Lucien or Lucianus Ceyssens OFM (1902–2001) was a twentieth-century

ecclesiastical historian __NOTOC__ Church history or ecclesiastical history as an academic discipline studies the history of Christianity and the way the Christian Church has developed since its inception. Henry Melvill Gwatkin defined church history as "the spiritua ...

who specialised in the history of

Jansenism Jansenism was an early modern theological movement within Catholicism, primarily active in the Kingdom of France, that emphasized original sin, human depravity, the necessity of divine grace, and predestination. It was declared a heresy by t ...

Life

Ceyssens was born in

Wijchmaal Wijchmaal is a village in the province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg, Belgium, which since 1977 has been a subdivision of the municipality of Peer, Belgium, Peer. It is located on the low Campine, Kempen plateau and has predominantly sandy soil. T ...

, Belgium, on 8 October 1902. In 1921 he entered the

Order of St Francis , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

, and in 1927 he was ordained priest. He followed some history classes at the

Catholic University of Louvain The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

in 1929–31, and in 1934 was a student at the Faculty of Church History of the

Gregorian University The Pontifical Gregorian University ( it, Pontificia Università Gregoriana; also known as the Gregorian or Gregoriana,) is a higher education ecclesiastical school (pontifical university) located in Rome, Italy. The Gregorian originated as ...

in Rome. From 1934 to 1963 he taught at the

Pontifical University Antonianum The Antonianum, also known as the Pontifical University of Saint Anthony ( la, Pontificia Universitas Antonianum, it, Pontificia Università Antonianum), and as Pontifical Athenaeum Antonianum, is a Franciscan pontifical university in Rome named ...

in Rome, except during the years of the Second World War (1940–1945), when he was in Belgium. As a historian, he had a marked impact on the modern understanding of the seventeenth-century religious controversies between Jansenists and anti-Jansenists. His sympathies were very much with the Jansenists. Annie Barnes, Review of Lucien Ceyssens 'Sources relatives aux débuts du jansénisme et de l'antijansénisme, 1640–1643', ''Journal of Ecclesiastical History'' 10 (1959), p 266. In 1963 a

Festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

was published to mark his 60th birthday, ''Miscellanea Jansenistica offerts à Lucien Ceyssens, O.F.M.'', and in 1992 a collection of his own articles was published as ''Le Sort de la bulle Unigenitus'' to mark his 90th birthday. He died at

Sint-Truiden Sint-Truiden (; french: link=no, Saint-Trond ; li, Sintruin ) is a city and municipality located in the province of Limburg, Flemish Region, Belgium, and has over 41,500 inhabitants, which makes it one of the largest cities in Limburg. The muni ...

, Belgium, on 10 April 2001.

Works

*''De Minderbroeders te Turnhout'' (Campinia sacra 6; Antwerp, 1937). *''Jansenistica: studiën in verband met de geschiedenis van het Jansenisme'', 4 vols. (Mechelen, 1950-1962). *''Sources relatives aux débuts du jansénisme et de l'antijansénisme: 1640-1643'' (Leuven, 1957) *"Recherches sur le Jansénisme dans les archives et bibliothèques de l'Europe", ''Archief- en Bibliotheekwezen in België'' 43 (1972): 217-235. *''Le Sort de la bulle Unigenitus'' (Leuven, 1992).

Studies

* M. G. Spiertz, "L'oeuvre du professeur Ceyssens", in ''L'oeuvre littéraire de Lucien Ceyssens'', edited by I. Vázquez (Rome, 1979), pp. 125–137. *J A. G. Tans, "L'oeuvre scientifique de Lucien Ceyssens", in ''Autour de l'Unigenitus'' (Leuven, 1987), pp. vii-xv.

References

1902 births 2001 deaths Belgian Franciscans Historians of Christianity Belgian historians of religion {{academic-bio-stub