She spent the last thirty years of her life in exercises of prayer, almsgiving, night vigils, fasting, and penance, seeming to forget that she had been queen. June 3rd, Feast of Saint Clotilda, Queen of France, († 545 AD) Saint Clotilda was the daughter of Chilperic, the Catholic King of Burgundy, domain of the Germanic tribe which had entered the southeastern region of ancient France in the fifth century; Chilperic had succeeded his father in that royalty. His jealous older brother, infected with Arianism, declared war on him, surrounded him with an army, captured and slew his own brother and his brother's wife and two sons, while sparing the two daughters, then took over their dominions. Saint Clotilda's older sister became a nun, but the younger daughter was brought up under her uncle's protection, and, by a singular providence, instructed in the Catholic religion. Her beauty, modesty, and Catholic piety inspired the prayers of her fellow Christians that an alliance might be arranged between the young princess and Clovis, king of the Franks, victorious in the north. Nonetheless, Saint Clotilda was half-cloistered by her uncle, for fear the ancient partisans of Childebert might find hope in the hand of the king's daughter. Her almsgiving at the portico of a church was well known, however, and provided an opportunity for an ambassador of Clovis to present the king's suit, thereby giving to Christian France a history not less captivating than the Old Testament history of Abraham's trusted servant's mission to Mesopotamia to obtain a wife for Isaac. The messenger went to her there with the king's request, and offered her a ring as his pledge; she accepted, and left her own with the envoy in exchange. Thus Clovis I, victorious king of the Franks, gained his suit; the reservation was made by Saint Clotilda, however, that she could only marry a Christian. The ambassador from Clovis, a Roman nobleman in his service, then presented to her uncle the demand that the fiancee of his master be delivered to him to be taken to Clovis. For fear of a war, her uncle consented. In this way did prayer obtain for the young king, not yet Christian but who was the hope of the oppressed Catholics, the Queen destined to become the spiritual mother of the Catholic kingdom of France. Clovis' fear of giving offense to his people made him delay his conversion. Nonetheless, Saint Clotilda honored her royal husband, studied to sweeten his warlike temper by Christian gentleness, and conformed herself to his humor in matters which were indifferent. And the better to gain his affections, she made whatever she knew most pleased him, the subject of her conversation and interest. When she saw she had won his heart, she did not defer the great work of endeavoring to win him to God. His miraculous victory over the Alemanni, and his complete conversion and baptism by Saint Remigius at Rheims in 496 AD, with all his warriors and nobles, were the final fruit of his holy wife's virtue and prayers. France became in this way the eldest daughter of the Church. And Saint Clotilda, having gained to God this great monarch, never ceased to inspire in him glorious enterprises for the divine honor. Among other religious foundations, at her request he built in Paris, about the year 511 AD, the great church of Saints Peter and Paul. The famous prince died on the 27th of November in the year 511 AD, at the age of forty-five, having reigned thirty years. His eldest son, Theodoric, reigned from Rheims over the eastern parts of France, Clodomir reigned at Orleans, Childebert II at Paris, and Clotaire I at Soissons. This division produced wars and mutual jealousies until in 560 AD, after the death of Saint Clotilda, the whole monarchy was reunited under Clotaire, the youngest of the four brothers. The dissension in her family detached Saint Clotilda's heart still more perfectly from the world. She spent the last thirty years of her life in exercises of prayer, almsgiving, night vigils, fasting, and penance, seeming to forget that she had been queen. Eternity filled her heart and occupied all her thoughts. She foretold her death one month before it happened. On the thirtieth day of her illness, she received the Sacraments, made a public confession of her faith, and departed to the Lord on June 3, 545 AD. Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 6; Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on Butler's Lives of the Saints, and other sources by John Gilmary Shea (Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894). (fb)

Reflection: In early times the Christians were called the children of joy. Let us seek the joy of the Holy Ghost to sweeten suffering, to temper earthly delight, till we enter into the joy of Our Lord. June 2nd Feast of Sts. Pothinus, Sanctus, Attalus, Blandina, and Forty-Eight other Martyrs of Lyons († 177 A.D.) After a miraculous victory obtained by the prayers of a Christian legion under Marcus Aurelius in 174, the Church was enjoying a kind of peace, which was nonetheless often disturbed in various places by popular commotions, or by the superstitious fury of pagan governors. These factors become evident in the persecution which was raised at Vienne and Lyons in 177 A.D., three years after the victory of the legion. Saint Pothinus was then Bishop of Lyons, and Saint Irenaeus, still a young priest, had recently come to Lyons with several other Christians, sent from Asia Minor by Saint Polycarp; soon Saint Irenaeus would replace Saint Pothinus. The Christians of the region were forbidden to frequent the baths and the forum, and they were tracked everywhere, becoming the subject of popular uprisings, stonings, outrages and imprisonments. A justly famous letter attributed to Saint Irenaeus, addressed by the churches of Lyons and Vienne to their mother-church in Asia, narrates in detail the martyrdom of these heroic Christians. The citations which follow are from that letter. Many of the principal Christians were brought before the Roman governor. Saint Pothinus himself was ninety years old, weak and infirm; in fact he could scarcely talk, but his zeal and desire for martyrdom sustained him. He was taken, or rather carried, to the tribunal amidst insults... The governor asked him who the god of the Christians was: You will know Him if you are worthy of it, he replied. The multitude became furious; those around him struck him with their hands and feet, showing no respect for his age; those farther away threw at him everything they could find, imagining they were avenging their gods. The holy bishop scarcely had a breath of life left when he was thrown into prison, where he expired soon afterwards. Along with Saint Attalus, a deacon who was always the pillar and support of our church, were three martyrs subjected to cruel torture for two days in the amphitheatre, as a diversion for the people. One was a young slave, Blandina; her mistress, also a Christian, feared she would lack strength to brave the torture. But when she was tormented, suspended from a cross, tossed about by a bull, she bore it all with joy, until the executioners gave up, confessing themselves outdone. Human language could not describe the tortures that the Saints were made to endure, in the hope of making them admit the impious things we were charged with. They had been accused of eating human flesh. Red-hot plates were held to the sides of Sanctus, a deacon of Vienne, until his body became one great sore, and he no longer looked like a man; but amidst his tortures he said to his tormentors that it was such torments which consumed human flesh, whereas Christians did no harm to their fellow men. The letter says Saint Sanctus “was bedewed and strengthened by the stream of heavenly water which flows from the side of Christ.” Meantime, many confessors were kept in prison, and among them were some who had been terrified into apostasy. Even the pagans could perceive in the Christians the joy of martyrdom, contrasting with the misery of the apostates. But the faithful confessors brought back all but one of those who had fallen, and the Church, rejoiced when she saw her children live again in Christ. Some died in prison, the rest were martyred one by one, giving their God their blood in loving exchange for His. Saint Blandina was the last one to die after a glorious combat. The letter says: “Like a generous mother who, having inspired her children during the combat, has sent them victorious ahead of her to the King of Glory, she was rejoicing at being about to join them in the heavens. She bore the series of tortures with so radiant a joy, that one would have said she was invited to a wedding feast rather than condemned to the lions...” Text from the book the “Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints” based on Butler’s Lives & Other Approved Sources (1925) and Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 6; Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on Butler's Lives of the Saints, and other sources by John Gilmary Shea (Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894). (fb)