French Jesuit church historian, patristic scholar and moral theologian
Jean Garnier
(11 November 1612 ? 26 November 1681) was a French
Jesuit
church historian,
patristic
scholar, and moral theologian.
Life
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He was born at Paris, entered the Society of Jesus at the age of sixteen, and, after a distinguished course of study, taught at first the humanities, then philosophy, at
Clermont-Ferrand
(1643?1653), and theology at
Bourges
(1653?1681). In 1681, he was sent to Rome on business of his order, fell ill on the way and died at
Bologna
.
Garnier was considered one of the most learned Jesuits of his day,
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was well versed in Christian antiquity, and much consulted in difficult cases of conscience.
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by whom?
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Works
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In 1618, he published for the first time the
Libellus fidei
, sent to the Holy See during the
Pelagian
controversy by
Julian, Bishop of Eclanum
in Apulia. Garnier added notes and an historical commentary. The
Libellus
also found a place in Garnier's later work on
Marius Mercator
.
In 1655, he wrote
Regulae fidei catholicae de gratia Dei per Jesum Christum
, and published the work at Bourges. In 1673, he edited at Paris all the work of Marius Mercator. The edition contains two parts. The first gives the writings of Mercator against the Pelagians, and to these Garnier adds seven dissertations:
- De primis auctoribus et praecipuis defensoribus haeresis quae a Pelagio nomen accepit
- De synodis habitis in causa Pelagianorum
- De constitutionibus imperatorum in eadem causa 418-430
- De subscriptione in causa Pelagianorum
- De libellis fidei scriptis ab auctoribus et praecipuis defensoribus haeresis Pelagianae
- De iis quae scripta sunt a defensoribus fidei catholicae adversus haeresim Pelagianorum ante obitum S. Augustini
- De ortu et incrementis haeresis Pelagianae seu potius Caelestianae
Cardinal Noris
considered these dissertations of great value, and says that, if he had seen them in time, he would have put aside his own writings on the subject. In the second part, Garnier gives a good historical sketch of
Nestorianism
from 428 to 433, then of the writings of Mercator on this heresy, and adds two treatises on the heresy and writings of Nestorius, and on the synods held in the matter between 429 and 433. Much praise is bestowed on Garnier by later learned writers for the great amount of historical knowledge displayed in his dissertations, but he is also severely blamed for his arbitrary arrangement of the writings of Mercator and for his criticism of the original.
[1]
Garnier edited in 1675 at Paris the
Breviarum causae Nestorianorum
(composed before 566 by
Liberatus
, an archdeacon of Carthage), correcting many mistakes and adding notes and a dissertation on the
Fifth General Council
. In 1678 he wrote
Systema bibliothecae collegii Parisiensis S.J.
, a work considered very valuable for librarians.
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by whom?
]
In 1680, he edited the
Liber Diurnus Romanorum Pontificum
from an ancient manuscript, and added three essays:
- De indiculo scribendae epistolae
- De ordinatione summi pontificis
, on the case of
Pope Honorius
, whom Garnier considers free of guilt
- De usu pallii
In 1642,
Jacques Sirmond
had published in four volumes the works of
Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrus
(d. 455); Garnier added an
Auctarium
, which, however, was not published until 1684. It consists of five essays, in which Garnier is severely critical of Theodoret:
- De ejus vita
- De libris Theodoreti
- De fide Theodoreti
- De quinta synodo generali
- De Theodoreti et orientalium causa
Another posthumous work of Garnier's,
Tractatus de officiis confessarii erga singula poenitentium genera
, was published at Paris in 1689.
External links
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edit
]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
public domain
:
Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "
Jean Garnier
".
Catholic Encyclopedia
. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
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