Henri Arnauld

Arnauld was born in Paris, and was first destined for the Bar, but was taken to Rome by Cardinal Bentivoglio and during this absence, which lasted five years, the court granted him (1624) the Abbey of Saint-Nicholas.

and write poems[1] At the time of the quarrel between Pope Innocent X and the Barberini, Arnauld was sent to Rome as chargé d'affaires of France.

The obstinate Arnauld then wrote to Péréfixe, Archbishop of Paris, to forestall the tempest which the obligation of signing the Formulary would arouse at Port-Royal.

Pope Clement IX, successor to Alexander VII, judged it preferable in the interests of religion to silence the whole affair.

One should read the "Mémoires" of Joseph Grandet, third superior of the Seminary of Angers, to know to what a degree Jansenism had imbued the bishop.

In 1652, when the queen mother was approaching to inflict punishment on the city of Angers, which was in revolt, the bishop appeased her with a word.