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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 January 2024
João Poinsot (1589-1644) was a Dominican theologian of the commentator school, born in Lisbon of an Austrian father and a Portuguese mother, and briefly confessor to Philip IV of Spain. He was known as John of St. Thomas, Joannes a Sancto Thoma, though writers today refer to him as “Poinsot.” As Royal Confessor, he used his political influence at the Court of Madrid in favour of Louvain against the papal bull In eminenti which he believed was defective and based on false information. Poinsot protected the Doctors of the Faculty of Theology who were secular clergy, some of whom held a traditional Augustinian theology. His letter to John Schinckels (1581-1646) and the other Professors of the Faculty was written May 14, 1644, as a response to their Memorial in which they stated their case. Poinsot thought that the Augustinus of Cornelius Jansen was as a whole unfairly judged, even if part of it might be erroneous. He also believed the King of Spain had the right to make a better judgment pending clarification and that it was his duty to help the Pope make a deeper study of the issue. Therefore Poinsot advised the Court to withhold the place in this doctrinal matter. He died soon thereafter on June 17, 1644. This was still during the earliest phase before the pejorative name “Jansenist” had permanently stuck. A royal placet was required to promulgate papal bulls in the Spanish possessions, and it was delayed until years after Poinsot's death, partly due to his initial efforts.
1 ACDF, St! St. 0‐2‐b, [Index Librorum qui in hoc Voiumine continentur editorum occasione impressionis libri Apologia de Casuistis] The heading reads: “Constitutio Urbani PP. VIII emanata pridie nonas Martii 1643 quod confirmatur Constitutio Pii Papae V et Gregoni XIII prohibentium quasdam theologorum sententias, et opiniones. Nee non prohibitio libri cui titulus Augustinus Cornelii Jansenii alius libri impressi occasione operis Jansenium. S.mi D.N. D. Urbani Divina Providentia Papae VIII. Confirmatio Constitutionum Pii Papae V. et Gregorii XIII. prohibentium quasdam Theologorum sententias, et opiniones. Necnon prohibitio libri, cui titulus, Augustinus, Cornelii Jansenii, olim, Iprensium Episcopi, excusi Lovanii, Typis Iacobi Zezeri, anno 1640, aliorumque operum, ac Hbellorum, occasione dicti libri, variis in locis, et variis idiomatibus, impressorum, Romac, Ex Typographia Rev. Cam. Apostolicac MDCXXXXIV. Urbanus Episcopus Servus servorum Dei Ad perpetuam rei memoriam. In Eminenti Ecclesiae militantis Sede.”
2 Cornelius Jansen [1585‐1638], by this point the Bishop of leper; Henri van Caelen [1583‐1653], and Libert Froidmont [1587‐1653], to name three.
3 As a Dominican trained at Louvain he would not have attended the Faculty of Theology of the University of Louvain, but only the Dominican Studium. See Leonard Boyle, “Providence: Studies in Western Civilization,” 2, no.3 (Spring 1994): 19.
4 Schinckels was an ardent Antijansenist and one of the most senior Doctors, named in 1614. He was Dean of the Faculty of Theology for part of 1643 and a Regius Professor after that. See Lucien Ceyssens, Sources relatives aux debuts du Jansenisme et de ľ 'Antijansénisme, 1640‐1643 (Louvain: Publications Universitaires and Bibliothèque de ľ Université 1957), Introduction, 1‐lii. For Annat's thoughts on Schinckels, see OTGS, vol.3, Informatio de Quinque Propositiones, “Preface”, 328‐329.
5 Ibid., 638‐640.
6 It was called the Regium placet or Exequatur.
7 See Léopold Willaert, Les origines du Jansénisme dans les Pays‐Bas catholiques (Gembloux: J Duculot, 1948), 25, n. 4. Annat asked and answered the question if “Jansenist” were a false name.
8 See Léopold Willaert, “Le placet royal et le Jansénisme dans les Pays‐Bas catholiques,”Nuove Richerche Storiche sul Giansenismo (Rome: The Gregorian University Press, 1953).
9 Hence the remark of John Deely, “Jansen graduates from Louvain during Poinsot”s second year of graduate study there (thirty‐seven years later, in 1644, against the urging of the Apostolic Nuncio, Poinsot will use the Spanish Crown to protect the Louvain faculty from the papal bull In eminenti issued the previous year in condemnation of Jansen's work)…“ See John Deely “A Morning and Evening Star: Editor's Introduction,”ACPQ 68.3 (Summer 1994): 263.
10 [BJB 2169].
11 [BJB 2170].
12 The uncompromising and principled nephew of St. Cyran, Martin de Barcos, studied under Jansenius in Louvain and had a contempt for Thomas Aquinas and the Scholastics in general. He harked back to the Primitive Church as the ideal. See E.D. James, Pierre Nicole, 11 and passim.
13 For the Society of Jesus, SuSrez was considered the premier expositor of Thomas's thought up to the Thomistic revival of the nineteenth century when his reliability was questioned. See John Deely, “What Happened to Philosophy between Aquinas and Descartes,”The Thomist 58 (October 1994): 555.
14 See Thoma, Joannis a S., Cursus Theologicus, nova editio, vols. 1 and 2 (Paris: Ludovicus Vives, 1883)Google Scholar. It claims to be faithful to the 1663 Lyon edition. The Solesmes version is newer.
15 Ibid., vol.2, Disp. 20, art. 1, para. 26. Of special interest is para 14, “Origo, Progressusque Scientiae Mediae.”
16 Claudio Aquaviva's “Decretum de uniformitate doctrinae, praesertim de gratiae efficacitate” even appeared as 964 in the first nine editions of Denzinger's Enchiridion symbolorum et deflnitionum. See Bachelet, Xavier‐Marie Le, Predestination et Grace Efficace: controverses dans la Compagnie de Jesus au temps d'Aquaviva 1610‐1613. 2 vols. (Louvain: Museum Lessianum, 1931), vol.2, 239, n. 2Google Scholar.
17 The authenticity of the bull was questioned by the Nuncio to France, Grimaldi, and he confided this to the Archbishop of Sens. See Gres‐Gayer, Le Jansenisme en Sorbonne, 24, n. 4.
18 Later Secretary of State (1647‐1650).
19 See Ceyssens, Lucien, La première Bulle contre Jansénius, sources relatives à son histoire (1644‐1653), vol. 1 (1644‐1649) (Rome and Brussels: Institut historique beige de Rome, 1961)Google Scholar, Introduction xi, xxivxxv, 294‐295.
20 See Annat, Francois, Le libelle intitulé: ‘Théologie morale des jésuites, contredit et convaincu en tous ses chefs, par un Père théologien de la Compagnie de Jésus’. 3' édition (Paris: chez Henault, 1644Google Scholar; Cahors, 1648). [BJB 2297].
21 Speculation is that it was Philip of the Holy Trinity (1603–1671).
22 “Censura Tolosana” [Franciscus Annatus], in ACDF, Censor Librorum 1641‐1654, File #13, 16 May 1646.
23 Paris: S. Cramoisy et S. Mabre‐Cramoisy, 1666. 3 vols. [BJB 2318].
24 Margaret Harper McCarthy, “Recent Developments in the Theology of Predestination.” S.T.D. diss., The Lateran University, 1994. Unpublished.
25 See for example Deely's “The Semiotic of John Poinsot: Yesterday and Tomorrow,”Semiotica 69. 1/2 (April 1988): 31‐127.
26 Lyon: Aubier, 1965.
27 Bulletin de ľ Institut historique beige de Rome 44 (1974): 111‐126. Reprinted in Jansenistica Minora, vol.12.
28 Antonianum 50 (1975): 483‐529. Reprinted in Jansenistica Minora, vol.13
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