St Bathildis

When Bathildis was only a little girl, she was taken onto a pirate ship and taken to France. She was sold as a slave to the Mayor of the Palace of King Clovis. Bathildis quietly did everything she was told to do and did the best she could in everything. King Clovis began to notice how good Bathildis was and the more he watched her, the more he was impressed and so he married her! The little slave girl became the Queen. They had 3 sons and after King Clovis died, Bathildis became ruler of France until her sons grew up and became King. She remembered her years as a slave and what it was like to be poor and so Bathildis wanted everyone to know how precious they were to God. She used her royal position to help and protect the Church in every way she could and she always helped the poor whenever she could. She opened many hospitals in France to help the sick people and she made it against the law to sell Christians as slaves. When her son Clotaire was 15, Queen Bathildis made him King and she entered the convent of Chelles. In the convent she never demanded or even expected that other people should treat her like a Queen.