Jean du Vergier de Hauranne

Jean du Vergier de Hauranne was a French Catholic priest and theologian who introduced Jansenism into France. He was born in Bayonne to a family of Gascon and Basque merchants. He studied with the Jesuits of Agen and then at the Sorbonne and the Catholic University of Leuven. He formed a friendship with Cornelius Jansen, who shared his interest in the writings of Augustine of Hippo. He became the commendatory abbot of the Abbey of Saint-Cyran in 1620 and was known as the Abbé de Saint-Cyran for the rest of his life. He also became friends with Charles de Condren, Pierre de Bérulle, and the Arnauld family. He was the spiritual director and confessor of the nuns of Port-Royal des Champs, where he promoted a rigorous and austere form of piety. He also encouraged Jansen to write his book Augustinus, which became the source of the Jansenist teachings. He opposed the policies of Cardinal Richelieu and was imprisoned at Vincennes from 1638 to 1642. He died in Paris in 1643, shortly after hearing of the condemnation of Jansen's teachings by Pope Urban VIII. He left behind many letters and treatises that influenced the development of Jansenism in France and abroad.