LETTER X

By the time Letter X. was written, war was engaged between the parish clergy and the Jesuits. Brisacier, rector of the Jesuit college at Rouen, moved by the sermons of the curé of Saint Maclou in that city, addressed a pétition to the archbishop urging the prohibition of the Letters in his diocese. On 2 August the archbishop referred the matter to his council.

P. 107, 1. 1. ce n'est pas encore la politique. Cf. the end of Letter IX.

P. 107, 1. 13. l'unique remede est la Confession. The Council of Trent déclarés the sacrament of Penance to be absolutely necessary for the forgiveness of post-baptismal sin. Ail mortal sins committed after baptism must be confessed so far as the penitent is able to recall them (Sess. XIV., canon 7).

P. 107, 1. 26. Piam et religiosam calliditatem. The expression is applied in the first instance to the word of God who, in order to win men, took their nature upon Him, and offered His Humanity as a bait by which to allure them. “ Pia et religiosa calliditas quam eius socii féliciter imitarentur ! " It will be seen that it is the good taste of the authors of the Imago which is defective rather than their good will.

P. 108, 1. 24. deux confesseurs. In early days, before Penance was definitely established as a sacrament, it was common enough to divide confession among several confessors. But St. Thomas is quite clear that this dividing is hypocrisy and overthrows the sacrament by destroying its integrity. Nor will he recognize the différence in this matter between mortal and venial sins. Ail must be confessed. Cf. Supplem ., q. ix., art. 2, and q. vi., art 3.

P. 109, 1. 10. Jésus Christ dont le Prestre tient la place. Pascal here echoes the noble words of St. Thomas : “ Sacerdos confessionem audiens vicem Dei gerit,” etc. (Supplem., q. ix., art. 3).

P. 109, 1. 17. qui est à mon sens. The antécédent is “ une autre de leurs réglés ”.

P. 109, 1. 24. les circonstances qui changent l'espèce , etc. This is in accordance with the decision of Trent, Session XIV., canon 5. But it is obvious that aggravation may sometimes resuit in a change of species. For instance, habituai drunkenness is a different kind of sin from occasional excess.

P. 109, 1. 26. Oranados. Diego Granado (1574-1632), author of a commentary in eight volumes (1623-1633) of the Summa of St. Thomas.

P. 109, 1. 27. que , si on a mangé , etc. But abstinence, i.e. refraining from méat, is a different species from fasting, i.e. restriction in the amount of food. It is quite possible to imagine a case where a man will not shrink from a breach of the fasting obligation, of which he alone is cognizant, and be very strict to observe abstinence, which openly proclaims him a Catholic.

P. 109, 1. 34. un pacte avec le démon. Raynaud, in his Praxis fort poenitentialis, does not mention the Devil, but Escobar in introducing the reference does: “ Seu an divinaverit cum pacto daemonis necne? Negat Reginaldus,” etc.

P. 109, 1. 35. Le rapt n'est pas une circonstance , etc. Escobar quotes Fagundez amiss. Fagundez expressly says that the circumstances must be stated.

P. 110, 1. 4. Nos Theses, etc. These Theses are only known to us through Nicole, who gives the passages in question.

P. 110, 1. 9. que si le pe?iitent déclaré , etc. Maynard, in his note ad loc. (t. ii., p. 16), makes an astonishing admission : “ Ce n’est pas vrai en principe, quoiqu’on fait il en soit presque toujours ainsi, d’après l’usage universel où on est dans l’Eglise de n’imposer que des pénitences légères”. It is precisely this divorce between principle and practice that Pascal is concerned to combat.

P. 110, 1. 12. l'intégrité du sacrement , which consists of contrition, confession, and satisfaction. Cf. Council of Trent, Session XIV., canon 4.

P. 110, 1. 26. si Jésus Christ délie. Maynard sees here the specifically Jansenist doctrine of absolution, according to which the priest merely déclarés God’s willingness to absolve, as distinguished from the Catholic doctrine whereby the priest bestows absolution which is subsequently ratified by God. But in Pascal’s view there is no before or after, but perfect harmony and coincidence between the earthly sentence and the heavenly will.

P. 111, 1. 7. Le Confesseur n'a qu'à luy demander. Maynard (t. ii., p. 19) asks why would not the confessor trust the penitent’s promises ? Nicole had, however, pointed out with great effect (note ad loc.) that verbal protestations are not as a ru le considered enough to give an applicant a place in any civil employ, nor a postulant admission to a religious order. At least equal care ought to be exercised in the solemn matter of absolution.

P. 112, 1. 10. Petau. For Petau, see note on p. 44, 1. 12. The De la Penitence publique was written in answer to La Fréquente of Arnauld. Petau admits (and no one could speak with more authority than he) that the Fathers are at one with Arnauld on the main thesis, but he maintains that ancient discipline is not suited to modem conditions.

P. 112, 1. 37. on peut absoudre, etc. Maynard admits that Bauny is here “ un peu relâché ”.

P. 112, 1. 40. Caussin. Nicolas Caussin (1583-1651), the famous confessor of Louis XIII. He had the courage to oppose Richelieu, but the Cardinal broke him, and he was dismissed the court with contumely. His most celebrated work is La cour sainte, translated into English (1631). His Response au libelle intitulé, la Théologie Morale des Jésuites, appea,red in 1644.

P. 113, 1. 4. poenitentium numéro obruimur. The words in the Imago are put into the mouths of the parish clergy : but the Jesuit panegyrists

had already said the same thing of themselves a few lines earlier in the book.

Before quitting this section of the Letter it is only fair to record the complaint of a great Jesuit, Bellarrnin, against the facility of absolution prévalent even in his time. “ Gonfessors, by their ignorance and pride, corrupt the people and close to them the way of real penitence. For there would not be to-day such readiness to sin if there were not such readiness to absolve. Men corne laden with sins into which they hâve fallen a thousand times, and they corne without a sign of sorrow, and we, heedless judges, lay our hands on ail and say to ail “ Ego te absolvo, vade in pace,” Concio, viii., De dominica 4 Adventus.

P. 113, 1. 14. les occasions prochaines. See Letter V, pp. 47 ff.

P. 113, 1. 43. Elle propose. Cf. Haase, § 61, s.v. “proposer”.

P. 114, 1. 25. l'Evangile. Matth. v. 29.

P. 114, 1. 35. Pintereau. François Pinthereau (1603-1664), the indefatigable foe of Port-Royal. He procured the publication of letters which had passed between Saint-Cyran and Arnauld d’Andilly and between Jansen and Saint-Cyran and used them to prove the charge of treason under which Saint-Cyran spent three years in prison. Pinthereau also, under the pseudonym of “ l’abbé de Boisic,” wrote Les Impostures et les Ignorances du Libelle mtitulé, la Théologie Morale des Jésuites (1644), from which Pascal’s free, but on the whole accurate, quotation is taken.

P. 114, 1. 37. la ccmtrition . . . l'attrition. Speaking in general terms Contrition is real sorrow for sin, proceeding from love to God, while Attrition is imperfect sorrow, proceeding from fear of hell and from hatred of the vileness of sin. The early schoolmen taught that “ contritio ” was an intégral element in Penance. So Hildebert of Tours (a.d. 1055-1133), cf. Serm., iv. and xv. ( MPL , clxxi.) ; Peter Lombard (Sent., iv., d. 16, A); St. Thomas (IIIa, q. xc., artt. 1, 2, 3), Council of Florence (1439).

The Council of Trent declared that perfect contrition, i.e. Contrition plus charity and the desire for absolution, may justify the sinner before Penance, while on the other hand mere Attrition does not justify him.

The question in debate here, viz. whetlier Attrition plus the sacrament of penance and without Contrition suffices for justification, was decided in the négative by the Universities of Paris and Louvain and by the Assembly of Clergy in 1700. But the affirmative, viz. that Attrition and Penance suffice, is now universal in the Roman Church, having been declared “ certain ” by St. Alphonso. The ripening of the modem doctrine is sufïiciently indicated by the passages quoted by Pascal ; the principal argument by which it is supported to-day is that Penance would lose ail its force if Contrition were required in addition to it. Pascal’s view is that Love to God is the all-embracing Law, the life and soûl of ail the rest, and not a separate or separable ordinance. To ask how often or when must we love God seemed to him a paltering with

NOTES

the one great commandaient. For poetic illustration of his view, cf. the Xllth Epître of Boileau : for relief from the severe theology involved, cf. Mme de Sévigné’s letter to her daughter, 16 January, 1694, where it is told how Boileau’s zeal for Pascal got the better of his logic.

P. 115, 11. 6 and 7. soit . . . suffit. Cf. Haase, § 80, Rem. II.

P. 115, 1. 19. Comitolus. Paolo Comitolo, S.J. (1544-1626). The quotation is from his Consilia seu responsa moralia in vii. lïbr. digesta, Lyons, 1609.

P. 116, 1. 11. mesme à la mort, “in articulo mortis” are Escobar’s words. In support of his decision Escobar quotes the Council of Trent : “ Tridente asserente, sufficit ad salutem attritio cognita cum sacramento ”. But ail that the Council (Sess. XIV., c. 4) says is that Attrition, if it excludes the purpose of sinning and includes the hope of pardon, is a true gift of God, and an impulse of the Holy Spirit. It says nothing about death-bed repentance. Escobar, it should be noted, adds that Granado and Fagundez advise the confessor to try and induce an act of contrition on the part of the penitent.

P. 116, 1. 37. attritio naturalis. If Attrition is simply due to a considération of the natural results of sin, such as disease or dishonour, it is “ natural ” : but it may be suggested to the conscience and will by a divine operation, when it is “ supernatural ” and may be regarded as a first step towards Contrition.

P. 117, 1. 2. tom. 4, disp. 7, etc., i.e. of the Gommentarii theologici. In the passage from which Pascal quotes, Valentia goes on to compare the Confessor insisting on Contrition before Penance with a doctor who should advise a patient not to take medicine until he had tried to cure himself without it ; a notable example of the danger of analogy.

P. 117, 1. 9. la seule crainte des peines. This is the so-called “ servilis attritio” which had not been alleged by any of the Jesuit authorities quoted.

P. 117, 1. 17. Vous deviez V avoir compris. Cf. Haase, § 68.

P. 117, 1. 23. Quand est-on obligé, etc. Pascal summarizes rapidly and makes Escobar speak more decidedly than he really does in either of the two passages here combined.

P. 117, 1. 39. Antoine Sir mond. Antoine Sirmond (1591-1643), nephew of the great scholar, Jacques Sirmond. His Deffense de la Vertu (1631) was refuted by Arnauld in 1641, by Camus, bishop of Belley, in 1643, and condemned by Alex. VII. in 1665 and by Innocent XI. in 1679.

P. 118, 1. 1. S. Thomas dit, etc. Similar utterances concerning Love to God by the Jesuits Moya and Tresse were censured in 1665 by the Sorbonne and by Alexander VII., and in 1690 by Alexander VIII.

Pascal’s quotation from Sirmond is substantially accurate, but he gives it a cavalier air which it has not in the original.

P. 118, 1. 33. A. Sirmond mesme. On the strength of the “ même,” Daniel, Maynard, and Sommervogel accuse Pascal of wilfully confounding uncle and nephew, and of attributing the remarks of an obscure member of the Company as that of one of its greatest ornaments. But

ail that Pascal means is what he says, viz. that “ even A. Sirmond (of whom I hâve been speaking) has defended this doctrine P. 119, 1. 16. Cf. Rom. i. 32.

P. 119, 1. 33. Cf. Matth. xxii. 36-40.

P. 119, 1. 41. Cf. John iii. 16.

P. 120, 1. 2. Cf. 1 Cor. xvi. 22.

P. 120, 1. 3. Cf. 1 John iii. 14.

P. 120, 1. 5. Cf. John xiv. 24.

Nicole supplies a theological dissertation (note iii.), written by Arnauld, on the commandment to love God.