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176 176 ST. RADEGUND passed between the murderer and his wife we do not know, bat almost imme- diately afterwards, be allowed ber to leave the Gonrt. About the same time, Amalfroi, to whom as the only sarvivor of ber family she was much attached, also left Soissons, and after a short residence in Italy, found a home at the Court of Constantinople. Radegund, on leaving Soissons, went to Noyon and demanded that the Bishop should at once consecrate ber a nun. St. Medard had great influence with the king, but feared to take so daring a step. YHiile he hesitated, some Frai^isb nobles who were present, dragged him from the altar and bade him not presume to im- mure their queen in a nunnery. Rade- gund then went into the sacristy, and finding a religious dress, probably that of some deaconess engaged in the service of the church, put it on, and returned to the altar. Presenting herself before the astonished bishop, she asked him whether he feared these men who threatened him more than God, Who would require at his hands the souls of His sheep. He hesitated no longer, but laid his hands on her and consecrated her a deaconess. Confident in the respect always shown by Clothaire and his family to the rights of the Church, she went from shrine to shrine, giving her jewels and royal robes as offerings. She visited the church of St. Martin at Tours, and must have seen ber mother-in-law, St. Clo- tilda, the widow of Clovis, who was expiating her vengeances and preparing for ber death at the tomb of St. Martin, and who died there about a year after- wards. Clothaire gave Eadegund the lands of Saix in Poitou, and there she fixed her residence, living in the severest asceti- cism and tending lepers with great devo- tion. No long time elapsed before the king repented that he bad let ber go, and she heard that he was coming to take her home again. She redoubled her austerities and begged the interces- sion of a holy hermit, that she who bad given herself to the King of heaven might not be again delivered up to this king of earth. She claimed sanctuary at the tomb of St. Hilary of Poitiers. Clothaire pursued ber, determined to assert his authority, but the barrier of coldness and piety that had so often kept him at a distance, the charm that iu^ cinated him while it held him off, reas- serted its empire, and derived new force from the fear of violating the sanctuary of a saint's tomb, and seizing his wife who had now been consecrated to the service of God. He allowed her to build a monastery at Poitiers, where their last interview took place, and to take the veil tbere. The building was finished in 550, and she entered it in triumph, amid the sympathy of the people who crowded the streets and the very roofs, to see their queen and ber train of young disciples and companions enter the cloister. She was the first of many queens who became nuns, most of them in widowhood. Before long, she heard that Clothaire was at Tours and would proceed to Poitiers to claim his wife. She wrote to the venerable St. Germain, bishop of Paris, begging him to interfere. He went to Tours to meet the king before the tomb of St. Martin and implored him on his knees not to go to Poitiers. The king raised the aged bishop from the ground, and kneeling before him, asked him to go and beg the holy queen to forgive all the vexation he luid ever caused ber. From that time he left her in peace. In 5(30, by the death of his brother, Clothaire became sole king of France, but be had lived very hard daring his fifty years' reign, and although not a very old man, having succeeded to his quarter of the kingdom at the early age of twelve, he had little pleasure or glory in his accession of greatness. He had, however, something better which came to him through the prayers of his clois- tered wife. He began to desire earnestly to repent of his sins. He went to the tomb of St. Martin, where he made a full confession, and bestowed princely gifts on the church. He founded the abbey of St. Medard at Soissons. How- ever, he was still a thorough barbarian, and one of the last acts of his life was to burn alive, with wife and children, one of his sons who had rebelled against him. Clothaire died at Compi^gne and