Quesnel, Pasquier

Quesnel, Pasquier (päskyā` kĕnĕl`), 1634–1719, French Jansenist writer. He entered the Congregation of the Oratory in 1657 and was made director of the seminary at Paris in 1662. His edition of the works of Pope Leo I was placed on the Index (1676) for its Gallicanism, and Quesnel left his congregation. In 1685 he refused to subscribe to the formulas condemning Jansenism (see under Jansen, Cornelis), and he escaped to Brussels. There he completed his Réflexions morales, a French New Testament with Jansenist commentary. He was imprisoned in 1703 by order of the king of Spain but escaped to Amsterdam. Quesnel's teachings were condemned by Pope Clement XI in 1708 and in 1713 (in the bull Unigenitus).