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60 THE HISTORY OF HERESIES,
refused obedience, and was consequently obliged to quit the
Congregation, and left Paris ;
he then retired to Orleans (1).
19. As he was not in safety in France, he went to Brussels,
in 1685, and joined Arnauld, who had fled previously, and was
concealed there, and they conjointly published several works,
filled with Jansenistic opinions. They were both banished from
Brussels, in 1690, and went to Delft, in Holland, first after
wards, to the Pais de Liege and then again returned to Brus
sels. Quesnel, after having administered the last Sacraments to
Arnauld, changed his dress, adopted a feigned name, and lived
concealed in that city, where he was elected by the Jansenists
as their chief, and was called by them the "Father Prior."
From his hiding place, he unceasingly sent forth various pam
phlets, defending and justifying his conduct, in opposing the
Decrees of the Popes, and the Ordinances of the Sovereigns,
condemning the Appellants. This appears from the sentence
passed on his conduct, by the Archbishop of Mechlin (2).
20. The Archbishop of Mechlin, in 1703, determined to ex
tirpate the tares sown by the works of Quesnel, and, empowered
by the authority of the King of Spain, his Sovereign, caused
a strict search to be made for the author and his faithful friend,
Gerberonius, and on the 30th of May, they were both confined
in the Archiepiscopal prison.
Gerberonius remained there until
1710, when Cardinal de Noailles induced him to retract and sign
the Formula, and he was liberated, but Quesnel was detained
only about three months, having escaped through a small hole
made in the wall by his friend (he was a very small man), and
taken refuge in Holland, where he continued to write in favour
of Jansenism. He was called a second Paul, after his escape,
by his disciples, and he himself, writing to the Vicar of Mechlin,
says, that he was liberated from his prison by an angel like St.
Peter. The difference was great, however ; St. Peter did not
concert the means of escape with his friends outside, by writing
with a nail on a plate of lead, and telling them to break a hole
at night through a certain part of the wall of his prison, as
Quesnel did (3). A process was instituted
:
Theo1 5 p -
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^ Tour - 397; >
3
against
Gotti c - 1
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(3) Tour. p. 300; Gotti, n. 5.
him in