Saint Dagobert II

Scarcely had this young prince disappeared when the rumor of his death was spread everywhere. Grimoald carried his infamy to the point of holding a magnificent funeral for him, in order to deceive the people more surely and thereby cover the odium of his usurpation: for he almost immediately had his own son proclaimed king, claiming that Sigebert had adopted him. The people were deceived and did not recognize this unworthy trickery: but Queen Himnehilde protested against this infamous betrayal, and being unable, at that very moment, to inform the people of the truth, she took heaven as her witness that she did not intend to see her own excluded from the throne, and took refuge in Paris with Clovis II, her brother-in-law. Th e nobles Austrasie Merovingian kingdom of which Dagobert II was the sovereign. of Austrasia were not long in recovering from their enthusiasm for the usurper. For the violence of Grimoald gradually alienated their minds, and after a reign of seven months, they dethroned Childebert and placed on the throne Clovis II, brother of Sigebert, who thus united the entire kingdom of France under his scepter: but the latter died in 656, and left the monarchy to Clotaire III, his eldest son, who was barely five years old. Clotaire III possessed Austrasia until 660, the time at which it was given to Childeric, the second of the sons of Clovis, who governed this kingdom under the regency of Himnehilde and married his daughter, sister of Dagobert.

This young prince continued to live unknown in his exile, waiting for heaven to finally declare itself in his favor. Through the intercession of Saint Wilf saint Wilfrid English bishop who consecrated Suitbert. rid, he married a Saxon princess, with whom he had a son whom he named Sigebert, and four daughters, Irmine, Adèle, Rathilde, and Ragnétrude. While Dagobert applied himself to giving a Christian education to his children, some Austrasian lords, attached to Himneholde and full of veneration for the memory of Sigebert, thought of recalling him. To this end, they wrote to Saint Wilfrid and begged him to send them back their legitimate king, to place him on his father's throne. The holy prelate collected a large sum of money in the country and engaged the English princes to give him aid to cross back into Austrasia. Dagobert left immediately, but could not at first reconquer his rights; then Himneholde asked Childeric for Alsace and some cantons situated beyond the Rhine, where Dagobert came to reign more as a lieutenant of Childeric than as a true sovereign. The latter having been assassinated in 673, Dagobert recovered the ent ire kingdom of Aust royaume d'Austrasie Merovingian kingdom of which Dagobert II was the sovereign. rasia.

The people had finally heard of the virtues that this prince had practiced in a foreign land; they expected a happy reign, and they were not deceived in their hope. Never did a monarch watch over the interests of his subjects with more care. He rendered them rigorous justice on all occasions and made himself cherished by the gentleness of his government. Piety was the foundation of his virtues and the soul of all his undertakings. One saw realized in him what the Apostle had once said: "that piety is useful for everything; that it not only promises rewards in this world to those who put into practice what it teaches, but that it also assures them of even greater gifts beyond the grave." The life of Dagobert is an energetic and irrefutable answer to those detractors of religion who dare to claim that true piety narrows the genius, weakens courage, and prevents man from conceiving and executing anything great. Let one interrogate history, let one examine the facts, and one will see this prince struggle with advantage against the barbarism of his century, striving to erase even the last traces of the destructive fury of the Vandals and the Huns, who had turned the most beautiful provinces into a frightful desert. Dagobert, persuaded that religion alone could soften the lot of the people and heal the deep wounds that two barbarian invasions had made everywhere, called to his aid the beneficent power of this religion and by it halted the course of public evils. Not content with fulfilling with scrupulous exactitude the duties that Christianity imposed upon him, he also sought to make his people participate in the salutary influence of the graces it provides by founding various religious houses. It is to his generosity that the monasteries of Surbourg, Haslach, and Saint-Sigismond owed their existence. He found in a wise administration of the Sta Haslach Monastery founded by Dagobert in Alsace. te's revenues the means to enrich his provinces with establishments as important as they were useful at that time. His palace offered all the regularity of a monastery; it was open to the lowest of his subjects, who could approach his king in complete freedom and explain his situation. Never did the pious prince listen to the suggestions of flatterers; he banished from his court those deceitful and wicked men who play so unworthily with the trust of monarchs and deceive them. He loved the truth and spoke it likewise with a truly royal frankness.

It is to his zeal for religion that the diocese of Strasbourg was indebted for two of its most illustrious pontiffs, Saint Arbogast saint Arbogaste Bishop of Strasbourg and advisor to Dagobert. and Saint Florent, who enjoyed his most intimate confidence. The first of these prelates obtained for his cathedral the domain of Rouffach and the castle of Issenheim, in recognition of the signal favor that the Lord had granted to Dagobert by restoring to him a beloved son, wounded to death by a fall from a horse. Schadée reports that Dagobert also made magnificent gifts to the same church, consisting of several reliquaries, a gold chalice, and a book of Gospels adorned with gold and precious stones. Uniting thus all Christian and royal virtues, the monarch of Austrasia was great before God and before men, and this greatness he owed entirely to religion: far from blushing at it, he even made it a glory. He led a very austere life and rigorously practiced the fasts prescribed by the Church. His table always preached sobriety, even to strangers: he preferred to distribute in alms the sums he could have spent on sumptuous meals and delicate dishes.

Dagobert had made it a habit to approach the divine Eucharist often. He always prepared himself with admirable fervor for the reception of this august sacrament. The Lord filled him each time with particular graces: hence his progress in perfection. The Eucharist has always been and still is in our day the delight of the Saints: it has strengthened them in their weakness, and has become for them a source of consolation in this valley of tears.

Dagobert had lost the throne of his fathers in his childhood through the ambition of one mayor of the palace; he would lose his life through the int rigues Ébroïn Mayor of the palace responsible for the death of Saint Rambert. of another. Ebroin, a cruel and bloodthirsty man, the same who had dipped his hands in the blood of Saint Leodegar, Bishop of Autun, was t hen abusing Thierry III King of the Franks who made donations to Saint Condedus. the trust of Theuderic III and seeking to dismember the kingdom of Austrasia, to increase his own dominion and diminish that of Dagobert. The latter, after learning of Ebroin's conduct, addressed himself to Theuderic and set forth his grievances against the unjust enterprises of this ambitious mayor of the palace. To ensure that justice was on his side, Dagobert set a deadline by which the provinces that had been detached from Austrasia were to be restored to him: but when this deadline expired, Theuderic made no effort to satisfy Dagobert's request. Although this pious prince knew that the greatest scourge by which the Lord can punish an empire is to send it war, he nevertheless believed he had to declare it against Theuderic, in order to maintain himself in the possession of his States and at the same time obtain the restitution of the provinces that Theuderic was so unjustly withholding. Dagobert commended this whole affair to God, and took Him as witness to the purity of his intentions. He summoned the nobles of his kingdom and informed them of the motives that had dictated his resolution. All were of the opinion to repel Theuderic's pretensions by arms and to wrest from him by force the provinces he would not yield to right.

Dagobert prepared for war as a Christian king. While the army was assembling with its leaders, the pious king, covered in a rough hairshirt, practiced fasting and austerities in order to make heaven propitious to him. Then, placing all his trust in God, he advanced at the head of his army. Following the example of David, he could say: "Some trust in the number of their chariots and the speed of their steeds; but we, we will invoke the name of the Lord our God." This army, which was animated by the same sentiments as its king, was remarkable for the severity of its discipline. It was not a body gathered by the hope of rich spoils; it had armed itself only to support the legitimate rights of its prince. The two armies, having arrived at the borders of Lorraine and Champagne, awaited the signal for combat at any moment. Dagobert was preparing for it again with fervent prayer, when he saw envoys arrive in his camp who invited him to a conference, in order, it was said, to end this quarrel amicably and thereby prevent the shedding of French blood. The wise monarch expressed to the envoys how much he rejoiced to be able to end this affair in an equally honorable and Christian manner, and after giving his orders to the army leaders, he left with the envoys, without an escort; trusting in the honor of these warriors, he crossed the forest of Woëvre with them to go to the designated place. But must the Saints then become victims of the perfidy of a cowardly scoundrel? Scarcely had Dagobert penetrated deep enough into the forest to no longer be seen by his own men, when he fell into an ambush that Ebroin had set for him, and was pitilessly massacred by the hand of Grimoald, his godson, on Decem ber 23 Ébroïn Mayor of the palace responsible for the death of Saint Rambert. of the year 679. Thus a magnanimous prince, who had made the happine Grimoald son filleul Godson of Dagobert and his direct assassin. ss of his subjects, ended his career, cowardly assassinated by a vile mercenary, at the moment when, without guards, he had traveled, on sworn faith, to the place where this quarrel was to end.

At first, they tried to hide this death, in order to conceal the shame that reflected upon Theuderic and his criminal advisors. But when Dagobert's army learned of it, it fell into an extraordinary fury and wanted to avenge its unfortunate leader at that very moment. The officers had difficulty repressing this noble wrath; but they explained that since this prince was the victim of an infamous betrayal, he was already enjoying the fruit of his virtues in heaven, and that consequently one should not stain with blood the victory he had just won; that, moreover, the religion that the king had professed with such courage forbade an effusion of blood that would lead to no advantage. These considerations calmed the effervescence of the soldiers; cries of fury and complaints gave way to admiration. Everyone took pleasure in recounting the fine qualities of a prince worthy of a better fate, and in praising his virtues. Public opinion placed Dagobert among the Saints, and the nature of his death caused him to be regarded as a martyr.

## CULT AND RELICS. Saint Ouen, Archbishop of Rouen, obtained the body of the holy monarch with difficulty and had it transported to his church. It was later transferred to the church of Saint-Remi in Ste Stenay Primary burial site and center of the cult of Dagobert. nay, which soon took his name. It attracted the faithful who came from Austrasia and Belgium to implore the protection of their beloved monarch. In 872, Archbishop Hincmar of Reims exhumed Saint Dagobert and placed his bones in a shrine; but, in 1591, the Huguenots pillaged the church of Stenay and removed his silver shrine, adorned with golden fleurs-de-lis. Mention is made of Dagobert, king and martyr, in the ancient Gothic martyrology of the cathedral of Verdun, and in the ancient one found at the beginning of the psalter of Queen Emma, wife of Lothair; his name is likewise read in the martyrology of Ado. It appears that his feast was formerly celebrated in the abbey of Haslach; for Abbot Louis, in his Life of Saint Florent, speaks to us of an ancient manuscript, preserved in his time in the archives of this Chapter, which contained an abridgment of the life of Saint Dagobert, in the form of the lessons recited at the Office of Malines. His translation da y, fix Stenay Primary burial site and center of the cult of Dagobert. ed for September 2, was also celebrated in Stenay. This feast always attracted an immense concourse of people, and several prelates from neighboring cities went there every year to commend their flock to the blessed king, who was the patron of several provinces. Excerpt from the History of the Saints of Alsace, by Abbé Hunckler; and from the History of Verdun and the Verdunois region, by Abbé Clouët.