Saint Remi

Remi was born in Laon around 437. Raised against his will to the episcopal see of Reims at the age of 22, around 475 he received a letter from Sidoine Apollinaire paying tribute to his talent as a writer. When Clovis became King of the Franks, Remi wrote to him to congratulate him and give him advice. After the marriage of Clovis and Clotilde, he became the confidant of the queen's hopes and concerns. When Clovis, following his vow to become a Christian, defeated the Alamans at the battle of Tolbiac, Clotilde, who had gone to Reims to meet her converted husband, secretly asked Remi to instruct the royal catechumen. And on Christmas Day, 25 December 496, with the greatest solemnity, Clovis and the main leaders of his army were baptised. According to ancient accounts, during the ceremony itself, Remi noticed that the holy chrism that was to be used for the baptismal water was missing. So he raised his eyes to heaven, and a dove, holding in its beak a phial filled with the precious ointment, descended to him, dropped it into his hands and disappeared. People were convinced that the miraculous chrism had been brought from heaven not for baptism, but for the coronation of Clovis: hence the practice of the kings of France going to be crowned in Reims... Remi, who had become blind during his last years, died on 13 January 533. October 1 is the anniversary of a transfer of his relics.