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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 July 2009
For the past century and a half most scholars engaged in the study of French Quietism have hesitated to focus primarily on its founder, Madame Jeanne-Marie Bouvières de la Mothe Guyon. Instead, their investigations have gravitated toward her champion, François de Salignac de la Mothe Fénelon, who emerged as a far more significant figure in the Quietist controversy once it began to take definitive form in 1693.
1. Among the major studies dealing with Fénelon's involvement in French Quietism are: Bremond, Henri, Apologie pour Fénelon (Paris, 1910)Google Scholar; Cherel, Albert, Fénelon ou la Religion du pur Amour (Paris, 1934)Google Scholar; Delplanque, A., La pensée de Fénelon, d' aprèsses oeuvres morales et spirituelles (Paris, 1930)Google Scholar; Dudon, Paul, ed., Fénelon, Gnostique (Paris, 1930)Google Scholar; Goré, Jeanne-Lydie, L'Itinéraire de Fénelon (Paris, 1957Google Scholar) and La Notion d' Indifférence ches Fénelon et ses Sources. (Paris, 1956)Google Scholar; Gosselin, J. E., Historie littéraire de Fénelon (Paris, 1843)Google Scholar; Griselle, E., Fénelon, Études historiques (Paris, 1911)Google Scholar; Griveau, A., Etude sur la condamnation du livre des Maximes des Saints (Paris, 1878)Google Scholar; Janet, P., Fénelon (Paris, 1924)Google Scholar; Alphonse Marie Louis de Lamartine, , Fénelon (Paris, 1853)Google Scholar; Lemaître, Jules, Fénelon (Paris, 1910)Google Scholar; Masson, M., ed., Fénelon et Madame Guyon: Documents nouveaux et inédits (Paris, 1907)Google Scholar; Matter, Jacques, Le Mysticisme en France au temps de Fénelon, (Paris, 1866)Google Scholar; Ribadeau-Dumas, François, Fénelon et les Saintes Folies de Madame Guyon (Geneva, 1968)Google Scholar; Schmittlein, Raymond. L'Aspect politique du différend: Bossuet-Fénelon (Baden, 1954)Google Scholar; le Baron, M. Ernest Seilhière Madame Guyon, et Fénelon, précurseurs de Rousseau (Paris, 1918).Google Scholar
2. It is generally thought to have begun in 05 1693, when Madame de Maintenon purged the seminary of Saint-Cyr of all known French Quietists. (From January 1695 to the end of her life in June 1717 Madame Guyon remained either in jail or forced isolation.)
3. Jacques Bénigne Bossuet, letter to Madame Guyon, ca. February 1694, Oeuvres complètes (Paris, 1828), 48: 64–70.Google Scholar
4. Bossuet, letter to Monsieur de Noaliles, ca. July 1697, Correspondance et papiers du cardinal de Noailles, Bibliothéque Nationale, 23225, fol. 321. Bossuet, letter to the Bossuet, Abbé, 06 10, 1697, Correspondance, ed. Urbain, C. and Levesque, E. (Paris 1909–1923), 13: 267Google Scholar. Ledieu, Abbé François, Mémoires et Journal sur la vie et les ouvrages de Bossuct (Paris, 1856), 2:206, 227.Google Scholar
5. de la Mothe Fénelon, François de Salignac, Correspondance, ed. Leclère, A. (Paris, 1820–1830), 8:17–18.Google Scholar
6. Innocent XII was pope 1691–1700.
7. François d' Aubigné, marquise de Maintenon, letter to des Marais, Godêt, 07 26, 1697, Lettres, ed. Langlois, M. (Paris, 1935–1939), 5: 233.Google Scholar
8. Bossuet's faction was able to produce the most pressure. See Sehmittlein for an in-depth discussion of its tactics.
9. The examinations of Fénelon's treatise were as intense as they were time consuming. Before they had run their difficult course, one examiner lost his vision, another suffered a mental breakdown and the pope almost succumbed to the strain of being obliged to preside over the greatest humiliation the Roman Catholic Church endured in the seventeenth century. See Phélippeaux, Jean, Relation, de l'origine du progrès et de la condamnation du quiétisme répandu en France (Paris, 1732) 2: 157.Google Scholar
10. See Denzinger, Henrici, ed., Enchiridion Symbolorum Definitionwm et Declarationum de Rebus Fidei et Morum (Barcinone, 1952), pp. 368–370.Google Scholar
11. Pieces relatives à la condamnation des Maximes des Saints de Fénelon, Bibliothèque Nationale, 15510, fols. 606A and 601B.
12. “… quippe ex cujus lectione, et ufu fideles sensim in errores ab Ecclesia Catholica jam damnatos induci possent,…” Ibid., fol 601A.
13. de Bausset, Louis François, Vie de Fénelon (Paris, 1810), 2:192.Google Scholar
14. Fénelon, letter from Père Gabrielli to the de Chanterac, Abbé, 01 9, 1700, Oeuvres complètes, ed. Leroux, J. and Jouby, J. (Paris 1848–1852), 7: 533.Google Scholar
15. Tronson was the Father-Superior of Saint Sulpice.
16. Noailles served as Bishop of Chaalons for most of his ecclesiastical career. Late in life he was made Archbishop of Paris.
17. See Maintenon, letter to Madame la Comtesse de Saint-Géran. May 12, 1693, 4:135. Schmittlein, p. 27. Maintenon letter to Mère Priolo, ca. June 1693, Lettres historiques et édifantes adressées aux dames de Saint-Louis, ed. Lavallée, Théophile (Paris, 1856), 1:43Google Scholar. Langlois, , “Madame de Maintenon: ses oeuvres complètes, la légende et l'histoire,” Revue Historique 168 (1931), pp. 255–299Google Scholar. Bremond, pp., 3ff. Ledieu, 2:216–217. d'Orléans, Elizabeth Charlotte (Palatine), Nouvelles lettres de Madame la duchesse d'Orléans, Prinoesse Palatine, mère du Régent, accompagnées de notes et de fragments inédits (Paris, 1853), pp. 197–198Google Scholar. Paradoxically, Madame Guyon had been the confidante of Madame de Maintenon from the autumn of 1688 to the summer of 1693. The high priestess of Quietism was free during this period to lecture on her spirituality at Madame de Maintenon's seminary, Saint-Cyr. However, in June 1693 the uncrowned queen suddenly turned on Madame Guyon. Some authors have argued that this was motivated by jealousy since the latter had become extremely popular with the student body of Saint-Cyr and with another lecturer, the inimitable Fénelon. Other authors maintain that Madame de Maintenon became alarmed when she discovered some of the morbid aberrations in Guyonisme. For the classic expositions of both points of view see Bremond, and Langlois, Marcel, Madame de Maintenon (Paris, 1932).Google Scholar
18. Schmittlein, p. 58.
19. Madame la Marechale de Noailles, letter to Madame de Maintenon, October 7, 1698, Recueil de lettres autographes de personnages célèbres de XVIIe et XVIIIe. siècles, Bibliothèque Nationale, 12769 fol. 98. Maintenon, letter to the Bishop, of Chaalons, 08 13, 1695, Lettres 4:417Google Scholarde Courcillon, Philippe, de Dangeau, marquis, Memories du marquis de Dangeau, ed. de Genlis, Madame (Paris, 1817), 1:208.Google Scholar
20. See the preface to volume one of the Corpus Juris Canonici, editum a P. Pethaeo, et Francisco Fratre … ad veteris Codicis manuscriptos restitutum; et notis illustratum (Paris, 1695).Google Scholar
21. Ibid.
22. Tronson, Louis, Correspondance, ed. Bertrand, Louis (Paris, 1904), 3: 505ff.Google Scholar
23. Bossuet, , Oeuvres complètes, 36:295ff.Google Scholar
24. Ibid., pp. 296–297.
25. Fénelon, , Oeuvres complètes, 9: 124.Google Scholar
26. Ledieu, 2: 226.
27. It is also little wonder that the Holy See all but ignored the findings of the Issy Commission. Authorized by the king of France alone, it had no official status in the Catholic church. Were the pope, moreover, to take its deliberations seriously, he would be encouraging the pretensions of the Gallican establishment. About a decade before the Issy Commission came into existence, Pope Innocent XI (1676–1689) had become so incensed at militant Gallicanism, as especially defined by the Declaration of Gallican Liberties (1682), that he secretly excommunicated Louis XIV!
28. This view was consistently maintained in Underhill's three major works: Mysticism (London, 1911)Google Scholar, The Mystics of the Church (New York, 1926)Google Scholar and The Mystic Way (London, 1913).Google Scholar
29. Poulain, Augustin, Les Graces d'oraison, (6th ed.; Paris, 1898), pp.36ff.Google Scholar
30. Bremond, p. 42.
31. Bremond, Henri, Histoire littéraire du sentiment religieux en France depuis la fin des guerres de réligion jusqu'à nos jours (Paris, 1923), 2:54.Google Scholar
32. Fénelon, , “Correspondance,” Oeuvres de Fénelon, ed. Gosselin, J. and Caron, A. (Versailles, 1820–1830), 9:264.Google Scholar
33. Cognet, Louis, “Post Reformation Spirituality,” The Twentieth Century Encyclopedia of Catholicism, ed. Daniel-Rops, Henri (New York, 1956), pp. 116ff.Google Scholar
34. Tinsley, L., “Guyon, Jeanne Marie Bouvier de la Motte, ” The New Catholic Encyclopedia (Washington, D. C., 1967), 6:870.Google Scholar
35. Knox, Ronald A., Enthusiasm (New York 1950).Google Scholar
36. Ibid. pp. 338–339.
37. Ibid., p. 340.
38. Ibid., p. 348.
39. Ibid., p. 259.
40. Knox only mentions the condemnation of the Beghards and Beguines by Clement V in 1312, and that of Meister Eekhart's spirituality by John XXII in 1329. Ibid., p. 240.
41. Ibid., p. 328.
42. de la Mothe Guyon, J. M. B., Spiritual Torrents, ed. and trans. Marston, A. W. (London, 1875), pp. 112–113.Google Scholar
43. See Denzinger, condemned proposition #1232: Qui suum liberum arbitrium Deo donavit, de nulla re bebet curam habere, nec de inferno, nec de paradiso; nec debet desiderium habere propriae perfectionis, nec virtutum, nec propriae sanctitatis, nec propriae sulutis cuius spem expurgare debet.
44. Ibid., condemned proposition #1233: Resignato Deo libero arbitrio, eidem Deo relinquenda est cogitatio et cura de omni re nostra, et relinquere, ut faciat in nobis sine nobis suam divinam voluntatem.
45. Guyon, p. 28.
46. Cherel, pp. 44–45.
47. Teresa, of Avila, The Life of St. Teresa of Avila by Herself, trans. Lewis, David, intro. David Knowles (Westminister, Md., 1962), p. 17.Google Scholar
48. Ibid., p. 17.
49. See Denzinger, condemned proposition #1238: Qui in oratione utitur imaginibus, figuris, speciebus et proprils conceptibus non adorat Deum in spiritu et veritate (Io. 4, 23).
50. Ibid., condemned proposition #1240: Asserere, quod in oratione opus est sibi per discursum auxilium ferre et per cogiationes, quando Deus animan non alloquitur, ignorantia est. Deus nunquam loguitur, eius locutio est operatio, et semper in anima operatur, quando hace suis discursibus cogitationibus et operationibus cum non impedit.
51. von Hügel, Friedrich, The Mystical Element of Religion (London, 1903), pp. 136–137.Google Scholar
52. Ibid., p. 137.
53. Ibid.
54. Guyon, , “Moyen court et très facile,” Recueil de divers traités sur le Quiétisme (Cologne, 1698), pp. 103–104.Google Scholar
55. Pourrat, Pierre, La Spiritualité chrétienne (Paris, 1946–1947), p. 194.Google Scholar
56. She is quoted in Bossuet, , Oeuvres complètes, 48:68–70Google Scholar, letter no. 12. In this letter the Bishop of Meaux described an interview which he had with Madame Guyon.
57. See Denzinger, proposition #914. Si quis negaverit, ad integram et perfectam peccatorum remissionem requiri tres actus in poenitente quasi materiam sacramenti poenitentiae, videlicet contritionem, confessionem et satisfactionem, quae tres poenitentiae partes, terrores scilicet incussos conscientiae agnito peccato, et fidem conceptam ex Evangelio vel absolutione, qua credit quis sibi per Christum remissa peccata: A.S. (see n. 896).
58. Ibid., proposition #897: Contritio, quae primum locum inter dictos poenitentis actus habet, animi dolor ac destestatio est de peccato commisso, cum proposite non peccandi de cetero. Fuit autem quovis tempore ad impedtrandam veniam peccatorum hic contritionis motus necessarius, et in homine post baptisum lapso its demum praeparat ad remissionem peccatorum, sieum fiducia divinae misericordiae et voto praestandi reliqua coniunctns sit, quae ad rite suscipiendum hoc sacramentum requiruantur.
59. Guyon, , Spiritual Torrents, pp. 170–171.Google Scholar
60. I Cor. 13.8.
61. I Cor. 13:7.
62. Guyon, , “Moyen court et très facile de faire oraison,” Recueil de divers traitez de théologie, ed. Poiret, P. (Cologne, 1699), p. 49.Google Scholar
63. von Hügel, pp. 169–170.
64. Deharbe, Joseph, Die Volkommene liebe Gottes… (Regensburg, 1856), p. 149.Google Scholar
65. Ibid., pp.178–179.
66. Guyon, , Les justifications de Madame J. M. B. de la Mothe Guyon, écrites par elle-mème, ed. Poiret, P. (Cologne, 1720), p. 21.Google Scholar
67. Ibid., p.29.
68. Quoted in Bossuet, , Oeuvres complètes, 48:100.Google Scholar
69. See Denzinger, condemned proposition #1331: In eodem statu sanctae indifferentiae nihil nobis, omnia Deo volumus. Nihil volumus, ut simus perfecti et beati propter interesse proprium; sed. omnem perfectionem ae beatitudimem volumus, in quantum Deo placet efficare, ut velimus res istas impressione suae gratiae.
70. Ibid., condemned proposition #1234: Qui divinae voluntati resignatus est, non convenit, ut a Deo rem aliquam petat; quia petere est imperfectia, cum sit actus propriae voluntatis et electionis, et est velle, quod vinae: et illud Evangelii: “Petite et accipietis” (Io 16, 24), non est dictum a Christo pro animabus internis, quae nolunt habere voluntatem; immo huiusmodi animae eo perveniunt, ut non possint a Deo rem aliquam petere.
71. Bossuet, , Oeuvres complètes, 36:354.Google Scholar
72. Guyon, , La Vie de Madame J. M. B. de la Mothe Guyon, écrite par elle-même, qui contient toutes les expérienccs de la Vie Intérieure, depuis ses commencements. jusqu'à la plus haute consommation, avec toutes les directions relatives (Paris, 1740) 3: 276.Google Scholar
73. Bossuet, , Oeuvres complètes, 37:195–196Google Scholar; and Knox, p. 246.
74. von Hügel, pp. 138–439.
75. Ribadeau-Dumas, p.43.
76. See Denzinger, proposition #318: Deus omnipotens omnes homines sine exceptione vult salves fieri (I Tim. 2, 4), licet non omnes salventur. Quod autem quidam salvantur, salvantis est donum: quod autem quidam pereunt, pereuntium est meritum.
77. Ibid., proposition #200: Hoc etiam secundum fidem catholicam credimus, quod post acceptam per baptismum gratiam omnes baptizati, Christo auxiliante et cooperante, quae ad salutem animae pertinent, possint et debeant, si fideliter laborare voluerint, adimplere…
78. Ibid., proposition #322: … fidenter fatemur praedestinationem electorum advitam, et praedestinationem impiorum ad mortem: in electine tamen salvandorum misericordiam Dei praecedere meritum bonum: in damnatione autem periturorum meritum malum praecedere instum Dei iudicium…
79. Martenson, H. L., Meister Eckhart, Eine theologische Studie (Zealand, 1842), p. 107.Google Scholar
80. Ibid., p. 107.
81. von Hügel, p. 139.
82. See Denzinger, proposition #669: Item, utrum credat, quod christianus contemnens susceptionem sacramentorum confirmationis, vel extremae unctionis, aut solemnizationis matrimonii, peccet mortaliter.
83. Ibid., proposition #928: Si quis dixerit, extremae unctionis ritum et usum, quem observat sancta Romana Ecclesia, repuguare sententiae beati Iacobi Apostoli, ideoque eum mutandum, posseque a Christianis absque peccato contemni: A. S. (see n. 910).
84. Guyon, , Spiritual Torrents, p. 116.Google Scholar
85. See Denzinger, proposition #1252: Nec ante nec post communionem alia requiritur praeparatio aut gratiarum actio (pro istis animabus internis), quam permanentia in solita resignatione passiva, quia modo perfectiore supplet omnes actus virtutum, qui fieri possunt et fiunt in via ordinaria. Et si hac occasione communionis insurgunt motus humiliationis, petitionis aut gratiarum actionis, reprimendi sunt, quoties non dignoscatur, eos esse ex impulsu speciali Dei: alias sunt impulsus naturae nondum mortuae.
86. Guyon, , Spiritual Torrents, pp. 91–93.Google Scholar
87. Ibid., p. 108.
88. Cherel, p. 45.
89. Ribadeau-Dumas, p. 104.
90. Ibid., p. 104.
91. Ibid., pp. 104–105.
92. Ibid., p. 97.
93. Guyon, , Vie, 1: 170.Google Scholar
94. Underhill, , Mysticism, p. 296.Google Scholar
95. Guyon, , Spiritual Torrents, pp. 110–152. Knox, p. 279.Google Scholar
96. See Denzinger, condemned proposition #510: Nos transformamur totaliter in Deum et convertimur in cum; simili mode sicut in sacramento panis convertitur in corpus Christi: sic ego convertor in eum, quod ipse me operatur suum esse unum, non simile; per viventem Deum verum est, quod ibi nulla est distinctio.
97. Ibid., condemned proposition #511: Quidquid Deus Pater dedit Filio suo unigenito in humana natura, hoc totum dedit mihi: hic nihil excipio, nec unionem nec sanctitatiem, sed totum dedit mihi sicut sibi.
98. Underhill, , Mysticism, p. 503.Google Scholar
99. Augustine, , The Confessions of St. Augustine, trans. Pusey, E. P. (New York, 1953), Book 10, Chapter 28.Google Scholar
100. Underhill, , Mysticism, p. 503.Google Scholar
101. Boehme, Jacob, De la triple vie de l'homme, trans. de Saint-Martin, Louis Claude (Paris, 1809), p. 88.Google Scholar
102. Underhill, , Mysticism, pp. 209–210.Google Scholar
103. Guyon, , Spiritual Torrents, pp. 94–101Google Scholar. It might be noted that in the Thomistic tradition the “good” and “love of God”, even at the highest level of contemplation, are the object of the will. Striving for the total destruction of the will would be self-defeating of the desire to commune with God.
104. Teresa, of Avila, Road to Perfection, trans. by the Benedictines of Stanbrook, ed. Zimmerman, Father Benedict (London, 1911), Chapter 33.Google Scholar
105. Ibid., p. 207.
106. Underhill, , Mysticism, p. 379.Google Scholar
107. Ibid., p. 379.
108. Teresa, , Road to Perfection, p. 211.Google Scholar
109. The first six chapters of part one of her autobiography are replete with such references.
110. Guyon, , Vie, 1:264.Google Scholar
111. Ibid.
112. Inge, W. R., cited by T. C. Upham, The Life, Religious Opinions, and Experiences of Madame de la Mothe Guyon (New York, 1874), p. ix.Google Scholar
113. Ribadeau-Dumas, p. 97.
114. Pourrat, p. 192. Guyon, , Vie, 2:72.Google Scholar
115. Guyon, , Vie, 2:72.Google Scholar
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119. Daniel-Rops, Henri, Mystiques de France (Paris, 1958), p. 20.Google Scholar
120. Ibid.
121. Voltaire, François Marie Aronet, Siècle de Louis XIV (Paris, 1851), p. 444Google Scholar. Guyon, , Vie, 3: 114.Google Scholar
122. Bremond strangely relied totally upon printed sources as reference material for his twelve volume work. See Bremond, , Histoire litteraire du sentiment religieux en France, 1: ix.Google Scholar