s, where the king, having
confessed his faith in the Holy Trinity, was baptised in the name of the
Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, the poetical bishop uttering the
well-known words: "Bow down thy head in lowliness, O Sicambrian; adore
what thou hast burned and burn what thou hast adored". The streets of
the city were hung with bright banners, white curtains adorned the
churches, and clouds of sweet incense filled all the great basilica in
which "the new Constantine" stooped to the baptismal water. He entered
the cathedral a mere "Sicambrian" chieftain, the descendant of the
sea-god: he emerged from it amid the acclamations of the joyous
provincials, "the eldest son of the Church".

The result of this ceremony was to change the political relations of
every state in Gaul. Though the Franks were among the roughest and most
uncivilised of the tribes that had poured westwards across the Rhine, as
Catholics they were now sure of a welcome from the Catholic clergy of
every city, and where the clergy led, the "Roman" provincials, or in
other words the Latin-speaking laity, generally followed. Immediately
after his baptism Clovis received a letter of enthusiastic welcome Into
the true fold, written by Avitus, Bishop of Vienne, the most eminent
ecclesiastic of the Burgundian kingdom. "I regret", says Avitus, "that I
could not be present in the flesh at that most glorious solemnity. But
as your most sublime Humility had sent me a messenger to inform me of
your intention, when night fell I retired to rest already secure of your
conversion. How often my friends and I went over the scene in our
imaginations! We saw the band of holy prelates vying with one another in
the ambition of lowly service, each one wishing to comfort the royal
limbs with the water of life. We saw that head, so terrible to the
nations, bowed low before the servants of God; the hair which had grown
long under the helmet now crowned with the diadem of the holy anointing;
the coat of mail laid aside and the white limbs wrapped in linen robes
as white and spotless as themselves.

"One thing only have I to ask of you, that you will spread the light
which you have yourself received to the nations around you. Scatter the
seeds of faith from out of the good treasure of your heart, and be not
ashamed, by embassies directed to this very end, to strengthen in other
States the cause of that God who has so greatly exalted your fortunes.
Shine on, for ever, upon thos