Agnès Arnauld

Abbess Catherine-Agnès Arnault by Philippe de Champaigne

Agnès Arnauld, (1593–1672), was a Cistercian nun and the abbess of the Abbey of Port-Royal, near Paris. She was a major figure in French Jansenism.

Arnauld was born Jeanne-Catherine-Agnès Arnauld, a member of the Arnauld family, sister of Antoine Arnauld, called "le Grand Arnauld" and of Angélique Arnauld. Agnès Arnauld succeeded her mother Angélique as head of the abbey in 1658, thus leading it during the most repressive anti-Jansenist period. She organised the movement against signing the Formulary of Alexander VII and for this was confronted by Hardouin de Péréfixe, the Archbishop of Paris. She was also the author of the Constitutions of Port-Royal, a text which reformed the material and spiritual rule of the abbey in a spirit of Cistercian renewal.

Bibliography

• Perle Bugnon-Secrétan, Mère Agnès Arnauld. 1593–1672. Abbesse de Port-Royal, Cerf, 1996, p. 272