{"id":142727,"date":"2026-01-30T06:00:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T11:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/?p=142727"},"modified":"2025-11-24T15:23:22","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T20:23:22","slug":"st-bathildis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/st-bathildis\/","title":{"rendered":"St Bathildis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear Beth,<\/span> It was good to hear that you made it through the first round of interviews. \u00a0I know how long you have been hoping to win the Rhodes Scholarship, and how it has been the reason behind many of the decisions about how you have spent your time during college. \u00a0I also know that your motivations are healthy \u2013 contrary to the pure vanity behind many applicants, you have realized how much you could do for the Kingdom if you were able to get through the doors such a Scholarship opens, doors otherwise mostly closed to well-formed Catholics. \u00a0Count on my continued prayers.<\/span> But I would like to remind you that God works in mysterious ways. \u00a0And if you don\u2019t win the Scholarship, you mustn\u2019t let that stop you from pursuing your noble ideals. \u00a0Either way, win or lose, God is in charge, and his plan will unfold no matter what, as long as you keep stirring up your faith and trust in him. \u00a0On this point, I have often reflected on the example of today\u2019s remarkable (though little known) saint. She was an English girl captured and sold into slavery in France at a young age. \u00a0The mayor of the Merovingian palace bought her up, and she, strong in her Christian faith even though so young, carried out her duties well, such that she rose through the ranks of the household and caught the eye of bachelor king, Clovis II, who ended up marrying her. \u00a0Their three sons all succeeded to the throne, and her influence throughout their reigns did much to further the evangelizing efforts of this newly Christian kingdom. She supported numerous monasteries, fueled the zeal of a number of holy bishops, freed crowds of slaves, and generally went out of her way to use her position and influence for the benefit of the Church. \u00a0So much did she love the Lord, that towards the end of her life, when the order and prosperity of the realm were assured, she entered one of the convents she had endowed, a step she had long yearned to take. There she modeled humility and charity in every way, never asserting her royal dignity nor insisting on special treatment. Without a doubt, her prayers and sacrifices of those years fertilized her apostolic endeavors of her earlier years.<\/span> So you see, my talented young niece, God, can bring immense good out of what might appear to be a horrible failure. \u00a0And just St Bathidlis rose from English slave-girl to Queen of France to consecrated widow, your path to Christian greatness may follow a route you wouldn\u2019t have predicted. \u00a0Just keep on trusting and forge ahead. God bless.<\/span> Your affectionate uncle, Eddy<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear Beth, It was good to hear that you made it through the first round of interviews. \u00a0I know how long you have been hoping to win the Rhodes Scholarship, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":359,"featured_media":145992,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[3719],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-142727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncle-eddy"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"","pp_force_visibility":null,"pp_subpost_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_force_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_subpost_visibility":null,"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSt Bathildis - Regnum Christi<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/st-bathildis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"St Bathildis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dear Beth, It was good to hear that you made it through the first round of interviews. \u00a0I know how long you have been hoping to win the Rhodes Scholarship, […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/st-bathildis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Regnum Christi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/RegnumChristiEn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-30T11:00:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Uncle-Eddy-Header.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fr. 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