Editing Jansenism (section)

== Jansenism in the 19th century and beyond ==
[[File:Augustin gazier.png|thumb|{{Interlanguage link|Augustin Gazier|fr}}, 19th-century historian of Jansenism and Port-Royalist]]

The 19th century was the last century in which Jansenism, real or supposed, was still a force that could count in the [[Roman Catholic Church]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Chantin |first=Jean-Pierre |date=2005 |title=Les jansénismes tardifs au XIXe siècle |journal=Chroniques de Port-Royal |pages=325–337}}</ref> Under this term the spiritual and material descendants of the 17th- and 18th-century Jansenists are amalgamated: those who formed the ''Société de Port-Royal'' ('Society of Port-Royal'), and the supporters of [[Gallicanism]] who attempted one last time to establish themselves before their disappearance following the [[First Vatican Council]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Boudon |first=Jacques-Olivier |title=L'Épiscopat français à l'époque concordataire. 1802-1905, Origines, formation, nomination |date=1996 |publisher=Cerf |language=fr |trans-title=The French Episcopate during the Concordat era. 1802-1905, Origins, formation, appointment.}}</ref> The debates over grace and the authority of the pope were ended during this council, which proclaimed [[papal infallibility]] and established [[ultramontanism]], causing Jansenism to gradually disappear from theological discourse.

Jansenism then became a way of being, a qualifier synonymous with austerity and moral rigour, rather than a theological doctrine. In 1891, [[Léon Séché]] described Jansenism and Jansenists in this way.<blockquote>The old quarrel of Jansenism has had its day, and the name 'Jansenist', far from harming those it names, is rather designed to win them esteem and respect. [...] Because there is a Jansenist state of mind, just as there is an Orléanist state of mind. It's quite difficult to define, but so it is. [...] In private life, if this man is even the slightest part Jansenist, he will be mysterious and withdrawn, rigid and severe in morals. Simple and straight, sober and hard on his body, he will pass nothing on to others in terms of conduct. Gullible to the point of superstition, he will draw all kinds of horoscopes from the Scriptures and see the finger of God everywhere. In politics, he can be a monarchist as well as a republican, the form of government being, in short, indifferent to him, but he will always be constitutional and liberal. Of religion, he may not practice, nor ever approach the sacraments, but believes himself to be a very good Christian.<ref name="Séché-1891">{{Cite book |last=Séché |first=Léon |title=Les derniers jansénistes depuis la ruine de Port-Royal jusqu'à nos jours (1710-1870), Tome 1 |date=1891 |publisher=Perrin |location=Paris |pages=introduction |language=fr |trans-title=The last Jansenists from the ruin of Port-Royal to the present day (1710-1870), vol. 1}}</ref></blockquote>However, some wars were still being waged against ultramontanism and in defence of the memory of Port-Royal and Jansenism. Thus, newspapers appeared throughout the 19th century, defending the Gallican and Jansenist tradition of the Church in France. After the disappearance of the ''Annales de la religion'' in 1803, [[Henri Grégoire]] and a few survivors of the [[Constitutional Church]] including {{Interlanguage link|Claude Debertier|fr}} published between 1818 and 1821 the ''Chronique religieuse'' ('Religious chronicle'), described by Augustin Gazier as a 'combat magazine'.<ref name="Gazier-1924" />{{Rp|page=190}} It defended the constitutional priests who refused to submit to the [[Concordat of 1801]] and who were deprived of absolution and sometimes of the sacraments by their bishops (such as Grégoire himself). The tone was openly Gallican and defended Jansenism while denying that it was anything other than the traditional doctrine of the Church, "Jansenism is the doctrine of grace effective in itself, that is to say the necessity, for every good work, of a grace by which God produces in us will and action. Now this is the doctrine of the Church; therefore those who are attached to it are pure and good Catholics."<ref>{{Cite book |title=La Chronique religieuse, vol. 1 |pages=512 |language=fr |trans-title=The Religious chronicle, vol. 1}}</ref> The tone was less forceful than in the ''Nouvelles ecclésiastiques'' or the ''Annales de la religion''.

A few years later, a defensive journal was reborn, designed with the same principle; the ''Revue ecclésiastique'' ('Ecclesiastical magazine'). This monthly review appeared from 1838 to 1848. It was designed, financed and distributed by the men of the Parisian Jansenist society grouped within the ''Société de Port-Royal''. The organisation was very hierarchical and was based on a core of full members who delegated the writing of articles to [[Provinces of France|provincial]] correspondants. The ''Revue ecclésiastique'' became known above all for the harsh debates it had with ultramontane publications. But it always remained within the limit of written debate, despite the widespread practice of [[pseudonym]]y for the editors of the articles. The authors based their arguments on their reading of numerous canonical, historical and theological works contained in the Parisian Jansenst libraries.<ref name="Gazier-1924" />{{Rp|pages=221–229}} The magazine did not at all approve of the publication of ''Port-Royal'' by [[Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve]].<blockquote>Two reasons have prevented us until now from talking about the work of Mr. Sainte-Beuve. 1) the scant real value of a book in which the author poses as a man of the world and a philosopher to judge the actions, doctrines and feelings of men who are essentially and above all Christians; 2) the extent and difficulty of the work to be done to identify all the errors and blunders into which Mr. Sainte-Beuve must necessarily have fallen by placing himself in the point of view he has chosen.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 1843 |title=Tome VI |journal=Revue ecclésiastique |pages=208}}</ref></blockquote>The last magazine intended to defend Jansenism in the 19th century was {{Lang|fr|L'Observateur catholique}} ('The Catholic Observer'), which appeared from 1855 to 1864. It was first led by the former editors of the ''Revue ecclésiastique'', and quickly joined by a priest with an assertive character; a defender of Gallicanism and critic of the Jesuits, {{Interlanguage link|Wladimir Guettée|fr}}. {{Lang|fr|L'Observateur catholique}} was a magazine with a strong polemical tone, which detailed in its columns what it considered to be the errors of the Church in France. Its exchanges with ''[[L'Univers]]'' of [[Louis Veuillot]] were coarse. The magazine also caused a scandal in 1856 by commenting at length and harshly on each of the courses on Port-Royal and Jansenism given to the faculty of theology by the young abbot [[Charles Lavigerie]], until he abandoned his courses after two years.<ref name="Gazier-1924" />{{Rp|pages=256–267}}The publication of the magazine ceased in 1861 in the midst of some confusion, when Abbé Guettée converted to [[Eastern Orthodoxy]].

During the 19th century, Jansenists were part of the abolition societies in France. The Jansenists had criticised Jesuit missions in the New World and advocated for liberation.

Jansenism in the 19th century was also a stance, a qualifier allocated to certain politicians or intellectuals representing moral rigorism and an attachment to Gallican principles. This was how a certain number of politicians of the [[Bourbon Restoration in France|Bourbon Restoration]], the [[July Monarchy]] or the [[French Third Republic]] were frequently associated with Jansenism, such as [[Pierre Paul Royer-Collard]], [[Victor Cousin]] or [[Jules Armand Dufaure]].<ref name="Gazier-1924" />{{Rp|pages=235–236}}<ref name="Séché-1891" />

In the 20th century, like [[Gustave Flaubert]] who wrote in his ''[[Dictionary of Received Ideas]]'', "Jansenism: we don't know what it is, but it's fashionable to talk about it", the term 'Jansenist' was most often associated with personalities having no other trait in common with the Jansenists of the 17th century than a noticeable moral rigour and austerity. [[Lionel Jospin]] was thus described as representing "Jansenist, demanding, rigorous democracy",<ref>{{Cite book |last=Duhamel |first=Alain |title=Libération |date=30 August 2006 |language=fr |trans-title=Liberation}}</ref> while the [[bullfighter]] José Tomas was described as "the Jansenist of the arena, the incorruptible of the ''muleta''" by ''[[Télérama]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Le janséniste de l'arène |url=https://www.bib-port-royal.com/images/torero.jpg}}</ref>

[[Pope Francis]] argues that new forms of Jansenist dualism can still be identified within the life of the Catholic church:{{blockquote|a baneful Jansenist dualism has re-emerged in new forms. This has gained renewed strength in recent decades, but it is a recrudescence of that [[Gnosticism]] which proved so great a spiritual threat in the early centuries of Christianity because it refused to acknowledge the reality of "the salvation of the flesh". For this reason, I turn my gaze to the [[Sacred Heart|heart of Christ]] and I
invite all of us to renew our devotion to it. I hope this will also appeal to today’s sensitivities and thus help us to confront the dualisms, old and new, to which this devotion offers an effective response.<ref>Pope Francis, [https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/20241024-enciclica-dilexit-nos.pdf Dilexit nos], paragraph 87, published on 24 October 2024, accessed on 6 January 2025</ref>}}