s of the church.
An illness he was seized with at Annecy made him defer his consecration.

On his recovery he was obliged to go to Paris, on affairs of his
diocese, and was received there by all sorts of persons with all the
regard due to his extraordinary merit. The king was then at
Fontainebleau; but the saint was desired to preach the Lent to the court
in the chapel of the Louvre. This he did in a manner that charmed every
one, and wrought innumerable wonderful conversions. The duchesses of
Morcoeur and Longueville sent him thereupon a purse of gold: he admired
the embroidery, but gave it back, with thanks to them for honoring his
discourses with their presence and good example. He preached a sermon
against the pretended reformation, to prove it destitute of a lawful
mission; it being begun at Meaux, by Peter Clark, a wool-carder; at
Paris, by Masson Riviere, a young man called to the ministry by a
company of laymen; and elsewhere after the like manner. This sermon
converted many Calvinists; among others the countess of Perdrieuville,
who was one of the most obstinate learned ladies of the sect: she
consulted her ministers, and repaired often to Francis's conferences,
till she had openly renounced Calvinism with all her numerous family.
The whole illustrious house of Raconis followed her example, and so many
others, even of the most inveterate of the sect, that it made cardinal
Perron, a man famous for controversy, say: "I can confute the
Calvinists; but, to persuade and convert them, you must carry them to
the coadjutor of Geneva." Henry IV. was charmed with his preaching, and
consulted him several times in matters relating to the direction of his
conscience. There was no project of piety going forward about which he
was not advised with. He promoted the establishment of the Carmelite
nuns in France, and the introduction of F. Berulle's congregation of the
oratory. The king himself earnestly endeavored to detain him in France,
by promises of 20,000 livres pension, and the first vacant bishopric:
but Francis said, God had called him against his will to the bishopric
of Geneva, and he thought it his obligation to keep it till his death;
that the small revenue he had sufficed for his maintenance, and more
would only be an incumbrance. The king was astonished at his
disinterestedness, when he understood that the bishopric of Geneva,
since the revolt of that city, did not yield the incumbent above four or
five thousand l