Jacqueline Pascal

Jacqueline Pascal (October 5, 1625 – October 4, 1661) was a French poet and Jansenist nun. The sister of Gilberte Périer and Blaise Pascal, she began writing poetry at a young age and gained recognition for it. As an adult, she became a Jansenist and entered the Port-Royal abbey as a nun.

Biography

Early life

Jacqueline Pascal¹ was born on October 5, 1625 in Clermont, France to Étienne Pascal and Antoinette Begon. She had two older siblings, Gilberte Périer and Blaise Pascal, as well as two older siblings who died in infancy.² She was baptized on October 10, 1625 into a Roman Catholic family. Antoinette died in 1626, and Étienne, a lawyer, decided to educate his children at home.² The family lived in Clermont for the first years of Jacqueline's life, before moving to Paris in 1631.² At the age of seven, Gilberte tried to teach Jacqueline how to read, which Jacqueline expressed disinterest in. When Gilberte introduced her to poetry, Jacqueline began reading and writing extensively. In 1636, she and two friends, also young girls, wrote and performed in a five-act play. After writing a poem for Anne of Austria, Jacqueline was summoned to her court to demonstrate her artistic abilities, where she wrote poems on demand for the ladies of the court. A collection of her work, Poetry of the Young Pascal, was published in 1638 by a family friend. During this time, the Pascal family was well-connected in Parisian society. Later in 1638, her poetry took on more religious themes, and she became ill with smallpox. She recovered, but had life-long scarring from it.

Following protests in Paris by stockholders in 1639, Étienne fled Paris after an order for his arrest was issued. Jacqueline petitioned Cardinal Richelieu to pardon him. Richelieu acquiesced and the family moved to Normandy when Étienne was appointed as a tax collector in . While there, Jacqueline composed , which won the 1640 Prix de la Tour literary award. Jacqueline continued to study history, philosophy, and poetry during this time. In 1646, Étienne was injured in a fall and was treated by two who proselytized to the family. Jacqueline converted, as did her father and siblings. Jacqueline was inspired by the works of and read numerous Jansenist texts. Their shared religious belief brought Jacqueline and Blaise closer together, and she cared for him during his periods of illness. While visiting Paris in 1647, she began attending the , a Jansenist stronghold, and Jacqueline decided she wished to become a nun. Étienne objected to this, and Jacqueline could only visit Port-Royal in secret. While living with her sister in Auvergne to avoid civil unrest in Paris, Jacqueline practiced a monastic lifestyle in preparation for entering Port-Royal, secluding herself from her family, making items for the poor, and practicing . During this time, she communicated extensively with Port-Royal, writing to the abbess and , the chaplain. Mother Agnès expressed concern at Jacqueline's strict austerity and agitation that she had not yet joined the convent.