St. Clotilde - Icon of motherhood Part II

In 496, Clovis is at war, and losing the battle of Tolbiac. Desperate, he prays to the "God of Clotilde"; if he wins, he will convert to the Catholic church. The battle was won and Clovis is baptized on Christmas Eve 496 at Rheims by the bishop St. Remi. The story says that a dove descended from Heaven, bearing the Ampulla containing the sacred oil to anoint the Kings of France. Clotilde also received the banner of France, with three fleur-de-lys on it instead of three frogs. Three thousands of Clovis' soldiers, following his example, were also baptized that day.

Clotilde stood next to the baptismal font, spiritual mother to a whole nation.

Clovis decides to make Paris his capital and with Clotilde, he visits St. Genevieve. If Clotilde is the icon of motherhood, Genevieve is the icon of consecrated virginity; the beauty of both vocations represented for the glory of God and of his Church in France.

However, suffering was to be ever present in the life of Clotilde. When Clovis dies in 511, Clodomir becomes King, only to die in battle in 524. Here I have to be precise, for many a tale has sought to defame Clotilde's memory, presenting her as cruel and vengeful. History tells us otherwise, after the death of her son, she takes her three grandsons to be with her and care for their education. Her younger sons, Childebert and Clothaire, wanting to divide the kingdom between themselves, find and kill the two oldest sons of Clodomir. Only the third one escaped and entered a cloister to which he gave his name: Saint Cloud. The grief of Clotilde was so great, that she withdrew from Paris to Tours, where she could live a religious life, near the tomb of the great St. Martin.

Her only daughter had married the King of the Visigoths, Amalric. He so abused her, that she pleaded for her brother to rescue her. She died on her journey to join Clotilde, exhaused by the cruelty of her husband.

Soon, afterward, Childebert and Clothaire made war on each other for the control of the realm. It is said that Clotilde threw herself before tomb of St. Martin and begged the Lord that such a crime be spared her and the house of Clovis.

She died after thirty-eight years of widowhood, purified by the sufferings of motherhood, knowing that, as Catholic mothers, our place is often with Our Lady of Sorrows, at the foot of the Cross.

St. Clotilde, pray for us

Steninge Castle

This post is for Elena Maria Vidal from Tea at Trianon and all the fans of her blog (and I am one) who have followed her well informed posts on the background story of Count Axel von Fersen and Marie-Antoinette. In 2004, I visited the beautiful Steninge Castle in Sweden. The Castle is beautiful and the gardens enchanting. There is a glass factory nearby and it is close to the picturesque medieval town of Sigtuna.
It was also the property of the von Fersen family from 1736 to 1839. It is said that Marie-Antoinette and Louis XVI would have lived there, had they escaped to Sweden. After the murder of Count von Fersen by a brutal mob in Stockholm, 1810, a monument to his memory was build on the Castle grounds in 1813.

His beloved sister, Sophie wrote his epitaph: "To an unforgettable brother, the courage in his last moments on the 20th of June, 1810, bears testimony to his virtues and clean conscience."

I will continue the story of St. Clotilde tomorrow.

St. Clotilde - Icon of motherhood Part I

I missed her Feast day, June 3rd, but I have a special fondness for the extraordinary saints from this much maligned period of history called the Middle-ages. The medieval era opened with a woman and a saint named Clotilda.

She was a princess, her parents ruling over Burgundy. Her family was Catholic; this is important because most of the barbarian kings at the time were arians, they denied the divinity of Christ. Her own mother was said to be a remarkable woman herself and schooled her in the truths of the Catholic faith. After the death of her father, her uncle Gondebaud, who was arian became King of Burgundy. Despite the pressure that she must have encountered, she remained faithful to the Church.

Clovis, the King of the Franks, having heard of her beauty, wisdom and royal descent, asked for her hand in marriage. Yes, said Clotilde, but to this yes she puts a condition: she must be free to practice her Catholic faith. She then left an arian nation for a pagan nation.

Clotilde gave birth to a first son, Ingomir and immediately asked for his baptism. Clovis accepted and the child was baptised by St. Remi in Rheims. However, he died suddenly a few days after. Mourning the death of her firstborn, Clotilde stated calmly to her furious husband:

"I thank Almighty God, creator of heaven and earth, who did to my indignity the honor of opening His Kingdom to the one I have given birth to. My soul is not crushed by the pain, because, I know, taken from this world in his baptismal innocence, my son contemplates the face of God". (translation mine, from "La femme au temps des cathedrales", Regine Pernoud, Editions Stock, 1980: p.14)

She gave birth to a second son, Clodomir and Clovis also agreed to have him baptized. This time, the child survived. Clovis had an heir, a Catholic heir. Clotilda would have three more children, Childebut, Clotaire and Clotilda.

However, Clotilda didn't not give up her goal of converting her husband, she prayed, she beseeched God, she spoke plainly to her pagan husband about the true God.

Her perseverance and faith would be rewarded...