Three great Saints of France participated in the Conversion of Clovis after the pact of Tolbiac, thus French civilization takes root...
Saint Remigius, whose principal miracles in favor of this Prince and the Kings his successors we shall see.
Saint Clotilde who, by her example, had a great influence on the King, her husband.
Saint Geneviève, Patroness of Paris and friend of Queen Clotilde, who 30 years earlier had saved the city from the hordes of Attila (Attila before Saint Pope Leo I at the gates of Rome) and spared it from famine at the time when, still in the hands of the Romans, it was besieged by Clovis, whose conversion she had prepared since the reign of Childeric, without having succeeded, despite her very great influence, in bringing this latter prince to the light of the faith; Saint Geneviève who wished to rebuild a magnificent temple in honor of Saint Denis.
How everything is connected in our History of France! It seems that a mystical link unites all those whom God has sent to save us miraculously. Saint Denis, who is said to have approached the mother of the Savior and Saint Mary Magdalene, inspires in our country a cult of particularly confident devotion to the Virgin who, in return, marks her predilection for it through her many apparitions. Saint Geneviève revives the cult of Saint Denis; Joan of Arc, whom God caused to be born in Domrémy, renews the pact of Clovis and Saint Remigius and deposits her arms in homage at the Abbey of Saint Denis.
As if each of them wanted to make the people of France understand, that they are but one of the artisans of the same edifice, that they are merely continuing the work of the previous divine missionary, and this, thanks to the will of the Almighty!
On the verge of succumbing to the enemy forces at Tolbiac, Clovis invokes the God of Clotilde, Christ, and promises to convert to Catholicism if he is victorious. He obtains a brilliant victory against the Germans.
It is in the full exaltation of his supernatural victory that he dictated, in a magnificent surge of faith and gratitude, the superb decree, vibrant with enthusiasm and love, which dedicates France forever, for as long as it shall exist, to the reign of Jesus-Christ, demanding that it be placed as the constitutional law of the Kingdom of the Franks. The Salic law, which was completed by his successors and of which here are some passages.
The nation of the Franks, illustrious, having God for founder, steadfast under arms, firm in peace treaties, bold, agile and rough in combat, recently converted to the Catholic faith, free from heresy.
It was still under a barbarous belief.
But with the inspiration of God, it sought the key of knowledge, according to the nature of its qualities, desiring justice, preserving piety.
Then the Salic law was dictated by the chiefs of this nation who at that time commanded it...
Then when, with the help of God, Clodwigh the Long-Haired, the Fair, the illustrious King of the Franks had first received Catholic baptism, all that in this pact was deemed unsuitable was amended with clarity by the illustrious Kings Clodwigh, Childebert and Clotaire.
And thus this decree was drawn up:
"Long live Christ who loves the Franks!
May He guard their kingdom and fill their leaders with the light of His grace!
May He protect the army!
May He grant them signs that attest to their faith, their joy, peace, felicity!
May the Lord Jesus-Christ guide in the path of piety those who govern!
For this is the Nation which, small in number, but brave and strong, shook from its head the hard yoke of the Romans and which, after having recognized the Holiness of Baptism, sumptuously adorned the bodies of the Holy Martyrs whom the Romans had consumed by fire, mutilated by iron, or had torn apart by beasts..."
Behold our first Constitution! It rests on the Gospel! Two phrases summarize it:
"Long live Christ, who is King of France!"
"Long live the King of France, who is Lieutenant of Christ!"
Thus, France had this unexpected, unique happiness in the world, of having been the first to build its civilization, not on some philosophical or religious truth, on a more or less diminished or debated truth, but on the total, integral, universal truth, on Catholicism which means 'the universal religion'.
What resulted from this?
It is that France founded a marvelous civilization such as the world has never seen, that it became that luminous star which covered the world with its light, its warmth and its benefits.
We say "French Civilization" and we are right, but this civilization is nothing other than the Catholic Apostolic and Roman civilization and it is only called French because it is France which held its torch!
Even today, throughout the East, despite the Combres, the Clemenceaus, the Briands, Catholic and French are synonymous and all Catholics, be they Spanish, English or Italian, are designated under the generic name of Franks!
Ah! France had taken as its foundation the very cornerstone of the Church: Christ; what is surprising that it benefited from the universality of Christ and the Church?
And that, in passing, is the true internationalism of France! But it is that of the Gospel, not that of the Talmud or of free thought, that of the Roman Church, not that of the synagogue of Jerusalem, of the time of the Rue Cadet or of the Church of Geneva! But this internationalism, far from destroying the personality of France, presupposes it! How will the torch of Catholic Truth shine, if you suppress its torchbearer?
Source: Marquis de la Franquerie – The Divine Mission of France