Thomassin (Louis d'Eynac)
THOMASSIN (LOUIS D'EYNAC)
Theologian, historian, and canonist; b. Aix-en-Provence, Aug. 28, 1619; d. Paris, Dec. 24, 1695. He entered the Oratory at Aix in 1632, was ordained there in 1643, and became professor of theology at Saumur in 1648. In 1668, at the Seminary of Saint-Magloire in Paris, he distinguished himself by his public lectures in positive theology. After the publication of the Dissertationes in concilia generalia et particularia (Paris 1667) and Mémoires sur la grâce (3 v. Louvain 1668), he gave up his teaching position. Thus freed, he devoted himself to his great works: the Ancienne et nouvelle discipline de l'Église touchant les bénéfices et les bénéficiers (3 v. Paris 1678–79; Latin tr., 1682); Dogmata theologica (3v. Paris 1680–89); Traités historiques et dogmatiques sur divers points de la discipline de l'Église et de la morale chrétienne (7 v. Paris 1680–97). Along with D. Petau, Thomassin was one of the masters of positive theology.
Bibliography: a. ingold, Essai de bibliographie oratorienne (Paris 1880–82). l. batterel, Mémoires domestiques pour servir à l'histoire de l'Oratoire, ed. a. ingold and e. bonnardet, 5 v. (Paris 1903–11) v.3. a. molien, Dictionnaire de théologie catholique, ed. a. vacant, 15 v. (Paris 1903–50; Tables générales 1951–) 15.1:787–823. p. nordhues, Der Kirchenbegriff des Louis de Thomassin (Leipzig 1958).
[p. auvray]