Acquoy is famous as the birthplace of Cornelius Jansensius (Jansen), bishop of Ypres (=Ieper), whose theological views brought forth the movement called Jansenism.
The fact is also noted that in 1714 "he had accepted the Constitution Unigenitus against Jansenism, and insisted on its acceptance by the students."
Not long after the suppression of the Society of Jesus he entered the lists with the Society's traditional enemy, Jansenism, by publishing Esame della vera idea della Santa Sede (Macerata, 1785; Foligno, 1791), a work undertaken in criticism of the Jansenistic doctrines contained in La Vera Idea della Santa Sede by Pietro Tamburini, a professor of the University of Paris.
During the Catholic period of his life, Dalgairns wrote The Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, with an Introduction on the History of Jansenism (London 1853); The German Mystics of the Fourteenth Century (London, 1858) (See German mysticism); The Holy Communion, its Philosophy, Theology and Practice (Dublin, 1861).
But, because of the poem's Jansenist inspiration, Cardinal de Fleury, chief minister of Louis XV, blocked the poet's admission to the Académie Française, and instead Racine was induced to accept the post of inspector-general of taxes at Marseille in Provence.
Henri de Lubac, Augustinianism and Modern Theology (Herder & Herder) ISBN 0-8245-1802-0 This has a treatment of Baius's theology, especially his interpretations of Augustine and his relationship to Jansenius and Jansenism.
He also did much to destroy Jansenism in France, refuted the cas de conscience (1703), commanded obedience to the papal constitution of Pope Clement XI (1705), and severely censured Gaspard Juénin's Institutions théologiques (1708).