He was an ardent student of Tauler and Thomas a Kempis, and became an adherent of the quietistic doctrines of Mme Bourignon.
As for the author, he was no Essene, for he recognizes animal sacrifices and cherishes the Messianic hope; he was not a Sadducee, for he looks forward to the establishment of the Messianic kingdom (x.); nor a Zealot, for the quietistic ideal is upheld (ix.), and the kingdom is established by God Himself (x.).
Nor yet was he a Zealot, for the quietistic ideal is upheld (ix.), and the kingdom is established by God Himself (x.).
They seem generally to have inclined to a quietistic accommodation to established forms of faith, till better times came.
He held monks strictly to the performance of their vows; took care to satisfy himself of the fitness of candidates for bishoprics; enjoined regular catechetical instruction, greater simplicity in preaching, and greater reverence in worship. The moral teaching of the Jesuits incurred his condemnation (1679) (see Liguori), an act which the society never forgave, and which it partially revenged by forcing, through the Inquisition, the condemnation of the quietistic doctrines of Molinos (1687), for which Innocent entertained some sympathy (see MoLINOs).