Blaise Pascal; "Lettres a un Provincial", "Pensées"
- Artist/Author/Producer: Pascal, Blaise (1623-1662)
- Confronting Bodies: King Louis XIV
- Dates of action: 1657
- Location: France
- Description of the Art Work
- "Lettres a un Provincial", 1656-1657: written in defense of Antoine
Arnauld an opponent of the Jesuits and defender of Jansenism who was on
trial before the faculty of theology in Paris. Pascal's 18 letters dealt
with divine grace and the ethical code of the Jesuit. They included a
blow against the relaxed morality that the Jesuits were said to teach and
that was the weak point in their controversy with Port-Royals.
"Pensees," 1670: work of Christian apologetics as a consequence of his
meditations on miracles and other proofs of Christianity. The work
remained unfinished at his death.
- Description of incident
- 1657 France: "Lettres a un Provincial" burned for being too free with the
dignity of all secular authorities.
1660: Pascal converted to Jansenist teaching and his "Lettres a un
Provincial" aroused a storm of controversy because of their anti-Jesuit
flavor.
- Results of incident
- 1660, France: Louis XIV ordered that the book "Lettres a un Provincial"
"be torn up and burned at the "Croix du Tiroir" at the hands of the High
Executioner, fulfillment of which is to be certified to his Majesty
within the week; and that meanwhile all printers, booksellers, vendors
and others, of whatever rank or station, are explicitly prohibited from
printing, selling, and distributing, and even from having in their
possession the said book... under pain of public (exemplary)
punishment."
1789 Rome, Italy: "Pensee" placed on the Index "avec les notes de
M.Voltaire."
Source: Banned Books 387 B.C. to 1978 A.D., by Anne Lyon Haight, and Chandler B.
Grannis, R.R. Bowker Co, 1978.
