Blessed Radegund was a Thuringian Princess and daughter of the King Bertaire. She was raised a Pagan but Bertaire lost his life when he was assassinated by his own brother Hermenfred. Clotaire, the son of Clovis and Clotilda, would then take vengeance upon Hermenfred together with his brother Theodoric and Clotaire would take Radegund and her brother with him into his palace. There, Clotaire would instruct the saint in the religion of Christianity which she would eagerly embrace. Radegund, having become a Christian, would desire to be a martyr but this was during a time when the Church was not persecuted but rather flourishing in the Gallic region. How could she be a martyr when the Church was flourishing? Radegund always embraced the most severe of penances as a result of her faithful desire to be a martyr and always preferred the role of Martha to Mary. Our Lord says that Mary picked the better, however, it is important to remember that the Marthas always have a great reward in eternity for their works always prepare them for much deeper conversation.
Each Lent, Radegund would take on a penance more severe then the one before. Often wearing a haircloth, sometimes she would even adorn herself with chains underneath her clothes which would cut her body and cause bleeding. She distributed finances to the poor and contributed to monasteries. She spent much of her time in prayer. Clotaire would eventually marry her as his first wife in order to cement his political dominance over Thuringia. As his queen, she would appease the anger of the king and intercede on behalf of those he had desired to have put to death, often times saving the lives of many men who had incurred the king's anger. But her prayers and fasting and contributions to the poor angered the king who complained that he had married a nun rather than a queen, even as she kept her royal duties. Fearing an uprising from her brother, he had him assassinated. When Radegund found this out, she began to fear her own life and ran away from her husband.
According to Venantius, Radegund fled from the king all the way to Noyon where she encountered St. Médard. St. Médard refused to give her the monacha since she was the king's wife and still the queen of the Franks but she reprimanded him for choosing to fear man more than God. Convinced and inspired by that argument, he consecrated her as a deaconess. All of the costly gold, jewels, diamonds, she had attired herself with as a queen, she cast before the altar of the Lord as gifts. She founded a nunnery in Poitiers and entreated several bishops, Eufronius, Praetextatus, Germanus, Felix, Domitianus, Victorius, and Domnolus, who granted her approval for the founding of her monastery in the year 566. But Radegund, despite being the foundress of her monastery, deferred the role of abbess to her friend Agnes. She was a Queen who had relinquished royalty and honor in her own monastery.
She had desired many relics in her monastery and wrote to the Emperor Justin II and his wife Sophia in the East for different relics, especially that of the Holy Cross which she sought a piece of. My own parish has a piece of this Holy Cross, the one on which Jesus himself was crucified on. The Emperor had sent her the relics but the Bishop Maroveus was the one who had received them first. Though they were sent to her monastery, he refused to relinquish them to her. She had no help whatsoever from this bishop even as she was subject to him and wrote him, begging for his help much of the time, he still gave her monastery no assistance. She eventually wrote to King Sigibert and the Bishop Eufronius for aid which they did provide, and the Bishop Eufronius obtained the relics and delivered them to her monastery. (St. Gregory of Tours, History of the Franks IX.40) This is why her monastery is called the Monastery of the Holy Cross in Poitiers (Poitiers St. Croix) for the monastery holds a piece of the Holy Cross.
Often times, Radegund would find herself making the meals as the priests would eat. And she preferred to be the one making the meals instead and did so until the brothers were well fed. She denied herself of the luxuries of much foods consuming of a diet of honey water, vegetables, and legumes. Not even the sweetness of fruits did she allow herself to consume. She took up this abstinence her entire life, denying herself the sumptuous meat that many would indulge in. She would even clean the shoes of the other monachas while they slept through the night ensuring that each of them had cleaned and oiled shoes for the next day. She eagerly assisted the lepers. One wonders how she ever found time to pray as she did so many things for others, living a life of complete servitude to her Lord and doing all of these out of the utmost charity for others.
Some of the miracles attributed to her by Venantius include saving a sailor from shipwreck as the waters of his boat filled during a storm and he cried for her intercession. The storm ceased instantly. She cured a bloody humor from the eye of one of her monachas with wormwood which was pressed to the eye. One of her servants, Andered, lost numerous children in infancy before he even saw them. One she took and wrapped up in her mantle, pressing it to her haircloth, the child revived. Another of her monachas had an infant sister who had reposed. She spent several hours in the room with the child, praying fervently though no one knew exactly what was going in the room. While the rites of burial were being prepared for the child, the girl arose as Christ could not deny the faith of the holy woman.
Many more miracles of this holy woman are recorded by both Venantius and St. Gregory of Tours. St. Gregory of Tours recounts the saint left this world on August 13, 587. St. Gregory was present at her funeral and there was much lamentation in the nunnery (IX.2). She was remembered for her humility and her constant devout service to others. St. Gregory records her miracles in his work, Book of Miracles.
Clothaire, who had abused his wife for her faith, would find himself ill toward the end of his life. In 560, he acquired the sole kingship of France as his three brothers and their sons were now all dead. He brought gifts to the tomb of St. Martin of Tours who his mother had held a deep devotion toward. He besought St. Martin for his intercession to implore the mercy of God on his behalf and built a monastery dedicated to St. Médard at Soissons. He showed great repentance for all the crimes he had done crying, "How powerful is the heavenly king, by whose command all the greatest monarchs of the earth resign their life!" He also recalled how he had treated Radegund and repented of what he had done. His illness would take him in the year 561 A.D. There is no doubt that the faith of the holy Radegund had contributed to his conversion.
See also:
Life of Radegund, Venantius Fortunatus
No comments:
Post a Comment