Jacobins
Jacobins
Political club of French Revolution, originating in the Club Breton at Versailles in 1789, named Jacobins because their meetings were held in the refectory and library of the Dominican monastery , rue Saint Honore, Paris, which they rented. The monks who had been called by this name in France from their first house in rue Saint Jacques (Latin: Jacobus), are said to have often attended their assemblies. In 1791 the convent was suppressed by the state, and the Jacobins assembled in the chapel. At first the club did not hold advanced views; later the extremist element became dominant. It was closed after death of Robespierre. The name came to be applied to all holding radical views, and sometimes even to liberals.
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Jacobins
a name applied in France to the Dominicans (q.v.), because their principal convent was situated near the gate of St. James (Jacobus), in Paris. At the commencement of the first French revolution the meetings of its most zealous promoters were. held in the hall of this convent, and from this circumstance Jacobin came to be another name for revolutionist.