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Francois Fenelon
François de Salignac de La Mothe-Fénelon (1651 - 1715). French Catholic archbishop, theologian, and author born in Sainte-Mondane, Périgord, to noble but impoverished parents. Educated by tutors in Greek and Latin classics, he studied at the University of Cahors and Saint-Sulpice seminary in Paris, earning a theology doctorate in 1677. Ordained a priest in 1675, he directed Nouvelles Catholiques (1679-1685), educating young Huguenot converts, and preached in Saintonge (1685-1688) to persuade Protestants after the Edict of Nantes’ revocation, favoring persuasion over force. Named tutor to Louis XIV’s grandson, the Duc de Bourgogne, in 1689, he wrote Les Aventures de Télémaque (1699), a critique of absolutism that led to his banishment from court. Elected to the French Academy in 1693 and made Archbishop of Cambrai in 1695, he authored over 30 works, including Traité de l’éducation des filles (1687) and Explication des maximes des saints (1697), defending Quietist spirituality, which sparked conflict with Bishop Bossuet and papal condemnation in 1699. Unmarried, Fénelon lived ascetically, focusing on pastoral care in Cambrai. His words, “True prayer is only another name for the love of God,” reflect his mystical bent. His writings, translated into 60 languages, influenced Rousseau, Jefferson, and modern education, blending faith with humane governance. Despite controversies, his eloquent sermons and letters endure in Catholic and literary circles.
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Francois Fenelon emphasizes the importance of having love, stating that whoever possesses love has everything. He encourages maintaining faithfulness in religious practices even when lacking pleasure in them, highlighting the purity and safety of fidelity sustained without emotional delights. Fenelon advises engaging in Christian conversations with trusted family members and daily reading and reflection to gain strength for the sacrifices required by God, emphasizing that love for God is the key to fulfilling all other aspects of life.
Who Has Love, Has All.
LETTER XXVIII. Who has love, has all. I have thought frequently, since yesterday, on the matters you communicated to me, and I have increasing confidence that God will sustain you. Though you take no great pleasure in religious exercises, you must not neglect to be faithful in them, as far as your health will permit. A convalescent has but little appetite, but he must eat to sustain life. It would be very serviceable to you, if you could occasionally have a few minutes of Christian converse with such of your family as you can confide in, and, as to the choice, be guided in perfect liberty by your impressions at the moment. God does not call you by any lively emotions, and I heartily rejoice at it, if you will but remain faithful; for a fidelity, unsustained by delights, is far purer, and safer from danger, than one accompanied by those tender feelings, which may be seated too exclusively in the imagination. A little reading and recollection every day, will be the means of insensibly giving you light and strength for all the sacrifices God will require of you. Love Him, and I will acquit you of everything else; for everything else will come by love. I do not ask from you a love tender and emotional, but only that your will should lean towards love, and that, notwithstanding all the corrupt desires of your heart, you should prefer God before self and the whole world.
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François de Salignac de La Mothe-Fénelon (1651 - 1715). French Catholic archbishop, theologian, and author born in Sainte-Mondane, Périgord, to noble but impoverished parents. Educated by tutors in Greek and Latin classics, he studied at the University of Cahors and Saint-Sulpice seminary in Paris, earning a theology doctorate in 1677. Ordained a priest in 1675, he directed Nouvelles Catholiques (1679-1685), educating young Huguenot converts, and preached in Saintonge (1685-1688) to persuade Protestants after the Edict of Nantes’ revocation, favoring persuasion over force. Named tutor to Louis XIV’s grandson, the Duc de Bourgogne, in 1689, he wrote Les Aventures de Télémaque (1699), a critique of absolutism that led to his banishment from court. Elected to the French Academy in 1693 and made Archbishop of Cambrai in 1695, he authored over 30 works, including Traité de l’éducation des filles (1687) and Explication des maximes des saints (1697), defending Quietist spirituality, which sparked conflict with Bishop Bossuet and papal condemnation in 1699. Unmarried, Fénelon lived ascetically, focusing on pastoral care in Cambrai. His words, “True prayer is only another name for the love of God,” reflect his mystical bent. His writings, translated into 60 languages, influenced Rousseau, Jefferson, and modern education, blending faith with humane governance. Despite controversies, his eloquent sermons and letters endure in Catholic and literary circles.