BAUNY, ETIENNE. - French Jesuit and moralist, b. at Mauzon (Ardennes) in 1564, d. at Saint-Dol-de-Léon on 3 Dec. 1649. He entered the religious life in 1593 and for many years was professor of moral theology and cases of conscience at the Collège de Clermont in Paris.
He published moral works in Latin and French: *Somme des péchés qui se commettent en tous états* (Paris 1630, various reprints); *Pratique du droit canonique au gouvernement de l'Église* (ibid. 1633); *De Sacramentis ac personis sacris, theologia moralis*, part 1 (ibid. 1640); part 2 (ibid. 1642); *De censuris ecclesiasticis* (ibid. 1639–42); *De contractibus* (ibid. 1695). The two French works and the first part of *De Sacramentis* were placed on the Index (16 Sept. 1640); the French works were also condemned by the Assembly of the French clergy (1641). This condemnation marked the beginning of the Jansenist offensive against the alleged laxism of the Jesuits. Pascal ridiculed him, along with Escobar, in the 4th of his *Provinciales*, applying to him the words: «Ecce qui tollit peccata mundi». Though Bauny himself led an austere life and was a demanding spiritual director, he nevertheless expressed certain propositions that no moralist could uphold today.