Gundobad, King of the Burgundians
Gundobad, King of the Burgundians, was an Arian, and, though otherwise of an amiable disposition, he refused to believe the teaching of the Catholic Church, and thought that he could get to Heaven in the sect to which he belonged.
Some years after he began to reign he saw that he was wrong, and, as he desired to save his soul, he took the resolution of becoming a Catholic. But he was afraid to do this openly, “being afraid,” as he said, “that people might turn against him”; so he went to Avitus, the Bishop, and asked him to receive him privately into the Catholic Church.
St. Avitus of Vienne, drawn by Vernier and engraved by Lemaitre, 1845
But Avitus gave him this answer: “Our Lord has declared that unless we confess Him before men, He will deny us before His Father in Heaven. You must therefore, O King, rise above all worldly consideration, and not lose an eternal kingdom for the sake of an earthly one.”
The King did not answer; but his courage failed him, and he lived and died an Arian.
Rev. D. Chisholm, The Catechism in Examples (London: R & T Washbourne, Ltd., 1919), 260-1.
Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 368
