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Lex orandi, lex credendi

  Lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi   As we pray, so we believe, so we live. What makes Henry a saint? A better question is WHO made Henry a saint.  Of course it is God who ultimately makes saints. And most saints in heaven are not widely known. However, God uses the Church to give us saints to imitate, be inspired by, and ask for intercession. Henry was declared a saint in 1146 by Pope Eugene III. He was added to the calendar in 1631 as a commemoration. He was given his own feast day in 1668 at which time it was moved from July 13 to July 15, the first open day. Currently, it is back to July 13. Through many centuries, the Church has seen it worthwhile to present Henry as an example to the faithful. Pope Eugene III was beatified in 1872 by Pope Pius IX.  That is who. The next question is WHY does the Church give us St. Henry? To answer that, let's look at the Collect prayers the Church has composed for the mass when St. Henry is remembered. The old prayer (trans...
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St. Henry Parish, St. Henry, Ohio

 Photos of a statue and stained glass window from St. Henry Church in St. Henry, Ohio. This building was completed in 1897.  File:St. Henry Church - front, detail Saint Henry, King of Germany.jpg - Wikipedia File:St. Henry - St. Henry interceding.jpg - Wikimedia Commons St. Henry's Catholic Church (St. Henry, Ohio) - Wikipedia The stained glass window shows Henry's reputation for Marian devotion. Henry lived before St. Dominic and St. Louis DeMontfort, both of whom were known for promoting Marian devotion. St. Dominic is known for the rosary and St. DeMontfort is known for his writings. 
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Butler's Lives of the Saints

 Alban Butler was an English priest who lived from 1711 to 1773. He wrote "Lives of the Saints". On page 250 and 251 of the 1894 edited edition he had this to say about St. Henry: "It was Henry's custom, on arriving in any town, to spend his first night in watching in some church dedicated to our blessed Lady." Under Henry's leadership "Stately cathedrals, noble monasteries, churches innumerable, enlightened and sanctified the once heathen lands." Lives of the saints, with reflections for every day in the year : Butler, Alban, 1711-1773 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive The original edition was over 1200 pages.  According to one source the original edition also contains this quote: Prayer seemed the chief delight and support of his soul; especially the public office of the church. Assisting one day at this holy function at Strasburg, he so earnestly desired to remain always there to sing the divine praises among the devout c...
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Refusal to plunder Constance

 Adalbold II of Utrecht (975-1026) was a contemporary of St. Henry (973-1024). Adalbold was the Bishop of Utrecht from 1010 to 1026. He knew Henry and wrote a biography of him. Only 3 years of this biography survive, the years 1002 to 1004. It has been translated into English by D.P. Curtin and published in 2010 by Dalcassian Press as "On the Deeds of St. Henry." The following is a quote from that book.  In 1002: "...he (Henry) held the duchy in the Bavarian kingdom, ruled the people peacefully, increased peace, augmented the resources of the churches, and magnified laws and religious observances." Adalbold tells of how Duke Hermann, who opposed Henry being made king, had entered Strasbourg with an army and had desecrated the church there and taken spoils because the Bishop of Strasbourg supported Henry becoming king. At a later time, when Hermann went into hiding with his men to avoid battle with Henry, some advised Henry to go to Constance to repay Hermann for wha...
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Bruno, Bishop of Augsburg

 Saint Henry had brother named Bruno who became the Bishop of Augsburg. Henry also had a sister who became a nun and another sister, Blessed Gisela, who became an abbess after the death of her husband. Henry came from a devout Christian family.  Bruno of Augsburg - Wikipedia Gisela of Hungary - Wikipedia In 1003, Bruno supported a revolt against his brother, Henry. The revolt failed and Bruno fled to Bohemia and then stayed with his brother-in-law, King Stephen 1 of Hungary (Gisela's husband). In 1004, Bruno and Henry were reconciled with help from Stephen. This is one example of Henry's willingness to forgive and not to seek revenge. 
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Vatican News article

 The following is a Google translation of a German language article about Saint Henry. The article can be found here:    Hl. Heinrich II., Kaiser - Informationen über die Heiligen des Tages - Vatican News Henry was born in Bamberg in 973 as the son of the Duke of Bavaria. His life remains incomprehensible if one does not start from the profoundly Christian upbringing that he enjoyed from an early age. Henry was educated by the Hildesheim monks and later entrusted to the holy bishop Wolfgang in Regensburg. After the death of his father, he became Duke of Bavaria, King of East Franconia in 1002, and King of Italy two years later. His brother Bruno turned his back on court life to become Bishop of Augsburg. One sister became a nun, the other married the future St. Stephen of Hungary. In 1014, Pope Benedict VIII crowned Henry Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.   The connection with Cluny  Henry's contribution to the ecclesiastical reform, which originate...
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Oblate

The following is from "Commentary for Benedictine Oblates on the Rule of St. Benedict" by G. A. Simon. This was written in French in 1934. Canon G. A. Simon was a Priest Oblate of St. Wandrille's Abbey. This book was translated to English by Leonard J. Doyle, an oblate of St. John's Abbey, Collegeville, Minnesota, in 1946. It received the Nihil obstat from Basil Stegmann, O.S.B. and the Imprimi potest from Abbot Alcuin Henry Deutsch, O.S.B., Abbot of St. John's Abbey, and the Imprimatur from Bishop Joseph Busch, Bishop of the Diocese of St. Cloud, Minnesota, in 1947. The 1950 edition from St. John's Abbey was reprinted in 2024 by Our Lady of Clear Creek Abbey.  The following quote is from the original Introduction of the book, dated 1934, and can be found on page 12 of the 2024 edition. The history of St. Henry, Emperor, is well known. When he asked Richard, Abbot of St. Vannes, to receive him as a monk, the Abbot had him come to Chapter and put this question ...
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