A few kings have made it into the calendar of saints, including St. Louis IX of France, St. Wenceslaus of Bohemia, and St. Stephen of Hungary. Among them we have today’s saint, St. Henry II of Bavaria, who was Holy Roman Emperor from 1014-1024. As emperor, St. Henry was responsible for maintaining the unity, peace, and stability of the empire. To that extent, he was involved in many military expeditions throughout central Europe and Italy. He established closer ties with the Church and employed clergy as checks to the secular nobility.
He stressed service to the Church, promoted monastic reform, missionary activity, and made many charitable foundations for the poor. He also supported clerical celibacy. At one point he tried to become a monk, but was denied permission by the abbot, being told that his role in life was to be emperor. He succeeded in persuading the pope to include the word “filioque” in the Nicene Creed, which means that the Holy Spirit proceeds from both God the Father and God the Son.
St. Henry seems to be a contradiction regarding sainthood. Although he was devout and supported the Church, he also was a man of his times, engaging in wars and putting down rebellions that attacked his power as king and emperor. This seems to be a contradiction, but it is more about what sainthood really means. It means being holy in the state of life one is in. St. Henry was ambitious. He was political. These are not inherently evil. He used the power of his office to bring about peace and justice to the best of his ability, even when he was wrong. To be a saint means being a disciple of Christ, whether one is a king or a ditch-digger, a queen or a seamstress.
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