Feast day: September 7

St. Cloud

Priest, Monk · 524–560

Patron of —

A grandson of King Clovis whose brothers were murdered to clear the throne; he escaped, renounced his royal claim, and became a humble monk and priest near Paris.

Cloud — in the older form Clodoald — was a Frankish prince, a grandson of Clovis, the first Christian king of the Franks, and of St. Clotilda. Born about 522, he and his two young brothers were left orphans when their father was killed in battle, and were taken into the care of their grandmother Clotilda at the royal court.

His childhood fell amid the murderous power struggles of the Merovingian dynasty. His own uncles, coveting the throne, seized the three boys and murdered his two brothers; Cloud alone escaped, smuggled away to safety. The brutal episode turned him forever against the bloody ambitions of his royal house.

Renouncing all claim to the kingdom that had cost his brothers their lives, Cloud chose instead to become a monk. He placed himself under a holy hermit, gave away his royal inheritance, and lived a life of prayer, humility, and service to the poor near Paris, eventually being ordained a priest.

He founded a monastery at the place on the Seine that still bears his name — Saint-Cloud — and died there about 560, only in his late thirties. Honoured as a prince who turned his back on a throne for the sake of Christ, he became a patron of the city that grew around his monastery.

Heir to a Frankish kingdom whose family killed for power, he cut off his royal hair himself and chose a monk's cell — the Paris suburb of Saint-Cloud bears his name.

Image: NASA/Expedition 40 crew member (Public domain), via Wikimedia Commons.

Source: newadvent.org/cathen/13342a.htm