CONTENSON, GUILLAUME-VINCENT. - Dominican theologian and preacher, b. at Auvillar (Tarne-et-Garonne) in 1641, d. at Creil (Oise) on 26 Dec. 1674. He entered the Dominicans at Toulouse (1636) and, having completed his studies, taught philosophy at Albi (1664-63), engaging in controversy with the Protestants who infested it; then theology at Toulouse (1666) and in many seminaries, while also carrying on extensive preaching activity.
Meanwhile he worked on his sole work, the Theologia mentis et cordis (Leone 1668 ff.), completed by Fr A. Massoulié (1632-1706). Perhaps inspired by the Théologie affettive of Luigi Bail (1610-60), a course of meditation rather than dogmatics, C. poured into it his broad learning and keen theological sense. Departing from scholastic dryness, he enriched every thesis (speculatio) with a reflexio, often interwoven with patristic passages, in which, drawing its themes from the doctrine expounded, he offers rich material for meditation and thus joins the affective activity of the heart to the abstract inquiry of the mind. As a good disciple of Baron, C. opposed probabilism: his dissertation De novello probabilitatis commento (Theol. mentis etc., lib. VI, diss. III) has been judged prolix and somewhat excessive. St Alfonso considers him a rigorous moralist. In the Jansenist question C. was less definite regarding what Giansenio had actually meant. His work nevertheless enjoyed success, and many editions are known; noteworthy in particular is that of Venice of 1727 (in folio volumes).