THOMASSIN, D'EYNAC LOUIS DE

THOMASSIN, D'EYNAC LOUIS de. - Theologian and jurist, b. at Aix-en-Provence on 28 Aug. 1619, from a family of ancient Burgundian nobility, d. in Paris on 25 Dec. 1695. At the age of 14 he was received by Fr. De Condren into the French Oratory, where he spent his life teaching and writing. Because of his orthodoxy he drew upon himself the wrath of the Gallicans and the Jansenists. Of a gentle and timid disposition, with a ready and versatile mind, an exemplary religious and supremely methodical, he is undoubtedly one of the finest figures of the Oratory of France.

Extremely well versed in the classical languages, in mathematics, in patrology, in ecclesiastical history, and above all in theology and canon law, he left a very copious output: Dissertationes in Concilia generalia et particularia (Paris 1667); Mémoires sur la Grâce (3 vols., Louvain 1668); Ancienne et nouvelle discipline de l'Eglise (3 vols., plus index, Paris 1678-79, 1681); Dogmata theologica: De Verbi Dei Incarnatione (ibid. 1680); La méthode d'étudier et d'enseigner chrétiennement et solidement les poètes, par rapport aux lettres divines (3 vols., ibid. 1681-82); Traités historiques et dogmatiques sur divers points de la discipline de l'Eglise et de la morale chrétienne (2 vols., ibid. 1680-83); Dogmata theologica: De Deo Deique proprietatibus (ibid. 1684); La méthode d'enseigner chrétiennement la philosophie (ibid. 1685); Traité de l'Office Divin (ibid. 1686); Vetus et nova Ecclesiae disciplina, editio latina post duas gallicanas auctior et emendatior (3 vols., ibid. 1688); Dogmata theologica: Prolegomena, de Trinitate (ibid. 1689); La méthode d'étudier et d'enseigner chrétiennement la grammaire et les langues par rapports à l'Ecriture

In philosophy T. is a fervent admirer of Plato and of St. Augustine; but although he did not approve of the orientation of the scholasticism of his time, he did not stint his praise of St. Thomas. In theology he follows the orientation of Petavius and of the Oratorian Giovanni Morin and therefore does not neglect speculative theology, but cultivates positive theology by preference, constantly relying on the data of Scripture, the Fathers and the councils. The theology of T. is not arid, but animated by the breath of his own profound meditation: it is a theology mentis et cordis which, enlightening the intellect, moves the will. His theological views, even if at times debatable, always bear the imprint of genius.