French priest, writer, orator, philosopher, theologian and pedagogue born in the Château de Fénelon, Périgord, today Dordogne, precursor of the great French thinkers of the 18th century. Of noble descent but of small patrimony, he studied theology at the seminary of Saint-Sulpice, Paris, where he was ordained (1676). He took over the direction of the Nouvelles Catholiques, an institution where young Protestant converts were educated. Catholicism, he had his first important teaching experience there, which he reported in the Traité de l'éducation des filles (1687). A polemicist by nature, in this work he criticized the pedagogical methods of the time and emphasized the advisability of preparing women for the role of future wife and mother.
He was appointed (1689) preceptor of Dauphin, Duke of Burgundy, grandson of Louis XIV, for whom he wrote several educational works. During his time as a preceptor he adhered to the practice of quietism, a doctrine preached by Molinos, which advocated spirituality and total passivity before the search for the divine, which led him to a confrontation with the powerful bishop Jacques-Bénigne Bossue Appointed archbishop of the diocese of Cambrai (1695), he published Explanation des maximes des saints sur la vie intérieure (1697), a book in which he defended Mme. Guyon, star of the quietist movement, and who was condemned by Pope Clement XI.
A political opponent of absolutism, he wrote Les Aventures de Télémaque (1699), his best-known book, an implicit criticism of this type of regime. He also published, among other works, the theological Traité de l'existence et des attributes de Dieu (1712). Known for his contesting attitudes that sometimes clash with ecclesiastical authorities and with the owners of political power in the 17th century France, in the last years of his life, devoted himself to literary analysis and the exposition of his ideas about literature and died in Cambrai.
Figure copied from the ACADEMIE FRANÇAISE website:
http://www.academie-francaise.fr/
Source: http://www.dec.ufcg.edu.br/biografias/
Order F - Biography - Brazil School
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/biografia/francois-de-salignac-de-la-mothe-fenelon.htm
