Jean Le Noir, too outspoken?

It is hard to know whether to hail or to hiss some captives of faith. Such a one was Jean Le Noir (1622–1692). A canonist (specialist in church law) at Seez, France, he accused his superiors of heresy in writings and in sermons. As they were orthodox Catholics, his attacks went nowhere. He himself was attracted to Jansenism, a Catholic reform movement that, like Calvinism, looked back to Augustine’s ideas of predestination and limited free will, but was censured and outlawed by various popes. He forbade the folk of one town to venerate the Virgin, and unloaded on his bishop for allowing jugglers at a Christmas celebration. Eventually his writings and accusations led to legal restrictions. When he failed to abide by these, he was sentenced to the galleys. He issued a moving appeal and his sentence was reduced to imprisonment. He served time in three prisons, dying in captivity in Nantes.