commanded to preach before the king at the convent of Vincennes (1585), when the success of his sermon on the love of God, and of a funeral oration on the poet Ronsard (on 24 February 1586, after dinner), induced him to take orders. On the death of Mary, Queen of Scots (8 February 1587), he was chosen by the King to compose a poem in her honor and about her fate. Career under Henry IV On the death of Henry III (2 August 1589), after having supported for some time the cardinal de Bourbon, the head of the league against the king, Du Perron eventually became a faithful servant of Henry IV. On 13 February 1590, however, he found himself compelled to write directly to the King, begging him not to believe the many calumnies being spread about by his enemies. On 11 December 1591 du Perron was appointed by the King bishop of Évreux. The Pope finally approved of the appointment at a Consistory on Monday 11 December 1595. He was finally consecrated in Rome on 27 December 1595 by Cardinal François de Joyeuse; the co-consecrators were Archbishop Guillaume d'Avançon of Embrun and Anne d'Escars de Givry, bishop of Lisieux. On 4 November 1596 he was one of those who attended the Assemblée des Notables at Rouen. He and Marechal de Matignon represented Normandy in the Third Chamber. He instructed Henry in the Catholic religion; and in 1594 was sent to Rome with secretary Denis-Simon de Marquemont, where with the help of Abbé Arnaud d'Ossat (1536–1604), later Cardinal d'Ossat (1599-1604), they obtained Henry's absolution from the status of relapsed heretic. Du Perron and d'Ossat performed the act of abjuration of Henri's heresy on the steps of St. Peter's Basilica on 17 September 1595, thereby ending six years of controversy over the status of France and its King in the eyes of the Papacy. He departed Rome on 28 March 1596. On his return to his diocese, Du Perron's zeal and eloquence were largely instrumental in withstanding the progress of Calvinism, and among others he converted and the Swiss general Sancy and Henry Sponde, who became bishop of Pamiers. At the conference at Fontainebleau in 1600 he argued with much eloquence and ingenuity against Du Plessis Mornay (1549–1623). Cardinal du Perron On 9 June 1604 the Bishop of Évreux was created a cardinal by Pope Clement VIII, at the request