"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, whilst 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.

The bishops, on breaking up, sent these canons to Clovis, praying him to give them the sanction of his adhesion, which he did.