Église Saint-Clodoald, tombeau du prince devenu ermite

Saint-Cloud

The whole town bears the name of this prince who refused a throne. Clodoald, born around 522, was a grandson of Clovis. On the death of his father Chlodomer in 524, his uncles Childebert and Clotaire, eager to divide the kingdom between them, put to the three orphans the atrocious choice summed up by the chroniclers: "shorn or dead" — for to cut a Merovingian's long hair was to strip him of his royalty. His brothers Theudovald and Gunthar, aged ten and seven, were stabbed by Clotaire himself. Clodoald, saved by faithful servants, did what no one expected: he cut his hair with his own hand, renouncing the world rather than fight for it. A disciple of the hermit Severinus, he founded on the heights of Novigentum, above the Seine, a monastery where he died around 560. Over his tomb grew a pilgrimage that gave the place its name: Saint-Cloud. His relics, taken to safety in Paris in 885 in the face of the Norsemen, returned in procession around 890; a shrine received them in 1376, and the feast of their translation is still celebrated. At the Revolution, the faithful saved an arm and a vertebra, restored to veneration in 1848 and 1863. The present church, begun in 1788 — the queen laid the first stone — was completed under Napoleon III, who largely financed it; consecrated in 1878, it still houses the relics of the prince who became a saint.

Getting there : Rue de l'Église, at the top of old Saint-Cloud; tram T2 or bus from the Pont de Saint-Cloud, then climb through the old streets; church open during the day.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

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