Jeanne-Catherine-Agnès Arnauld (1593–1672), known as Mother Agnès Arnauld, was a member of the Arnauld family

Arnauld family

The Arnauld family was a noble French family prominent in the 17th century, and closely associated with Jansenism, associating frequently with the Jansenist religious communities in Port-Royal de Paris and Port-Royal des Champs...

, abbess of Port-Royal and a major figure in French Jansenism

Jansenism

Jansenism was a Christian theological movement, primarily in France, that emphasized original sin, human depravity, the necessity of divine grace, and predestination. The movement originated from the posthumously published work of the Dutch theologian Cornelius Otto Jansen, who died in 1638...

.

Sister of Antoine Arnauld, "le Grand Arnauld" and of Mother Angélique Arnauld, she succeeded Angélique as head of the abbey of Port-Royal-des-Champs de Paris in 1658, thus leading it during the most repressive anti-Jansenist period. She organised the movement against signing the Formulary of Alexander VII and for this was confronted by Hardouin de Péréfixe

Hardouin de Péréfixe de Beaumont

Paul Philippe Hardouin de Beaumont de Péréfixe was a French historian and clergyman. He was bishop of Rodez, then archbishop of Paris....

, archbishop of Paris. She was also the author of the Constitutions of Port-Royal, a text which ordered the material and spiritual rule in a spirit of Cistercian renewal.