Saint Cunegunde the Empress

by Walt Garlington (December 2025)

–

In praise of St Cunegunde, a wise queen of the Western Roman Empire (reposed in 1040).

Plato taught us of the perfect Forms divine.
Saint Maximos refined this, revealing the logoi,
The thought-patterns willed by God that lie
Within all things – from simple stones to shining stars.
Thou art such a blessèd form and pattern
For those who wield the ruling power in the world.
For you calmed all carnal passions of the flesh,
Remaining a virgin though married to a king;
Were patient in persecution, silencing lies
About your fidelity to your husband Henry;
Were eager to put aside royal robes
And wear instead the simple vestments of a nun.
In that state did you remain for your final fifteen years,
Serving the sick and lowly with thine own hands,
Dying upon a rough hair-cloth laid upon the floor,
Showering miracles upon man through your sacred relics.
Blessèd are the powerful who imitate
The pattern of your life, esteeming lightly
The temporal things of earth, striving earnestly
For the heavenly eternal crowns that neither fade nor fall:
They shall be unshakable upon the earth,
And shine with brightest splendor in the Kingdom of Christ.

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Walt Garlington was born and raised in that part of Dixieland called Louisiana. A chemical engineer by training, he has spent the last several years writing full-time. He has written essays and poems for The Hayride, New English Review, The Tenth Amendment Center, The Abbeville Institute, Reckonin’, Katehon, Geopolitica, and USA Really. He writes regularly at his own web site, Confiteri: A Southern Perspective.

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