The consecration of Frayssinous as bishop of Hermopolis in partibus, his election to the Académie française, and his appointment to the grand-mastership of the university, followed in rapid succession.
Gobel was ordained a Catholic priest in 1750 and then became a member of the cathedral chapter of the Prince-Bishopric of Basel, Nicolas de Montjoie, based in Porrentruy, In 1771 he was appointed the auxiliary bishop of the diocese for the section that was situated in French territory, being named by the Holy See as a titular bishop in partibus of Lydda.
Henry Howard, brother to the Duke of Norfolk, was accordingly created bishop of Utica, in partibus, and nominated to the coadjutorship, cum jure successionis, on 2 October 1720, but he died before the end of the year, and in March 1720–1 the propaganda appointed Benjamin Petre coadjutor in his stead.
His briefs for the vicariate and the see of Madaura, in partibus, were dated 30 Jan. 1687-8, and he was consecrated in the banqueting hall at Whitehall on Low Sunday, 22 April (O.S.) 1688, by Ferdinando d'Adda, archbishop of Amasia, in partibus, and nuncio apostolic in England.
William of Tyre's Historia rerum in partibus transmarinis gestarum ("History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea") also known as Historia Ierosolimitana