Nicolas Caussin (1583– July 2, 1651) was a French
Jesuit
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, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders ...
, orator; and for a time, confessor to King
Louis XIII
Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crow ...
of France. His treatise, ''The Holy Court'', a guide for courtiers in living a Christian life, was published in 1624. Caussin was removed from his position as royal confessor after only nine months and exiled to Quimper when his spiritual counsel seemed to clash with Cardinal Richelieu's political policies.
Life
Caussin was born in
Troyes
Troyes () is a commune and the capital of the department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about south-east of Paris. Troyes is situated within the Champagne wine region and is near ...
, the son of a physician. He entered the
Society of Jesus
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, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders ...
in 1609. He taught at
Rouen
Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the region of Normandy and the department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe, the population ...
, La Flèche, and Paris, and became a noted orator. Famous for his 1624 ''La Cour saincte'', in March 1637,
Cardinal Richelieu
Armand Jean du Plessis, Duke of Richelieu (; 9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642), known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a French clergyman and statesman. He was also known as ''l'Éminence rouge'', or "the Red Eminence", a term derived from the ...
chose Caussin for the position of
Louis XIII
Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crow ...
's confessor; and at the same time admonished him to stay out of politics.
[
France and Spain had been at war since 1635. In the summer of 1637, Richelieu ordered an inquiry into secret communications between ]Anne of Austria
Anne of Austria (french: Anne d'Autriche, italic=no, es, Ana María Mauricia, italic=no; 22 September 1601 – 20 January 1666) was an infanta of Spain who became Queen of France as the wife of King Louis XIII from their marriage in 1615 unt ...
and her brother, Philip IV of Spain
Philip IV ( es, Felipe, pt, Filipe; 8 April 160517 September 1665), also called the Planet King (Spanish: ''Rey Planeta''), was King of Spain from 1621 to his death and (as Philip III) King of Portugal from 1621 to 1640. Philip is remembered ...
. The queen had been a long-time opponent of the Cardinal. While her household was replaced by people loyal to the king and cardinal, Caussin's counsel was crucial in obtaining royal clemency for the queen. He encouraged the king to honor his conjugal obligations and after twenty years of marriage and four miscarriages, an heir, Louis XIV
Louis XIV (Louis Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was List of French monarchs, King of France from 14 May 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the Li ...
, was born the following September.[Bailey, Donald A. Ph.D. (2008) "Power and Piety: The Religiosity of Michel de Marillac," Vincentian Heritage Journal: Vol. 28 : Iss. 1 , Article 3. n.3]
/ref>
As a conscientious and rigorous spiritual director
Spiritual direction is the practice of being with people as they attempt to deepen their relationship with the divine, or to learn and grow in their personal spirituality. The person seeking direction shares stories of their encounters of the di ...
, Caussin drew the king's attention to his strained relations with his mother; the damage caused by France's policies not only in France but in Christendom, the destruction caused by the country's wars, and the high taxes levied to fight them.[Bergin, Joseph. ''The Politics of Religion in Early Modern France', Yale University Press, 2014, p. 102]
/ref> In particular, he maintained that the war with Catholic Spain was against God's will.[
In December of that same year, Richelieu exiled Caussin to ]Quimper
Quimper (, ; br, Kemper ; la, Civitas Aquilonia or ) is a commune and prefecture of the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France.
Administration
Quimper is the prefecture (capital) of the Finistère department.
Geography
Th ...
.Cassidy, John. "Nicolas Caussin." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. 24 May 2021
Caussin returned to Paris in 1643, following the death of Richelieu. When the Jesuits attacked the Jansenist
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 th ...
s as heretics similar to Calvinist
Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John C ...
s, Antoine Arnauld
Antoine Arnauld (6 February 16128 August 1694) was a French Catholic theologian, philosopher and mathematician. He was one of the leading intellectuals of the Jansenist group of Port-Royal and had a very thorough knowledge of patristics. C ...
wrote in defense the ''Théologie morale des Jésuites'' (Moral Theology of Jesuits), which denounced the "relaxed moral" of Jesuit casuistry
In ethics, casuistry ( ) is a process of reasoning that seeks to resolve moral problems by extracting or extending theoretical rules from a particular case, and reapplying those rules to new instances. This method occurs in applied ethics and ju ...
. Caussin was charged by his order with the task of writing a defense against Arnauld's book. ''Réponse au libelle intitulé La Théologie morale des Jésuites'' was issued in 1644. According to Sellier, due to his rigorism and to the formulations in those books justifying the "relaxed moral" concerning confession
A confession is a statement – made by a person or by a group of persons – acknowledging some personal fact that the person (or the group) would ostensibly prefer to keep hidden. The term presumes that the speaker is providing information th ...
, the public generally considered that he had written against his thought by fidelity to his jesuit order.[
Caussin became confessor to ]Louis, Grand Condé
Louis de Bourbon, Prince of Condé (8 September 1621 – 11 December 1686), known as the Great Condé (French: ''Le Grand Condé'') for his military exploits, was a French general and the most illustrious representative of the Condé branc ...
.[ He died July 2, 1651.
]Jansenist
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 th ...
Antoine Arnauld
Antoine Arnauld (6 February 16128 August 1694) was a French Catholic theologian, philosopher and mathematician. He was one of the leading intellectuals of the Jansenist group of Port-Royal and had a very thorough knowledge of patristics. C ...
said that the reason for Caussin's fall from grace was that he spoke against the efficacy of Imperfect contrition. This cause was re-asserted by Philippe Sellier
Philippe Sellier (born 8 November 1931) is a French literary critic and scholar. He is a specialist in the great writers who revolved around Port-Royal-des-Champs: Pascal, Racine, Antoine Arnauld, Louis-Isaac Lemaistre de Sacy, La Rochefoucauld ...
and Gérard Ferreyrolles in their 2004 edition of Pascal
Pascal, Pascal's or PASCAL may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Pascal (given name), including a list of people with the name
* Pascal (surname), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name
** Blaise Pascal, Frenc ...
's works.[Pascal, ''Les Provinciales - Pensées et opuscules divers'', Lgf/Le Livre de poche, La Pochothèque, 2004, edited by Philippe Sellier & Gérard Ferreyrolles (note p.427) ]
Works
* ''De Eloquentia sacra et humana''
* ''Tragœdiae sacrae'', 1620.
* "De symbolica Aegyptiorum sapientia", 1623.
* ''La Cour sainte''
* ''Apologie pour les religieux de la Compagnie de Jésus, à la reine régente'', 1644.
* ''Réponse au libelle intitulé La Théologie morale des Jésuites'', 1644.
* https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Caussin%2C%20Nicolas%2C%201583%2D1651
Bibliography
* G.-D. Hocking: ''A Study of the 'Tragœdiae sacrae' of Father Caussin'', Baltimore, 1943.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Caussin, Nicolas
1583 births
1651 deaths
People from Troyes
17th-century French Jesuits
17th-century French Catholic theologians