QUIETISM

 

Miguel de Molinos

Madame Guyon


QUIETISM. The term ‘Quietism’, which is often used loosely of any system of spirituality minimizing human activity and responsibility, is usually restricted to the teaching of certain 17th-cent. writers, esp. that of M. de Molinos, and, to a lesser degree, Mme Guyon and Abp. Fénelon.

The fundamental principle of Quietism is its condemnation of all human effort. Its exponents seem to have exaggerated earlier teaching, such as that of St Teresa of Avila, on the ‘prayer of quiet’. In their view, man, in order to be perfect, must attain complete passivity and annihilation of will, abandoning himself to God to such an extent that he cares neither for Heaven nor Hell, nor for his own salvation. This state is reached by a certain form of mental prayer in which the soul consciously refuses

not only all discursive meditation

but any distinct act such as desire for

virtue

love of Christ,

or adoration of the Divine Persons,

and simply rests in the presence of God in pure faith.

As this passive prayer expresses the height of perfection, it makes any outward acts of mortification, almsgiving, going to confession, etc., superfluous. Once a man has attained to it, sin is impossible, for then all he does or thinks is the work of God. The devil may, indeed, tempt him and even compel him to commit actions that would be sinful in others, but when his will has become completely annihilated they cease to be sins in him; on the contrary, the man who has reached this state must carefully guard against being disquieted by such distractions, lest he should be disturbed in his state of mystic death.

Quietism was condemned in the person of M. de Molinos by Innocent XI in his bull ‘Coelestis Pastor’ of 19 Nov. 1687. Sixty-eight propositions from Molinos’ writings were condemned. Other notable exponents of Quietist teaching were P. M. Petrucci (1636–1701) and the Barnabite, F. Lacombe, the director of Mme Guyon.

H. Heppe, Geschichte der quietistischen Mystik in der katholischen Kirche (1875). J.-R. Armogathe, Le quiétisme (Que sais-je?, 1545; 1973). M. Petrocchi, Il quietismo italiano del seicento (Storia e Letteratura, 20; 1948). J. Orcibal, La Rencontre du Carmel thérésien avec les mystiques du nord (Bibliothèque de l’École des Hautes Études, Section des Sciences Religieuses, 70; 1959), and other works. R. A. Knox, Enthusiasm (1950), esp. pp. 231–87. Pourrat, 4 (2nd edn., 1928), pp. 128–295. E. Pacho, OCD, and J. Le Brun in Dict. Sp. 12 (pt. 2; 1986), cols. 2756–842, s.v., with bibl. See also works cited under fénelon, molinos, and guyon.

 


TWO CONTRASTING 17th and 18th CENTURY
APPROACHES to SPIRITUALITY
and
MORAL THEOLOGY


IGNATIAN
SPIRITUALITY

Mental visualization of Biblical Scenes

Step-by-step reflection leading to discernment

Examen concerning sin required throughout life

 


QUIETISM

 

Non-discursive meditation

Resting in the presence of God

Sin “impossible” in highest stages

[Molinos condemned by Innocent XI in Coelestis Pastor - 19 Nov. 1687]

 

PROBABILISM
(“
LAXITY”)

Penitents given “benefit of the doubt”

Lesser-held opinion may nonetheless be “probable”

[condemned by Pope Alexander VII (1666, 1667) and more forcefully by Pope Innocent XI (1679)]

 

MORAL RIGORISM

Strict ethical standards and requirement of repentance/penance:

Confessor acts solely on what is certain – always in favor of precept of law

Strict rigorism (“tutiorism” condemned by Pope Alexander VIII in 1690 (Denzinger 2303)

 

FREEDOM
of the
WILL

The soul cooperates with God

(Pelagianism condemned by Augustine)

PREDESTINATION

God has predestined both the elect and the damned.
Without grace, no meritorious act is possible 

(Double predestination condemned in Trent Decree on Justification, canons 15 and 17)

ENGAGEMENT
with
THE WORLD”

Missionary Activity

Education

WITHDRAWAL
from
THE WORLD”


Monastic Enclosure

 


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