Pierre Nicole (; 19 October 1625 – 16 November 1695) was a French writer and one of the most distinguished of the 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 ...

Life

Born in

Chartres Chartres () is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Eure-et-Loir Departments of France, department in the Centre-Val de Loire Regions of France, region in France. It is located about southwest of Paris. At the 2019 census, there were 1 ...

in 1625, Nicole was the son of a provincial barrister, who took in charge his education. Sent to Paris in 1642 to study

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

, he soon entered into relations with the

community at Port-Royal through his aunt, Marie des Anges Suireau, who was for a short time abbess of the convent, and he taught for a while at the Petites écoles de Port-Royal. Some scruple of conscience forbade him to proceed to the priesthood, and he remained throughout life a "clerk in minor orders," although a profound theological scholar. For some years he was a master in the "little school" for boys established at Port Royal, and had the honour of teaching Greek to young

Jean Racine Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ; ; 22 December 1639 – 21 April 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, along with Molière and Corneille, as well as an important literary figure in the Western tr ...

, the future poet. But his chief duty was to act, in collaboration with

Antoine Arnauld Antoine Arnauld (; 6 February 16128 August 1694) was a French Catholic theologian, priest, philosopher and mathematician. He was one of the leading intellectuals of the Jansenist group of Port-Royal and had a very thorough knowledge of patr ...

, as general editor of the controversial literature put forth by the Jansenists. He had a large share in collecting the materials for Pascal's '' Provincial Letters'' (1656); in 1658 he translated the ''Letters'' into

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

, under the pseudonym of Nicholas Wendrock. In 1662 he coauthored the very successful ''

Port-Royal Logic ''Port-Royal Logic'', or ''Logique de Port-Royal'', is the common name of ''La logique, ou l'art de penser'', an important textbook on logic first published anonymously in 1662 by Antoine Arnauld and Pierre Nicole, two prominent members of the Ja ...

'' with

, based on a Cartesian reading of

Aristotelian logic In logic and formal semantics, term logic, also known as traditional logic, syllogistic logic or Aristotelian logic, is a loose name for an approach to formal logic that began with Aristotle and was developed further in ancient history mostly b ...

. In 1664 he himself began a series of letters, ''Les Imaginaires'', intended to show that the heretical opinions commonly ascribed to the Jansenists really existed only in the imagination of the Jesuits. His letters being violently attacked by Desmarets de Saint-Sorlin, an erratic minor poet who professed great devotion to the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

, Nicole replied to him in another series of letters, ''Les Visionnaires'' (1666). In the course of these he observed that poets and dramatists were no better than "public poisoners." This remark stung Racine to the quick; he turned not only on his old master, but on all Port Royal, in a scathing reply, which—as Boileau told him—did more honour to his head than to his heart. About the same time Nicole became involved in a controversy about

transubstantiation Transubstantiation (; Greek language, Greek: μετουσίωσις ''metousiosis'') is, according to the teaching of the Catholic Church, "the change of the whole substance of sacramental bread, bread into the substance of the Body of Christ and ...

with the

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

Claude; out of this grew a massive work, ''La Perpétuité de la foi de l'Église catholique touchant l'eucharistie'' (1669), the joint effort of Nicole and Antoine Arnauld. But Nicole's most popular production was his ''Essais de morale'', a series of short discussions on practical

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

. The first volume was published in 1671, and was followed at irregular intervals by others; altogether the series numbers fourteen volumes. In 1679, on the renewal of the persecution of the Jansenists, Nicole was forced to flee to Belgium in company with Arnauld. But the two soon parted. Nicole was elderly and in poor health; the life of a fugitive was not to his taste, and he complained that he wanted rest. "Rest," answered Arnauld, "when you have eternity to rest in!" In 1683 Nicole made a rather ambiguous peace with the authorities and was allowed to come back to Paris. There he continued his literary labours up to the last; he was writing a refutation of the new

heresy Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, particularly the accepted beliefs or religious law of a religious organization. A heretic is a proponent of heresy. Heresy in Heresy in Christian ...

of the Quietists, when death overtook him. He died in Paris in 1695. Nicole was one of the most attractive figures of Port Royal. Many stories are told of his quaint absent-mindedness and unreadiness in conversation. His books are distinguished by exactly opposite qualities; they are neat and orderly to excess. Hence they were exceedingly popular with Mme de Sevigné and readers of her class. No other Jansenist writer, not even Pascal, was so successful in putting the position of Port Royal before the world. Several abridgments of the work exist, notably a ''Choix des essais de morale de Nicole'', ed. Silvestre de Saci (Paris, 1857). Nicole's life is told at length in the 4th volume of Sainte-Beuve's ''Port-Royal''.

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* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nicole, Pierre 1625 births 1695 deaths French religious writers Jansenists French logicians Writers from Chartres 17th-century French writers 17th-century French male writers French male non-fiction writers