ON S. CHROTHILDIS THE QUEEN, WIDOW OF CHLODOVEUS I KING OF THE FRANKS, AT TOURS AND PARIS IN GAUL.
ABOUT A.D. 540.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Acts, cult, Relics.
Chrothildis the Queen, wife of Chlodoveus the First, King of the Franks, at Paris (S.)
G. H. & D. P.
S. Chrothildis flourished most illustrious in royal blood, in royal matrimony, in royal posterity, no less in the excellence of royal virtues; honored with Ecclesiastical veneration throughout the whole world, but chiefly at Paris in the Church of S. Genoveva, Her Life: where her sacred Relics are decently preserved, as is right, as John Mabillon attests, in his Notes to her Life, which he inserted in the first volume of the Benedictine Century, received from the Ms. of S. Germain des Prés. The same we had in a certain very ancient Ms. codex, and besides we received it sent by Pierre François Chifflet, and we found it in a certain Ms. of Cardinal Mazarin; nay also divided into Lessons, and accustomed to be recited at Matins in the Church of S. Genoveva, Franciscus Pomeray alleges in book 2 of the Abbey of S. Audoenus of Rouen, chapter 1. Some compendium also we have from the Ms. of Rouge-Vallée near Brussels. But because we have found it written several centuries after the Saint's death, we prefer by our own zeal to gather another from the history of the Franks, which S. Gregory Bishop of Tours described in many books, with some Analects from the said Mss. to be subjoined, and to illustrate both this and that with our Annotations.
[2] Sacred cult: The veneration of S. Chrothildis is confirmed from the Ecclesiastical Tables of the Roman Martyrology in these words: At Paris of S. Chrothildis the Queen: by whose prayers her husband Chlodoveus the King received the faith of Christ. Molanus is cited by Baronius in the Additions to Usuard of the first edition, who also retained the same words in other editions. Galesinius adorns the same with this eulogy: At Lutetia in Gaul of S. Chrothildis the Queen: who, after many miracles divinely performed at her sepulchre, has been ascribed among the Saints. More things are added in the Ms. Florarium of the Saints in these words: Near Paris of S. Chrothildis, Queen of the Franks, and mother of the Carlovingians: who died in the city of Tours in the year of salvation 554; miracles at the sepulchre: but having been carried to Paris, was venerably entombed at the side of her husband. Afterwards, on account of the immense miracles done by God through her, raised from the earth, and behind the high altar placed in an honorable bier, there she rests, gleaming with signs and virtues. Thus there. So below from the Acts we observe she is called mother of Emperors. The year of death 554 is taken from the Chronicle of Sigebert, where she is called Rhotildis the Queen: under which name she is referred to the Kalends of September, by Grevenus and Canisius. But below, to Gregory of Tours, we show that she migrated from this Life earlier.
[3] Saussay in the Gallican Martyrology on this III of June
has very many things about her deeds, death, and burial; and then subjoins these things: But miracles flashing forth from time to time at her tomb, her sacrosanct pledges have long since been raised, and have been honorably placed in a reliquary: which, whenever the royal city is shaken by some danger, are borne in public supplications according to ancestral custom with pious apparatus. At Andely also on the Seine in the territory of Rouen, the elevation of the body. in the distinguished Collegiate Church of the most holy Mother of God which she founded, her glorious memory shines with anniversary rites. The same Saussay adds on this day some things concerning S. Theodechilde, foundress of the monastery of S. Peter the Living at Sens, whom they say was the daughter of S. Chrothildis, and venerate on June 28. But Charles le Cointe, Whether daughter with many reasons distinguishes two Theodechildes, equal in virtue, distinguished Queens (by which name those born of Kings are also reckoned), the elder, of S. Chrothildis, not daughter but stepdaughter, married successively to the Kings of the Warni, father and son, and by this latter, compelled to dismiss her, sent back into Gaul; the other, the younger, the granddaughter of the same Chrothildis through the stepson Theodoric the King, and a virgin, who founded the monastery of Sens, as we shall teach on the aforementioned day. This one no one has hitherto ascribed to the monastic fasti; although in a certain Diploma of Chlodoveus, Was S. Chrothildis ascribed to the Benedictines? to be examined on June 28, she is said to have devoted herself a virgin to God.
[4] I return to S. Chrothildis, who is everywhere ascribed to the Benedictine Fasti; and Arnold Wion, on this III of June, has these things: At Tours in the monastery of S. Martin the deposition of S. Chlothildis the Queen, who, bereaved of her husband Chlodoveus, in the same monastery taking the veil, led a most religious life, and famous for miracles passed to the Lord. Dorgan, Menard, Bucelinus followed him. Nay, Antonius de Yepes, in volume 1 of the General Chronicle of S. Benedict, on the year 552 inscribes Chapter 3 thus: S. Chrothilda Queen of Gaul, and a Nun of the Order of S. Benedict: then sets forth her life at length. Besides, Luke d'Achery and John Mabillon inserted the Life of the same S. Chrothildis into the Acts of the Saints of the Benedictine Order. At the beginning of that work, indeed, something had to be given to the then more received opinions in that Order: which yet Mabillon so did, Head among the Cistercians in Normandy: that toward the end he notes that, It is not established whether she was a Nun, nay, by no means does she seem to have been such: and this will at once appear to one reading through the deeds of the Saint. Chalemot, however, inscribed her in the Series of the Saints of the Cistercian Order, because in the monastery of B. Mary of Treasury in Normandy, her Head is preserved at the grate of the Nuns' choir.
[5] Certainly that this is no longer held at Paris was attested to us by the Chancellor of the University, a part of which is in a silver reliquary, the most illustrious man D. d'Antecourt, by letters dated 3 February in the year 1689. For when in the year (as he says) 1641 that Saint's reliquary had been solemnly opened by the order of Louis XIII, who had religiously requested a small particle of the sacred body; the head was found to be missing, with a few other particles. Thus he, eight years after the death of Henschenius, by whom we had the things written above prepared for the press long ago with the following Acts. The same had the reliquary itself of the Saint drawn for us at our request, as we represent it here; teaching that it is held wholly fabricated of silver with elegant workmanship.
[6] in which also King Chlodoveus is expressed as a Saint, In its (as you see) head, with her Chlodoveus, and indeed as a Saint, Chrothildis stands joined, as foundress of the church herself: in which same although Chlodoveus was buried, no anniversary memory of him any longer survives, either as a Saint, or at least as a benefactor. Saussay referred his name to the Catalogue of those who do not have proper histories or birthdays; with no day noted, and expressing the name in smaller character; while he describes in capitals the names of those whom he honors with the appellation of Saint. He adds, however, that Gregory of Tours in book 2 chapter 45 praises him, because God daily prostrated his enemies under his hand, in that he walked with a right heart before Him, that he might do what was pleasing in His eyes; believed to have died November 27: then Saussay names other panegyrists of the same, down to two writers of the XVI century, James Almain and Paul Aemilius, who roundly call him a Saint; and likewise Baronius for the year 514 number 21, saying, We shall leave no doubt that in this very year Chlodoveus died, and that the very first-fruits of the Most Christian Kings of the Franks were received into heaven. About the year Baronius's doubt is moved by nearly all the more recent Franks, and (with others establishing one year, others another) Henschenius, in his most recently reformed Exegesis on the Episcopate of Tongres and Maastricht chapter 10, confirms with new arguments what he had previously established in the Diatribe book 2 chapter 3, that he died in the year 509, on the 27th of November: which day le Cointe (although he dissents about the year, counting 511) confirms from two ancient Calendars, where it is read: V kal. Dec. Deposition of the great King Chlodoveus. On such a day we read nowhere that he was venerated as a Saint; even if a part of a Hymn is alleged, ascribed in the Margin to some Chronicle in Savaron of this tenor:
Through him is Christ worshipped, and much beloved, / Serene in mind: / Well is the kingdom ruled, and amply extended, / For now Venus ceases. / Thus is he borne to the heavens, where he enjoys good things, / And receives his reward.
[7] The statues of other Saints, conspicuous on the side here expressed, are of S. Michael, S. Dionysius, and S. Genoveva, to be recognized without an interpreter. The fourth seems to be S. Ceraunus, other statuettes of Saints in the same chest: Bishop of Paris, whose body is held in the same church, and is set forth for veneration on his birthday September 27. The last, who in Abbatial habit seems to assist, if we wish to believe is S. William, of Roskilde in Denmark, sometime in the same Church of S. Genoveva a Canon, whose Acts, having died in the year 1203, we illustrated on April 6, perhaps we will not stupidly conjecture: for the chest itself is not so very old. But the praised Chancellor judges it is S. Augustine, whose Rule the Canons Regular profess, in Episcopal habit. But on the other side we see assisting the little statues of the holy Apostles Barnabas, Paul, the Mother of God, Peter, and William the Hermit, whom the common people believe to be the Duke of Aquitaine, and are wont to express with a helmet. Finally at the feet of the chest again assists S. Crothildis, now a widow and as it were a religious, blessing the fountain, which even now in the village of Andely, within the church founded and endowed by herself, exists, and is devoutly frequented by sick faithful. Thus the praised Chancellor.
[8] When the chest itself was made, and when into it the bones of the holy body were translated, is nowhere to be found, writes the same Chancellor; for myself, if it is permitted to conjecture anything, I would say the chest seems to have been fabricated in the time of William le Duc, from the year 1520 to 1533 Abbot of S. Genoveva, in whose time our S. Ignatius with his Companions took the degree of Master in the University of Paris, certain Relics long before 1234 to the Premonstratensians, as the list of Promoted preserved with the Chancellor has. I found the conjecture on the little statue of the aforesaid S. William: for many are wont to add to such works of theirs the effigy of the Patron whose name they bear; nor is found any other than him by that name to have been Abbot down to the year 1652. Nor is it known in what year the first elevation of the Saint from the earth or royal tomb was made, although it must have been done many centuries before: one thing, says the Chancellor, is certain, that long before the XIII century some part of her sacred Relics was preserved in the monastery of Val-Secret of the Premonstratensian Order, since in an ancient diploma of the same monastery is read, that the Relics of S. Chlotildis, from an old chest into a new and more decent one, were translated there in the year 1234. Further in the year 1656, to the Collegiate Church of Andely on the Seine in the territory of Rouen, of which above, requesting something from the relics of its Foundress, and in the year 1656 given to the Andely Canons. the Abbot and Canons Regular of S. Genoveva granted one rib; which when the Clergy and Magistrates of the place had devoutly received, it is wondrous by how many and how great miracles there the glorious and clear memory of S. Chlotildis came forth. It may be added that whenever this Royal city is in some danger, the reliquary of the same Saint, from ancient custom, is carried in public supplications through the city with worthy apparatus, as is read to have happened in the years 1420, 1439, and 1568, and frequently thereafter.
LIFE
From the History of the Franks of S. Gregory of Tours.
Chrothildis the Queen, wife of Chlodoveus the First, King of the Franks, at Paris (S.)
FROM GREG. OF TOURS.
CHAPTER I.
Royal lineage. Marriage with Chlodoveus I King of the Franks, and things done in it.
Book 2 chapter 28.
[1] There was Gondivicus, King of the Burgundians, of the race of Athanaric the persecuting King. He had four sons, Gundobad, Godegisil, Chilperic, Born of the Kings of the Burgundians, and Godomar. Now Gundobad killed his brother Chilperic with the sword, and drowned his wife with a stone tied to her neck. He condemned his two daughters to exile: of whom the elder, with changed garb *Mucurana, the younger was called Chrothildis. But Chlodoveus, while he often sent legations into Burgundy, Chrothildis was discovered by his Legates. Who, when they had seen her, elegant and wise; and had recognized that she was of royal race, announced these things to Chlodoveus the King. Without delay he directs a legation to Gundobad, a asking her for himself in matrimony. Which he, fearing to refuse, marries Chlodoveus King of the Franks, handed her over to the men: and they receiving the maiden, very swiftly present her to the King. Whom seeing, the King, very glad, joined her to himself in marriage, having already from a concubine a son named Theodoric.
Chapter 29
[2] So from Chrothildis the Queen he had a firstborn son. When the woman wished to consecrate him with baptism, whom from the cult of idols she preached assiduously to her husband, saying: Those gods whom you worship are nothing, who can come to the aid neither of themselves nor of others. For they are either of stone, or of wood, or sculpted from some metal. The names which you have given them were men, not gods. Like Saturn, who is said to have escaped by flight from his son, lest he be driven from the kingdom. Like Jupiter himself, the foulest perpetrator of all stuprations, defiler of men, mocker of female relatives, who could not abstain from intercourse with his own sister, as she herself says: Both sister and wife of Jove. *What could Mars and Mercury, who rather were endowed with magical arts, than had the power of divine deity? But He rather ought to be worshipped, who created heaven and earth, sea and all things that are in them, by his word out of things that did not exist; who made the sun to shine, and adorned the heaven with stars; who filled the waters with reptiles, the earth with living creatures, the air with flying things: by whose nod the earth is decorated with crops, trees with fruits, vineyards with grapes; by whose
hand the human race was created; she tries to bring him to the knowledge of the true God: by whose largesse every very creature serves with obedience and benefit man, whom He created. But when the Queen said these things, the King's mind was in no way moved to belief, but said: By the command of our Gods all things are created and brought forth: but your God is shown to be able to do nothing, and what is more, is not proved to be of the family of Gods.*
[3] she has her son Ingomer baptized, Meanwhile the faithful Queen presents the son to baptism: she orders the Church to be adorned with veils and curtains: that he, who could not be bent by preaching, might be more easily provoked to believe even by this mystery. But the boy baptized, whom they called Ingomer, in those very Albs, as he had been regenerated, died. By which cause moved with bitterness the King, then dead she rejoices that he is ascribed to heaven. reproached the Queen not sluggishly, saying: If the boy had been dedicated in the name of my Gods, he would assuredly have lived: but now because he was baptized in the name of your God, he could not live at all. To these things the Queen, I give thanks, she says, to God Almighty Creator of all things, who has not in every way judged me unworthy, that He should deign to ascribe to His kingdom one born from my womb. But my mind is not touched by grief for this cause, because I know him, called from this world in his Albs, to be nourished in the gaze of God. she heals another, Chlodomer, by her prayers. After this she bore another son, whom baptized she called Chlodomer. And when this one began to be sick, the King said: It cannot be otherwise, but that to this also, as to his brother, it should happen, that baptized in the name of your Christ he should die forthwith. But by the mother praying, the Lord ordering, he recovered.
Chapter 30
[4] But the Queen did not cease to preach, that he should know the true God, and neglect the idols: but in no way could he be moved to believe these things, until at length one day a war was stirred up against b the Alamanni: in which he was compelled to confess by necessity what before he had denied by his will. when the King having invoked her Christ in faith But it happened that, the two armies engaging, they were vehemently slaughtered: and Chlodoveus's army began greatly to rush to extermination. Seeing this, with eyes lifted up to heaven, pricked at heart, moved to tears, he says: Jesus Christ, whom Chrothildis preaches to be the son of the living God, who are said to give help to the laboring and to grant victory to those who hope in you; devout, I seek the glory of your aid; that if you grant me victory over these enemies, and I shall have experienced that virtue, which your people dedicated to your name proclaims it has proved of you, I shall believe in you so as to be baptized in your name: for I invoked my Gods, but, as I experience, they have been removed from my aid: had conquered the Alamanni, whence I believe them to be endowed with no power, who do not succor those obedient to themselves. I now invoke you, and I desire to believe in you, only that I may be delivered from my adversaries. And when he was saying these things, the Alamanni, turning their backs, began to slip into flight. And when they saw their King slain, they submitted to the regulations of Chlodoveus, saying; Let not, we beseech, the people perish any further: now we are yours. And he, the war being prohibited and the people restrained, returning with peace, narrated to the Queen how through the invocation of the name of Christ he merited to obtain victory. c
Chapter 31
[5] Then the Queen orders S. d Remigius Bishop of the city of Reims to be summoned secretly, beseeching that he insinuate the word of salvation to the King. Whom the Priest, having been summoned, began more secretly to incite, that he believe the true God maker of heaven and earth, and neglect the idols, she summons S. Remigius, which can profit neither themselves nor others. And he said: Gladly will I hear you, most holy Father: but one thing remains, that the people who follow me do not suffer to leave their Gods. But I shall go and speak to them according to your word. But meeting with his own people, before he could speak, the power of God going before, the whole people equally acclaimed; Mortal Gods we drive away, pious King; and the God whom Remigius preaches the immortal, we are prepared to follow. These things are announced to the Prelate, who, filled with great joy, ordered a laver to be prepared. e With painted veils the streets are shaded, the churches are adorned with white curtains, she adorns the church, the baptistery is composed, balsams are diffused, fragrant tapers shine with their odor, and the whole temple of the baptistery is sprinkled with a divine fragrance; and there God conferred such grace on those standing by, that they thought themselves placed amid the odors of Paradise. So the King, having confessed Almighty God in the Trinity, f was baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and was anointed with sacred Chrism, with the sign of the Cross of Christ. where the King is baptized with his own, But of his army more than three thousand were baptized, and his sister Albofleda, who not long after migrated to the Lord… There was converted also another sister, Lanthildis by name, and 2 Sisters. who had lapsed into the heresy of the Arians: who, confessing the Son equal to the Father and the Holy Spirit, was anointed.
Chapter 37 toward the end, Chapter 38, Chapter 43
[6] After these things, victory having been obtained over Alaric King of the Goths, King Chlodoveus returned to Tours, offering many gifts to the holy Basilica of B. Martin… But having departed from Tours, he came to Paris, and there established the Throne of the kingdom. These things performed, he died at Paris, and was buried in the Basilica of the Holy Apostles, which he himself with Chrothildis the Queen had built… And all the days of his reign were g thirty years: Widowed by her husband, his whole age forty-five years. From the passing of S. Martin therefore to the passing of King Chlodoveus, h one hundred and twelve years are reckoned. But Chrothildis the Queen after the death of her husband came to Tours: she migrates to S. Martin of Tours. and there serving at the basilica of S. Martin, with the highest modesty and benignity she remained in this place all the days of her life, rarely visiting Paris.
ANNOTATIONS G. H.
Chapter 11, Chapter 12
have been transferred to the history of Tours, they are nevertheless wanting in Mss. and various editions. Further that victory happened in the year 496, of Chlodoveus's reign the 17th, as we have accurately proved elsewhere.
* otherwise Chrona
CHAPTER II.
Acts in widowhood after the death of King Chlodoveus. Death, burial.
Book 3 chapter 1, Chapter 6.
[7] King Chlodoveus being dead, therefore, his four sons, that is, Theodoric, Chlodomer, Childebert, and Chlothar, receive his kingdom, and a divide it among themselves on an equal scale… Amalaric, King of Spain, requested their sister in matrimony. But Chrothildis the Queen addresses Chlodomer and her remaining sons, She incites her sons to vengeance for the killing of her parents, saying: Let me not repent, dearest ones, of having sweetly nourished you: I beg, be indignant at my injury; and avenge the death of my father and my mother with sagacious zeal. They hearing these things go to the Burgundies and direct themselves against b Sigismund and his brother Godomar:… Chlodomer, having killed Sigismund with his wife and sons… went to the Burgundies… and rushed into the midst of his enemies. The sons of slain Chlodomer he keeps with himself. Whose head, amputated and fixed on a pole, they raise on high… His sons Chrothildis the Queen, the days of mourning being passed, received and kept with her. Of whom one was called Theodoald, another Gunthar, the third Chlodoald.
Chapter 10
[8] Childebert directs himself into Spain on account of his sister Chrothilde. But she was suffering many treacheries from Amalaric her husband on account of the Catholic faith. His daughter Chlothildis, having suffered much for the faith For very often when she was going forth to the holy Church, he commanded dung and various filthy things to be thrown over her. To the last, however, he is said to have fallen upon her with such cruelty, that she sent to her brother a handkerchief stained with her own blood. Whence he, greatly moved, made for Spain. But Amalaric… seeing he could not escape, began to flee to the Church of the Christians. But before he could touch the holy thresholds, one, with hand extended a lance, wounded him with a mortal blow, and there dying he gave up his spirit. Then Childebert with great treasures, the sister having been received, wished to lead her back with him. died on the journey. Who, by I know not what chance, died on the way, and afterwards being brought to Paris, was buried next to her father Chlodoveus. c But Childebert among the other treasures brought the most precious ministerial vessels of the Churches: for he brought sixty chalices, fifteen patens, twenty cases of Gospels, all ornamented with pure gold and precious stones, but he did not suffer them to be broken: for he distributed them all to the Churches and Basilicas of the Saints.
Chapter 17
[9] Leo dying at Tours, Theodore and Proculus, who had come from the parts of Burgundy, by the ordering of Chrothildis the Queen, ruled the Church of Tours for three years. she establishes Bishops of Tours Who having died, Francilio of the Senators was substituted… Whom dying, Injuriosus, one of the citizens, the fifteenth after B. Martin, obtained the Pontifical Chair.
Chapter 18
[10] While however Chrothildis the Queen was dwelling at Paris, Childebert, seeing that his mother loved the sons of Chlodomer (whom we have mentioned above) with unique affection, she loves the sons of Chlodomer: led by envy, and fearing lest, with the Queen favoring, they should be admitted into the kingdom, sent secretly to his brother Chlothar the King, saying: Our mother keeps the sons of our brother with her, and wishes them to be given a kingdom: you ought to come quickly to Paris, and with common counsel held it is necessary to consider, what is to be done about these: whether with their hair cut they should be held as the rest of the people, or certainly, these being killed, the kingdom of our brother be divided between ourselves in equality. By which words he, greatly rejoiced, came to Paris. For Childebert had thrown out a word among the people: that for this these Kings were being united, as if they were going to raise those little ones in the kingdom. But being joined they sent to the Queen, who then was dwelling in that very city, deceived she sends them to Childebert and Chlothar, saying: Direct the little ones to us, that they may be elevated in the kingdom. But she, rejoicing, not knowing their deceit, food and drink having been given the boys, directed them, saying: I do not think I have lost my son, if I see you substituted in his kingdom. Who going were immediately apprehended, and separated from the boys and their nurses. They were kept guarded both separately, the boys, and separately, these little ones. Then Childebert and Chlothar sent Arcadius to the Queen with scissors and an unsheathed sword. Who coming showed the Queen both, saying: Your will, O most glorious Queen, your sons our Lords demand, what you judge ought to be done about the boys, whether you order them to live with their hair cut, or both to be slain? But she, terrified by the message, and exceedingly moved with bitterness, especially when she saw the unsheathed sword and the scissors, prevented by bitterness, after a word inconsiderately said, not knowing in that very grief what she said, says simply: It is better for me, if they are not raised to the kingdom, to see them dead than tonsured. And he, marveling little at her grief, nor scrutinizing what afterwards more fully should be considered, came swiftly announcing and saying: With the Queen's favor complete the work begun: for she herself wishes your counsel to be fulfilled.
[11] And no delay: the elder boy having been apprehended, Chlothar dashed his arm to the ground, and fixing a knife in his armpit, cruelly killed him. As he cried out, his brother is prostrated at the feet of Childebert, and having grasped his knees, was saying with tears: Help, most pious uncle, lest I also perish like my brother. Then Childebert with face suffused with tears, says: I ask, sweetest brother, that you grant me his life by your largesse: two killed and whatever you order I will confer for his soul, only let him not be killed. But he, driven by fury, says: Either cast him from you, or certainly you will die for him. You, he says, are the instigator of this cause: and so quickly do you leap back from faith? He, hearing these things, the boy being pushed from him, throws him to him. But he, receiving him, with a knife pierced in his side, as he had done his brother before, slew him: then they killed the boys with their nurses. These slain, Chlothar mounting his horses departed, little caring about the killing of his nephews. But also Childebert withdrew into the suburbs. She gives them to burial: But the Queen, the little bodies having been placed on a bier, with great psalm-singing and immense mourning, escorting them all the way to the Basilica of S. Peter, buried both equally: of whom one was ten years old, the other seven.
[12] But the third, d Chlodoald, they could not apprehend, S. Chlodoald freed, died a Priest. because he was freed through the aid of brave men. He, having laid aside the earthly kingdom, passed to the Lord, and with his own hand cutting his hair, was made a Cleric; and persisting in good works, departed from this world a Presbyter.
[13] But Chrothildis the Queen showed herself so great and such, that she was honored by all: S. Chrothildis devotes herself to pious works. assiduous in almsgiving, sleepless in vigils, in chastity and all honesty she always showed herself pure. She provided estates necessary for churches, monasteries, or any holy places, with bountiful and prone will; so that at that time she might be thought not a Queen, but the proper handmaid of God, to serve Him sedulously: whom not the kings her sons, not the ambition of the world, nor abundance carried to ruin, but humility raised to grace.
Chapter 28
[14] But Childebert and Theodebert, mustering an army, set in order to go against Chlothar. He, hearing these things, esteeming that he could not sustain their army, fled into the woods, and made great chevaux-de-frise in the woods. But also Chrothildis the Queen, hearing these things, went to the sepulchre of B. Martin, and there is prostrated in prayer, and watches the whole night, praying that civil war should not arise between her sons. she impedes civil war between her own by prayers. And as they coming with their armies were besieging him, planning to kill him the following day; in the morning, in the place where they were gathered, a tempest arose, scattered the tents, plundered the things, and overturned everything, and mingled lightning with thunder and stones descended upon them. They themselves also fall on their faces upon the ground infected with hail, and are gravely wounded by the descending stones: for no covering remained to them, except only their shields, fearing this especially, lest by the celestial fires they should be burned. But also their horses were so dispersed that scarcely in every twentieth stadium were they found; many also were not at all found among them. Then those, as we said, stricken by stones and prostrated on the ground, were doing penance, and praying pardon from God, that they had wished to do these things against their own blood. But upon Chlothar not even a single drop of rain fell, nor was any sound of thunder heard, nor did they feel the breath of any wind in that place. They also sending messengers to him, asked for peace and concord: which being given, they returned to their own. Let no one doubt that this was through the obtaining of the Queen, the virtue of B. Martin.
Book 4 chapter 1
[15] Therefore Chrothildis the Queen full of days, and endowed with good works, at the city of Tours in the time of e Bishop f Injuriosus died. Who having been brought to Paris with great preconium of those singing psalms, in the sacristy of the basilica of S. Peter, Dead at Paris she is buried. at the side of Chlodoveus the King, she was buried by her sons, Childebert and Chlothar the Kings. For that basilica she herself had built, in which also Genoveva g most blessed is buried.
ANNOTATIONS G. H.
with the death of King Theodebert of the Austrasians, who died in 548, about that time she should be said to have departed from this life. But because Injuriosus does not seem to have lived so long, let us say she died sooner, about the year 540, until someone shall suggest a more certain way.
CHAPTER III.
Analects from the Ms. Life and that printed in the Benedictine Acts.
[16] She can be reckoned among Martyrs for various sorrows, Let no one esteem this Saint, chosen by God before the ages, and arising in royal lineage in this world, and raised to the summit of the kingdom, to have been without martyrdom, without fire and sword, who suffered so many sorrows and torments in the present world. For a sword passed through her soul in the killing of her father, in the killing of her mother, in the exile of her sister, in that she married a Pagan King: the hearts of the pagan and most fierce people, namely the Frankish, she softened by the blandishments of her mind, and converted to the Lord through B. Remigius by holy exhortations and assiduous prayers. With how great sorrow was she worn down for the death of the King, and of her daughter Chrothildis, and of the sons of her son Chlodomer? With how much abstinence, with what fasts, vigils, and prayers, and contrition of body did she sacrifice herself? With how great abundance of largesse and distribution of alms did she diminish the royal treasure? For before in the royal manner she was clothed in precious and gilded garments, afterwards she walked clothed in woolen and the meanest garments: and royal and delicious foods being rejected, and the eating of flesh, she was refreshed only with bread and legumes and the drink of water.
[17] She builds monasteries, She built besides many monasteries of Saints throughout many regions, of which she built one in honor of Peter the Apostle in the suburb of the city of Tours, a before the gate of the Castle of S. Martin. She also made another monastery upon the river Seine, in the place which is called b Andely, not far from the walls of the city of Rouen, in the name of the Mother of God: in which place while she was staying and beginning the said work, what happened is by no means to be hidden, but to be made manifest to the faithful. That region is not wine-bearing; the workmen of the aforesaid monastery, however, demanded wine from the Queen: for there was at that time such sterility of wine, as had never been heard. Of which matter while S. Chrothildis was anxious, there appeared near the building of the monastery, coming out of the ground, a fountain of wondrous beauty, delightful to look upon, and wholesome for drinking. she has water carried to the workmen turned into wine, And it was said to B. Chrothildis in a dream that, when they should seek from her the drink of wine, the builders of the monastery; she should send them a cup, drawn by one of her maidservants from the aforesaid fountain. But the following day, as is the nature of summer-time, when the sun was glowing with the heat of greatest warmth; the workmen cry out, they call upon S. Chrothildis, they demand wine. The holy handmaid of God swiftly sends them the cup, which had been commanded to her by God. As soon as they took the water turned into wine, they said they had never drunk such excellent wine. Having taken it, they approach the holy handmaid of God, bend their necks to the ground, return thanks giving thanks, saying they had never taken so good a cup. But God's chosen one, when she heard this, attributed it not to her own merits, but to God's goodness, covered it with silence, ordered the maidservant who had brought it to disclose it to no one. But whoever drank from the aforesaid fountain, perceived water: but to the builders of the monastery, as often as they took, it was turned into wine, until they completed the whole building of the monastery: which finished, the same fountain remains in the natural taste of water until the present day.
[18] She built besides in the suburb of the Castle of Laon a Church in honor of c S. Peter, in which she established a Congregation of Clerics. The Church d of S. Peter, which is within the walls of Reims, she enlarged, and enriched with lands and Ecclesiastical ornaments. she builds churches. This Church therefore for all the days that she lived afterwards, she greatly loved and cultivated, for the reason that her King Ludovicus in it received the grace of e holy baptism… She renewed also from the very foundations a certain f monastery of wondrous magnitude, which in the suburb of the city of Rouen, near the walls of the same city, had been built there in the time of B. Dionysius, and was dedicated by the same Apostolic Man in the name of the twelve Apostles, on the day of the Kalends of September, as was sculpted on a certain stone, which had been placed in the foundation of the altar. There also she gathered no small Congregation of Clerics serving God.
[19] With these and other holy g works S. Chrothildis, once a Queen, then the handmaid of the poor and servants of God, despising the world, and loving God with her heart, grew old in a good old age, about to receive from Christ rewards that would remain without end. It happened, then, that she went to the city of Tours, in which for love of S. Martin she more often used to remain. Where while she was dwelling, she learned by angelic revelation that the day of her vocation was at hand. Then exulting in God she prayed, saying with devout heart: To you, Lord, I have lifted up my soul; come and rescue me; Lord, to you I have fled. Hence weighed down with bodily sickness she lay on her bed, yet from prayer and the giving of alms she in no way ceased: but what to give the poor little one of Christ she did not have, Sick she calls her sons the Kings: because she had diminished the royal treasure, and through the hands of the poor had sent it to heaven. She sent therefore a messenger to her sons Childebert and Chlothar, ordering them to come to her. Who as soon as they heard, swiftly came. To whom the holy handmaid of God foretold very many things which afterwards happened to them, as had been divinely revealed to her. On the thirtieth day of her vocation, then, according to the Apostle anointed by the Priests with holy oil, and the Viaticum of the sacred body and blood of Christ having been received, in the confession of the holy Trinity she put off her body, left the world. Whose soul, led by angelic hands to heaven, was placed among the choirs of the bands of Saints. She went forth from the body at the first hour of the night, the III Nones of June. she died June 3. On her migration, so immense a brightness filled the house, as if it were the sixth hour of the day; and so great a fragrance filled the nostrils and mouths of all, that they thought themselves cherished by the odors of incense and all spices. This brightness and odor remained there so long, until day shone forth, and the sun shone most brightly over the earth: to the praise and glory of the holy and individual Trinity, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, whose kingdom remains without end for ages of ages. Amen. h