patron of the Sorbonne though he was, could, nevertheless, for political reasons, encourage the Jesuit foundations; on the pretext that rival educational establishments sharpened the wits of both. Thus the first half of the century witnessed the perpetual efforts of the Sorbonne to strengthen the theological principles of the French Church, and to exclude the Ultramontane, thwarted or weakened by the influence of the Jesuit exercised through the Palace. Jesuit confessors directed the Royal consciences, and made them inaccessible to the protests of the Sorbonne. Again and again theological discussions were suspended or suppressed by royal authority, at the secret instigation of this powerful community. A notable instance is found in the experiences of the celebrated Edmond Richer, the learned Syndic of the Sorbonne, in the opening years of the seventeenth century. Richer had been in early youth a member of the League, and, as such, a Republican and an Ultramontane; but his matured reflections led him to embrace the historic principles of the Church of France, and to become a truceless foe of the Jesuits, and of the Ultramontane opinions with which they were at the time identified. In the year 1606 he distinguished himself by republishing the works of Chancellor Gerson. In 1611 the opposing School proposed for discussion at a Dominican Convent in Paris, before an illustrious assembly, including royal personages, the Papal Nuncio, and Cardinal du Perron, the following thesis:—(1) That the Roman Pontiff cannot err in faith and morals; (2) that the Council is in no case superior to the Pope.[1] Richer, as Syndic of the Sorbonne, protested. The forbearance of the Gallicans was sorely tried by such contradictions to the principles of their fathers.
- ↑ Richerius, Vindiciæ Gall.
