Marie Clotilde of France – Angel of Peace (Part two)

Read part one here.

Their marriage wasn’t always harmonious. Charles Emmanuel had a weak constitution, and he had been unable to join his brothers in military service. This made him rather melancholy, which sometimes led to explosive behaviour. This led to fights between him and his father, during which Marie Clotilde often tried to intervene. Her father-in-law began calling her an “angel of peace.”¹ If her husband was ill, Marie Clotilde would not let anyone near him and nursed him herself. If she had to forego religious services to do so, she called it “leaving God for God.”²

In France, the political situation was coming to a head. After the Storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789, it was decided that the Count of Artois and his family should leave the country. His wife, Marie Thérèse of Savoy, was a sister of Charles Emmanuel. She and their two sons arrived in Turin shortly after the Count. More people followed, including her aunts, Madame Adélaïde and Madame Victoire, who later travelled to Austria. The Count and Countess of Provence, another sister of Charles Emmanuel, had made their way to Brussels, but the King and his family had been captured during the Flight to Varennes. The Countess of Provence made her way home to Turin early in 1792.

The situation was quite awkward for the King of Sardinia, as many prominent French were making their way to Turin, and he was soon declared an enemy of the French Revolution. Marie Clotilde was stuck in the middle, although her sympathies were with the French refugees. The Countess of Artois, who had been terribly depressed since her arrival, had announced her intention to enter a convent. However, Marie Clotilde managed to convince her of the importance of her duties as a wife and a mother. The Countess and Marie Clotilde grew so close that when the Countess died in 1805, she directed that her heart should be enclosed in an urn and placed into Marie Clotilde’s tomb.

In early 1793, Marie Clotilde’s brother King Louis XVI was executed. The Duke the Genevois wrote about how she received the news. He wrote, “After Mass, we went up to the Princess’s apartments. She was in bed and shed many tears, but she showed a strength of soul beyond anything that can be imagined.”³ Nevertheless, she insisted on joining her husband in the Countess of Artois’s room, who she believed had not yet been told the news. She found the Countess already crying and told her that God knew how to turn the greatest misfortunes into good issues.³ She continued crying in her own room.

The Minister of the Genoese Republic later wrote, “The Princess of Piedmont has been compelled by her extreme affliction to keep to her bed, and she finds only consolation in her great piety. She submits herself to God’s will and considers her unfortunate brother as a martyr because of the constancy with which he has opposed the persecution of religion and of the clergy, and the firmness he has shown in his attachment to the Catholic faith.”⁴

The execution of Queen Marie Antoinette was no longer a surprise for her. However, this seemed to confirm the fears everyone had for Madame Elisabeth, who was still a prisoner in the Temple, along with the children of the King and Queen. When news of Elisabeth’s execution reached Turin, it was kept from Marie Clotilde until the following day. Charles Emmanuel broke the news to her. While holding a crucifix in one hand, he told her, “A great sacrifice must be offered to God.” Marie Clotilde knew what he meant and said, “The sacrifice is made.”⁵ She then fainted.

She later told a businessman who came to take an order, “You will have heard of the death of my sister Elisabeth. She was a holy woman, I assure you, and people in France knew it. I can only attribute her death to a grace from God, who wished thus to reward her virtues.” She then added, “Order my usual mourning things.”⁶ For the rest of her life, she went into a sort of semi-mourning. She wore only blue woollen dresses (except during actual mourning) and had her hair cut short. She wore only a gold ring engraved with two hearts and a small cross around her neck.

Meanwhile, Sardinia was under attack from the French, which would only end with a humiliating treaty that saw the King give up several important territories. Stricken by old age and the stress of it all, the King of Sardinia died on 15 October 1796 as Marie Clotilde nursed him. Charles Emmanual succeeded his father as King, with Marie Clotilde as his Queen. She turned out to be quite an influential Queen, even though she never publically claimed any attention. They were eventually forced to flee from Turin, with Marie Clotilde being the brains behind the operation.

While in exile, Marie Clotilde spent most of her free time visiting churches and caring for the poor. She suffered several bouts of ill health and was advised not to spend too much time in cold churches. At the end of February 1802, she became very fatigued and had difficulty breathing. She could not get any rest as she had a headache which felt like a crown of thorns was being forced on her head. As death approached, she resigned herself to it, maybe even welcomed it. She received Last Rites, although by then, she was unable to speak. Shortly afterwards, on 7 March 1802, she died.

She was not dressed in royal robes. Instead, she wore a simple woollen dress and two women were appointed to be the only ones to touch her after death. The funeral procession was simple, although huge crowds came to say goodbye to the Queen. She was buried in Santa Caterina a Chiaia in Naples.

Her devastated husband later wrote, “I have lost on March 7 the dearest thing I had in this world within a few days of typhoid fever. She died as she had lived. I had the consolation of assisting her to the end. I wiped her hands and feet and kissed them after she had received Extreme Unction. She died, like our Lord, bowing down her head, without any agony, leaving me such examples and grief as shall last as long as my own life.”⁷

Devastated by grief and ill health, Charles Emmanual abdicated the throne on 4 July 1802. He survived his wife for 14 years. On 10 April 1808, Pope Pius VII declared Marie Clotilde venerable, which is the first step to her beatification.

1. A sister of Louis XVI, Marie-Clotilde de France, Queen of Sardinia by Louis Leopold d’Artemont p.49
2. A sister of Louis XVI, Marie-Clotilde de France, Queen of Sardinia by Louis Leopold d’Artemont p.52
3. A sister of Louis XVI, Marie-Clotilde de France, Queen of Sardinia by Louis Leopold d’Artemont p.66
4. A sister of Louis XVI, Marie-Clotilde de France, Queen of Sardinia by Louis Leopold d’Artemont p.66-67
5. A sister of Louis XVI, Marie-Clotilde de France, Queen of Sardinia by Louis Leopold d’Artemont p.71
6. A sister of Louis XVI, Marie-Clotilde de France, Queen of Sardinia by Louis Leopold d’Artemont p.71-72
7. A sister of Louis XVI, Marie-Clotilde de France, Queen of Sardinia by Louis Leopold d’Artemont p.231