Course 3, Chapter 25

Dhristianity preserved and propagated. — St. Patrick, St. Clotilda, St. Benedict. — Fifth General Council. Fifth and sixth Centuries.

1. What do you further remark of the fifth century?

Whilst heresies afflicted the church in the east, new nations were converted to the faith in the west.

2. Who were these nations?

The Irish and the French.

3. Who was the apostle of Ireland?

The apostle of Ireland was St. Patrick. He was born in England, and carried off by a gang of barbarians, who took him to Ireland, where he was reduced to the condition of a swineherd. God delivered him; but from the moment he returned to his own country, he resolved to go back to Ireland, to preach there the faith. Pope Celestine made him bishop and sent him to Ireland, which he had the happiness to convert to Christianity.*

4. Who was the apostle of the French?

It may be said that St. Clotilda was the apostle of the French. This princess was a Catholic, and was given in marriage to Clovis, king of the French. She endeavored by the practice of every virtue to gain

** Alvan Butler places his birth in Scotland, others in Brittany.*

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die heart of her husband, in order to gain him to Jesus Christ; Clovis postponed his conversion from day to day; at length the moment of grace arrived.

5. On what/ occasion?

In a battle against the Germans, Clovis saw his army in confusion, and himself exposed to fall into the hands of his enemies. He invoked the God of Clotilda, and promised to adore him if he should be victorious. His prayer was heard; on his return to Rheims, he was baptized by St. Remigius, bishop of that city, together with a great number of his officers.

6. What was the end of St. Clotilda?

St. Clotilda, having obtained the great wish of her heart, retired after the death of her husband, in the city of Tours, near the tomb of St Martin, where she died full of days and merit on the 3d of June, in the year 545. She and St. Monica are the models of mothers and wives.

7. Who was St. Benedict?

St. Benedict was born in Italy. His parents sent him to Rome to study; but fearing to lose his innocence there, he left the city and retired to the desert of Subiaco, and afterwards to Mount Cassino, where he founded the celebrated monastery which bears that name. He soon after founded twelve others, for which he wrote a code of rules full of wisdom. St. Benedict is the first patriarch of the re- 'igious orders in the west. By the first article of his rule, persons of every description are admitted. This was intended to open an asylum to all those who were compelled to fly from the barbarians.

8. What service have the Benedictines rendered?

The Benedictines have rendered the greatest services to the Avorld. They have cleared vast provinces; preserved the works of the ancient writers; edified the church, and carried the faith to whole nations.

9. Was there not a general council held in the sixth century?

296 CATECHISM OF PERSEVERANCE,

A . In the sixth century there was a general council held at Constantinople in 553, in which many errors -were condemned.