His father probably died about this time, as we hear nothing further of him, and his uncle, the Marquis Antoine de Fénelon, who had lost his own son, acted henceforth as the father of his nephew. It was a most happy circumstance, for the marquis was deeply religious and of an unsullied private life, as well as very independent in his character. The Grand Condé, greatest general of his time, described him as “equally at home in society, war, and the council chamber.” When M. de Harlai was nominated to the Archbishopric of Paris, the marquis remarked to him, “There is a wide difference, my Right Reverend Lord, between the day when the nomination for such an office brings to the party the compliments of the whole kingdom, and the day on which he appears before God to render Him an account of his administration;” a reflection which, although much needed, could not have been very agreeable to De Harlai, for he was a notorious evil liver, who introduced every species of corruption into the administration of his diocese, and scandalized all by the iniquities also of his private life. Another indication of the marquis’s truly noble quality is seen in the fact that when M. Olier, the celebrated founder of the Congregation of St. Sulpice, wished to form an association of gentlemen whose courage was past impeachment, to bind themselves with an oath neither to accept any challenge nor act the part of second in any duel—that the practice of dueling might thus be checked—he asked M. de Fénelon to take the post of president of the association, being convinced that there was no one whose reputation was more firmly established both in court and camp.