De sancta Radegunde regina Franciae
A Queen's Hidden Devotion
Though a queen in the world, Radegund lived a secret life of extreme asceticism and charity while still in the royal court.
Saint Radegund was of barbarian origin, the daughter of King Berengar. After leaving her homeland as a captive, she fell into the hands of King Lothair. But when he sent her to Soissons to be raised as queen, she resisted. She did this so that she would not grow attached to the world, for the glory that is eternal does not change, even if human glory is owed to it; she married the earthly prince, yet she was not separated from the heavenly one. When secular dignity came to her, her will inclined toward it more than that dignity allowed, and she feared she had degraded herself so much that she was in the world. As she rose in rank, she dedicated herself and her resources to almsgiving; whenever any tribute arrived, she gave away a tenth of it before she even touched it, then distributed the rest to monasteries, even sending gifts to places she couldn't reach on foot. At night, while resting with the prince, she would ask to get up for personal needs; then, leaving the bedroom, she would spend long hours in secret prayer, wearing a hairshirt and lying on the cold ground, burning with spirit. Her body was nearly worn away, and people told the king that he had a nun for a wife rather than a queen.
The Cloistered Path of Perfection
Radegund leaves the royal life to establish a monastery, where she pursues total union with Christ through severe penance and humble service.
It's worth knowing how she lived during the days of Lent. She practiced penance in a unique way, even while wearing royal robes. As the time of fasting approached, she would send for a religious nun named Pia to guide her in her holy resolve and to send her a hair shirt. She wore this beneath her royal garments throughout the entire Lenten season. If the king were away, who could believe how she poured herself into prayer, how she bound herself to the feet of Christ Jesus as if He were present, and how, filled with such delights, she was satisfied in her tears during that long fast? For her, having despised the food of the belly, Christ the Lord was her total nourishment, and her entire hunger was for Him in that which she did with such pious concern; for the mind of the aforementioned Saint Radegund was fixed on Christ. At Poitiers, by the inspiration and cooperation of God's grace, she built a monastery for herself through the arrangement of the noble King Lothair. She entered it with joy, where she might seek the ornaments of perfection and gather a great congregation of maidens for Christ, her never-dying Spouse. Once elected abbess and established in that role, she surrendered both herself and all she possessed to His authority, reserving nothing for herself by her own right, so that she might run freely in the footsteps of Christ, and so that she might increase her treasure in heaven by as much as she had subtracted from herself in the world. She never ceased to feed the weak and the blind with her own hands, and she would embrace and kiss women covered in the various sores of leprosy, loving them in that act with her whole heart in God; to those who were leaving, she provided the comfort of gold or clothing. Regarding monastery duties, nothing pleased her more than to serve first; the very account of the labors and penances she inflicted upon herself is enough to make one shudder. On one occasion, she bound iron rings to her neck or arms for sixty days and wore three chains; when she had bound them tightly, her tender flesh grew over the hard iron. When the fast ended and she tried to remove the chains that had become embedded in her skin, she couldn't do so without a great shedding of blood. Her glorious miracles are well known, though it would take too long to recount them; she is of the greatest merit before God, and in the end, she was faithfully rewarded by Him in heaven.
Commemoration and Miracle
The chapter concludes with the date of her feast and a miracle demonstrating her continued authority and mercy.
The feast of this saint is observed on the Ides of August. A woman in her household who had rashly dared to sit in the blessed virgin's chair was struck with a burning fever. For three days she cried out, 'Lady Radegund, I have sinned, I have done wrong; forgive me and cool my limbs.' After many prayers and the intercession of the people, she was heard and healed.1
Read the original Latin
Sancta Radegundis natione barbarica fuit patre rege Berengario. Quae cum exiisset ut sclava de patria, venit in sortem Lotarii regis. Cum autem eam Suessionis direxisset, ut reginam erigeret, illa evitabat. pompain regalem, ne saeculo cresceret, Sed cui etiam debetur humana gloria, non mutatur aeterna, Nupsit ergo terreno principi, non tamen separatur a coelesti, ac dum. sibi accessisset saecularis dignitas, plus se inclinavit voluntas, quam permitteret dignitas, timensque, ne adeo degradasset, cum inundi. gradu proficeret, se cum fua facultate elemosinae dictavit, Nam cmn aliquid de tributis accideret, ex omnibus, quae venissent ad eam, ante dedit decimam, quam recepit; deinde quod supererat, dabat monasteriis, et quo ire pede non poJerat, misso munere circuibat. Item nocturno tempore, cuim reclinaret cum principe, rogans se pro humana necessitate velle consurgere et se levans, egressa cubiculo tamdiu ante secretum orationi incumbebat jactato cilicio, ut solo calens spiritu jaceret, gelu. penetrata tota carne ferme praemortua, De qua regi dicebatur, habere se nagis jugalem monacham quam reginam.
Diebus vero quadragesimae salis est scire, qualiter rexepit. se, inler vestes regias singulariter poenitens. Agitur appropinquante jejunii tempore ad religiosam monacham nomine Piam mittebat, ut sanctum propositum illa dirigeret et cilicium mitteret. Quod sancta induens ad corpus per totam quadragesimam subtus vestem regiam portabat in sarcinam, Si autem rex deesset, quis credat, qualiter se orationi infunderet, qualiter se tamquam praesentem Christi Jesu pedibus alligaret, et quasi repleta deliciis sic longo jejunio satiaretur in lacrymis, cui despecto ventris edulio Christus dominus erat tota refecta, et tota fames erat ei in Christo illud, quod pietate agebat, sollicita, Porro praedictae sanctae Radegundis mens intenta ad Christum. Pictavis inspirante et cooperante Dei gratia xnonasterium sibi per ordinationem praecelsi regis Lotarii construxit, in quo gaudens ingressa est, ubi et perfectionis ornamenta conquireret et magnam congregationem puellarum Christo nunquam inorituro sponso aggregaret, Quae electa abbatissa et jam constituta tam se quain sua omnia ejus tradidit potestati, ex proprio jure nihil sibi reservans, ut post vestigia Christi curreret, expedita, ut tantum plus sibi augeret in coelo, quantum sibi subtraxisset in saeculo. Languidis et caecis non cessabat ipsa cibos cun cochlearibus porrigere, mulieres variis leprae maculis perfusas coimprehendens in amplexu osculabatur, in eo eos toto in Deo diligebat affectu, recedentibus praebebat auri vel vestimenti solatia. De officiis autem monasterii nihil sibi placuit nisi servire prima, Post tot labores quas sibi poenas intulerit, ipsa vox, quae refert, perhorrescit. Quadam vice translatos sibi circulos ferreos diebus LX collo vel brachiis innexuit et tres catenas inferens, circa corpus dum alligasset astricte, inclusit durum ferrum caro tenera sucorescens, et transacto jejunio cnm voluisset sub cute clausas catenas extrahere nec valeret, nón tamen hoc factum est absque magna sanguinis effusione, Exstant ejus praeclara miracula, quorum narratio longa esset, et apud Deum est maximi meriti et tandem fideliter a Deo est remunerata in coelo.
Hujus sanctae transitus recolitur idibus Augusti. Quaedam ejus fummla, quae ausu temerario in cathedra beatae virginis sederet, praesumsit, quod percussa ardebat; tribus diebus clamabat: domina hRadegundis peccavi, male egi, ignosce mihi, refrigera mihi membra, Et post innltas orationes et populi exaudita est et sanata.
Notes
- 1 ↩The term 'fummla' is likely a corruption of 'famula' (handmaid/servant).
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