Saint Henry

Spiritual Bouquet: Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels. St. Matthew 25:41

Henry the Pious or the Lame, Duke of Bavaria, was born in 972, and bore his father’s name. Saint Wolfgang, bishop of Ratisbonne, baptized him and afterward raised him in the practices of virtue fitting for a great sovereign. His father died when his son was 23 years old, and Saint Henry assumed the paternal title of Duke of Bavaria. It was at this time that he married Cunegundes, the holy spouse whom God gave him, and who like himself is today a canonized Saint. They observed perfect chastity all their lives, and rivaled one another in their zeal and love for their subjects.

One night Saint Henry had a dream and saw his very dear deceased master, Saint Wolfgang, who told him to read the words written on a wall:After six. He supposed this meant he would die in six months, and then, after that did not occur, in six years, and he prepared himself for that eventuality by giving generous alms and initiating other good works. At the end of the sixth year, he found the prediction verified in an unexpected way, by his election as emperor and king of Germany on the first day of the year 1002. It was an archbishop who consecrated him emperor on July 8^th of that same year. Trained in the fear of God, he ascended the throne with only one thought that of reigning for God's greater glory. By his happy combination of Christian, royal and military virtues, he proved that a good king is a true gift of heaven. He prayed often, meditated the law of God constantly, and to be armed against pride practiced humility in all circumstances, and never let himself be fascinated by human glory.

The pagan Slavs were then despoiling the empire. He provided for the reparation of the episcopal churches of six dioceses, which had been almost entirely destroyed by the invaders. Menaced by an army of one of these, he prayed to the patron of the ruined church of Merseburg, saying,Great Saint Lawrence, illustrious martyr of Jesus Christ, if by your assistance I can submit these barbaric nations to the Christian religion, I will with the help of God re-establish in its original dignity, this church consecrated to your honor.He prayed again before the battle, invoking three martyrs, and then attacked the invaders with a small force; but an Angel and the three holy martyrs were seen leading his troops, and the heathen simply fled in despair. Poland and Bohemia, Moravia and Burgundy, were in turn annexed to his kingdom, and Pannonia and Hungary won for the Church.

When the Faith was secure in Germany, Henry passed into Italy, drove out an antipope and brought Benedict VIII back to Rome. He was crowned in Saint Peter's Basilica by that Pontiff, in 1014. It was Henry's custom, on arriving in any town, to spend his first night in prayer, in some church dedicated to our Blessed Lady. As he was praying in Saint Mary Major's, during the first night of his arrival in Rome, he saw the Sovereign and Eternal Priest-Child Jesus enter to say Mass. Saints Lawrence and Vincent assisted, as deacon and sub-deacon. Countless Saints filled the church, and Angels sang in the choir. After the Gospel, an Angel was sent by Our Lady to give Henry the sacred book to kiss. Touching him lightly on the thigh, he said,Accept this sign of God's love for your chastity and your justice, and from that time on, the emperor always limped.

Saint Henry employed the fruits of his conquests in the service of the temple, imitating in this the royal prophet-king. The forests and mines of the empire, all the best resources which his treasury could provide, were consecrated to the sanctuary. Stately cathedrals, noble monasteries, innumerable churches enlightened and sanctified the once heathen lands. In 1024 Henry lay on his deathbed; he then gave back to her parents his wife, Saint Cunegundes,a virgin still, as a virgin he had received her from Christ, and at the age of 52 years surrendered his own pure soul to God.

Sources: Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 8; Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on Butler’s Lives of the Saints, and other sources by John Gilmary Shea (Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894).

American Catholic’s Saint of the Day

July 13, 2005

St. Henry

(972-1024)

As German king and Holy Roman Emperor, Henry was a practical man of affairs. He was energetic in consolidating his rule. He crushed rebellions and feuds. On all sides he had to deal with drawn-out disputes so as to protect his frontiers. This involved him in a number of battles, especially in the south in Italy; he also helped Pope Benedict VIII quell disturbances in Rome. Always his ultimate purpose was to establish a stable peace in Europe.

According to eleventh-century custom, Henry took advantage of his position and appointed as bishops men loyal to him. In his case, however, he avoided the pitfalls of this practice and actually fostered the reform of ecclesiastical and monastic life.

Comment:

All in all, this saint was a man of his times. From our standpoint, he may have been too quick to do battle and too ready to use power to accomplish reforms. But, granted such limitations, he shows that holiness is possible in a busy secular life. It is in doing our job that we become saints.

Quote:

“We deem it opportune to remind our children of their duty to take an active part in public life and to contribute toward the attainment of the common good of the entire human family as well as to that of their own political community. They should endeavor, therefore, in the light of their Christian faith and led by love, to insure that the various institutions—whether economic, social, cultural or political in purpose—should be such as not to create obstacles, but rather to facilitate or render less arduous man’s perfecting of himself in both the natural order and the supernatural.... Every believer in this world of ours must be a spark of light, a center of love, a vivifying leaven amidst his fellow men. And he will be this all the more perfectly, the more closely he lives in communion with God in the intimacy of his own soul” (Blessed Pope John XXIII, Peace on Earth, 146, 164).

St. Henry

St. Henry
Optional Memorial
July 13th

Jesus crowned King Henry II
Two angels hold with Him the holy lance and the sword, two holy ones --
St. Ulrich of Augsburg and St. Emmeram of Regensburg support Henry's arms.
Artist unknown

(973-1024) He became Emperor Henry II in 1002 and then Holy Roman Emperor in 1014. He used his power to extend the Kingdom of God by promoting missionary work.

Collect:
Lord,
you filled St. Henry with your love
and raised him from the cares of an earthly kingdom
to eternal happiness in heaven.
In the midst of the changes of this world,
may his prayers keep us free from sin
and help us on our way toward you.
Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen. +
First Reading: Micah 6:6-8
"With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
Gospel Reading: Matthew 7: 21-27
"Not every one who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers.'

"Every one then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock; and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And every one who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand; and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell; and great was the fall of it."

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