Subj : January 30th - St. Bathildis To : All From : rich Date : Mon Jan 29 2018 09:02:16 From: rich January 30th - St. Bathildis, Widow St. BATHILDIS was an English girl, who at an early age was carried over into France and sold cheaply as a slave into the household of the mayor of the palace under King Clovis II. Here she attained a position of responsibility and attracted the notice of the king, who in 649 married her. She bore him three sons, who all successively wore the crown, Clotaire III, Childeric II and Thierry III. Clovis dying in 657, when the eldest was only five, Bathildis became regent and apparently showed herself very capable at a difficult time when Merovingian power was declining in the face of the Frankish aristocracy. She seconded the zeal of St. Ouen, St. Leger and other holy bishops, redeemed many captives, especially of her own people, and did all in her power to promote religion. She was a benefactress of many monasteries, including Saint-Denis, Saint-Martin at Tours and Saint-Medard at Soissons, founded the great abbey of Corbie, and endowed the truly royal nunnery of Chelles. To this last Bathildis herself retired about 665, which she is said to have long desired to do; the notorious Ebroin and other nobles were apparently no less anxious to have her out of the way. We are told that she had no sooner taken the veil than she seemed to forget entirely her former dignity, and was only to be distinguished from the rest by her humility, serving them in the lowest offices, and obeying the abbess St. Bertila as the last among the sisters. In the life of St. Eligius, attributed, though unwarrantably, to St. Ouen, many instances are mentioned of the veneration which St. Bathildis felt for that holy prelate. Thus we learn that Eligius after his death, in a vision by night, ordered a certain courtier to reprove the queen for wearing jewels and costly apparel in her widowhood, though in so doing she had acted, not out of pride, but because she thought it due to her position whilst she was regent of the kingdom. Upon this admonition she laid them aside, distributed a part to the poor, and with the richest jewels made a beautiful cross, which she placed at the head of the tomb of St. Eligius. During a long illness which preceded her death she suffered intense bodily pain which she bore resignedly, dying on January 30, 680. In the account of St. Bathildis given by Alban Butler no mention is made of a very serious charge brought against her by Eddius, the biographer of St. Wilfrid, who calls her a cruel Jezebel and attributes to her the assassination of ten French bishops, among them the bishop of Lyons, whom he calls Dalfinus. That there is much confusion here is certain, because the name of the murdered bishop was Annemund, who was the brother of Count Dalfinus. Consequently, although Eddius has been copied by William of Malmesbury, and in part even by Bede, it is quite improbable, for a variety of reasons, that his information was in any way accurate. Such unprejudiced authorities as Bruno Krusch, Charles Plummer and the Dictionary of National Biography entirely exonerate St. Bathildis in this matter, and Plummer suggests that there may have been some confusion between her and Queen Brunhilda who died long before, in 653. Butler in a footnote reports from Le Boeuf and others that =E2=80=9Csix nuns were cured of inveterate distempers, attended with frequent fits of convulsions, by touching the relics of St. Bathildis, when her shrine was opened on July 13, 1631.=E2=80=9D The text of the Life of St. Bathildis, which is a genuinely Merovingian document and was written by a contemporary, has been critically edited by B. Krusch in MGH., Scriptores Merov., vol. ii, pp. 475-508. There are also frequent references to St. Bathildis in the Vita S. Eligii, which, though not the work of St. Ouen, may preserve some authentic materials, see MGH., Merov., vol. iv, pp. 634-761. See further M. J. Couturier, Ste Bathilde, Reine des Francs (1909); E. Vacandard, Vie de St. Ouen (1902), pp. 254-263; BHL., nn. 905-911 and CMH., pp. 68-69. Saint Quote: We must give ourselves to God altogether; God makes all His own the soul that is wholly given to Him. -- St. Philip Neri Bible Quote: "I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire,that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see." (Rev. iii. 18.) <><><><> Prayer in the Time of Illness Almighty Master, Physician of our souls and bodies, who both humbles and uplifts, who chastises and heals; visit me with Your mercy in my time of illness. Stretch forth Your arm that is full of health and healing, and heal me, and allow me to leave my sick-bed. Banish my weakness and pains, heal my wounds, quench my fever, and prevent a relapse. If I am guilty of sins or transgressions, loose, remit and forgive them for the sake of Your love toward mankind. Yes, O Lord, pity me, Your creature, through Jesus Christ our Lord with Whom You are blessed , together with Your all-holy, gracious and life-giving Spirit, now and ever and forever. - Amen. --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2 * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4) .