Cornelius Otto Jansen

Dutch theologian and church reformer

• Born: October 28, 1585
• Birthplace: Accoi, Holland (now in the Netherlands)
• Died: May 6, 1638
• Place of death: Ypres, Spanish Netherlands (now in Belgium)

Jansen created a new and challenging interpretation of the theology of Saint Augustine for the Catholic Reformation. Out of the controversy over his book Augustinus emerged Jansenism, a powerful church reform movement bearing his name.

Early Life

Cornelius Otto Jansen (kohr-NAY-lee-uhs oh-toh JAHN-sehn) was born in Accoi, a village near Leerdam in southern Holland. Although the district was Calvinist, Jansen’s family was Roman Catholic. After an elementary education at Culemborg, he attended the Latin school of Saint Jerome in Utrecht. In 1602, he entered the University of Louvain, where he resided in the Falcon College. An assiduous and intelligent student, he earned first honors among his colleagues in the liberal arts.

In 1604, he began theological studies under the direction of Jacobus Jansonius, a fellow Dutchman from Amsterdam, who introduced him to the Augustinian views of Michael Baius, a controversial sixteenth century Flemish theologian who had been condemned by Rome in 1567. At Louvain, Jansen also became familiar with the debate caused by the treatise of the Jesuit Luis de Molina on divine grace and free will. As a student, Jansen had adopted Augustinian in contrast to Jesuit positions on the points at issue. Nevertheless, while criticizing the theology and ecclesiastical privileges of the Society of Jesus, he learned to appreciate its religious spirit, zeal for the Church, and scholarly attainments.

After receiving the bachelor’s degree in theology in 1609, Jansen left Louvain for Paris. This change of place was most likely the result of his growing desire to devote himself to the study of the Bible and the writings of the Fathers of the Church rather than to dogmatic theology. In Paris, while studying Greek, he met Jean Du Vergier de Hauranne, later Abbé de Saint-Cyran. Thus began a most influential friendship. Sharing a common love for the basic sources of theology, the two men continued their studies together at the estate of Du Vergier’s mother, near Bayonne in southern France. Ordained priest in Mechelen in 1614, Jansen returned to France for two more years until obliged to return to the Low Countries, following his father’s death. Chosen to lead a newly organized college for Dutch ecclesiastical students at Louvain, he earned a doctor’s degree in theology at the university in October, 1617. He became a professor of theology in May of that year.

Life’s Work

In 1623, Jansen began an extensive, systematic treatment of Saint Augustine’s views on the subject of divine grace. This project, the principal occupation of his life, was soon interrupted. He was called upon by the university to represent its interests at the Spanish court in Madrid. Resigning his post as head of the Dutch college, he traveled to Spain in 1624 and again in 1626 to protect the university’s monopoly on instruction from attempts by Jesuits to offer courses in Louvain. In those years, he was also drawn into controversies with Calvinists. From 1624 to 1626, and occasionally thereafter, Jansen disputed the Calvinists’ theological positions as laid down in the decrees of the Synod of Dordrecht.

In 1628, he returned to his work on Saint Augustine with a celebrated sermon on the spiritual life based on Augustinian principles. Two years later, appointed regius professor of Holy Scripture, he undertook heavy instructional as well as administrative duties. The lectures that he prepared for his classes were published posthumously as commentaries on the books of the Bible. Based on patristic writings, his commentaries explain the literal meaning of the text and avoid excessive use of allegory. These commentaries were well received because of their author’s clarity and sound erudition.

Jansen continued to pursue his scholarly goals despite distractions caused by the progress of the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648) in the Low Countries. Alarmed by the invasion of his country by French and Dutch forces, he helped organize the defense of Louvain in 1635. In that same year, he also composed Mars gallicus (1636), an attack on Cardinal de Richelieu’s policy of seeking Protestant allies in France’s war against Spain. Translated into Spanish and French, the tract angered Richelieu and set off a polemic, which Jansen left to his friends to continue.

Nominated bishop of Ypres by the Spanish government in October, 1635, Jansen was consecrated the next year. A zealous pastor, he improved the administration of the diocese and cultivated good relations with the Society of Jesus. Neither the dignity nor the burdens of his new office, however, could draw him from his study of Saint Augustine. By this time, he had composed his thoughts in a large manuscript, Augustinus (1640), which was known only to Du Vergier and a few other close friends. The great project was brought to a conclusion at the same time that Jansen was struck by the plague and died in 1638. Augustinus was published at Jansen’s request in Louvain in 1640 by two friends, Calenus and Froidment, who had witnessed the treatise’s development over many years.

Augustinus is a serious, logically constructed treatise, whose arguments are well buttressed with references to sources and by the author’s own explanatory notes. It is written in a classicist Latin that reflects Jansen’s intimate familiarity with the fourth century idiom of Saint Augustine. Jansen organized the treatise in three parts. In the first part, he describes Saint Augustine’s critique of the positions taken by Pelagian and semi-Pelagian theologians on the relationship between divine grace and free will. In his introduction to the second part, Jansen examines the relationship between philosophy and theology. Rejecting the excessively rationalistic methods of Scholastic schools of theology, he declares that he intends to follow Saint Augustine on the doctrine of grace. The bulk of the second part is devoted to an examination of the effects of original sin on humankind and the fallen angels. These creatures have been completely alienated from their creator; their wills tend without fail toward evil. Even the most estimable achievements of unredeemed human nature are morally tainted at their root. Denying the concept of a state of pure nature to which Jesuit theologians argued that humans had been originally called, Jansen contended that, by creation, humans were called to a supernatural level of existence.

The third and most important part of the treatise explains Saint Augustine’s concept of Christ’s restoration of human nature by his redeeming grace. Although Christ’s action heals the evil effects of sin and restores true human freedom, his grace remains continually necessary for any human work to be pleasing to God. Even when redeemed, humans remain powerless to reconcile themselves with God. Salvation, according to Jansen’s reading of Saint Augustine, is profoundly paradoxical, for humankind’s free will is neither forced nor compromised, although God’s saving grace is irresistible and unfailingly effective. Human freedom consists in a voluntary compliance with the will of God.

Perhaps the most characteristic of the concepts that Jansen develops in this part of the treatise is his view that human existence is dominated by two conflicting delights or desires. Delectatio coelestis, or heavenly desire, is a product of divine grace working in a person, leading him or her to love God and to do good works. Delectatio terrena, in contrast, is a product of fallen human nature, inclining a person to love of the world and to sin. The inclination that prevails in a person’s life is called by Jansen delectatio victrix, or the victorious desire.

Although Jansen focused the body of Augustinus on the doctrines of the great Father of the Church rather than on contemporary theological controversies, he appended to the treatise an epilogue, attributing to Molina and other Jesuits the Pelagian and semi-Pelagian doctrines condemned by Saint Augustine. Even without this polemical appendix, the Augustinus was certain to provoke powerful opposition from the Jesuits, because it implicitly claimed the enormous authority of Saint Augustine in support of contemporary teaching on grace and free will that the Jesuits assiduously opposed. Jansen anticipated that the Jesuits would resort to any means to suppress his treatise, so he made elaborate arrangements to have it printed secretly. His unexpected death delayed, but did not prevent, Calenus and Froidment from having the treatise printed and widely distributed.

Significance

Jansen was an outstanding representative of the Reformation of the Roman Catholic Church that took place in the Spanish Netherlands at the beginning of the seventeenth century. A devout priest of austere character, he worked loyally for the improvement of the Church as teacher, university rector, and bishop. As a scholar, he adhered to the best contemporary standards, attempting to reach truth in complex theological issues that aroused intense religious passions.

The historical impact of his treatise, Augustinus, was enormous. It was received favorably by persons who identified themselves with the Augustinian theological tradition. Jesuits and their allies, however, accused Jansen of falling into heresy. Augustinus, they contended, virtually denied human free will and repeated other errors taught by John Calvin and Baius, which the Church had already condemned. Prodded by Jansen’s critics, Pope Urban VIII condemned Augustinus in 1643.

Conflict over the treatise spread from the Spanish Netherlands to France soon after its publication. Jansen’s bitter enemy, Richelieu, died in 1642, but his hostility to Jansen and his work lived on in Jules Mazarin , who assumed control of the royal government. Jansen’s friend Du Vergier nevertheless won support for Augustinus. In 1649, anti-Jansenists at the University of Paris drew several propositions, allegedly from the treatise, and demanded that they be condemned. A confusing debate ensued in which Augustinus was effectively defended by Antoine Arnauld. The disputed propositions were eventually limited to five that Pope Innocent X condemned in 1653.

The controversy over Jansen’s work generated a movement, Jansenism, that waged war against his critics and enemies over a broad range of issues. Arnauld charged the Jesuits with laxity in regard to the proper disposition for reception of the sacraments, while philosopher and mathematicianBlaise Pascal ridiculed Jesuit casuistry. Although Jansenism’s antiauthoritarian implications led Mazarin to seek its condemnation by Rome, its followers won support among magistrates in the high courts of law. Jansenist concepts of church reform, based on principles of Christian Humanism and the decrees of the Council of Trent, also proved attractive to some religious orders.

The growth of Jansenism provoked King Louis XIV to adopt a policy of ruthless extermination. From 1661 to 1667, the clergy of the kingdom were required to sign a condemnation of the five propositions. The resistance of Jansenists to this persecution led Pope Clement IX to acknowledge tacitly that the condemned propositions were not in fact representative of Jansen’s views. By the end of the seventeenth century, Jansenism had developed a life of its own, pursuing causes other than the vindication of Jansen and his Augustinus.

Bibliography

Cognet, Louis, et al. The Church in the Age of Absolutism and Enlightenment. Vol. 6 in History of the Church, translated by Gunther J. Holst, edited by Hubert Jedin and John P. Dolan. New York: Crossroad, 1981. Cognet, an authority on Jansenism in seventeenth century France, includes several chapters on French Jansenism during that era. His discussion contains a brief explanation of Jansen’s background and work at Louvain.

Delumeau, Jean. Catholicism Between Luther and Voltaire: A New View of the Counter-Reformation. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1977. Includes a chapter on Jansenism, providing modern interpretations of the religion. Briefly discusses the issues raised by Jansen in his principal work, Augustinus, and the conflicts arising from its publication.

Doyle, William. Jansenism: Catholic Resistance to Authority from the Reformation to the French Revolution. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999. A brief, balanced view of Jansenism, including a discussion of Jansen’s Augustinus and how the book’s publication deepened the feud between French Jesuits and more-established Catholic orders.

Gonzalez, Justo L. From Protestant Reformation to the Twentieth Century. Vol. 3 in A History of Christian Thought. Nashville, Tenn.: Abandon Press, 1975. A brief but clear analysis of Jansen’s theological concepts and the course of Jansenism up to the French Revolution. Gonzalez discusses Jansen’s belief that the methods of philosophy and theology are radically different; only the method of theology can attain knowledge that is certain.

Hargreaves, Kevin John. Cornelius Jansenius and the Origins of Jansenism. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microfilms, 1974. A thorough investigation of the contributions Jansen made to the movement that bears his name and to theology. A doctoral dissertation from Brandeis University, this book is the most extensive study of Jansenism available in English. The neglected sources examined by the author include Jansen’s treatise on theological method, his introduction to Augustinus, and his works on spirituality. Jansen’s theological concepts are analyzed and placed in the context of the history of religious ideas from Saint Augustine to Calvin. Hargreaves contends that Jansen’s theology represents an extreme critique of the rational, Scholastic tradition of theology.

Lubac, Henride. Augustinianism and Modern Theology. Translated by Lancelot Sheppard. New York: Crossroad, 2000. Discusses Jansen’s principal work, Augustinus, and his role in creating a new religious movement. Originally published in 1969, this reprint includes a new introduction with information about Jansenism.

Mosse, George L. “Changes in Religious Thought.” In Cambridge Modern History. Vol. 4. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1970. Places Jansen and Jansenism in a general historical context. Mosse regards Jansenism as a challenge to orthodoxy within Catholicism analogous to Puritanism within Protestantism. He also argues that Jansen played a role in the beginning of modern rationalism.