FENELON
37
FENELON
Buet now wrote liis instruction on the "Etats d'orai-
son", as an explanation of the thirty-four articles.
F^nelon refused to sign it, on the plea that his honour
forbade him to condemn a woman who had already
been condemned. To explain his own views of the
"Articles d'Issy", he hastened to publish the "Expli-
cation des Maximes des Saints", a rather arid treatise
in forty-five articles. Each article was divided into
two paragraphs, one laying down the true, the other
the false, teaching concerning the love of God. In
this work he undertakes to distinguish clearly every
step in the upward way of the spiritual life. The final
end of the Christian soul is pure love of God, without
any admixture of self-interest, a love in which neither
fear of punishment nor desire of reward has any part.
The means to this end, Fenelon points out, are those
long since indicated by the Catholic mystics, i. e. holy
indifference, detachment, self-abandonment, passive-
ness, through all of which states the soul is led by con-
templation. Fenelon's book was scarcely published
when it aroused much opposition. The king, in par-
ticular, was angry. He distrusted all religious novel-
ties, and he reproached Bossuet with not having
warned him of the ideas of his grandsons' tutor. He
appointed the Bishops of Meaux, Chartres, and Paris
to examine Fenelon's work and select passages for
condemnation, but Fenelon himself submitted the
book to the judgment of the Holy See (27 April, 1697).
A vigorous conflict broke out at once, particularly be-
tween Bossuet and F(5nelon. Attack and reply fol-
lowed too fast for analysis here. The works of Fene-
lon on the subject fill six volumes, not to speak of the
646 letters relating to Quietism, the writer proving
himself a skilful polemical writer, deeply versed in
spiritual things, endowed with quick intelligence and
a mental suppleness not always to be clearly distin-
guished from quibbling and a straining of the sense.
After a long and detailed examination by the consult-
ors and cardinals of the Holy Office, lasting over two
years and occupying 132 sessions, " Les Maximes des
Saints" was finally condemned (12 March, 1699) as
containing propositions which, in the obvious mean-
ing of the words, or else because of the sequence of the
thoughts, were " temerarious, scandalous, ill-sound-
ing, offensive to pious ears, pernicious in practice, and
false in fact". Twenty-three propositions were se-
lected as having incurred this censure, but the pope
by no means intended to imply that he approved the
rest of the book. Fenelon submitted at once. " We
adhere to this brief ", he wrote in a pastoral letter in
which he made known Rome's decision to his flock,
" and we accept it not only for the twenty-three
propositions but for the whole book, simply, abso-
lutely, and without a shadow of reservation. " Most
of his contemporaries found his submission adequate,
edifying, and admirable. In recent times, however,
scattered expressions in his letters have enabled a few
critics to doubt its sincerity. In our opinion a few
words written impulsively, and contradicted by the
whole tenor of the writer's life, caimot justify so
grave a charge. It must be remembered, too, that at
the meeting of the bishops held to receive the Brief of
condemnation, Fenelon declared that he laid aside
his own opinion and accepted the judgment of Rome,
and that if this act of submission seemed lacking in
any way, he was ready to do whatever Rome would
suggest. The Holy See never required anything more
than the above-mentioned spontaneous act.
Louis XI V, who had done all he could to bring about the condemnation of the " Maximes des Saints ", had already punished its author by ordering him to remain within the limits of his diocese. Vexed later at the publication of "Telomaque", in which lie saw his per- son and his government subjected to criticism, the king coukl never be prevailed upon to revoke this command. Fenelon submitted without complaint or regret, and gave himself up entirely to the care of his
flock. With a revenue of two hundred thousand
livres and eight hundred parishes, some of which were
on Spanish territory, Cambrai, which had been re-
gained by France only in 1678, was one of the most
important sees in the kingdom. F6nelon gave up sev-
eral months of each year to a visitation of his archdio-
cese, which was not even interrupted by the War of
the Spanish Succession, when opposing armies were
camped in various parts of his territory. The cap-
tains of these armies, full of veneration for his person,
left him free to come and go as he would. The re-
mainder of the year he spent in his episcopal palace at
Cambrai, where with his relatives and his friends, the
Abbes de Langeron, de Chanterac, and de Beaumont,
he led an uneventful life, monastic in its regularity.
Every year he gave a Lenten course in one or other
important parish of his diocese, and on the principal
feasts he preached in his own cathedral. His sermons
were short and simple, composed after a brief medita-
tion, and never committed to writing; with the excep-
tion of some few preached on more important occa-
sions, they have not been preserved. His dealings
with his clergy were always marked by condescension
and cordiality. "His priests", says Saint-Simon,
" to whom he made himself both father and brother,
bore him in their hearts." He took a deep interest in
their seminary training, assisted at the examination of
those who were to be ordained, and gave them con-
ferences during their retreat. He presided over the
concursus for benefices and made inquiries among the
pastors concerning the qualifications of each candi-
date.
Fenelon was always approachable, and on his walks often conversed with those he chanced to meet. He loved to visit the peasants in their houses, interested himself in their joys and sorrows, and, to avoid pain- ing them, accepted the simple gifts of their hospital- ity. During the War of the Spanish Succession the doors of his palace were open to all the poor who took refuge in Cambrai. The rooms and stairways were filled with them, and his gardens and vestibules shel- tered their live stock. He is yet remembered in the vicinity of Cambrai and the peasants still give their children the name Fenelon, as that of a saint.
Engrossed as F&elon was with the administration of his diocese, he never lost sight of the general interests of the Church. This became evident when Jansen- ism, quiescent for nearly thirty years, again raised it3 head on the occasion of the famous Cos de Conscience, by which an anonymous writer endeavoured to put new life into the old distinction between the "ques- tion of law" and "question of fact" (question de droit cl question de fait), acknowledging that the Church could legally condemn the famous five propositions attributed to Jansenius, but denying that she could oblige any one to believe that they were really to be found in the "Augustinus" of that writer. Fenelon multiplied publications of every kind against the re- viving heresy; he wrote letters, pastoral instructions, memoirs, in French and in Latin, which fill seven volumes of his works. He set himself to combat the errors of the Cos de Conscience, to refute the theory known as " respectful silence ", and to enlighten Clem- ent XI on puljlic opinion in France Pere Quesnel brought fresh fuel to the strife by his "Reflexions morales sur le Nouveau Testament", which was sol- emnly condemned by the Bull " LTnigenitus " (1713). Fenelon defended this famous pontifical constitution in a series of dialogues intended to influence men of the world. Great as was his zeal against error, he was always gentle with the erring, so that Saint- Simon could say " The Low Countries swarmed with Jansenists, and his Diocese of Cambrai, in partic- ular, was full of them. In both places they found an ever-peaceful refuge, and were glad and content to live peaceably under one who was their enemy with his pen. They had no fears of their archbishop, who, though
