Filozoficzno-teologiczne źródła ewolucji kanoniczego statusu eremity w Królestwie Francji (XVII–XVIII w.): studium historyczno-prawne
Philosophical and Theological Foundations of the Evolution of the Canonical Status of the Hermit in the Kingdom of France (17th–18th Centuries): A Historical-Legal Study

Summary/Abstract: Using the historical-legal method, the article analyses the philosophical and theological sources that underlay the redactions of norms regulating the canonical status of hermits in the Kingdom of France (17th–18th centuries). The article analyses the following Enlightenment philosophical ideas: the concept of natural religion, the anthropology of the Encyclopedists, and the motifs present in French literature, which were then adopted by the legal and canonical culture of the Kingdom of France. This was made possible by “ascetic” theology (that is, Jansenism, Gallicanism, and finally Quietism). The residential bishops, as church lawmakers, through published ordinances and statutes issued at local synods, permanently reformed the canonical status of hermits. The residential bishops obliged the French hermits, for example, to support themselves by the work of their own hands, limiting the right to collect funds to a minimum and introducing the duty of strict subordination of each hermit to the residential bishop. Having the form of a “new” vision of man through “ascetic” theology, the philosophical ideas of the Enlightenment penetrated canon law. Socio-political changes and the evolution of canon law norms eventually led to the decline of the individual form of eremitical life in the Kingdom of France in the 18th century.

• Details
• Contents