JANSSEN
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JANSSENS
played in the work of Febronius, condemned (1764)
by Clement XIII; and, instilled into Joseph II by his
councillor Godefried van Swieten, a disciple of the
revolted church of Utrecht, it became the principle of
the innovations and ecclesiastical upheavals decreed
by the sacristan-emperor (see Febronianism). It
raged in similar fashion in Tuscany under the govern-
ment of the Grand Duke Leopold, brother of Joseph
II; and found another manifestation in the famous
Synod of Pistoia (17S6), the decrees of which, at once
the quintessence of Gallicanism and of the heresy of
Jansenism, were reproved by the Bull of Pius VI, " Auc-
torem fidei" (1794). On French soil the remains of
Jansenism were not completely extinguished by the
French Revolution, but survived in some remarkable
personalities, such as the constitutional Bishop Gt6-
goire, and in some religious congregations, as the Sis-
ters of St. Martha, who did not return in a body to
Catholic truth and unity until 1847. But its spirit
lived on, especially in the rigorism which for a long
time dominated the practice of the administration of
the sacraments and the teaching of moral theology.
In a great number of French seminaries, Bailly's
"Th^ologie", which was impregnated with this rigor-
ism, remained the standard textbook until Rome in
1852 put it on the Index "donee corrigatur". Among
those who even prior to that had worked energetically
against it, chiefly by offering in opposition the doc-
trines of St. Alphonsus, two names are deserving of
special mention: Gousset, whose "Theologie morale"
(1844) had been preceded by his "Justification de la
thdologie morale du bienheureux Alphonse-Marie Li-
guori" (2nd ed., 1832); Jean-Pierre Berman, profes-
sor at the seminary of Nancy for twenty-five years
(1828-1853), and author of a "Theologia moralis ex
S. Ligorio" (7 vols., 1855).
Such is, in outline, the historical account of Jansen- ism, its origin, its phases, and its decline. It is evident that, besides its attachment to the " Augustinus " and its rigorism in morals, it is distinguished among heresies for crafty proceedings, chicane and lack of frank- ness on the part of its adherents, especially their pre- tence of remaining Catholics without renouncing their errors, of staying in the Church despite the Church itself, by skilfully eluding or braving with impunity the decisions of the supreme authority. Such con- duct is beyond doubt without a parallel in the annals of Christianity previous to the outbreak of Jansenism; in fact, it would be incredible if we did not in our own day find in certain groups of Modernists examples of this astonishing and absurd duplicity. The deplorable consequences, both theoretical and practical, of the Jansenist system, and of the polemics to which it gave rise, may readily be gathered from what has been said, and from the history of the last few centuries.
From the theological standpoint see all the treatises De Deo Creante; also the treatises De Gratia, especially those of Toua- NELY, .Mazzglla, Palmieri, and Satolli,
Among good handbooks are Pesch, Prcelectiones dogmaticw, III and V (Freiburg. 1895, 1897); TANQnEBEY, Synojisis theo- logice dogmalicfB specialis, I, II (12th ed.. Paris, 1908); espe- cially St. Dechamps, De hceresi janseniana ab Apostolica Sede merUo proscripta (Paris, 1654) ; and Paquier, Le Jansenismc, etude doctrinale d'apr^s les sources (Paris, 1909).
From the historical standpoint: Rapin, Hisioire du Janse- nisme depuis son orwine jusqu'en 1644 (Paris, 1861); Memoires du P, R, Rapin sur VEglisc et la cour, la ville el le Jansenismc (4 vols.. Pans, 1865); du Mas, //is/oire rfes cinq propositions de Janaenius (2 vols., Lifege, 1699); Luchesini, Historia polemica Janaenismi (3 vols., Rome. 1711); Lafiteau, Histoire de la constitution Unigenitus (2 vols., Li^ge, 1738); Schill, Die Con- stitution Unigenitus (Freiburg, 1876); van den Peereboom, Cornelius Jansenius septihme evSque d'Ypres, sa mort, son ti'stO' ment, ses epitaphes (Bruges, 1882).
J. Forget. Janssen, John. See Belleville, Diocese of.
Janssens, .Vbuaham, Flemish painter, b. at Ant- werp about 1573; d. probably in the same place about 1031. He is also known as Janssens Van Nuyssen, and several of his pictures are sigiioil with this name, which it is believed he adopted from his mother's
family with the object of distinguishing himself from
other members of the Janssens family, contemporary
artists. He was a pupil of Jan Snellinck in 1585,
according to some writers, but it is believed that this
date is a little too early, as, according to the accepted
tradition, Janssens would then have been only twelve
years old. The first date that we know for certain
respecting him is that of his admission as a teaching
master into the Guild of St. Luke, which was in 1601,
and in the following year he married, and eventually
had a family. One of his daughters. Anna, married Jan
Breughel the younger, the son of "Velvet" Breughel,
and the second of his sons, named Abraham like his
father, became a painter, and was admitted a member
of the Guild of Painters in 1636.
.\ story was started by Houbraken to the effect that Janssens was a bitter opponent of Rubens, but Houbraken's work is the only authority for this legend, and the author appears to have had a spite against Janssens, and to have said everything that was possible to injure his character. Janssens was a contemporary of Rubens, and a man who appears to have been very much respected in Antwerp, spoken of in terms of friendship and affection by other ar- tists, and recognized as a man of great genius, taking a high position in the very first rank. It seems to be most unlikely that Houbraken's story is a truthful one, especially as there is no evidence whatever in other works to support it. The best of Janssens' pictures are to be seen at Antwerp, especially in the churches of the Carmelites and St. Charles, and in the cathedral, the painting of " The Entombment " in the Carmelite church being one of his very finest produc- tions. There are three important paintings by him in the Antwerp Museum, two in the cathedral at Ghent, one in the cathedral at Bruges, a remarkable mythological scene representing Venus and Jupiter in Brunswick, and a fine picture of St. Cecilia at Cologne. Other galleries containing works by this important artist are those of Berlin, Brussels, Cassel, and Vienna. In at least two of his pictures he v/orked in collaboration with Snyders, the flowers and fruit in his picture of Pomona at Berlin, and the animals in his representation of Atalanta in the same gallery, having been painted by his friend. In splendour of colouring antl in vigour of composition he was sur- passed in liis day only by Rubens, and was recognized in Antwerp as a man of profound talent and great skill. Many of his pictures were engraved.
Houbraken, De Groote Schouburgk der Nederlantsche (Am- sterdam, 1718); Kramm, De Lerens en Werken der Hollandache (.\msterdam, 1857); Rombouts, Lea Liggeren et autres Archives, etc. (Paris, 1864).
George Charles Williamson.
Janssens, Johann Hermann, Catholic theologian, b. at Maeseyck, Belgium, 7 Dec, 17S3; d. at Engis, 23 May, 1853. After completing his theological studies in Rome he was appointed professor in the College of Fribourg, Switzerland, in 1809. While in this position, which he held until 1816, he composed his "Hermeneutica", which, however, was not pub- lished until ISIS, after he had been appointed pro- fessor of Scripture and dogmatic theology in the ecclesiastical seminary of Liege. His teaching in this institution was taxed with heterodoxy, and in 1823 he was removed and made pastor of Engis. Shortly afterward, and against the will of his ecclesiastical superiors, he accepted tlio chair of anthropology and metaphysics in the philosophical college of Louvain. He retained this i)osition until the Revolution of 1S30, when the college was suppressed. He then retired to lOngis, where he composeil a history of the Nether- lands (3 vols., Lifge, 1S40), written from the Protes- tant standpoint. Outside of Belgium he is chiefly known thmuf'h his first publication, "Hermeneutica Sacra seu lulroductio in onuies et .singulos libros sacros Veteris et Novi Fuederis", A French transla-
