quietism

[Eng. quiet; -ism; Fr. quiétis me.] 1. Ord. Lang.: Peace, quiet, tranquillity, peacefulne , quietude. "An air of quietism which spreads all over his pictures." -Century Magazine , Dec., 1878, p. 562. 2. Theol . & Church Hist . The doctrine that the e ence of true religion consists in the withdrawal of the soul from external and finite objects, and its quiet concentration upon God. Itisa form of mysticism, and has been held by individuals in the Church in all ages. In the fourteenth century it attracted notice in connection with the Hesychasts. [HESYCHAST.) The term was specially used to describe the views advocated by Miguel de Molinos, a 1670, under the patronage of Cardinal Odeschalchi, Spanish priest, who settled in Rome in 1669 and afterward Innocent XI. In 1676 he published his Guida spirituale (Spiritual Guide), which was soon afterward translated into Italian, French, Latin, and English. On August 28, 1687, the Inquisition condemned sixty-eight propositions in his writings, and on November 20 he was imprisoned for life, and died December 28, 1697. Among his followers was a Barn a bite, François de la Combe, who instructed Madame Guyon. In 1694 a commi ion, with Bo uet, bishop of Meaux, at its head, condemned thirty errors in her writings. She was defended by Fénelon, bishop of Cambray, whose writings in sin, as; expect, Xenophon, exist. ph = f. IMG:content-0109.png:[blocks in formation]