Jansenism

Jansenism was a 17th- and 18th-century Christian theological movement within the Catholic Church, rooted in the writings of Dutch bishopCornelius Jansen, particularly in his book Augustinus published in 1640, which emphasized the necessity of divine grace and the limited role of human free will in salvation, drawing heavily on the doctrines of Augustine of Hippo. It emerged primarily in France and the Netherlands as a rigorist reaction against perceived moral and theological laxity associated particularly with the Society of Jesus.

Jansenists provoked lively debates, particularly in France, where five propositions, including the doctrines of limited atonement and irresistible grace, were decried as heretical by theologians hostile to Jansen. In 1653, Pope Innocent X condemned five ideas from Jansenism in the apostolic constitutionCum occasione, which made Jansenism officially heretical. Jansenists became linked to opposition to the French monarchy. This made them a target of King Louis XIV and pope Clement XI, who took strong actions against them. In 1708, the Abbey of Port-Royal, a center of Jansenist thought, was closed. In 1713, Clement XI issued the bull Unigenitus, which further condemned Jansenist teachings.