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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 preaches about the importance of pure faith in seeing God alone, emphasizing the need to trust in God's provision day by day without worrying about the future. He describes pure faith as constantly keeping the soul in suspense, relying on God's freedom to act while focusing on being faithful in what is within our control. This momentary dependence and peace under the uncertainty of the future is likened to a silent martyrdom, leading to a gradual death to self and complete trust in God's provision.
Pure Faith Sees God Alone.
LETTER XIV. Pure faith sees God alone. Be not anxious about the future; it is opposed to grace. When God sends you consolation, regard Him only in it, enjoy it day by day as the Israelites received their manna, and do not endeavor to lay it up in store. There are two peculiarities of pure faith; it sees God alone under all the imperfect envelopes which conceal Him,[4] and it holds the soul incessantly in suspense. We are kept constantly in the air, without being suffered to touch a foot to solid ground. The comfort of the present instant will be wholly inappropriate to the next; we must let God act with the most perfect freedom, in whatever belongs to Him, and think only of being faithful in all that depends upon ourselves. This momentary dependence, this darkness and this peace of the soul, under the utter uncertainty of the future, is a true martyrdom, which take place silently and without any stir. It is death by a slow fire; and the end comes so imperceptibly and interiorly, that it is often almost as much hidden from the sufferer himself, as from those who are unacquainted with his state. When God removes his gifts from you, He knows how and when to replace them, either by others or by Himself. He can raise up children from the very stones. Eat then your daily bread without thought for the morrow; "sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." (Matt. vi. 34.) To-morrow will take thought for the things of itself. He who feeds you to-day, is the same to whom you will look for food to-morrow; manna shall fall again from heaven in the midst of the desert, before the children of God shall want any good thing.
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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.