Baius, Michael
Baius or Bajus, Michael
(bā`yəs, bā`jəs), 1513–89, Flemish Roman Catholic theologian, also known as Michel de Bay. He was chancellor of the Univ. of Louvain and was sent to the Council of Trent. Baius was the center of a subtle controversy on gracegrace,in Christian theology, the free favor of God toward humans, which is necessary for their salvation. A distinction is made between natural grace (e.g., the gift of life) and supernatural grace, by which God makes a person (born sinful because of original sin) capable of
..... Click the link for more information. , in which he is said to have been the forerunner of Jansenism (see under Jansen, CornelisJansen, Cornelis
, 1585–1638, Dutch Roman Catholic theologian. He studied at the Univ. of Louvain and became imbued with the idea of reforming Christian life along the lines of a return to St. Augustine.
..... Click the link for more information. ). His position was peculiar in giving original sin an important place while at the same time making man partly instrumental in his own redemption. His doctrines were condemned several times (especially by the bull of St. Pius V, Ex omnibus afflictionibus, 1567), but Baius abjured, or recanted, each time, and he died in the church.