Autour de l’"Instructio ad tyronem" (1672). Les enjeux d’une définition dogmatique de l’Immaculée Conception

This article concentrates on the disputes born from de redaction followed by the publication of a little theology handbook entitled “Instructio ad tyronem” (1672). Work of a Canon of Gent, Peter van Buscum, it causes passionate reactions in the Low Countries because it questions the possibility of a dogmatic definition of the Immaculate Conception. The A. shows how two clans confront each other. The first group comprises some theologians and priests trained in the Louvain University to the positive theology. They promote, from a theological as well as religious point of view, a moderate and rigorous behaviour, invoking the obligation of fidelity to the scriptural and patristic sources. The others (Eugène-Albert d’Allamont, Gent’s Bishop, Carlo Francesco Airoldi, internuncio, Mendicants and Jesuits) are the defenders of Rome. They sustain some demonstrative worship forms, sometimes ostentatious. The one and the others weren’t able to get along. Their opposition manifested itself around the “Instructio”.