Jansenism

One cannot discuss the history of the Catholic Church in France without mentioning the heresy of Jansenism. The interesting thing about Jansenism is that it is so little understood, even by educated Catholics. The problem with this heresy is that it was concerned with one of the most complex areas of Catholic theology – the interaction between free will and grace. Without the Church’s vigorous attempts to annihilate this heresy, many Christian believers may not have known what our free will can do, and how obtaining grace assists us in moving towards our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Jansenism was a religious and political movement which developed in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, mainly in France. It was a reaction against certain developments in the Catholic Church and against royal absolutism of Louis XIV and Louis XV. It is named after Cornelius Jansen, who was the Bishop of Ypres in the early 17th century. His main work, Augustinus, was published after his death; in it, he claimed to have rediscovered the true teaching of St. Augustine concerning grace, which had been lost to the Church for centuries. Though he was not considered a heretic, his writings still caused much harm to the Church. At that time, the Jesuits were heavily preaching on the mercy of God. Many saw this as moral laxity.
Also, without this grace, we cannot do anything that is truly good, nor even persevere in good except by grace; Grace prevents and aids our wills in such a way that we owe our salvation to God’s grace; if we do fall, it should be imputed to ourselves; Grace strengthens and supplements our freedom, but in no way destroys