8,921
edits
Changes
m
→Life
The holy bishop soon became renowned throughout northern Gaul. He converted heretics, brought Arian heretics back to the Orthodox Faith, and cared for the many who suffered at the hands of barbarian marauders. Wherever he went, miracles attended him. He healed the sick, and once, when a town was on fire, threw himself into the flames and quenched them. Birds would come to his table whenever he ate, and he would share his meal with them.<br>
In 482 the young warrior Clovis became leader of the Frankish tribes in that region. Though he was a pagan, he knew and admired St Remigius, and was married to a Christian, St Clotilde (June 3). Once, when his army faced defeat by the Alemanii, Clovis prayed to "the God of Clotilde and Remigius" and won a great victory. This answer to his prayers convinced him of the truth of the Christian Faith, and he asked St Remigius to instruct him. Two years later he gathered all his chieftains in Rheims to attend his baptism. The baptism was accompanied by many miracles, seen by all in attendance. Two of the king's sisters and three thousand of his lords and soldiers were baptized at the ceremony. '''This event is considered the birth of France as a Christian nation'''.<ref group="note">Later, after Clovis' success in the [[w:Battle of Vouillé|Battle of Vouillé]] in 507 AD over the Visigoths of Alaric II, the Byzantine emperor Anastasius I made him a consul. (Moreton-Macdonald, John Ronald, A History of France, Vol.1, (The MacMillan Company, 1915), 38.)</ref>
Though Remigius never attended any of the church councils, in 517 he held a synod at Rheims, at which after a heated discussion he converted a bishop of Arian views.
