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Anthoine Singlin (1607–1664) was a French

Jansenist Jansenism was a 17th- and 18th-century theological movement within Roman Catholicism, primarily active in France, which arose as an attempt to reconcile the theological concepts of free will and divine grace in response to certain development ...

Catholic priest, best known as a member of the Jansenist community at

Port-Royal-des-Champs Port-Royal-des-Champs () was an abbey of Cistercian nuns in Magny-les-Hameaux, in the Vallée de Chevreuse southwest of Paris that launched a number of culturally important institutions. History The abbey was established in 1204, but became ...

and as head of the

Petites écoles de Port-Royal The Petites écoles de Port-Royal was the name given to a teaching system set up in 1637 by the intellectuals who gathered at Port-Royal-des-Champs in the middle of the 17th century at the height of the Jansenist controversy. They functioned from 1 ...

(set up by his friend

Jean du Vergier de Hauranne Jean du Vergier de Hauranne, the Abbé (Abbot) of Saint-Cyran, (1581 – 6 October 1643) was a French Catholic priest who introduced Jansenism into France. Life Born in the city of Bayonne to a family of Gascon and Basque merchants, Vergier stu ...

). Anthoine Singlin began his priestly career beside

Vincent de Paul Vincent de Paul, CM (24 April 1581 – 27 September 1660), commonly known as Saint Vincent de Paul, was an Occitan French Catholic priest who dedicated himself to serving the poor. In 1622, Vincent was appointed as chaplain to the galleys. ...

, at the hospice de la Pitié in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. He was then a devoted disciple of

, abbot of Saint-Cyran and spiritual director of the monastery of Port-Royal. When he was imprisoned in the

Bastille The Bastille (, ) was a fortress in Paris, known as the Bastille Saint-Antoine. It played an important role in the internal conflicts of France and for most of its history was used as a state prison by the kings of France. It was stormed by a ...

on the orders of

cardinal Richelieu Armand Jean du Plessis, 1st Duke of Richelieu (9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642), commonly known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a Catholic Church in France, French Catholic prelate and statesman who had an outsized influence in civil and religi ...

(from 1638 to 1643), he declared Anthoine Singlin's spiritual training complete and made him his intermediary between prison and the nuns and Solitaires at the monastery. When

died in 1643, some months after leaving prison, Anthoine Singlin accepted the post of

almoner An almoner () is a chaplain or church officer who originally was in charge of distributing money to the deserving poor. The title ''almoner'' has to some extent fallen out of use in English, but its equivalents in other languages are often used f ...

and spiritual director of the community, despite his own wishes to live a more retired life. Even so, in 1637 he set up

's famous

, with Jean Hamon and the other Solitaires. His correspondence, recently studied and annotated, is a valuable witness to the practicalities of the monastery's life. Anthoine Singlin continued Saint-Cyran's work spiritually, gaining a great reputation due to his words' simplicity. Uncompromising, charitable and renouncing the world, he became official confessor of Port-Royal in 1648. The problems caused by the signing of the formulary of Alexander VII in 1661 forced him to flee the monastery, then to try not to sign, all to cause as little scandal as he could. Taking refuge at the home of the

duchesse de Longueville Duchesse (Duchesse satin) was a soft, heavy, and glossy satin cloth made in France. Weave Duchesse was produced with a satin weave with fine silk threads using a higher number of threads per square inch in the warp with at least seven floati ...

at Paris, where he died 3 years later in 1664.

Bibliography

Anne-Claire Josse, ''Lettres d'Antoine Singlin''. Edited by Anne-Claire Josse, Paris, Nolin, 2003, 553 p.

Sources

Thérèse Monthéard, « Quelques personnages illustres » in ''Chroniques de Port-Royal'' n°54, 2004, p. 50-51. {{DEFAULTSORT:Singlin 1607 births 1664 deaths 17th-century French Roman Catholic priests Jansenists