BESOIGNE, JÉRÔME. - Jansenist theologian, b. in Paris in 1686 and d. there on 25 Jan. 1763. Ordained priest in 1715 and doctor of theology in 1718, he taught philosophy at the collège du Plessis. As a young priest, he sided with the opponents of the bull Unigenitus, which condemned Jansenism; consequently, in 1729 he was struck off the roll of doctors of the Sorbonne and in 1731 exiled. Having returned from exile the following year and withdrawn into private life, he devoted himself to the composition of his very numerous works.
He upheld the Presbyterian thesis of the independence of the priest’s jurisdiction in the internal forum, or at least that of the parish priest, from his own bishop, since the jurisdictional power to absolve is granted by God Himself to the priest together with the power of order in the rite of ordination. With equal fervour he defended the thesis that the contract may be separated from the Sacrament in the matrimonial rite.
Through his many ascetical works, he established himself as the most accomplished writer of Jansenist spirituality: Dissertation spéculative et pratique sur la confiance et la crainte (s. l. 1735); La concorde des livres de la sagesse ou morale du St-Esprit (Paris 1737-46); Concorde des épîtres de s. Paul et des Épîtres canoniques, ou morale des apôtres (there 1747); Principes de la perfection chrétienne et religieuse (there 1748); Histoire de l'Abbaye de Port-Royal (6 vols., Cologne [Paris] 1752).