Historia Jansenismi Libri
VI. Quibus De Cornelii Jansenii Vita et Morte, Nec Non De Ipsius & Se-

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quacium Dogmatibus disseritur (Trajecti 1695).
• Jean Orcibal, Jansénius d’Ypres (Paris 1989).
• Jean-Pierre Schobinger, Die Philosophie des 17. Jahrhunderts. Band 2:
Frankreich und Niederlande, vol. 2 (Basel 1993) pp. 475-590.
• Georg Friedrich Schroer, De Sententiis quas de gratia doctrinae tulerunt
Jansenius, Quesnellius et Clemens XI. (Wittenberg 1720).
Author(s) of this contribution:
Claudia von Collani
Version: 1.00