Arnauld, Antoine (1560–1619)

French advocate of Jansenism. Strongly critical of the Jesuits, he produced not only Jansenist pamphlets, but works on logic, grammar, and geometry. Many of his 20 children were associated with the abbey of Port Royal, which became the centre of Jansenism. His youngest child was Antoine, ‘the great Arnauld’.

For years Arnauld had to live in hiding, and the last 16 years of his life were spent in Brussels.

Arnauld, Antoine (1612–1694)

French theologian. He became a Jansenist (see Jansenism) and was condemned by the Sorbonne 1656 for attacking the Jesuits. After a temporary respite under the ‘Peace’ of Clement IX, Jansenism was again condemned by Alexander VIII 1690 and Arnauld fled to Holland. There he conducted controversies with Jesuits, Protestants, and the philosopher Nicholas Malebranche. The Logique de Port Royal/The Port Royal Logic was written in conjunction with Nicole 1662, translated 1851.

Arnauld's book De la fréquente communion/On Frequent Communion 1643 raised an uproar that forced him into hiding for 20 years. His letters, ‘A un duc et pair/Letter to a duke and peer’ 1566, an outspoken attack on Jesuit methods, elicited the ‘Lettres provinciales/Provincial Letters’ 1656–57 of Pascal, but these failed to save him from condemnation by the Sorbonne. Arnauld wrote two pamphlets; ‘Lettre d'un docteur de Sorbonne à une personne de condition/Letter from a Doctor of Sorbonne to a person of rank’ 1655 and ‘Lettre à un duc et pair’ 1656. When Clement IX suspended attacks on Jansenism, Arnauld emerged from retirement and was graciously received by Louis XIV. In La Perpétuité de la foi de l'Eglise catholique sur l'Euchariste/The Perpetuity of the Faith of the Catholic Church on the Eucharist 1669–76 (written in collaboration with Nicole), translated 1834, he defended transubstantiation and attacked Calvinistic doctrines. However, his submission to traditional Catholic doctrine proved external only and he returned to his Jansenist beliefs in exile in Holland.