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GERBERON, GABRIEL (1628-1711)

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Originally appearing in Volume V11, Page 766 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GERBERON, See also:GABRIEL (1628-1711) , See also:French Jansenist See also:monk, was See also:born on the 12th of See also:August 1628 at St See also:Calais, in the See also:department of See also:Sarthe. At the See also:age of twenty he took the vows of the See also:Benedictine See also:order at the See also:abbey of Ste Melaine, See also:Rennes, and after-wards taught See also:rhetoric and See also:philosophy in several monasteries. His open advocacy of Jansenist opinions, however, caused his superiors to relegate him to the most obscure houses of the order, and finally to keep him under surveillance at the abbey of St Germain-See also:des-Pres at See also:Paris. Here he wrote a See also:defence of the See also:doctrine of the Real Presence against the Calvinists in the See also:form of an See also:apology for See also:Rupert, See also:abbot of See also:Deutz (Apologia See also:pro Ruperto abbate Tuitensi, Paris, 1669). In 1676 he published at See also:Brussels, under the name of " Sieur Flore de Ste Foi " his Miroir de la piete chretienne, an enlarged edition of which appeared at See also:Liege in the following See also:year. This was condemned by certain See also:arch-bishops and, theologians as the repetition of the five condemned propositions of See also:Jansen, and Gerberon defended it, under the name of " See also:Abbe Valentin " in Le Miroir sans tache (Paris, 168o). He had by this See also:time aroused against him the full fury of the See also:Jesuits, and at their instigation a royal See also:provost was sent to See also:Corbie to See also:arrest him. He had, however, just time to See also:escape, and fled to the See also:Low Countries, where he lived in various towns. He was invited by the Jansenist See also:clergy to See also:Holland, where he wrote another controversial See also:work against the Protestants: Defense de l'Eglise Remain contre la calomnie des Protestants (See also:Cologne, 1688-1691). This produced unpleasantness with the Reformed clergy, and feeling himself no longer safe he returned to Brussels. In 1700 he published his See also:history of See also:Jansenism (Histoire generale du Jansenisme), a dry work, by which, however, he is best remembered. He adhered firmly to the Augustinian doctrine of See also:Predestination, and on the 3oth of May 1703 he was arrested at Brussels at the instance of the See also:archbishop of See also:Malines, and ordered to subscribe the condemnation of the five sentences of Jansen.

On his refusal, he was handed over to his superiors and imprisoned in the citadel of See also:

Amiens and afterwards at See also:Vincennes. Every sort of pressure was brought to See also:bear upon him to make his submission, and at last, broken in See also:health and spirit, he consented to sign a See also:formula which the See also:cardinal de See also:Noailles claimed as a recantation. Upon this he was released in 1710. The first use he made of his freedom was to write a work (which, however, his See also:friends prudently prevented him from See also:publishing), Le Vaine Triomphe du cardinal de Noailles, containing a virtual withdrawal of the compulsory recantation. He died at the abbey of St See also:Denis on the 29th of See also:March 1711.

End of Article: GERBERON, GABRIEL (1628-1711)

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