Letter 8005: Powerful Radegund, of royal stock in the world —

From: Venantius Fortunatus, poet, in Poitiers To: Queen Radegund, at Holy Cross monastery, Poitiers Date: ~575 AD Context: A verse letter to Radegund, former Frankish queen who founded the Holy Cross monastery in Poitiers and became Fortunatus's closest friend and patron. Powerful Radegund, of royal stock in the world — for whom another kingdom, the heavenly one, remains to be kept — you despised the world and merited acquiring Christ; what was set aside below has been gathered above. You gave up a throne to find something better, exchanged a crown for a veil and found the exchange was not a loss. The world called you queen and you agreed; God called you servant and you agreed still more. I have watched you for years now and I do not fully understand you — which is not something I say lightly, as I consider myself a reasonable student of human character. But you have a quality that I cannot quite name: a peace that coexists with urgency, a joy that coexists with severity, a love that seems genuinely without preference — you care as much for the sick stranger as for the noble patron. I am the beneficiary of that love, among many. This poem is an inadequate thank-you for many years of kindness. But inadequate is what I have, so it will have to do. Your devoted Fortunatus

V Ad domnam Radegundem Regali de stirpe potens Radegundis in orbe, altera cui caelis regna tenenda manent, despiciens mundum meruisti adquirere Christum, et dum clausa lates, hinc super astra vides. gaudia terreni conculcas noxia regni, ut placeas regi laeta favente polo. nunc angusta tenes, quo caelos largior intres: diffundens lacrimas gaudia vera metes. et corpus crucias, animam ieiunia pascunt, solo quam dominus servat amore suus.