' is an

apostolic constitution An apostolic constitution () is the most solemn form of legislation issued by the Pope.New Commentary on the Code of Canon Law, pg. 57, footnote 36. By their nature, apostolic constitutions are addressed to the public. Generic constitutions use ...

in the form of a

papal bull A papal bull is a type of public decree, letters patent, or charter issued by the pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the leaden Seal (emblem), seal (''bulla (seal), bulla'') traditionally appended to authenticate it. History Papal ...

promulgated by

Pope Alexander VII Pope Alexander VII (; 13 February 159922 May 1667), born Fabio Chigi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 7 April 1655 to his death, in May 1667. He began his career as a vice- papal legate, and he held various d ...

in 1656 which judged the meaning and intention of

Cornelius Jansen Cornelius Jansen (; ; Latinized name Cornelius Jansenius; also Corneille Jansen; 28 October 1585 – 6 May 1638) was the Dutch Catholic bishop of Ypres in Flanders and the father of a theological movement known as Jansenism. Biography He ...

's words in ''

Augustinus Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosophy ...

'', and confirmed and renewed the condemnation in ' promulgated by

Pope Innocent X Pope Innocent X (6 May 1574 – 7 January 1655), born Giovanni Battista Pamphilj (or Pamphili), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 15 September 1644 to his death, in January 1655. Born in Rome of a family fro ...

in 1653 that five propositions found in ''Augustinus'' were

heretical Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, particularly the accepted beliefs or religious law of a religious organization. A heretic is a proponent of heresy. Heresy in Christianity, Judai ...

. That same year, 1656, sixty

Jansenist Jansenism was a 17th- and 18th-century theological movement within Roman Catholicism, primarily active in France, which arose as an attempt to reconcile the theological concepts of free will and divine grace in response to certain development ...

doctors, including

Antoine Arnauld Antoine Arnauld (; 6 February 16128 August 1694) was a French Catholic theologian, priest, philosopher and mathematician. He was one of the leading intellectuals of the Jansenist group of Port-Royal and had a very thorough knowledge of patr ...

, were degraded from the

College of Sorbonne The College of Sorbonne () was a theological college of the University of Paris, founded in 1253 (confirmed in 1257) by Robert de Sorbon (1201–1274), after whom it was named. The Sorbonne was disestablished by decree of 5 April 1792, after th ...

faculty of theology. French bishops supported Alexander VII. Michael O'Riordan wrote, in ''

Catholic Encyclopedia ''The'' ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'', also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedi ...

'', that since some still insisted that those propositions were not to be found in ''Augustinus'', or were not meant by Jansen in the sense in which they were condemned, ' furthermore declared that they are contained in ''Augustinus'', and have been condemned according to the sense of the author. Alexander VII continued this condemnation in ', promulgated in 1665 which required, according to the '' Enchiridion symbolorum'', "all ecclesiastical personnel and teachers" to subscribe to an included '' formulary'', the ''Formula of Submission for the Jansenists'', by rejecting and condemning the five propositions contained in ''Augustinus''. Jansenism was condemned as heretical, by the Catholic Church, in at least five documents: ''

Cum occasione ' is an apostolic constitution in the form of a papal bull A papal bull is a type of public decree, letters patent, or charter issued by the pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the leaden Seal (emblem), seal (''bulla (seal), bulla' ...

'', ', ', ', and '.

References

1656 in Christianity 1656 documents 17th-century papal bulls Apostolic constitutions Documents of Pope Alexander VII Jansenism Texts in Latin Religion in the Ancien Régime {{RC-document-stub

See also

References