From the Bulletin of June 28, 2020
As we continue our journey through the Church’s history and tradition, we come to a movement that has some influence on our local culture by way of its influence on French culture in the 1600s. That movement is called Jansenism, named after a Dutch theologian Cornelius Jansen. Ultimately, this movement was declared a heresy – a false teaching, but not before it led many people into error.
Essentially, Jansenism over-emphasized the doctrine of Original Sin to the point of considering human nature as totally depraved. They tried to use the teachings of Saint Augustine to emphasize our need of grace but went further to say that only a certain portion of human beings were predestined to be saved and that some could not be saved. Jansen went so far as to say that God’s grace was given to some people against their will and not given to others at all. In other words, they claimed that Christ did not die for all, but only those God predestined to be saved. They also taught that it is impossible for people to keep some of God’s commandments even with the help of grace.
Naturally, as these ideas spread around, a number of bishops had a concern and brought it to the attention of the Pope, who then condemned these false ideas as being incompatible with the Catholic Faith. This started a period of disputes about what people actually meant in their writings and preaching. The tedious history of back and forth eventually led to another proclamation by Pope Clement XI in 1713. He wrote a document titled Unigenitus Dei Filius, which outlined and condemned 101 different statements made by Jansenists and Semi-Jansenists. It made it clear that Christ did die for all, that humans beings still have to use their free will to cooperate with grace, and that it is possible, with the help of God’s grace, to keep God’s commandments.
Even though the heresy was officially condemned, it’s cultural influence did not immediately disappear. Though most people in France in that time period could not describe the theological position, they did show certain tendencies in how they lived their faith. Jansenism, because of it’s emphasis on human weakness, led many people to fall into scrupulosity. This is when a person’s conscience is over-active and leaves them feeling guilty for just about anything. They often struggle with doubt that past sins are really forgiven and they tend to be afraid of sinning without realizing it. Without help, a person who is scrupulous often struggles with their self-worth and lives in a kind of constant fear of going to Hell.
Another hallmark of Jansenist influence is fear of receiving communion. Because they tended to doubt themselves when it came to being forgiven, they generally received communion very, very rarely. As this tendency spread throughout the Church, especially in places influenced by the French like Canada and our own Acadian culture, the Church needed to address it. Pope Pius X in the early 1900s finally stepped in to explicitly teach that Catholics should receive communion very frequently, so long as they were free of mortal sin. Mortal sin requires a person to know that they did something very wrong, so it isn’t possible to commit a mortal sin without realizing it, thus short-circuiting the cycle of doubt and fear that Jansenists often faced.
In addition to official doctrinal responses to this heresy, the Church always has another answer: the lives of the saints. God tends to raise up saints who, by example, correct the mistakes in a given time and place. In the case of Jansenism, the saint who was the best counter-example was St. Therese of Lisieux. Her emphasis on trusting in God’s mercy and the Little Way were a perfect counter-example to the burdensome, doubt-filled ways of Jansenism. As we’ll see next week, the teachings and example of St. Therese were and still are invaluable to the Church and all Catholics.
In Christ,
-Fr. Albert