Théologien du Grand Siècle, minor de la République des Lettres, Isaac Papin (1657-1709) est né calviniste. Il appartient à l'École théologique dite de Saumur : fils spirituel du théologien novateur Claude Pajon (son oncle), il adopte les théories de ce dernier sur la grâce et, lecteur de Spinoza dès 1681, développe une conception originale de la tolérance à une période d’effervescence sur cette question dans la pensée protestante. Au moment de la révocation de l'édit de Nantes, Papin rejoint le Refuge : il est alors proche de citoyens des Lettres comme Jacques Lenfant, Jean Le Clerc et Pierre Bayle. Il s’installe d'abord en Angleterre où il est ordonné prêtre de l'Église anglicane puis se rend aux Provinces-Unies, puis dans le Saint-Empire où il tente de s'installer comme pasteur d'une Église wallonne. Son identité de novateur déclenche l'opposition de l'orthodoxe Pierre Jurieu (déjà ennemi de Pajon) qui l'empêche d'atteindre son but. Il décide alors de se convertir et revient en France en 1690, où il passe au catholicisme grâce à Bossuet. Jusqu’alors nomade huguenot de la République des Lettres, Papin se mue en catholique sédentaire dans sa ville natale, Blois : il devient l'un des acteurs de la controverse antiprotestante et se rapproche du jansénisme grâce à l’un de ses amis,également pasteur calviniste converti. En associant histoire sociale des réseaux théologiques et religieux et histoire des idées et des controverses, cette biographie intellectuelle retrace la trajectoire théologique particulière d’un converti du Grand Siècle passé de l’humanisme réformé de Saumur à un jansénisme entre Nicole et Quesnel. / Theologian of the Grand Siècle, minor of the Republic of Letters, Isaac Papin (1657-1709) was born Calvinist. He belongs to the so-called theological school “École de Saumur” : spiritual son of pioneering theologian Claude Pajon (his uncle), he adopts his theories on grace and, as Spinoza reader from 1680, he develops an original design of tolerance during a boom period on this issue in Protestant thought. At the time of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, Papin joins the Refuge : he is then close to Letters’ citizens such as Jacques Lenfant, Jean Le Clercand Pierre Bayle. He first moves to England where he is ordained priest of the Anglican Church. Then he goes to the United Provinces and to the Holy Empire, where he tries to settle as a pastor of a Walloon Church. His innovative identity triggers opposition from the Orthodox Pierre Jurieu (Pajon’s former enemy) that prevents him from reaching his goal. He decides to convert and returns to France in 1690, where he becomes a Catholic under the authority of Bossuet. Until then nomadic Huguenot of the Republic of Letters, Papin turns into a sedentary Catholic in his hometown, Blois.He becomes one of the actors of the anti-Protestant controversy and approaches the Jansenism thanks to a friend who is also a converted Calvinist pastor. By combining social history of theological and religious networks and history of ideas and controversies, this intellectual biography traces the particular path of a theologian converted of the Grand Siècle, from reformed humanism of Saumur to Jansenism, between Nicole and Quesnel.

Il lavoro nasce come prosecuzione del saggio del Professor Langella "Manzoni poeta teologo". Consta di tre parti: una iniziale rassegna critica fa quasi da pretesto per trovare assetto e convergenza metodologica. Il secondo capitolo ripercorre due grandi questioni biografiche manzoniane (conversione e giansenismo). Il terzo capitolo, eminentemente stilistico, contiene anche una riflessione sul valore della similitudine in Manzoni. Schedate in appendice tutte le similitudini del "Fermo e Lucia" e dei "Promessi Sposi". / Dr. Raffaella’s Battaglini’s work was born as an ideal completion of Professor Langella's essay "Manzoni poeta teologo". The present essay is evidently threefold: the critical review at the beginning functions almost as a way - we might even say a pretext – to find the right methodological approach for the entire work. The biographical overview is focused on the knots of Manzoni’s conversion on one hand, and of his Jansenism on the other. A sort of status quaestionis of Manzoni’s Jansenism is presented in the Second Chapter. The final stylistic analysis – which was initially supposed to appear at the beginning of the essay – has undoubtedly great qualities and reveals Dr. Raffaella Battaglini’s talent. The monographic study of the simile summarizes and revives many of the remarks (Trompeo, Petrocchi, Cerisola, Raimondi can be quoted among others) that the critical corpus about Manzoni has often pointed out but not always fully developped. The approach to the text is easy without being ingenuous, the remarks are always thoughtful, the prose is fluent and lively. The final appendix about simile, patiently composed, happily fulfills a literary whole contemplari et aliis contemplata tradere.

La presente ricerca si propone di ricostruire la biografia intellettuale di Giovanni Battista Guadagnini (1723-1807), esponente di primo piano del giansenismo italiano del secondo Settecento. Attraverso lo studio di opere inedite e di numero rilevante di lettere scambiate con i principali protagonisti della cultura religiosa del suo tempo , si è cercato di ricostruire il pensiero teologico-politico di Guadagnini in un arco cronologico compreso tra la fine degli anni Sessanta del Settecento e i primi anni del XIX secolo. / This research aims at presenting the intellectual biography of Giovanni Battista Guadagnini (1723-1807), one of the most important exponents of the 18th century Italian Jansenism. Through the study of unpublished works and a significant number of letters exchanged with the main protagonists of the religious culture of his time, we tried to study the Guadagnini’s theological-political thought between the end of the 18th century and the first years of the 19th century.

Master's thesis Transformations of the Church at the Time of the Incoming Enlightenment discusses the ongoing contradictions between faiths. Catholic confession, which initially imposed on all subjects and nobilities in the Roman Empire has been slowly losing its previous power. Its power has been decreasing in inverse proportion by the time Enlightenment spreaded to the Czech lands throughout Germany and Italy. It changed everything, what was perceived in some way, and in turn created a lot of new knowledge. Enlightenment appeared under the rule of Emperor Charles VI., although not as much as of his daughter Marie Terezie and of his grandson Emperor Joseph II. at all. Joseph II. transformed his entire empire based on his Enlightenment ideas. By the time of reforms the "liberation" of non-Catholics and the abolition of serfdom is gradually coming. The Church at this time was very fragmented and was creating new spiritual insights on the Catholic Church and Christianity itself.

L’abbaye Saint-Michel de Saint-Mihiel est fondée par l’abbaye de Saint-Denis, sur l’ordre du roi Pépin le Bref, après 755 et avant 772, sur les hauteurs boisées de la rive droite de la Meuse, à une trentaine de kilomètres au sud de Verdun. Elle est réinstallée avant 824 au bord de la Meuse et agrégée à l’ordre de saint Benoît, réorganisé par saint Benoît d’Aniane, à la demande del’empereur Louis le Pieux.En 954, l’abbaye est donnée en dot à la fille d’Hugues le Grand qui épouse le duc de Haute-Lorraine Frédéric 1er. Ils sont les ancêtres des ducs de Bar, devenus aussi ducs de Lorraine au XVème siècle. L’abbaye reste barroise jusqu’en 1766, date du rattachement des deux duchés à la France.C’est une des abbayes bénédictines importantes des deux duchés. Elle fait partie de la province de Lorraine de la congrégation bénédictine de Saint-Vanne, créée en 1604, et qui regroupe une cinquantaine de maisons en Champagne, Lorraine et Franche-Comté.Le XVIIème siècle est une période difficile pour la Lorraine et le Barrois, pris dans la terrible guerre de Trente Ans de 1631 à 1661. Les duchés et l’abbaye de Saint-Mihiel se relèvent de leurs ruines et se préparent pour un XVIIIème siècle qu’on pourrait prédire d’épanouissement matériel, intellectuel et spirituel. Semblent en témoigner, pour l’abbaye, ses bâtiments que l’on peuttoujours admirer au XXIème siècle et, en particulier, sa magnifique bibliothèque réaménagée vers 1775 et qui renferme toujours plus de 6 000 livres ayant appartenu aux bénédictins.La réalité est plus nuancée et complexe si l’on s’intéresse à ces religieux de 1689, sommet de leur épanouissement spirituel et intellectuel, à 1790, année de la suppression des ordres religieux en France. Nous avons la chance de disposer de leurs témoignages, le plus important étant celui de leur très savant bibliothécaire, de 1717 à 1756, dom Ildefonse Catelinot. / The Saint-Michel monastery of Saint-Mihiel was founded by the SaintDenis abbey, on the request of King Pépin the Younger, after 755 and before 772, on the forested heights of the right bank of the river Meuse, at about 30 km south of Verdun. It was reinstalled before 824 on the edge of the Meuse and aggregated to the Saint Benedict order, reorganized by Saint Benedict d’Aniane on the request of the emperor Louis the Pious.In 954, the monastery is given as a dowry to the daughter of Hugh the Great who marries the Duke of Haute-Lorraine Frederick 1st. They are the ancestors of the Dukes of Bar, who also became the Dukes of Lorraine in the 15th century. The abbey remains linked to the Barrois until 1766, which is the date of attachment of the two duchies to France.It is one of the important Benedictine abbeys of the two dukedoms. It is part of the province of Lorraine of the Benedictine congregation of Saint-Vanne, created in 1604, which comprises about fifty monasteries in Champagne, Lorraine and Franche-Comté.The 17th century is a difficult period for the Lorraine and Barrois, involved in the terrible Thirty Years war from 1631 to 1661. The dukedoms and the Saint-Mihiel abbey recover from their ruins and get prepared for an 18th century that one could predict as a material, intellectual and spiritual blooming. What seems to testify, for the abbey, are its buildings that one can still admire in the 21th century, and particularly its magnificent library refurnished around 1775 and which still comprises over 6 000 books having belonged to the Benedictines.The reality is more balanced and complex if one gets interested in these religious figures from 1689, culmination of their spiritual and intellectual blooming, until 1790, year of the withdrawal of the religious orders in France. We are lucky to have their testimonies, the most important being the one of their scholarly librarian, from 1717 to 1756, Dom Ildefonse Catelinot.

La riforma attuata nel ramo femminile dell'ordine di San Benedetto da Catherine Mectilde de Bar [Madre Mectilde del Santissimo Sacramento] (1614-1698). La formazione, l'opera e gli incontri della religiosa lorenese sullo sfondo delle vicende politiche ed ecclesiali della Francia del XVII secolo. Gli aspetti storici, istituzionali e teologici legati alla fondazione e allo sviluppo dell'Istituto delle benedettine dell'Adorazione Perpetua del Santissimo Sacramento. / The reform realised by Catherine Mectilde de Bar [Mother Mectilde of the Most Holy Sacrament] (1614-1698) in the feminine branch of the Benedictine Order. The formation, the works and the writings of this nun from Lorraine in the midst of the political and ecclesial events in seventeenth century France. The historical, institutional and theological aspects connected with the foundation and the development of the institute of the Benedictine nuns of the perpetual adoration of the Most Holy Sacrament.