Ysambert, Nicolas

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YSAMBERT, NICOLAS

Theologian; b. Orléans, France, 1569; d. Paris, May 14, 1642. Ysambert studied at the Sorbonne, and upon the completion of his studies (1602) taught theology there (1603). A chair of theology for the study of questions disputed between Catholics and Protestants was established in 1616, and Ysambert was appointed to it by King Louis XIII. It was his custom to use the Summa Theologiae of St. Thomas Aquinas as the basis for his lectures. Publication of his voluminous Commentarius in S. Thomae summam was begun by him; it was completed posthumously (6 v. Paris 1639–48). He taught in particular on the doctrine of grace a distinct form of congruism. The exponent of a moderate form of ultramontanism, Ysambert was a major opponent of E. Richer. He was also the instigator of the censure directed by the theological faculty against Marcantonio de dominis, the apostate archbishop of Spalatro whose De republica christiana was subversive of ecclesiastical authority.

Bibliography: e. puyol, Edmond Richer (Paris 1876). u. horst, Papst Konzil Unfehlbarkeit (Mainz 1978). l. w. brockliss, French Education in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries (Oxford 1987). j. m. gres-gayer, Le Jansénisme en Sorbonne (Paris 1996). h. hurter, Nomenclator literarius theologiae catholicae (Innsbruck 1926) 3:948–949. É. amann, Dictionnaire de théologie catholique, ed. a. vacant et al., (Paris 1903–50) 15.2:3621.