St. Clothilda

Saint Clotilde
A sculpture of Saint Clotilde, Notre-Dame de Corbeil, 12th century
Queen of All the Franks
Born	475 Lyon, Burgundy
Died	545 Tours, Francia
Venerated in	Eastern Orthodox Church Roman Catholic Church
Canonized	Pre-Congregation
Feast	June 3 (June 4 in France)
Attributes	wearing a crown and holding a church; with a battle in the background, in memory of the Battle of Tolbiac.
Patronage	brides, adopted children, parents, exiles, widows, the lame

Saint Clotilde (475–545), also known as Clothilde, Clotilda, Clotild, Rotilde etc. (Latin Chrodechildis, Chlodechildis from Frankish *Hrōþihildi or perhaps *Hlōdihildi, both "famous in battle"), was the second wife of the Frankish king Clovis I, and a princess of the kingdom of Burgundy, from Athanlidis – "the loved of Aþana", her grandfather, Aþana-reiks. Venerated as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church as well as the Eastern Orthodox, she was instrumental in her husband's famous conversion to Catholicism and, in her later years, was known for her almsgiving and penitential works of mercy. She is credited with spreading Christianity to the western world.

Clotilde was born at the Burgundian court of Lyon, the daughter of King Chilperic II of Burgundy. Upon the death of Chilperic's father King Gondioc in 473, his brothers Gundobad and Godegisel and him had divided their inheritance; Chilperic II apparently reigning at Lyon, Gundobad at Vienne and Godegesil at Geneva.

From the sixth century on, the marriage of Clovis and Clotilda was made the theme of epic narratives, in which the original facts were materially altered and the various versions found their way into the works of different Frankish chroniclers. According to Gregory of Tours (538–594), Chilperic II was slain by his brother Gundobad in 493, and his wife drowned with a stone hung around her neck, while of his two daughters, Chrona took the veil and Clotilde was exiled – it is, however, assumed that this tale is apocryphal. Butler's account follows Gregory.

After the death of Chilperic, her mother seems to have made her home with Godegisil at Geneva, where her other daughter, Chrona, founded the church of Saint-Victor. Soon after the death of Chilperic, Clovis asked and obtained the hand of Clotilda. They were married in the same year.