Editing François Fénelon (section)

==Quietist controversy, 1697–99==

As already noted, Fénelon had met Madam Guyon in 1688 and became an admirer of her work.

In 1697, following a visit by Mme Guyon to Mme de Maintenon's school at Saint-Cyr, [[Paul Godet des Marais]], [[Bishop of Chartres]] (Saint-Cyr was located within his [[diocese]]) expressed concerns about Mme Guyon's [[orthodoxy]] to Mme de Maintenon. The bishop noted that Mme Guyon's opinions bore striking similarities to [[Miguel de Molinos]]' [[Quietism (Christian philosophy)|Quietism]], which [[Pope Innocent XI]] condemned in 1687. Mme de Maintenon responded by requesting an ecclesiastical commission to examine Mme Guyon's orthodoxy: the commission consisted of two of Fénelon's old friends, Bossuet and de Noailles, as well as the head of the Sulpician order of which Fénelon was a member.  The commission sat at [[Issy-les-Moulineaux|Issy]] and, after six months of deliberations, delivered its opinion in the ''Articles d'Issy'', 34 articles which briefly condemned certain of Mme Guyon's opinions, as well as set forth a brief exposition of the Catholic view of [[Prayer in Christianity|prayer]]. Both Fénelon and the Bishop of Chartres signed the articles, as did all three commission members.  Mme Guyon immediately submitted to the decision.

At Issy, the commission asked Bossuet to follow up the Articles with an exposition. Bossuet thus proceeded to write ''Instructions sur les états d'oraison'', which he submitted to the commission members, as well as to the Bishop of Chartres and Fénelon, requesting their signatures before its publication. Fénelon refused to sign, arguing that Mme Guyon had already admitted her mistakes and there was no point in further condemning her.  Furthermore, Fénelon disagreed with Bossuet's interpretation of the Articles d'Issy, as he wrote in ''Explication des Maximes des Saints'' (a work often regarded as his masterpiece - English: ''Maxims of the Saints''). Fénelon interpreted the Articles d'Issy in a way much more sympathetic to the Quietist viewpoint than Bossuet proposed.

Louis XIV responded to the controversy by chastising Bossuet for not warning him earlier of Fénelon's opinions and ordered Bossuet, de Noailles, and the Bishop of Chartres to respond to the ''Maximes des Saints''. Shocked that his grandson's tutors held such views, the king removed Fénelon from his post as royal tutor and ordered Fénelon to remain within the boundaries of the archdiocese of Cambrai.

This unleashed two years of pamphlet warfare as the two sides traded opinions.  On 12 March 1699, the [[Inquisition]] formally condemned the ''Maximes des Saints'', with Pope [[Innocent XII]] listing 23 specific propositions as unorthodox.

Fénelon immediately declared that he submitted to the pope's authority and set aside his own opinion.  With this, the Quietist matter was dropped.

However, that same year, ''The Adventures of Telemachus'' was published. This book also enraged Louis XIV, for it appeared to question his regime's very foundations. Thus, even after Fénelon abjured his Quietist views, the king refused to revoke his order forbidding Fénelon from leaving his archdiocese.