Talk:Formulary controversy

Needs clarity

The Formulary Controversy was not a battle about theology between Jansenists and Jesuits. It was a 17th and 18th century Jansenist recusancy of the Formula of Submission for the Jansenists by a group of Catholic ecclesiastical personnel and teachers who did not accept that their beliefs, about the nature of man and grace, were heretical as the Holy See declared. Later, assent to the Formula of Submission for the Jansenists became a French law. For example, the lead paragraph (this version) is:

The Formulary Controversy, in 17th century France, pitted the Jansenists against the Jesuits. It gave rise to Blaise Pascal's Lettres provinciales, the condemnation by the Holy See of casuistry, and the final dissolution of organised Jansenism.

Yet, in the body, the article states that

On May 31, 1653, Innocent X promulgated the apostolic constitution Cum occasione which condemned five propositions found in Augustinus as heretical.

and that

On 16 October 1656, Alexander VII promulgated the apostolic constitution Ad sanctam beati Petri sedem which judged the meaning and intention of Jansen's words in Augustinus, and confirmed and renewed the condemnation in Cum occasione.

and that

On February 15, 1665, Alexander VII promulgated the apostolic constitution Regiminis Apostolici which required, according to the Enchiridion symbolorum, "all ecclesiastical personnel and teachers" to subscribe to an included formulary, the Formula of Submission for the Jansenists – assenting to both Cum occasione and Ad sanctam beati Petri sedem.

and that

On July 16, 1705, Pope Clement XI promulgated the apostolic constitution Vineam Domini Sabaoth which declared that "obediential silence" is not a satisfactory response to the Formula of Submission for the Jansenists.

and in the closing paragraph that

Pascal and some other Jansenists equivocated that condemning Jansen was equivalent to condemning Augustine, and adamantly refused assent to the Formula of Submission for the Jansenists, with or without a mental reservation.

The Jansenism article (this version) dates the Formulary controversy to 1664–1669, but it states, about Vineam Domini Sabaoth, that "Louis XIV promulgated the bull as binding law in France". So clearly the controversy remained in 1705. I cannot find a reference to the law or if it was repealed before the dechristianisation of France during the French Revolution but there is no reason to believe that the controversy ended in 1705.

Also, the paragraphs do not seem to be in chronological order. The article needs work. —BoBoMisiu (talk) 19:35, 8 November 2014 (UTC)