"My lord King," said the
bishop, "I know wherefore thou art come to me." "I have nothing special
to say unto thee," rejoined Clovis, "Say not so, O King," replied the
bishop; "thou hast sinned, and darest not avow it." The King was moved,
and ended by confessing that he had deeply sinned and had need of large
pardon. St. Eleutherus betook himself to prayer; the King came back the
next day, and the bishop gave him a paper on which was written by a
divine hand, he said, "the pardon granted to royal offences which might
not be revealed."
Clovis accepted this absolution, and loaded the church of Tournai with
his gifts. In 511, the very year of his death, his last act in life was
the convocation at Orleans of a council, which was attended by thirty
bishops from the different parts of his kingdom, and at which were
adopted thirty-one canons that, while granting to the Church great
privileges and means of influence, in many cases favorable to humanity
and respect for the rights of individuals, bound the Church closely to
the state, and gave to royalty, even in ecclesiastical matters, great
power.
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