Jacqueline-Marie-Angélique Arnauld, S.O.Cist. or Arnault, called La Mère Angélique (8 September 1591, in Paris – 6 August 1661, in Port-Royal-des-Champs), was Abbess of the Abbey of Port-Royal, which under her abbacy became a center of Jansenism.

Biography

Arnauld was the third of the 20 children of the lawyer Antoine Arnauld, and one of six sisters of the philosopher Antoine Arnauld. From an early age, her family had determined that she should become not only a nun, but the superior of a convent.Conley, John J., "Angélique Arnauld (1591—1661)", Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
/ref> While Arnauld was being raised by

Cistercian The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...

nuns in the Abbey of Port-Royal-des-Champs, at the prompting of her maternal grandfather, Abbess Johanna von Boulehart selected her as her successor at the age of seven. The family forged her age on the documents forwarded to the Vatican. She was sent to be educated at

Maubuisson Abbey Maubuisson Abbey (french: Abbaye de Maubuisson or ) is a Cistercian nunnery at Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône, in the Val-d'Oise department of France. It was founded in A.D. 1236 by Blanche of Castile, Queen of France, who may have been buried there in 125 ...

, ruled by Angélique d'Estrées, sister of the Gabrielle d'Estrées, mistress of Henry IV. Months before her 12th birthday, she became coadjutrix to the Abbess of Port-Royal on 5 July 1602.Fournet, Pierre Auguste. "Arnauld." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 19 May 2018 She was better known thereafter as ''La Mère Angélique''. Her days were taken up with walks, reading novels, and visits outside the monastery. In 1608, a sermon preached by a visiting Franciscan prompted her to effect a reform in her monastery. She was instrumental in the reforms of several other monasteries. Mère Angélique was guided and sustained at this time by Francis de Sales. In 1625, thinking that the valley of Port-Royal was unhealthy for her religious, Mère Angélique established them all in Paris, in the Faubourg Saint-Jacques. In 1635, Arnauld came under the influence of

Jean du Vergier de Hauranne Jean du Vergier de Hauranne, the Abbé (Abbot) of Saint-Cyran, (1581 – 6 October 1643) was a French Catholic priest who introduced Jansenism into France. Life Born in the city of Bayonne to a noble family, Vergier studied theology at the Catho ...

, the

Abbé ''Abbé'' (from Latin ''abbas'', in turn from Greek , ''abbas'', from Aramaic ''abba'', a title of honour, literally meaning "the father, my father", emphatic state of ''abh'', "father") is the French word for an abbot. It is the title for lowe ...

of Saint-Cyran, one of the promoters of a school of theology which the Jesuits called Jansenism. She continually wrote letters encouraging some and condemning others, among the latter including even Vincent de Paul. During the 17th-century

formulary controversy The formulary controversy was a 17th- and 18th-century Jansenist refusal to confirm the ''Formula of Submission for the Jansenists'' on the part of a group of Catholic ecclesiastical personnel and teachers who did not accept the charge that their ...

and the persecution of Port-Royal (1648–1652), she was forced to sign a document condemning the five propositions of Jansenism. Arnauld's niece, Angélique de Saint-Jean, and her nephew,

Antoine Le Maistre Antoine Le Maistre (2 May 1608 – 4 November 1658) was a French Jansenist lawyer, author and translator. His name has also been written as Lemaistre and Le Maître, and he sometimes used the pseudonym of Lamy. Background and early life Le ...

, persuaded her to write an autobiography, which was mostly the story of her community's heroic resistance in the face of its religious tribulations.Sedgwick, Alexander, ''The Travails of Conscience: The Arnauld Family and the Ancien Régime'' ( Harvard University Press, 1998), p.8 It was of Mère Agnès and her religious that De Péréfixe, Archbishop of Paris, said: "These sisters are as pure as angels, but as proud as devils". After her death in 1661, Angélique was succeeded as abbess by her sister,

Agnès Arnauld Mother Agnès Arnauld, S.O.Cist. (1593–1672), was the Abbess of the Abbey of Port-Royal, near Paris, and a major figure in French Jansenism. She was born Jeanne-Catherine-Agnès Arnauld, a member of the Arnauld family, sister of Antoine Arna ...

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External links

Biographical study
at Google Books
Project Continua: Biography of Jacqueline-Marie-Angelique Arnauld
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arnauld, Jacqueline-Marie-Angelique 1591 births 1661 deaths Nuns from Paris Cistercian abbesses Jansenists 16th-century French people 17th-century French people 16th-century Christian mystics 17th-century Christian mystics French Roman Catholic abbesses Cistercian mystics Burials in Île-de-France

Biography

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