Clotilde, St.
CLOTILDE, ST.
Frankish queen; b. Lyons or Vienne, c. 470; d. Tours, June 3, 545. She was the daughter of the Burgundian King Chilperic, and although a Catholic, was sought in marriage (492) by the pagan clovis. Their children, and eventually Clovis himself, received Baptism at the hands of St. remigius of reims. Clotilde was widowed in 511. In 523 she urged her sons to war against King Sigismund of Burgundy to avenge her father's death years earlier. She retired to the burial shrine of St. martin of tours. Clotilde was buried with Clovis at St. geneviÈve in paris. In the Middle Ages her cult was extensive and her relics were prized. In 1793 her body was cremated in order to avoid profanation, and the ashes were retained in Paris.
Feast: June 3.
Bibliography: a. bernet, Sainte Clotilde: marraine de la France (Monaco 1997). f. oppenheimer, Frankish Themes and Problems (London 1952). j. m. wallace-hadrill, The Long-Haired Kings (London 1962). g. bardy, Catholicisme 2:1259–60. a. dumas Dictionnaire de biographie française (Paris 1929—) 9:34–35.
[r. h. schmandt]