François Annat

Who was François Annat?

François Annat was a French Jesuit, theologian, writer, and one of the foremost opponents of Jansenism.

He was born in Rodes, and entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus on 16 February 1607. He was professor of philosophy for six years, and theology for seven, in the college of his order in Toulouse, of which he was subsequently appointed rector. Later he filled the same office at Montpellier. He was assistant to the General in Rome, and Provincial of Paris. In 1654 he was sent to the court as confessor of Louis XIV, and, after the faithful discharge of the duties of his office, he felt compelled to resign, owing to the King's extramarital relationship with the Duchess de la Vallière.

He became known to the academic world in 1632, by a publication of a defense of the Jesuit doctrine of Divine grace against the Oratorian Gibieuf. In 1644 he began a series of more lengthy contributions of the famous controversy that sought to reconcile human freedom with Divine efficacious grace.