JUNE 3, 2024 – ST. CLOTILDA, QUEEN.
- St. Charles Lwanga & Companions (1887). Martyr. (Current, Traditional)
- St. Clotilde (545). Widow. (Historical) Queen of France
- St. John XXIII (1963). Pope. (Current)
ST. CLOTILDA was daughter of Chilperic, younger brother to Gondebald, the tyrannical king of Burgundy, who put him and his wife, and his other brothers, except one, to death, in order to usurp their dominions. Clotilda was brought up in her uncle’s court, and, by a singular providence, was instructed in the Catholic religion, though she was educated in the midst of Arians. Her wit, beauty, meekness, modesty, and piety made her the adoration of all the neighboring kingdoms, and Clovis I, surnamed the Great, the victorious king of the Franks, demanded and obtained her in marriage. She honored her royal husband, studied to sweeten his warlike temper by Christian meekness, conformed herself to his humor in things that were indifferent, and, the better to gain his affections, made those things the subject of her discourse and praises in which she knew him to take the greatest delight. When she saw herself mistress of his heart, she did not defer the great work of endeavoring to win him to God, but the fear of giving offense to his people made him delay his conversion. His miraculous victory over the Alemanni, and his entire conversion in 496, were at length the fruit of our Saint’s prayers. Clotilda, having gained to God this great monarch, ever ceased to excite him to glorious actions for the divine honor; among other religious foundations, he built in Paris, at her request, about the year 511, the great church of SS. Peter and Paul, now called St. Genevieve’s. This great prince died on the 27th of November, in the year 511, at the age of forty-five, having reigned thirty years. His eldest son, Theodoric, reigned at Reims over the eastern parts of France, Clodomir reigned at Orleans, Childebert at Paris, and Clotaire I at Soissons. This division produced wars and mutual jealousies, till in 560 the whole monarchy was reunited under Clotaire, the youngest of these brothers. The dissension in her family contributed more perfectly to wean Clotilda’s heart from the world. She spent the remaining part of her life in exercises of prayer, almsdeeds, watching, fasting, and penance, seeming totally to forget that she had been queen or that her sons sat on the throne. Eternity filled her heart and employed all her thoughts. She foretold her death thirty days 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 the 3d of June, in 545.
REFLECTION: St. Peter defines the mission of the Christian woman: to win the heart of those who believe not the word.
WORD OF THE DAY
SEMINARY. A school established for the academic and spiritual training of candidates for the priesthood. The Council of Trent, July 15, 1563, ordered the establishment of a seminary in every diocese. Seminaries that are not houses of study for the regular clergy are of different kinds, depending on the authority that establishes them and has jurisdiction over them. Thus seminaries may be diocesan, regional, interdiocesan, provincial, and pontifical. The decree of the Second Vatican Council, Optatam Totius, issued in 1965, treats at length about the curriculum and administration of seminarians. In 1979 Pope John Paul II issued the Apostolic Constitution Sapientia Christiana on ecclesiastical universities and faculties. The document immediately affects all institutions of higher education, including seminaries, which have been canonically erected or approved by the Holy See with the right to confer academic degrees by the authority of the same See. Indirectly it affects all Catholic seminaries. Among other detailed provisions, the constitution requires that, “All teachers, before they are given a permanent post . . . must receive a declaration of nihil obstat [formal approval] from the Holy See” (Part One, III, 27).
Modern Catholic Dictionary, Fr. John Hardon SJ (Get the real one at Eternal Life — don’t accept an abridged or edited version of this masterpiece!)
June, Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
The Sacred Heart of Jesus – Short Meditations for June. June 3 — The Characteristics of the Love of the Sacred Heart.
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