Jean Soanen was a French Oratorian and bishop of Senez. He was a convinced Jansenist.

In opposition to the papal bull

Papal bull

A Papal bull is a particular type of letters patent or charter issued by a Pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the bulla that was appended to the end in order to authenticate it....

 Unigenitus

Unigenitus

Unigenitus , an apostolic constitution in the form of a papal bull promulgated by Pope Clement XI in 1713, opened the final phase of the Jansenist controversy in France...

, he with Charles-Joachim Colbert, bishop of Montpellier, Pierre de la Broue who was bishop of Mirepoix, and Pierre de Langle who was bishop of Boulogne, appealed against it in 1717 to a general council. This group and their followers were known as Appellants; the council was though entirely hypothetical as an idea.

Later, he sent out a pastoral letter to his congregation, urging the reading of Pasquier Quesnel

Pasquier Quesnel

Pasquier Quesnel was a French Jansenist theologian.He was born in Paris, and, after graduating from the Sorbonne with distinction in 1653, he joined the French Oratory in 1657...

. Pierre Guérin de Tencin

Pierre Guérin de Tencin

Pierre-Paul Guérin de Tencin , French ecclesiastic, was archbishop of Embrun and Lyon, and a cardinal. His sister Claudine was a spur to his career....

, the archbishop of Embrun, then in 1727 had him exiled from his diocese.

He died in 1740 at La Chaise-Dieu

La Chaise-Dieu

La Chaise-Dieu is commune in the Haute-Loire department in south-central France.-Geography:La Chaise-Dieu occupies a 1082 m butte which dominates a plain between the mounts of Livradois and Velay...

, where he was exiled since 1727.