Lot n° 1.1
THE ARCHIVES OF A
JANSENIST
Pascal Pradié,... - Lot 1 - Kâ-Mondo
THE ARCHIVES OF A
JANSENIST
Pascal Pradié, Saint-Wandrille Abbey
The religious archives of the Thomas du Fossé de Bosmelet family bear witness to the genuine devotion which continued in the family until the 20th century with regard to its Jansenist past and mainly around Pierre Thomas du Fossé.
The archives are of two kinds: handwritten books on the one hand and bound leaves or notebooks on the other. It is therefore possible to classify them in several categories which testify very precisely either to the relationships maintained by certain members of the family, or to the spiritual subjects which were very much in vogue at the time and which were disseminated in the Port-Royal movement, or finally to what we will call working materials, necessary for the writing of a work.
Correspondence
They are quite abundant and come in two forms, most of them covering the 17th century and sometimes the 18th century: either the mail is original, sent or received, like the letters of Antoine Singlin (in a folder marked not to be made public) or those of the
Maistre de Sacy to Pierre Thomas du Fossé concerning the completion of the translation of the Bible, or the letter of Mother Agnès to Monsieur de Sévigné. Or they are copies of letters like those of Mother Angélique Arnauld to the Polish queen Louise-Marie de Gonzague or concerning the Crèvecoeur affair, or those of Sister Catherine Agnès de Saint-Paul. Finally, the letters of the 18th century, concern rather occasional correspondence with members of the Thomas du Fossé family.
The spiritual leaves
They are either individual sheets or sewn notebooks and often correspond to extracts from sermons, passages from the Fathers of the Church particularly honored at Port-Royal or copied prayers such as that of the deacon Paris, or that of the blessed bishop Jean Soanen, etc...
Manuscript works
Of various sizes and formats, they include copies of spiritual writings such as the Considérations sur les dimanches (Considerations on Sundays) by the Abbé de Saint-Cyran, or the Explanation des qualités ou des caractères que saint Paul donne à la charité (Explanation of the qualities or characteristics that Saint Paul gives to charity) by the oratorian Jacques-Joseph Duguet, who was a close friend of Antoine Arnauld and Father Quesnel, whose spirituality was very much in demand in the parish of the Thomases in Rouen. Also included are works more directly related to Port-Royal such as the Explanation of the Rule by Mother Agnès Arnauld, a Portrait of the Virtues of Mother Catherine Agnès de Saint-Paul, the Conferences of Mother Angélique de Saint-Jean on the Constitutions of Port-Royal, the Relation of Mother Angélique on her captivity, an Extract from the Necrology of Port-Royal des Champs according to a manuscript of Madame de Boscroger du Fossé, daughter of Mr. and Mme Le Maistre.
Among what seems to be Pierre Thomas du Fossé's personal collection are several volumes of commentaries on the Psalms translated from the Hebrew, a collection of the saints of the early Church which may have served to continue Antoine Le Maistre's work on the Lives of the Saints and of which Pierre Thomas published two volumes. There is also a manuscript on the Life and Miracles of St. Louis, King of France with the mention: This copy was made on the original manuscript of the King's Library which is numbered 9647. The presence of this manuscript is interesting if one remembers that Antoine Le Maistre, at the request of Mother Angélique Arnauld, had undertaken to write a life of Saint Louis after collecting various manuscripts on this subject. Finally, a very interesting volume of the Memoirs of Pierre Thomas du Fossé is decorated with engravings of the main Jansenist characters, inserted in the course of the manuscript pages.
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