DESGABETS, ROBERT. – Benedictine theologian and philosopher, born at Ancemont (diocese of Verdun) in 1620 and died at Breuil on 13 March 1678. He became a monk at Hautvillers (Reims) in 1636, taught theology at St-Evre de Toul, was prior at S. Leopoldo of Nancy and at S. Arnoldo of Metz, visitor of the Benedictine Congregation of St-Vannes, and procurator general in Paris; he was in contact with the leading thinkers of his time.
Enthralled by the new philosophical theories of Cartésio, his physicomathematical mentality sought to extend itself into every field, including dogmatics. Rather eclectic, he attempted to reconcile the philosophical thought of Cartésio with that of Gassendi, whose criteria he followed in distinguishing soul and body, along with his contempt for Aristotelianism and scholasticism. He caused the greatest stir in applying Cartesian physicomathematical theories to the explanation of the Eucharistic mystery. Rejecting the possibility of the existence of absolute accidents and positing the nature of corporeal substance in actual local extension, he attempted a natural and scientific, and therefore rationalistic, explanation of the mystery. He declared that Christ’s mode of being in the Eucharist consisted in informing the matter of the bread with his soul, following, or almost following, the mode of being and operation of the two essential elements in the human composite in their various modifications. But, criticized by Pascal, Bossuet, the Cartesians, the Jansenists, and Catholics, he agreed no longer to treat this controversial subject. His very extensive output, almost entirely unpublished, concerns chiefly the Eucharist and remains distributed among the National Library and the Arsenal Library in Paris and those of Epinal, Chartres, and Metz. Among his printed works are remembered: Critique de la critique de la recherche de la vérité, Paris 1675; Considérations sur l'état présent de la controverse touchant le très S. Sacrement de l'autel (Holland, n.d.).