DTJPIN
204
DUPIN
ists. On 4 May nine passages were examined concern-
ing which the commission decided against Duplessis.
The latter's real or feigned sickness and his departure
prevented fm-ther meetings.
Duperron was created a cardinal in 1604. The same year he went to Rome, and was invited to assist at the nieetings of the Congregatio de Auxiliis which Clement VIII had summoned to end the discussions on grace and freedom. Jleanwhile he took an important part in the election of Leo XI and Paul V. The decision of Paul V not to condemn the Molinistic system was due largely to Duperron's advice. Duperron became Arch- bishop of Sens in 1606. In lOU he stopped the de- cision of the Parliament condemning one of Bellar- mine's works, and defended the latter's thesis of the pope's infallibility and superiority over councils. At a synod held at Paris (1612) he condemned the work " De ecclesiastica et politica potestate by Edmond Richer, syndic of the Sorbonne. In 1614-15, at the meeting of the States General at Paris, he urged, against the Third Estate, the acceptance of the decrees of the Council of Trent on discipline and reform. Duperron's knowledge and eloquence were so great that Pope Paul V said of him: "Let us pray that God may inspire Duperron, for he will persuade us of whatever he pleases."
His works were collected in three volumes (Paris, 1620 and 1622). The first volume contains his "Traits du sacrement de 1 'Eucharist ie" written against Du- piessis-Mornay. Its three books deal with (1) a com- parison of the Eucharist and the other sacraments of the New Law with those of the Old Law ; (2) the tradi- tion of the Fathers, to which is added a special study of St. Augustine's doctrine; (3) the practice of the Church concerning the adoration of the Eucharist. The second volume is the " Replique a la R^ponse du Roy de la Grande-Bretagne". James I of England claimed that he belonged to the Catholic Church, as he believed all truths considered necessary by the first Christians. In his answer Duperron treats of the char- acteristics of the Catholic Church, of some articles which the king did not look upon as essential, the preservation and integrity of the doctrine and disci- pline of the Chm-ch, the Eucharist as a sacrament and a sacrifice, the invocation of the Saints, the use of Latin, translation of Holy Scripture, etc. The third volume contains various works among which are a treatise on vocation, the Acts of the Fontainebleau conference, a refutation of the work of Tilenus on Apostolic traditions, some moral and spiritual trea- tises, and poems both Christian and profane. Duper- ron's secretary, C^sar de Ligny, \\TOte "Ambassades et negociations du cardinal Duperron" (Paris, 1618). Under the title of " Perroniana", remarks on theo- logical, political, and literary subjects were published by Christophe du Puy from the notes of his brother, who had been with Duperron for a long time.
Fkrkt. Le ciirilinal Duperron (Paris, 1877): DE Bdrigny, Vtedu cardinal Duperron (P.iris, 176S); Dl-pin. Xouvelle bibli- oth^que des auleurs ecclesiasliqnes (Paris, 1710), XVII, 25 : Rass, Die Converlilen sril der Heformalion (Freiburg. 1866), II, 226, 441, III, 384; Gallia Christiana (2d ed.. Paris, 1870), XI, 612, XII. 96; SrjDi. in XircAeniexicon, IV, 26.
C. A. DUBRAY.
Dupin (also Du Pin), Louis-Ellies, theologian, b. 17 June, 1657, of a noble family in Normandy; d. 6 June, 1719. His mother, a Vitart, was the niece of Marie des Moulins, grandmother of the poet Jean Ra- cine. At the age of twenty Dupin accompanied Ra- cine who made a visit to Nicole for the [Uirpose of becoming reconciled to the gentlemen of Port Royal. But, while not hostile to the Jansenists, Dupin's intel- lectual attraction was in another direction ; he was the disciple of Launoy, a learned critic and a Galilean. Dupin took his theological course at the Sorbonne, and received there the degree of bachelor in 1680, and of doctor in 16S4.
From the beginning of his studies he had accumu- lated notes on the works and tc.ichings of the Fathers.
In 1686 there appeared the first volume of the "Nou-
velle bibliothoque des auteursecclesiastiques", cover-
ing the first three centuries. In it Dupin had treated
simultaneously biography, literarj' criticism, and the
historj' of dogma ; in this he was a pioneer leaving far
behind him all previous efforts, Catholic or Protestant,
which were still under the influence of the Scholastic
method. He was also the first to publish such a col-
lection in a modern language. Unfortunately he was
young and worked rapidly. In this way errors crept
into his writings and his productions were violently
attacked. Mathieu Petit-Didier, a Benedictine, pub-
lished an anonymous volume of "Remarques sur la
bibliotheque des auteurs ecclesiastiques de M. Du Pin"
(Paris, 1691), and this was followed by two other vol-
tmies to which the author's name was appended
(Paris, 1692 and 1696). Dupin answered him in his
fifth volume and Petit-Didier replied in the fore part of
his second vohune of "Remarques". Petit-Didier's
observations were often inspired by contemporaneous
prejudice. Thus Dupin had placed in the fourth cen-
turj% to which indeed he rightly belongs, St. Macarius
the Egyptian. Petit-Didier discovered Semipelagian-
ism in "this author's works, in reality ideas professed
by many before St. Augustine, but from which the ad-
versary of Dupin concluded that Macarius should
come after Pelagius and St. Augustine (II, 198).
A more formidable enemy appeared in Bossuet, who, during a public thesis at the College of Navarre in 1692, condemned the audacity of the critic. Dupin answered him and Bossuet appealed to the civil au- thority, denouncing Dupin to Chancellor Boucherat and to Archbishop de Harlay. Bossuet simply enu- merated the points that he disapproved in the " Biblio- theciue" concerning original sin, purgatorj', the can- onicity of the Sacred Scriptures, the eternity of hell's torments, the veneration of saints and of their relics, the adoration of the Cross, grace, the pope and the bishops. Lent, divorce, the celibacy of the clergy, tra- dition, the Eucharist, the theology of the Trinity, and the Council of Nicjea. He demanded a censure and a retractation.
Like Petit-Didier Bossuet would not admit that any of the Greek or Latin Fathers differed from St. Augus- tine on the subject of grace, nor that this matter could be called subtle, delicate, and abstract. Between Du- pin and Bossuet there was a still wider difference. "The liberty M. Dupin takes of so harshly condemn- ing the grea'test men of the Church should, in general, not be tolerated" (Bossuet, (Eu^Tes, XXX, 513). On the other hand Bossuet strongly contended that heretics could not be too severely dealt with: "It is dangerous to call attention to passages that manifest the "firmness of these people without also indicating wherein this firmness has been overrated: otherwise they are credited with a moral steadfastness which elicits sympathy and leads to their being excused" (op. cit., XXX,"633).
Dupin submitted but was nevertheless condemned by the Archbishop of Paris (14 April, 1696). He con- tinued his " Bibliotheque", which was put on the Index longafterhis death (lOMay, 1757), though other works of his were condemned at an earlier date. He had also to suffer the criticism of Richard Simon (Paris, 1730, 4 vols.). Simon and Dupin had similar views and methods so that when Bossuet was writing the "T)6- fense de la Tradition et des Saints Peres" (which did not appear, however, until 1743), he included both in his invectives against the "haughty critics" who in- clined to rabbinism and the errors of Socinus. -Al- though Dupin spoke favourably of Arnauld and signed the "Cas de conscience", he was not a Jansen- ist. On these matters he rather shared the opinion of Launoy who "had found a way to be at once both demi- Pelagian and Jansenisf' (Bossuet, (Euvres, XXX, .')09). Dupin w.is pre-eminently a Galhcan. It was probably on this account that Louis XI'V had him
