Convulsionnaires of Saint-Médard

The Convulsionnaires (or Convulsionaries) of Saint-Médard were a group of 18th-century French religious pilgrims who exhibited convulsions and later constituted a religious sect and a political movement. This practice originated at the tomb of François de Pâris, an ascetic Jansenist deacon who was buried at the cemetery of the parish of Saint-Médard, Paris. The convulsionnaires were associated with the Jansenist movement, which became more politically active after the papal bull Unigenitus officially declared it heretical and banned it.

The connection between the larger French Jansenist movement and the smaller, more radical convulsionnaire phenomenon is difficult to state with precision. As historian Brian E. Strayer has noted, almost all of the convulsionnaires were Jansenists, but very few Jansenists embraced the convulsionnaires.

The Jansenist context

Jansenism was a religious movement and theology which arose simultaneously in northern France and Flanders in the mid-17th century. It was named for the Dutch theologian Cornelius Jansen, the Bishop of Ypres from 1635 to 1638. Jansen and his friend, l'abbe de Saint-Cyran, are generally considered the fathers of the movement. After Jansen died in 1638, his book Augustinus was published in 1640–41. As the title indicates, Jansen intended for his theology to closely follow that of Augustine of Hippo.