Port-Royal

Home > Philosophy and Religion > Christianity > Roman Catholic Orders and Missions

Port-Royal , former abbey of women, c.17 mi (27 km) W of Paris, founded in 1204. It was at first Benedictine, later Cistercian. In 1608 the abbess, Angélique Arnauld (see Arnauld , family), undertook a reform with the counsel of St. Francis de Sales. The nuns became renowned for piety, and their help was sought all over France for the reform of conventual discipline. In 1626 the abbey was moved to Paris because of the unsalubrious climate; the old buildings were now called Port-Royal-des-Champs [in the country], the new foundation Port-Royal-de-Paris. Under the influence of Jean Duvergier de Hauranne, the abbey soon became the prime center of Jansenism (see under Jansen, Cornelis ). Port-Royal-des-Champs became a retreat for men, some of whom opened classes there for boys (1638). These, "the little schools," were successful from the start, and many celebrated Frenchmen were educated there. The pedagogy was novel in emphasizing knowledge as a means rather than an end, in using "natural" methods, and in distrusting corporal punishment. The textbooks became famous. The religious tone of the teaching did much to create the Jansenist and antipapal tendencies of 18th-century Roman Catholicism in France. Port-Royal fared as Jansenism did, and persecution became severe toward the end of the 17th cent. Port-Royal-des-Champs was suppressed by papal bull in 1704, and the buildings were razed in 1710. The nuns were expelled from Port-Royal-de-Paris.

Port-Royal, Convent of, Jansenist centre. A convent of Cistercian nuns was founded in 1204 at Port-Royal, a marshy site SW of Paris (hence ‘Port-Royal-des-Champs’). In 1602 ( Jacqueline Marie) Angélique Arnauld was appointed abbess; converted to a new view of her responsibilities in 1608, she undertook far-reaching reforms. In 1625 the community moved to a new house in Paris (‘Port-Royal-de-Paris’), and in 1627 it was removed from the jurisdiction of Citeaux. In 1635 S. Zamet, Bp. of Langres, handed over the direction of Port-Royal to Saint-Cyran, Jansen's associate; after his death in 1643 his influence was maintained by Antoine Arnauld, the spokesman of what came to be called Jansenism. From 1637 some of Saint-Cyran's converts came to live near the community as ‘Solitaires’, and by 1648 their labours had rendered Port-Royal-des-Champs habitable enough to receive some of the nuns. For a time the two houses existed with a single conventual organization, but in 1669 they were separated, Port-Royal-de-Paris being given over to the nuns who had signed the anti-Jansenist formulary of Alexander VII, while the Jansenist majority were established in Port-Royal-des-Champs. In 1705 Clement XI condemned those who used mental reservations in signing the formulary; the nuns refused to accept this new definition and were finally dispersed in 1709.