Baius or Bajus, Michael [key], 1513–89, Flemish Roman Catholic theologian, also known as Michel de Bay. He was chancellor of the Univ. of Louvain and was sent to the Council of Trent. Baius was the center of a subtle controversy on grace, in which he is said to have been the forerunner of Jansenism (see under Jansen, Cornelis). His position was peculiar in giving original sin an important place while at the same time making man partly instrumental in his own redemption. His doctrines were condemned several times (especially by the bull of St. Pius V, Ex omnibus afflictionibus, 1567), but Baius abjured, or recanted, each time, and he died in the church.
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