Michael Baius

He was born at Melun in Hainault . Educated at the Catholic University Of Leuven , he studied Philosophy and Theology with distinguished success, and was rewarded by a series of academic appointments. In 1552 Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor , appointed him professor of scriptural interpretation in the university. In 1563 he was nominated one of the Belgian representatives at the council of Trent , but arrived too late to take an important part in its deliberations. At Leuven , however, he obtained a great name as a leader in the anti-scholastic reaction of the 16th Century . The champions of this reaction fought under the banner of Augustine Of Hippo ; and Baius' Augustinian predilections brought him into conflict with Rome on questions of grace, free-will and the like. In 1567 Pope Pius V condemned seventy-nine propositions from his writings in the Papal Bull ''Ex omnibus afflictionibus''. To this Baius submitted; though certain indiscreet utterances on the part of himself and his supporters led to a renewal of the condemnation in 1579 by Pope Gregory XIII . Baius, however, was allowed to retain his professorship, and even became chancellor of Leuven in 1575 .

He died, still holding these two offices, in 1589 . His writings are described by Adolf Harnack as a curious mixture of Catholic orthodoxy and unconscious tendencies to Protestantism . His principal works were published in a collected form at Cologne , 1696 ; some large treatises were excluded. There is a study of both books and author by Linsenmann, ''Michael Baius und die Grundlegung des Jansenismus'', published at Tübingen in 1867 .

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Michael Baius