Saint Henri II
Empereur germanique (+1024)
Il était le fils du duc de Bavière et, en raison de la mort prématurée de son parent Otton III, il fut couronné empereur germanique. Comme tel, il régna sur l'Allemagne, l'Autriche, la Suisse, les Pays-Bas et l'Italie du Nord. Il épousa sainte Cunégonde de Luxembourg que nous fêtons le 3 mars. Elle ne pouvait avoir d'enfants. Henri refusa de la répudier, fait inouï à cette époque et dans une société où la stérilité, surtout dans la noblesse, était une cause ordinaire de répudiation.
L'une de ses deux préoccupations majeures fut l'unité du Saint Empire romain germanique pour laquelle il dut beaucoup guerroyer. L'autre fut de réformer les habitudes de la Papauté, avec l'aide du roi de France, Robert le Pieux, en un siècle qui vit quatorze papes sur vingt-huit, être élus sous la seule influence des reines et des femmes.
Dans le même temps, il renforça l'influence de l'Eglise sur la société, fonda l'évêché de Bamberg et, oblat bénédictin, il soutint la réforme entreprise par les moines de Cluny.
Privé d'héritier, il institua le Christ comme son légataire de ses biens. A sa mort, sainte Cunégonde se retira à l'abbaye de Kaffungen qu'elle avait fondée.
Mémoire de saint Henri, empereur des Romains (romain-germanique), il garda,
rapporte-t-on, avec sa femme sainte Cunégonde, une continence totale, œuvra à
la réforme de l'Église et à sa propagation, conduisit le futur saint Étienne, roi des
Hongrois, à accueillir la foi du Christ avec presque tout son peuple, mourut à
Grona et fut inhumé, selon son désir, à Bamberg en Franconie, l'an 1024.
Martyrologe romain
Nous devons abandonner les biens temporels et mettre au second plan les avantages terrestres pour nous efforcer d'atteindre les demeures célestes qui sont éternelles. Car la gloire présente est fugitive et vaine si, tandis qu'on la possède, on omet de penser à l'éternité céleste.
Lettre de saint Henri à l'évêque de Bamberg
SOURCE : https://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/1497/Saint-Henri-II.html
Saint Henri
Né en 973, couronné empereur d'Occident à Rome en 1014, Henri II mourut en 1024 et fut inhumé dans la cathédrale de Bamberg qu'il avait fondée. Avec son épouse Cunégonde, Henri vécut d'une vie quasi monastique. Sans négliger ses charges temporelles, il travailla activement à la réforme de l'Église en Germanie et en Italie.
SAINT HENRI II
Empereur d'Allemagne
(972-1024)
Saint Henri, surnommé le Pieux, appartenait à la famille impériale des Othons d'Allemagne, qui joua un si grand rôle au moyen âge. Touché d'une grâce spéciale de Dieu, il fit, jeune encore, un acte de hardiesse que lui eût dissuadé la prudence humaine, en promettant à Dieu de ne s'attacher qu'à Lui et en Lui vouant la continence perpétuelle. Héritier du royaume de Bavière par la mort de son père, il se vit obligé de prendre une épouse, pour ne pas s'exposer à la révolte de son royaume; le choix du peuple et le sien se porta sur la noble Cunégonde, digne en tous points de cet honneur. Elle avait fait, dès son adolescence, le même voeu que son mari.
Henri, devenu plus tard empereur d'Allemagne, justifia la haute idée qu'on avait conçue de lui par la sagesse de son gouvernement ainsi que par la pratique de toutes les vertus qui font les grands rois, les héros et les Saints. Il s'appliquait à bien connaître toute l'étendue de ses devoirs, pour les remplir fidèlement, il priait, méditait la loi divine, remédiait aux abus et aux désordres, prévenait les injustices et protégeait le peuple contre les excès de pouvoirs et ne passait dans aucun lieu sans assister les pauvres par d'abondantes aumônes. Il regardait comme ses meilleurs amis ceux qui le reprenaient librement de ses fautes, et s'empressait de réparer les torts qu'il croyait avoir causés.
Cependant son âme si élevée gémissait sous le poids du fardeau de la dignité royale. Un jour, comme il visitait le cloître de Vannes, il s'écria: "C'est ici le lieu de mon repos; voilà la demeure que j'ai choisie!" Et il demanda à l'abbé de le recevoir sur-le-champ. Le religieux lui répondit qu'il était plus utile sur le trône que dans un couvent; mais, sur les instances du prince, l'abbé se servit d'un moyen terme:
"Voulez-vous, lui dit-il, pratiquer l'obéissance jusqu'à la mort?
- Je le veux, répondit Henri.
- Et moi, dit l'abbé, je vous reçois au nombre de mes religieux; j'accepte la responsabilité de votre salut, si vous voulez m'obéir.
- Je vous obéirai.
- Eh bien! Je vous commande, au nom de l'obéissance, de reprendre le gouvernement de votre empire et de travailler plus que jamais à la gloire de Dieu et au salut de vos sujets." Henri se soumit en gémissant.
Sa carrière devait être, du reste, bientôt achevée. Près de mourir, prenant la main de Cunégonde, il dit à sa famille présente:
"Vous m'aviez confié cette vierge, je la rends vierge au Seigneur et à vous."
Abbé L. Jaud, Vie des Saints pour tous les jours
de l'année, Tours, Mame, 1950.
SOURCE : http://magnificat.ca/cal/fr/saints/henri_II.html
Saint Henri,
Empereur romain-germanique
Né en 973, au moment où disparaissait son oncle, Othon le Grand, fondateur du Saint Empire Romain-Germanique, Henri était l’aîné des quatre enfants du duc de Bavière, Henri le Querelleur, devenu, sur le tard, Henri le Pacifique. Sa mère, Gisèle, sage et pieuse, qui l’avait formé à la vertu et à la prière dès sa prime enfance, le confia d’abord aux chanoines réguliers d’Hildesheim (Saxe), puis à saint Wolfgang, bénédictin évangélisateur de la Hongrie, alors évêque de Ratisbonne (mort le 31 octobre 994).
Lorsque son père mourut (28 août 995), Henri fut élu par la noblesse duc de Bavière et confirmé par le Roi. Dès 996, il accompagne Othon III en Italie pour secourir le Pape contre les Romains révoltés. Un peu plus tard, il épouse la vertueuse Cunégonde de Luxembourg. A la mort d’Othon III (23 janvier 1002), les ducs de Saxe et de Lorraine s’effacent devant la candidature d’Henri qui est élu par la diète de Werla, contre le duc Hermann de Souabe. Hermann gardant la rive gauche du Rhin, Henri renonce à se faire couronner à Aix-la-Chapelle et reçoit l’onction à Mayence. D’abord occupé à soumettre ses vassaux allemands, il doit aller pacifier l’Italie dont il reçoit la couronne, à Pavie, puis mâter les révoltes de Flandre et de Frise et, enfin, tenter de repousser le duc Boleslaw de Pologne.
Après avoir conforté la position du pape Benoît VIII, il en reçoit la couronne impériale, à Saint-Pierre de Rome (14 février 1014) et s’efforce vainement d’établir sa souveraineté sur le couloir rhodanien. A la demande de Benoît VIII, il descend au sud de l’Italie, menacé par les Byzantins : il entre à Bénévent (1002), prend Capoue, délivre le Mont-Cassin et regagne l’Allemagne en passant par Rome.
Tombé malade au début de 1024, il va cependant faire ses pâques à Magdebourg, reste à Goslar d’avril à juin où il prend la route de l’Ouest, mais il meurt au château de Grona. Il est enterré à la cathédrale de Bamberg.
Saint Henri, canonisé par Eugène III, fut, toute sa vie, zélé pour la réforme de l’Eglise pour quoi il préside de nombreux synodes en faveur de la stricte application de discipline canonique et de la condamnation des contrevenants, quel que soit leur rang ; il veilla scrupuleusement à nommer des évêques dignes de leurs fonctions et favorisa les monastères. La sainteté de sa vie est attestée par tous et l’on sait qu’il observa la chasteté conjugale. Cunégonde fut canonisée par Innocent III.
SOURCE : http://missel.free.fr/Sanctoral/07/13.php
Henri II. Déposition à Bamberg le 13 juillet 1024.
Canonisé en 1145. Mémoire au calendrier sous Urbain VIII le 13 juillet en la
fête de St Anaclet. Semidouble en 1668 le 15 juillet.
Leçons des Matines avant 1960.
Au deuxième nocturne.
Quatrième leçon. Henri, surnommé le Pieux, duc de Bavière, puis roi de Germanie, et enfin empereur des Romains, ne se contenta point des bornes étroites d’une domination temporelle. Aussi pour obtenir la couronne de l’immortalité, se montra-t-il le serviteur dévoué du Roi Éternel. Une -fois maître de l’empire, il mit son application et ses soins à étendre la religion, réparant avec beaucoup de magnificence les églises détruites par les infidèles et les enrichissant de largesses et de propriétés considérables, érigeant lui-même des monastères et d’autres établissements religieux, ou augmentant leurs revenus. L’évêché de Bamberg, fondé avec ses ressources patrimoniales, fut rendu par lui tributaire de Saint-Pierre et du Pontife romain. Benoît VIII étant fugitif, il le recueillit et le rétablit sur son Siège. C’est de ce Pape qu’il avait reçu la couronne impériale.
Cinquième leçon. Retenu au Mont-Cassin par une grave maladie, il en fut guéri d’une manière toute miraculeuse, grâce à l’intercession de saint Benoît. Il publia une charte importante spécifiant de grandes libéralités en faveur de l’Église romaine, entreprit pour la défendre une guerre contre les Grecs, et recouvra la Pouille, qu’ils avaient longtemps possédée. Ayant coutume de ne rien entreprendre sans avoir prié, il vit plus d’une fois l’Ange du Seigneur et les saints combattre aux premières lignes, pour sa cause. Avec le secours divin, il triompha des nations barbares plus par les prières que par les armes. La Pannonie était encore infidèle ; il sut l’amener à la foi de Jésus-Christ, en donnant sa sœur comme épouse au roi Etienne, qui demanda le baptême. Exemple rare : il unit l’état de virginité à l’état du mariage et sur le point de mourir, il remit sainte Cunégonde, son épouse, entre les mains de ses proches, dans son intégrité virginale.
Sixième leçon. Enfin après avoir disposé avec la plus grande prudence tout ce qui se rapportait à l’honneur et à l’utilité de l’empire, laissé ça et là, en Gaule, en Italie et en Germanie, des marques éclatantes de sa religieuse munificence, répandu au loin la plus suave odeur d’une vertu héroïque, et consommé les labeurs de cette vie, il fut appelé par le Seigneur à la récompense du royaume céleste, l’an du salut mil vingt-quatre. Sa sainteté l’a rendu plus célèbre que le sceptre qu’il a porté. Son corps fut déposé à Bamberg, dans l’église des saints Apôtres Pierre et Paul. Dieu le glorifia bientôt après par de nombreux miracles opérés auprès de son tombeau ; ces prodiges ayant été canoniquement prouvés, Eugène III l’a inscrit au catalogue des Saints.
Au troisième nocturne.
Lecture du saint Évangile selon saint Luc. Cap. 12, 35-40.
En ce temps-là : Jésus dit à ses disciples : Que vos reins soient ceints, et les lampes allumées dans vos mains. Et le reste.
Homélie de saint Grégoire, Pape. Homelia 13 in Evang.
Septième leçon. Mes très chers frères, le sens de la lecture du saint Évangile que vous venez d’entendre est très clair. Mais de crainte qu’elle ne paraisse, à cause de sa simplicité même, trop élevée à quelques-uns, nous la parcourrons brièvement, afin d’en exposer la signification à ceux qui l’ignorent, sans cependant être à charge à ceux qui la connaissent. Le Seigneur dit : « Que vos reins soient ceints ». Nous ceignons nos reins lorsque nous réprimons les penchants de la chair par la continence. Mais parce que c’est peu de chose de s’abstenir du mal, si l’on ne s’applique également, et par des efforts assidus, à faire du bien, notre Seigneur ajoute aussitôt : « Ayez en vos mains des lampes allumées ». Nous tenons en nos mains des lampes allumées, lorsque nous donnons à notre prochain, par nos bonnes œuvres, des exemples qui l’éclairent. Le Maître désigne assurément ces œuvres-là, quand il dit : « Que votre lumière luise devant les hommes, afin qu’ils voient vos bonnes œuvres, et qu’ils glorifient votre Père qui est dans les cieux ».
Huitième leçon. Voilà donc les deux choses commandées : ceindre ses reins, et tenir des lampes ; ce qui signifie que la chasteté doit parer notre corps, et la lumière de la vérité briller dans nos œuvres. L’une de ces vertus n’est nullement capable de plaire à notre Rédempteur si l’autre ne l’accompagne. Celui qui fait des bonnes actions ne peut lui être agréable s’il n’a renoncé à se souiller par la luxure, ni celui qui garde une chasteté parfaite, s’il ne s’exerce à la pratique des bonnes œuvres. La chasteté n’est donc point une grande vertu sans les bonnes œuvres, et les bonnes œuvres ne sont rien sans la chasteté. Mais si quelqu’un observe les deux préceptes, il lui reste le devoir de tendre par l’espérance à la patrie céleste, et de prendre garde qu’en s’éloignant des vices, il ne le fasse pour l’honneur de ce monde.
Neuvième leçon. « Et vous, soyez semblables à des
hommes qui attendent que leur maître revienne des noces, afin que lorsqu’il
viendra et frappera à la porte, ils lui ouvrent aussitôt ». Le Seigneur vient
en effet quand il se prépare à nous juger ; et il frappe à la porte, lorsque,
par les peines de la maladie, il nous annonce une mort prochaine. Nous lui
ouvrons aussitôt, si nous l’accueillons avec amour. Il ne veut pas ouvrir à son
juge lorsqu’il frappe, celui qui tremble de quitter son corps, et redoute de
voir ce juge qu’il se souvient avoir méprisé ; mais celui qui se sent rassuré,
et par son espérance et par ses œuvres, ouvre aussitôt au Seigneur lorsqu’il
frappe à la porte, car il reçoit son Juge avec joie. Et quand le moment de la
mort arrive, sa joie redouble à la pensée d’une glorieuse récompense.
Henry II crowned as Emperor by Pope Benedict VIII in 1014.
Dom Guéranger, l’Année Liturgique
Henri de Germanie, deuxième du nom quant à la royauté, premier quant à l’empire, fut le dernier représentant couronné de cette maison de Saxe issue d’Henri l’Oiseleur, à laquelle Dieu, au dixième siècle, confia la mission de relever l’œuvre de Charlemagne et de saint Léon III. Noble tige, où l’éclat des fleurs de sainteté qui brillent en ses rameaux l’emporte encore sur la puissance dont elle parut douée, quand elle implanta dans le sol allemand les racines des fortes institutions qui lui donnèrent consistance pour de longs siècles.
L’Esprit-Saint, qui divise comme il veut ses dons [1], appelait alors aux plus hautes destinées la terre où, plus que nulle part, s’était montrée l’énergie de son action divine dans la transformation des peuples. Acquise au Christ par saint Boniface et les continuateurs de son œuvre, la vaste contrée qui s’étend au delà du Rhin et du Danube était devenue le boulevard de l’Occident, sur lequel durant tant d’années elle avait versé la dévastation et la ruine. Loin de songer à soumettre à ses lois les redoutables tribus qui l’habitaient, Rome païenne, au plus haut point de sa puissance, avait eu pour suprême ambition la pensée d’élever entre elles et l’Empire un mur de séparation éternelle ; Rome chrétienne, plus véritablement souveraine du monde, plaçait dans ces régions le siège même du Saint-Empire Romain reconstitué par ses Pontifes. Au nouvel Empire de défendre les droits de la Mère commune, de protéger la chrétienté contre les barbares nouveaux, de conquérir à l’Évangile ou de briser les hordes hongroises et slaves, mongoles, tartares et ottomanes qui successivement viendront heurter ses frontières. Heureuse l’Allemagne, si toujours elle avait su comprendre sa vraie gloire, si surtout la fidélité de ses princes au vicaire de l’Homme-Dieu était restée à la hauteur de la foi de leurs peuples !
Dieu, en ce qui était de lui, avait soutenu magnifiquement les avances qu’il faisait à la Germanie. La fête présente marque le couronnement de la période d’élaboration féconde où l’Esprit-Saint, l’ayant créée comme à nouveau dans les eaux de la fontaine sacrée, voulut la conduire au plein développement de l’âge parfait qui convient aux nations. C’est dans cette période de formation véritablement créatrice que l’historien doit s’attacher principalement à étudier les peuples, s’il veut savoir ce qu’attend d’eux la Providence. Quand Dieu crée en effet, dans l’ordre de la vocation surnaturelle des hommes ou des sociétés coin nie dans celui de la nature elle-même, il dépose dès l’abord en son œuvre le principe de la vie plus ou moins supérieure qui doit être la sienne : germe précieux dont le développement, s’il n’est contrarié, doit lui faire atteindre sa fin ; dont par suite aussi la connaissance, pour qui sait l’observer avant toute déviation, manifeste clairement à l’endroit de l’œuvre en question la pensée divine. Or, maintes fois déjà nous l’avons constaté depuis l’avènement de l’Esprit sanctificateur, le principe de vie des nations chrétiennes est la sainteté de leurs origines : sainteté multiple, aussi variée que la multiforme Sagesse de Dieu dont elles doivent être l’instrument [2], aussi distincte pour chacune d’elles que le seront leurs destinées ; sainteté le plus souvent descendant du trône, et douée par là du caractère social que trop de fois plus tard revêtiront aussi les crimes des princes, en raison même de ce titre de princes qui les fait devant Dieu représentants de leurs peuples. Déjà aussi nous l’avons vu [3] : au nom de Marie, devenue dans sa divine maternité le canal de toute vie pour le monde, c’est à la femme qu’est dévolue la mission d’enfanter devant Dieu les familles des nations [4] qui seront l’objet de ses prédilections les plus chères ; tandis que les princes, fondateurs apparents des empires, occupent par leurs hauts faits l’avant-scène de l’histoire, c’est elle qui, dans le douloureux secret de ses larmes et de ses prières, féconde leurs œuvres, élève leurs desseins au-dessus de la terre et leur obtient la durée.
L’Esprit ne craint point de se répéter dans cette glorification de la divine Mère ; aux Clotilde, Radegonde et Bathilde, qui pour elles donnèrent en des temps laborieux les Francs à l’Église, répondent sous des cieux différents, et toujours à l’honneur de la bienheureuse Trinité, Mathilde, Adélaïde et Cunégonde, joignant sur leurs fronts la couronne des saints au diadème de la Germanie. Sur le chaos du dixième siècle, d’où l’Allemagne devait sortir, plane sans interruption leur douce figure, plus forte contre l’anarchie que le glaive des Othon, rassérénant dans la nuit de ces temps l’Église et le monde. Au commencement enfin de ce siècle onzième qui devait si longtemps encore attendre son Hildebrand, lorsque les anges du sanctuaire pleuraient partout sur des autels souillés, quel spectacle que celui de l’union virginale dans laquelle s’épanouit cette glorieuse succession qui, comme lasse de donner seulement des héros à la terre, ne veut plus fructifier qu’au ciel ! Pour la patrie allemande, un tel dénouement n’était pas abandon, mais prudence suprême ; car il engageait Dieu miséricordieusement au pays qui, du sein de l’universelle corruption, faisait monter vers lui ce parfum d’holocauste : ainsi, à l’encontre des revendications futures de sa justice, étaient par avance comme neutralisées les iniquités des maisons de Franconie el de Souabe, qui succédèrent à la maison de Saxe et n’imitèrent pas ses vertus.
Que la terre donc s’unisse au ciel pour célébrer aujourd’hui l’homme qui donna leur consécration dernière aux desseins de l’éternelle Sagesse à cette heure de l’histoire ; il résume en lui l’héroïsme et la sainteté de la race illustre dont la principale gloire est de l’avoir, tout un siècle, préparé dignement pour les hommes et pour Dieu. Il fut grand pour les hommes, qui, durant un long règne, ne surent qu’admirer le plus de la bravoure ou de l’active énergie grâce auxquelles, présent à la fois sur tous les points de son vaste empire, toujours heureux, il sut comprimer les révoltes du dedans, dompter les Slaves à sa frontière du Nord, châtier l’insolence grecque au midi de la péninsule italique ; pendant que, politique profond, il aidait la Hongrie à sortir par le christianisme de la barbarie, et tendait au delà de la Meuse à notre Robert le Pieux une main amie qui eût voulu sceller, pour le bonheur des siècles à venir, une alliance éternelle entre l’Empire et la fille aînée de la sainte Église.
Époux vierge de la vierge Cunégonde, Henri fut grand aussi pour Dieu qui n’eut jamais de plus fidèle lieutenant sur la terre. Dieu dans son Christ était à ses yeux l’unique Roi, l’intérêt du Christ et de l’Église la seule inspiration de son gouvernement, le service de l’Homme-Dieu dans ce qu’il a de plus parfait sa suprême ambition. Il comprenait que la vraie noblesse, aussi bien que le salut du monde, se cachait dans ces cloîtres où les âmes d’élite accouraient pour éviter l’universelle ignominie et conjurer tant de ruines. C’était la pensée qui, au lendemain de son couronnement impérial, l’amenait à Cluny, et lui faisait remettre à la garde de l’insigne abbaye le globe d’or, image du monde dont la défense venait de lui être confiée comme soldat du vicaire de Dieu ; c’était l’ambition qui le jetait aux genoux de l’Abbé de Saint-Vannes de Verdun, implorant la grâce d’être admis au nombre de ses moines, et faisait qu’il ne revenait qu’en gémissant et contraint par l’obéissance au fardeau de l’Empire.
Par moi règnent les rois, par moi les princes exercent l’empire [5]. Cette parole descendue des cieux, vous l’avez comprise, ô Henri ! En des temps pleins de crimes, vous avez su où étaient pour vous le conseil et la force [6]. Comme Salomon vous ne vouliez que la Sagesse, et comme lui vous avez expérimenté qu’avec elle se trouvaient aussi les richesses et la gloire et la magnificence [7] ; mais plus heureux que le fils de David, vous ne vous êtes point laissé détourner de la Sagesse vivante par ces dons inférieurs qui, dans sa divine pensée, étaient plus l’épreuve de votre amour que le témoignage de celui qu’elle-même vous portait. L’épreuve, ô Henri, a été convaincante : c’est jusqu’au bout que vous avez marché dans les voies bonnes, n’excluant dans votre âme loyale aucune des conséquences de l’enseignement divin ; peu content de choisir comme tant d’autres des meilleurs les pentes plus adoucies du chemin qui mène au ciel, c’est par le milieu des sentiers de la justice [8] que, suivant de plus près l’adorable Sagesse, vous avez fourni la carrière en compagnie des parfaits.
Qui donc pourrait trouver mauvais ce qu’approuve Dieu, ce que conseille le Christ, ce que l’Église a canonisé en vous et dans votre noble épouse ? La condition des royautés de la terre n’est pas lamentable à ce point que l’appel de l’Homme-Dieu ne puisse parvenir à leurs trônes ; l’égalité chrétienne veut que les princes ne soient pas moins libres que leurs sujets de porter leur ambition au delà de ce monde. Une fois de plus, au reste, les faits ont montré dans votre personne, que pour le monde même la science des saints est la vraie prudence [9]. En revendiquant votre droit d’aspirer aux premières places dans la maison du Père qui est aux cieux, droit fondé pour tous les enfants de ce Père souverain sur la commune noblesse qui leur vient du baptême, vous avez brillé comme un phare éclatant sous le ciel le plus sombre qui eût encore pesé sur l’Église, vous avez relevé les âmes que le sel de la terre, affadi, foulé aux pieds, ne préservait plus de la corruption [10]. Ce n’était pas à vous sans doute qu’il appartenait de réformer directement le sanctuaire ; mais, premier serviteur de la Mère commune, vous saviez faire respecter intrépidement ses anciennes lois, ses décrets nouveaux toujours dignes de l’Époux, toujours saints comme l’Esprit qui les dicte à tous les âges : en attendant la lutte formidable que l’Épouse allait engager bientôt, votre règne interrompit la prescription odieuse que déjà Satan invoquait contre elle.
En cherchant premièrement pour vous le royaume de Dieu
et sa justice [11], vous étiez loin également de frustrer votre patrie
d’origine et le pays qui vous avait appelé à sa tête. C’est bien à vous entre
tous que l’Allemagne doit l’affermissement chez elle de cet Empire qui fut sa
gloire parmi les peuples, jusqu’à ce qu’il tombât dans nos temps pour ne plus
se relever nulle part. Vos œuvres saintes eurent assez de poids dans la balance
des divines justices pour l’emporter, lorsque depuis longtemps déjà vous aviez
quitté la terre, sur les crimes d’un Henri IV et d’un Frédéric II, bien faits
pour compromettre à tout jamais l’avenir de la Germanie. Du trône que vous
occupez dans les cieux, jetez un regard de commisération sur ce vaste domaine
du Saint-Empire, qui vous dut de si beaux accroissements, et que l’hérésie a
désagrégé pour toujours ; confondez les constructeurs nouveaux venus d’au delà
de l’Oder, que l’Allemagne des beaux temps ne connut pas, et qui voudraient
sans le ciment de l’antique foi relever à leur profit les grandeurs du passé ;
préservez d’un affaissement plus douloureux encore que celui dont nous sommes
les témoins attristés, les nobles parties de l’ancien édifice restées à
grand-peine debout parmi les ruines. Revenez, ô empereur des grands âges,
combattre pour l’Église ; ralliez les débris de la chrétienté sur le terrain
traditionnel des intérêts communs à toute nation catholique : et cette
alliance, que votre haute politique avait autrefois conclue, rendra au monde la
sécurité, la paix, la prospérité que ne lui donnera point l’instable équilibre
avec lequel il reste à la merci de tous les coups de la force.
[1] I Cor. XII, 11.
[2] Eph. III, 10 ; I Petr. IV, 10.
[3] Le Temps après la Pentecôte, t. III, Sainte Clotilde.
[4] Psalm. XXI, 28.
[5] Prov. VIII, 15-16.
[6] Ibid. 14.
[7] Ibid. 18.
[8] Ibid. 20.
[9] Prov. IX, 10.
[10] Matth. V, 13-16.
[11] Ibid. VI, 33.
Bhx cardinal Schuster, Liber Sacramentorum
Un empereur du Saint-Empire romain-germanique, qui monte au sommet de la perfection chrétienne et de la sainteté, ce n’est pas un fait commun ; aussi la fête de ce jour appelle-t-elle toute notre pieuse attention sur les fastes glorieux de saint Henri.
Il semble en effet que les vertus, les béatitudes du sermon sur la montagne, rencontrent une difficulté spéciale quand on les doit pratiquer sur un trône glorieux, au milieu du faste des richesses, de la puissance, des triomphes, et non dans une situation humble et pénible.
L’Écriture elle-même traite d’extraordinaire le cas d’un riche qui n’a pas couru après l’or [12], et la liturgie, dans les rares occasions où elle a dû célébrer les louanges des saints rois, n’a pas manqué de faire remarquer combien est plus ardue et plus glorieuse la victoire remportée par eux contre les vaines séductions de la puissance mondaine.
Il sembla qu’au XIe siècle Henri II ressemblait à Constantin. A plusieurs reprises il descendit en Italie pour défendre contre les factions le Pontife légitime. Par amour pour l’Église romaine, il prit les armes contre les Grecs qui avaient occupé le sud de l’Italie. Il employa ses trésors à fonder des sièges épiscopaux, à enrichir des églises, à doter des monastères ; bien plus : il envoya un jour à l’abbaye de Cluny, pour qu’ils fussent offerts au Sauveur, ses insignes impériaux eux-mêmes. Saint Henri mourut le 13 juillet 1024 et fut canonisé par le bienheureux Eugène III en 1145. Voici son épitaphe primitive :
HENRIC • AVGVSTVS • VIRTVTVM • GERMINE • IVSTVS
HÆC • SERVAT • CVIVS • VISCERA • PVTRIS • HVMVS
SPLENDOR • ERAT • LEGVM • SPECVLVM • LVX • GEMMAQVE • REGVM
AD • CÆLOS • ABIIT • NON • MORIENS • OBIIT
IDIBVS • IN • TERRIS • VEXANTEM • PONDERA • CARNIS
IVLIVS • ÆTHEREO • SVMPSERAT • IMPERIO
Cette urne conserve la dépouille mortelle et corrompue
de l’empereur Henri, juste et auteur d’œuvres vertueuses.
Il était la splendeur du droit, le miroir, la lumière, la perle des monarques.
Il est parti pour le ciel et il est mort pour ne plus mourir.
Il s’est envolé à l’empire céleste aux ides de juillet,
ainsi libéré du poids de la chair.
La messe est du commun. La première collecte est la
suivante : « Seigneur qui, en ce jour, avez voulu élever du faîte de l’empire
terrestre au royaume céleste le bienheureux Henri ; nous vous demandons que,
comme votre grâce le prévint afin qu’il méprisât les attraits du siècle, vous
nous accordiez à nous aussi de l’imiter en foulant aux pieds les séductions du
monde, pour que nous arrivions ensuite à vous avec le cœur purifié de toute
souillure ».
[12] Eccli., XXXI, 8.
Dom Pius Parsch, Le guide dans l’année liturgique
Un empereur allemand au nombre des saints !
Saint Henri. — Jour de mort : 13 juillet 1024. Tombeau : à la cathédrale Saint-Pierre et Saint-Paul, à Bamberg. Image : on le représente en empereur, avec un lis et une église. Vie : Henri et Cunégonde ; deux saints époux sur le trône impérial d’Allemagne ! Henri II (1002-1024) unissait en lui, comme souverain, la sublimité et la douceur de l’esprit de sacrifice à la plus forte personnalité. Voici ce que la prière des Heures nous raconte de lui : Il n’entreprenait rien sans avoir d’abord prié. Plus d’une fois avant le combat il vit son ange gardien et de saints martyrs protecteurs combattre pour lui et veiller sur sa vie. Il lutta contre les barbares plus par la prière que par les armes. Il conquit à la foi chrétienne la Hongrie encore païenne en donnant sa sœur comme épouse au roi Étienne, à la condition qu’il se fît baptiser. Il consacra ses biens à la fondation d’églises et de monastères ; il envoya un jour ses bijoux royaux à l’abbaye de Cluny pour les offrir au Seigneur. Même après son mariage, il garda avec une rare constance la virginité et, à l’approche de la mort, il rendit intacte à ses parents son épouse Cunégonde. Le saint s’est acquis un souvenir durable dans la liturgie romaine, car c’est à sa demande que le Credo fut introduit dans la messe.
Pratique : « Seigneur, qui lui as permis par l’abondance de ta grâce de triompher des attraits du monde, accorde-nous aussi d’éviter, à son exemple, les séductions de ce monde et de parvenir à toi avec un cœur pur » (oraison). Pratiquons la pureté conforme à notre état. Au fond, les soins que nous prodigue la sainte liturgie ne tendent pas à autre chose qu’à la pureté de vie. — La messe (Os justi) est celle du commun des confesseurs.
SOURCE : http://www.introibo.fr/15-07-St-Henri-empereur-et
.jpg)
HENRI II LE SAINT (973-1024) empereur
germanique (1002-1024)
Duc de Bavière, Henri II
est élu empereur à la mort de son cousin Othon III, dépourvu d'héritier
direct. Mais son avènement est précédé d'une longue lutte de succession et
suivi d'un conflit avec les comtes de Luxembourg et la noblesse du royaume de
Bourgogne, qui refuse de le reconnaître comme son suzerain. Prince actif et
doué, il a maintenu l'unité dans la tradition ottonienne, dont il est le
dernier descendant indirect. Il consacre ses efforts à l'achèvement de la
constitution de l'Église ottonienne dont il met les biens au service de
l'Empire. Il s'appuie sur l'Église qu'il dote richement, nomme des hommes de
confiance aux sièges épiscopaux, impose une réforme monastique,
multiplie les synodes impériaux et entreprend une grande réforme, en accord
avec le pape, à la veille de sa mort. En 1007, Henri II fonde l'évêché de Bamberg,
doté de vastes seigneuries, qui va contribuer à sa légende. Reprenant les
ambitions italiennes de ses prédécesseurs, il organise trois expéditions en
Italie, où il rétablit l'autorité impériale. Il se fait couronner roi d'Italie
à Pavie en 1004 et empereur à Rome en
1014. Mais, moins heureux avec le duc de Pologne, Boleslas Ier,
qu'il combat pendant douze ans avec le concours de tribus slaves païennes, il
doit accepter l'indépendance de fait de la Pologne et lui consentir la Lusace
en fief. Sa générosité à l'égard de l'Église lui a valu de recevoir le surnom
de saint et d'être canonisé en 1146.
Bernard VOGLER, « HENRI II LE
SAINT (973-1024) - empereur germanique
(1002-1024) », Encyclopædia Universalis [en ligne],
consulté le 13 juillet 2017. URL
: http://www.universalis.fr/encyclopedie/henri-ii-le-saint/
SOURCE : http://www.universalis.fr/encyclopedie/henri-ii-le-saint/
Also known as
Good King Henry
Heinrich, Duke of Bavaria
Profile
Son of Gisella of Burgundy and
Henry II the Quarrelsome, Duke of Bavaria. Educated at
the cathedral school in Hildesheim by bishop Wolfgang
of Regensburg. Became Duke of Bavaria himself
in 995 upon
his father‘s death,
which ended Henry’s thoughts of becoming a priest.
Ascended to the throne of Germany in 1002.
Crowned King of Pavia, Italy on 15 May 1004. Married Saint Cunegunda,
but was never a father.
Some sources claim the two lived celibately, but there is no evidence either
way.
Henry’s brother rebelled against his power, and Henry
was forced to defeat him on the battlefield, but later forgave him, and the two
reconciled. Henry was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 1014 by Pope Benedict
VIII; he was the last of the Saxon dynasty
of emperors. Founded schools,
quelled rebellions, protected the frontiers, worked to establish a stable peace
in Europe,
and to reform the Church while
respecting its independence. Fostered missions,
and established Bamberg, Germany as
a center for missions to
Slavic countries. Started the construction of the cathedral at Basel, Switzerland;
it took nearly 400 years to complete. Both Henry and Saint Cunegunda were prayerful people,
and generous to the poor.
At one point he was cured of an unnamed illness by
the touch of Saint Benedict
of Nursia at Monte
Cassino. He became somewhat lame in
his later years. Widower.
Following Cunegunda‘s death,
he considered becoming a monk, but
the abbot of
Saint-Vanne at Verdun, France refused
his application, and told him to keep his place in the world where he could do
much good for people and the advancement of God‘s kingdom.
Born
6 May 972 at
Albach, Hildesheim, Bavaria, Germany
13 July 1024 at
Pfalz Grona, near Göttingen, Saxony (in
modern Germany)
of natural causes
1146 by Pope Blessed Eugene
III
people
rejected by religious orders
Additional Information
Book
of Saints, by the Monks of
Ramsgate
Lives
of the Saints, by Father Alban
Butler
Lives
of the Saints, by Father Francis
Xavier Weninger
Short
Lives of the Saints, by Eleanor Cecilia Donnelly
True
Historical Stories for Catholic Children, by Josephine Portuondo
books
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
other sites in english
images
video
sitios en español
Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
sites en français
Abbé Christian-Philippe Chanut
fonti in italiano
MLA Citation
“Saint Henry II“. CatholicSaints.Info. 3 July
2021. Web. 15 July 2021. <http://catholicsaints.info/saint-henry-ii/>
SOURCE : http://catholicsaints.info/saint-henry-ii/
Couronnement d'Henri II, sacramentaire, Bibliothèque d'État de Bavière, Clm4456, f.11
St. Henry
St. Henry, son of Henry, Duke of Bavaria, and of
Gisella, daughter of Conrad, King of Burgundy, was born in 972. He received an
excellent education under the care of St. Wolfgang, Bishop of Ratisbon. In 995,
St. Henry succeeded his father as Duke of Bavaria, and in 1002, upon the death
of his cousin, Otho III, he was elected emperor.
Firmly anchored upon the great eternal truths, which
the practice of meditation kept alive in his heart, he was not elated by this
dignity and sought in all things, the greater glory of God. He was most
watchful over the welfare of the Church and exerted his zeal for the
maintenance of ecclesiastical discipline through the instrumentality of the
Bishops. He gained several victories over his enemies, both at home and abroad,
but he used these with great moderation and clemency.
In 1014, he went to Rome and received the imperial
crown at the hands of Pope Benedict VIII. On that occasion he confirmed the
donation, made by his predecessors to the Pope, of the sovereignty of Rome and
the exarchate of Ravenna. Circumstances several times drove the holy Emperor into
war, from which he always came forth victorious. He led an army to the south of
Italy against the Saracens and their allies, the Greeks, and drove them from
the country.
The humility and spirit of justice of the Saint were
equal to his zeal for religion. He cast himself at the feet of Herebert, Bishop
of Cologne, and begged his pardon for having treated him with coldness, on
account of a misunderstanding. He wished to abdicate and retire into a
monastery, but yielded to the advice of the Abbot of Verdun, and retained his
dignity. Both he and his wife, St. Cunegundes, lived in perpetual chastity, to
which they had bound themselves by vow.
The Saint made numerous pious foundations, gave liberally to pious institutions and built the Cathedral of Bamberg. His holy death occurred at the castle of Grone, near Halberstad, in 1024. His feast day is July 13th. He is the patron saint of the childless, of Dukes, of the handicapped and those rejected by Religious Order.
SOURCE : http://www.ucatholic.com/saints/saint-henry/
St. Henry II
German King
and Holy Roman Emperor, son of Duke Henry
II (the Quarrelsome) and of the Burgundian Princess Gisela; b. 972; d. in his palace
of Grona, at Gottingen, 13 July, 1024.
Like his predecessor, Otto
III, he had the literary education of
his time. In his youth he had been destined for the priesthood.
Therefore he became acquainted
with ecclesiastical interests at an early age.
Willingly he performed pious practices,
gladly also he strengthened the Church of Germany,
without, however, ceasing to regard ecclesiastical institutions
as pivots of his power, according to the views of Otto
the Great. With all his learning and piety,
Henry was an eminently sober man, endowed with sound, practical common sense.
He went his way circumspectly, never attempting anything but the possible and,
wherever it was practicable, applying the methods of amiable and reasonable
good sense. This prudence,
however, was combined with energy and conscientiousness. Sick and suffering
from fever, he traversed the empire in order to maintain peace. At all times he
used his power to adjust troubles. The masses especially he wished to help.
The Church,
as the constitutional Church of Germany,
and therefore as the advocate of German unity and of the claims of inherited
succession, raised Henry to the throne. The new king straightway resumed the
policy of Otto
I both in domestic and in foreign affairs. This policy first appeared
in his treatment of the Eastern Marches. The encroachments of Duke Boleslaw,
who had founded a great kingdom, impelled him to intervene. But his success was
not marked.
In Italy the
local and national opposition to the universalism of the German king had found
a champion in Arduin of Ivrea.
The latter assumed the Lombard crown in 1002. In 1004 Henry crossed the Alps.
Arduin yielded to his superior power.
The Archbishop of Milan now crowned him King of Italy. This rapid success was largely due to the fact that
a large part of the Italian episcopate upheld the idea of the Roman Empire and that of the unity
of Church and State.
On his second
expedition to Rome, occasioned by the dispute between the Counts
of Tuscany and the Crescentians over the nomination to the papal throne, he was crowned emperor on 14 February, 1014. But it was not
until later, on his third expedition to Rome, that he was able to restore the prestige of the
empire completely.
Before this happened, however, he was obliged to
intervene in the west. Disturbances were especially prevalent throughout the
entire northwest. Lorraine caused great trouble. The Counts of Lutzelburg
(Luxemburg), brothers-in-law of the king, were the heart and soul of
the disaffection in that country. Of these men, Adalbero had made himself Bishop of Trier by uncanonical methods (1003); but he was not
recognized any more than his brother Theodoric, who had had himself
elected Bishop of Metz.
True to his duty,
the king could not be induced to abet any selfish family policy
at the expense of the empire. Even
though Henry, on the whole, was able to hold his own against these Counts of
Lutzelburg, still the royal authority suffered greatly by loss of prestige in
the northwest.
Burgundy afforded compensation for this. The lord of
that country was Rudolph, who, to protect himself against his vassals, joined
the party of Henry II, the son of his sister, Gisela, and to Henry the
childless duke bequeathed his duchy, despite the opposition of the nobles
(1006). Henry had to undertake several campaigns before he was able to enforce
his claims. He did not achieve
any tangible result, he only bequeathed the theoretical claims on Burgundy to his successors.
Better fortune awaited the king in the central and
eastern parts of the empire. It
is true that he had a quarrel with the Conradinians over
Carinthia and Swabia: but Henry proved victorious because his kingdom rested on the
solid foundation of intimate alliance with the Church.
That his attitude towards the Church was
dictated in part by practical reasons, primarily he promoted the institutions
of the Church chiefly
in order to make them more useful supports his royal power, is clearly shown by
his policy. How boldly Henry
posed as the real ruler of the Church appears particularly in the establishment of
the See of Bamberg, which was entirely his own scheme.
He carried out this measure, in 1007, in spite of the
energetic opposition of the Bishop of
Wurzburg against this change in the organization of the Church.
The primary purpose of the new bishopric was
the germanization of the regions on the Upper Main and the Regnitz, where the
Wends had fixed their homes. As a large part of the environs of Bamberg belonged
to the king, he was able to furnish rich endowments for the new bishopric.
The importance of Bamberg lay
principally in the field of culture, which it promoted chiefly by its
prosperous schools.
Henry, therefore, relied on the aid of the Church against
the lay powers, which had become quite formidable. But he made no concessions
to the Church.
Though naturally pious,
and though well acquainted with ecclesiastical culture,
he was at bottom a stranger to her spirit. He disposed of bishoprics autocratically.
Under his rule the bishops,
from whom he demanded unqualified obedience, seemed to be nothing but officials
of the empire. He demanded the same obedience from the abbots.
However, this political dependency did not injure the internal life of the
German Church under Henry. By
means of its economic and educational resources the Church had a blessed influence in this epoch.
But it was precisely this civilizing power of the
German Church that aroused the suspicions of the reform party. This was
significant, because Henry was more and more won over to the ideas of
this party. At a synod at Goslar he confirmed decrees that tended to realize
the demands made by the reform party. Ultimately this tendency could not fail to subvert the Othonian system,
moreover could not fail to awaken the opposition of the Church of Germany as it was constituted.
This hostility on the part of the German Church came
to a head in the emperor's dispute with Archbishop Aribo of Mainz.
Aribo was an opponent of the reform movement of the monks of
Cluny. The Hammerstein marriage imbroglio afforded the opportunity he desired
to offer a bold front against Rome.
Otto von Hammerstein had
been excommunicated by Aribo on account of his marriage with
Irmengard, and the latter had successfully appealed to Rome.
This called forth the opposition of the Synod of
Seligenstadt, in 1023, which forbade an appeal to Rome without
the consent of the bishop.
This step meant open rebellion against the idea of
church unity, and its ultimate result would have been the founding of a German
national Church. In this dispute the emperor was entirely on the side of the
reform party. He even wanted to institute international proceedings against the
unruly archbishop by
means of treaties with the French king. But his death prevented this.
Before this Henry had made his third journey
to Rome in
1021. He came at the request of the loyal Italian bishops,
who had warned him at Strasburg of
the dangerous aspect of the Italian situation, and also of the pope,
who sought him out at Bamberg in
1020. Thus the imperial power, which had already begun to withdraw from Italy,
was summoned back thither. This time the object was to put an end to
the supremacy of the Greeks in Italy.
His success was not complete;
he succeeded, however, in restoring the prestige of the empire in northern and
central Italy.
Henry was far too reasonable a man to think seriously
of readopting the imperialist plans of his predecessors. He was satisfied to
have ensured the dominant position of the empire in Italy within
reasonable bounds. Henry's power
was in fact controlling, and this was in no small degree due to the fact that
he was primarily engaged in solidifying the national foundations of his
authority.
The later ecclesiastical legends
have ascribed ascetic traits to this ruler, some of which certainly cannot
withstand serious criticism. For
instance, the highly varied theme of his virgin marriage to Cunegond has
certainly no basis in fact.
The Church canonized this emperor in 1146, and his wife Cunegond in
1200.
Kampers, Franz. "St. Henry II." The
Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton
Company, 1910. 15 Jul.
2015<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07227a.htm>.
Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by HCC.
Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. June
1, 1910. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal
Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2020 by Kevin Knight.
Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07227a.htm
Alte Heinrichskirche, Mauthausen
July 15
St. Henry II., Emperor
From his authentic life, published by Surius and
D’Andilly, and from the historians Sigebert, Glaber, Dithmar, Lambert of
Aschaffenburg, Leo Urbevetanus in his double chronicle of the popes and
emperors, in Deliciæ Eruditor, t. 1, and 2. Aventin’s Annals of Bavaria,
&c.
A.D. 1024.
ST. HENRY, surnamed the Pious and the Lame, was son of
Henry, duke of Bavaria, and of Gisella, daughter of Conrad, king of Burgundy,
and was born in 972. He was descended from Henry, duke of Bavaria, son of the
emperor Henry the Fowler, and brother of Otho the Great, consequently our saint
was near akin to the three first emperors who bore the name of Otho. St.
Wolfgang, the bishop of Ratisbon, being a prelate the most eminent in all
Germany for learning, piety, and zeal, our young prince was put under his
tuition, and by his excellent instructions and example he made from his infancy
wonderful progress in learning and in the most perfect practice of Christian
virtue. The death of his dear master and spiritual guide, which happened in
994, was to him a most sensible affliction. In the following year he succeeded
his father in the dutchy of Bavaria, and in 1002, upon the death of his cousin
Otho III., he was chosen emperor. 1 He
was the same year crowned king of Germany at Mentz, by the archbishop of that
city. He had always before his eyes the extreme dangers to which they are
exposed who move on the precipice of power, and that all human things are like
edifices of sand, which every breath of time threatens to overturn or deface;
he studied the extent and importance of the obligations which attended his
dignity; and by the assiduous practice of humiliations, prayer, and pious
meditation, he maintained in his heart the necessary spirit of humility and
holy fear, and was enabled to bear the tide of prosperity and honour with a
constant evenness of temper. Sensible
of the end for which alone he was exalted by God to the highest temporal
dignity, he exerted his most strenuous endeavours to promote in all things the
divine honour, the exaltation of the church, and the peace and happiness of his
people
Soon after his accession to the throne he resigned the
dukedom of Bavaria, which he bestowed on his brother-in-law Henry, surnamed
Senior. He procured a national council of the bishops of all his dominions,
which was assembled at Dortmund, in Westphalia, in 1005, in order to regulate
many points of discipline, and to enforce a strict observance of the holy
canons. It was owing to his zeal that many provincial synods were also held for
the same purpose in several parts of the empire. He was himself present at that
of Frankfort in 1006, and at another of Bamberg in 1011. The protection he owed
his subjects engaged him sometimes in wars, in all which he was successful. By
his prudence, courage, and clemency he stifled a rebellion at home in the
beginning of his reign, and without striking a stroke compelled the
malecontents to lay down their arms at his feet, which when they had done he
received them into favour. Two years after he quelled another rebellion in
Italy, when Ardovinus or Hardwic, a Lombard lord, had caused himself to be
crowned king at Milan. This nobleman, after his defeat, made his submission,
and obtained his pardon. When he had afterwards revolted a second time, the
emperor marched again into Italy, vanquished him in battle, and deprived him of
his territories, but did not take away his life, and Ardovinus became a monk.
After this second victory, St. Henry went in triumph to Rome, where, in 1014,
he was crowned emperor with great solemnity by Pope Benedict VIII. On that
occasion, to give a proof of his devotion to the holy see, he confirmed to it,
by an ample diploma, the donation made by several former emperors, of the
sovereignty of Rome and the exarchate of Ravenna: 2 and
after a short stay at Rome, took leave of the pope, and in his return to
Germany kept the Easter holydays at Pavia; then he visited the monastery of
Cluni, on which he bestowed the imperial globe of gold which the pope had given
him, and a gold crown enriched with precious stones. He paid his devotions in
other monasteries on the road, leaving in every one of them some rich monument
of his piety and liberality. But the most acceptable offering which he made to
God was the fervour and purity of affection with which he renewed the
consecration of his soul to God in all places where he came, especially at the
foot of the altars. Travelling through Liege and Triers, he arrived at Bamberg,
in which city he had lately founded a rich episcopal see, and had built a most
stately cathedral in honour of St. Peter, which Pope John XVIII. took a journey
into Germany to consecrate in 1019. The emperor obtained of this pope, by an
honourable embassy, the confirmation of this and all his other pious
foundations; for he built and endowed other churches with the two monasteries
at Bamberg, and made the like foundations in several other places; thus extending
his zealous views to promote the divine honour and the relief of the poor to
the end of time. Bruno, bishop
of Ausburg, the emperor’s brother, Henry, duke of Bavaria, and other relations
of the saint complained loudly that he employed his patrimony on such religious
foundations, and the duke of Bavaria and some others took up arms against him
in 1010; but he defeated them in the field; then pardoned the princes engaged
in the revolt, and restored to them Bavaria and their other territories which
he had seized.
The idolatrous inhabitants of Poland and Sclavonia had
some time before laid waste the diocess of Meersburg, and destroyed that and
several other churches. St. Henry marched against those barbarous nations, and
having put his army under the protection of the holy martyrs St. Laurence, St.
George, and St. Adrian, who are said to have been seen in the battle fighting
before him, he defeated the infidels. He had made a vow to re-establish the see
of Meersburg in case he obtained the victory, and he caused all his army to
communicate the day before the battle, which was fought near that city. The
barbarians were seized with a panic fear in the beginning of the action, and
submitted at discretion. The princes of Bohemia rebelled, but were easily brought
back to their duty. The victorious emperor munificently repaired and restored
the episcopal sees of Hildesheim, Magdeburg, Strasburg, Misnia, and Meersburg,
and made all Poland, Bohemia, and Moravia tributary to the empire. He procured
holy preachers to be sent to instruct the Bohemians and Polanders in the faith.
Those have been mistaken who
pretend that St. Henry converted St. Stephen, king of Hungary, for that prince
was born of Christian parents; but our saint promoted his zealous endeavours,
and had a great share in his apostolic undertakings for the conversion of his
people.
The protection of
Christendom, and especially of the holy see, obliged St. Henry to lead an army
to the extremity of Italy, 3 where he vanquished the conquering Saracens,
with their allies the Greeks, and drove them out of Italy, left a governor in
the provinces which he had recovered, and suffered the Normans to enjoy the
territories which they had then wrested from the infidels, but restrained them
from turning their arms towards Naples or Benevento. He
came back by Mount Cassino, and was honourably received at Rome; but during his
stay in that city, by a painful contraction of the sinews in his thigh, became
lame and continued so till his death. He passed by Cluni, and in the duchy of
Luxemburg had an interview with Robert, king of France, son and successor of
Hugh Capet. 4 It
had been agreed that, to avoid all disputes of pre-eminence, the two princes
should hold their conference in boats on the river Meuse, which, as Glaber
writes, was at that time the boundary that parted their dominions; but Henry,
impatient to embrace and cement a friendship with that great and virtuous king,
paid the first visit to Robert in his tent, and afterwards received him in his
own. A war had broke out between these two princes in 1006, and Henry gave the
French a great overthrow; but being desirous only to govern his dominions in
peace, he entered into negotiations which produced a lasting peace. In this
interview, which was held in 1023, the conference of the two princes turned on
the most important affairs of church and state, and on the best means of
advancing piety, religion, and the welfare of their subjects. After the most
cordial demonstrations of sincere friendship they took leave of each other, and
St. Henry proceeded to Verdun and Metz. He made frequent progresses through his
dominions only to promote piety, enrich all the churches, relieve the poor,
make a strict inquiry into all public disorders and abuses, and prevent unjust
usurpations and oppressions. He
desired to have no other heir on earth but Christ in his members, and wherever
he went he spread the odour of his piety, and his liberalities on the poor.
It is incredible how attentive he was to the smallest
affairs amidst the multiplicity of business which attends the government of the
state; nothing seemed to escape him; and whilst he was most active and vigilant
in every duty which he owed to the public, he did not forget that the care of
his own soul and the regulation of his interior was his first and most
essential obligation. He was sensible that pride and vain-glory are the most
dangerous of all vices, and that they are the most difficult to be discovered,
and the last that are vanquished in the spiritual warfare; that humility is the
very foundation of all true virtue, and our progress in it the measure of our
advancement in Christian perfection. Therefore, the higher he was exalted in
worldly honours the more did he study to humble himself, and it is said of him,
that never was greater humility seen under a diadem. He loved those persons
best who most freely put him in mind of his mistakes, and these he was always
most ready to confess, and to make for them the most ample reparation. Through
misinformations, he for some time harboured coldness towards St. Herebert,
archbishop of Cologn; but discovering the innocence and sanctity of that
prelate, he fell at his feet, and would not rise till he had received his
absolution and pardon. He banished flatterers from his presence, calling them
the greatest pests of courts; for none can put such an affront on a man’s
judgment and modesty, as to praise him to his face, but the base and most
wicked of interested and designing men, who make use of this artifice to
insinuate themselves into the favour of a prince, to abuse his weakness and
credulity, and to make him the dupe of their injustices. He who listens to them
exposes himself to many misfortunes and crimes, to the danger of the most
foolish pride and vain-glory, and to the ridicule and scorn of his flatterers
themselves; for a vanity that can publicly hear its own praises, openly unmasks
itself to its confusion. The Emperor Sigismund giving a flatterer a blow on the
face, called his fulsome praise the greatest insult that had ever been offered
him. St. Henry was raised by religion and humility above this abjectness of
soul which reason itself teaches us to abhor and despise. By the assiduous
mortification of the senses he kept his passions in subjection; for pleasure,
unless we are guarded against its assaults, steals upon us by insensible
degrees, smooths its passage to the heart by a gentle and insinuating address,
and softens and disarms the soul of all its strength. Nor is it possible for us
to triumph over unlawful sensual delights, unless we moderate and practise
frequent self-denials with regard to lawful gratifications. The love of the
world is a no less dangerous enemy, especially amidst honours and affluence;
and created objects have this quality that they first seduce the heart, and
then blind the understanding. By
conversing always in heaven, St. Henry raised his affections so much above the
earth as to escape this snare.
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 canons of that church, that, finding
this impossible, he founded there a new canonry for one who should always
perform that sacred duty in his name. In this spirit of devotion it has been
established that the kings of France are canons of Strasburg, Lyons, and some
other places; as in the former place the emperors, in the latter the dukes of
Burgundy, were before them. The holy sacrament of the altar and sacrifice of
the mass were the object of St. Henry’s most tender devotion. The blessed Mother
of God he honoured as his chief patroness, and among other exercises by which
he recommended himself to her intercession, it was his custom, upon coming to
any town, to spend a great part of the first night in watching and prayer in
some church dedicated to God under her name, as at Rome in St. Mary Major. He
had a singular devotion to the good angels and to all the saints. Though he
lived in the world so as to be perfectly disengaged from it in heart and
affection, it was his earnest desire entirely to renounce it long before his
death, and he intended to pitch upon the abbey of St. Vanne, at Verdun, for the
place of his retirement; but he was diverted from carrying this project into
execution, by the advice of Richard the holy abbot of that house. 5 He
had married St. Cunegonda, but lived with her in perpetual chastity, to which
they had mutually bound themselves by vow. It happened that the empress was
falsely accused of incontinency, and St. Henry was somewhat moved by the
slander; but she cleared herself by her oath, and by the ordeal trials, walking
over twelve red hot plough-shares without hurt. Her husband severely condemned
himself for his credulity, and made her the most ample satisfaction. In his
last illness he recommended her to her relations and friends, declaring that he
left her an untouched virgin. His health decayed some years before his death,
which happened at the castle of Grone, near Halberstadt, in 1024, on the 14th
of July, towards the end of the fifty-second year of his life; he having
reigned twenty-two years from his election, and ten years and five months from
his coronation at Rome. His body was interred in the cathedral at Bamberg, with
the greatest pomp, and with the unfeigned tears of all his subjects. The great
number of miracles by which God was pleased to declare his glory in heaven, procured
his canonization, which was performed by Eugenius III. in 1152. His festival is
kept on the day following that of his death. 6
Those who by
honours, dignities, riches, or talents are raised by God in the world above the
level of their fellow-creatures, have a great stewardship, and a most rigorous
account to give at the bar of divine justice, their very example having a most
powerful influence over others. This St. Fulgentius
observed, writing to Theodorus, a pious Roman senator: 7 “Though,”
said he, “Christ died for all men, yet the perfect conversion of the great ones
of the world brings great acquisitions to the kingdom of Christ. And they who
are placed in high stations must necessarily be to very many an occasion of
eternal perdition or of salvation. And as they cannot go alone, so either a high degree of glory or an
extraordinary punishment will be their everlasting portion.”
Note 1. The empire of the West, which had been
extinguished in Augustulus, was restored in the year 800, in the person of
Charlemagne, king of France, who extended his conquests into part of Spain,
almost all Italy, all Flanders and Germany, and part of Hungary. The imperial
crown continued some time in the different branches of his family, sometimes in
France, sometimes in Germany, and sometimes in both united under the same
monarch. Lewis IV. the eighth hereditary emperor of the Franks, was a weak
prince, and died in the twentieth year of his age, in 912, without leaving any
issue. These emperors, in imitation of the Lombards, had created several petty
sovereigns in their states, who grew very powerful. These princes declared that
by the death of Lewis IV. the imperial dignity had devolved on the Germanic
people; and excluding Charles the Simple, king of France, the next heir in
blood of the Carlovingian race, elected Conrad I. duke of Franconia; and after
him Henry I. surnamed the Fowler, duke of Saxony, who was succeeded by three
Othos of the same family of Saxony. After St. Henry II. several emperors (the
following Henries, and two Frederics in particular) were of the Franconian
family. Rodolph I. of the house of Austria was chosen in 1273. There have been
four dukes of Bavaria emperors, five of the house of Luxemburg, three of the
old Bohemian royal house, &c. But in 1438, Albert II. duke of Austria and
marquis of Moravia, was raised to that supreme dignity, which from that time
has remained chiefly in that family. The ancient ducal house of Saxony was
descended from Wittekind the Great, the last elected king of the Saxons, who
afterwards sustained a long obstinate war against Pepin and Charlemagne,
submitted to the latter, and being baptized by St. Lullus in 785, was created
by Charlemagne, first duke of Saxony. St. Henry II. was the fifth emperor of
the Saxon race, descended from Wittekind the Great. [back]
Note 2. On the authenticity of this diploma of Henry II. and also of those of
Pepin, Charlemagne, and Otho I. see the Dissertation of the Abbé Cenni,
entitled, Esame de Diplomi d’Ottone è S. Arrigo, printed at Rome in 1754.
That
the see of Rome was possessed of great riches, even during the rage of the
first persecutions, is clear from the acts of universal charity performed by
the popes, mentioned by St. Dionysius of Corinth, and after the persecutions by
St. Basil and St. John Climacus. From the reign of Constantine the Great, many
large possessions were bestowed on the popes for the service of the church.
Cenni (Esame di Diploma di Ludovico Pio) shows in detail from St. Gregory the
Great’s epistles, that the Roman see, in his time, enjoyed very large estates,
with a very ample civil jurisdiction, and a power of punishing delinquents in
them by deputy judges, in Sicily, Calabria, Apulia, Campania, Ravenna, Sabina,
Dalmatia, Illyricum, Sardinia, Corsica, Liguria, the Alpes Cottiæ, and a small
estate in Gaul. Some of these
estates comprised several bishoprics, as appears from St. Gregory, l. 7, ep.
39, Indict. ii.
The
Alpes Cottiæ that belonged to the popes included Genoa and the sea-coast from
that town to the Alps, the boundaries of Gaul, as Thomassin (l. 1, de Discipl.
Eccl. c. 27. n. 17,) takes notice, and as Baronius (ad an. 712, p. 9,) proves
from the testimony of Oldradus, bishop of Milan. And Paul the Deacon writes,
that the Lombards seized the Alpes Cottiæ, which were the estate of the Roman
see. “Patrimonium Alpium Cottiarum quæ quondam ad jus pertinuerant apostolicæ
sedis, sed a Longobardis multo tempore fuerant ablatæ.” (Paul. Diac. l. 6, c.
43.) Father Cajetan, in his Isagoge ad Historiam Siculam, points out at length
the different estates which the Roman see formerly possessed in Sicily. The
popes were charged with a great share of the care of the city and civil
government of Rome. St. Gregory the Great mentions that it was part of their
duty to provide that the city was supplied with corn (l. 5, ep. 40, alias l. 4,
ep. 31, ad Maurit.) and that he was obliged to watch against the stratagems of
the enemies, and the treachery of the Roman generals and governors. (l. 5, ep.
42, alias l. 4, ep. 35.) And he appointed Constantius, a tribune, to be governor
of Naples. (l. 2, ep. 11 alias ep 7.) Anastasius the Librarian testifies that the popes, Sisinnius and Gregory
II. both repaired the walls of Rome, and put the city in a posture of defence.
From
these and other facts Thomassin observes that the popes had then the chief
administration of the city of Rome and of the exarchate, made treaties of
peace, averted wars, defended and recovered cities, and repulsed the enemies.
(Thomass. de Benefic. 3, part. l. 1, c. 29, n. 6.) When the Lombards ravaged and
conquered the country, the emperors continued to oppress the people with
exorbitant taxes, yet being busy at home against the Saracens, refused to
protect the Romans against the barbarians. Whereupon the people of Italy, in the time of Gregory
II. in 715, chose themselves in many places leaders and princes, though that
pope exhorted them every where to remain in their obedience and fidelity to the
empire, as Anastasius the Librarian assures us: “Ne desisterent ab amore et
fide Romani imperii admonebat.”
Leo
the Isaurian and his son Constantine Copronymus persecuted the Catholics; yet
Zachary and Stephen II. paid them all due obedience and respect in matters
relating to the civil government. Leo threatened to destroy the holy images and
profane the relics of the apostles at Rome. At which news the people of Rome
were not to be restrained; but having before received with honour the images of
that emperor, according to custom, they, in a fit of sudden fury, pulled them
down. Pope Stephen II. exhorted the emperor to forbear such sacrileges and
persecutions, and at the same time gave him to understand the danger of
exasperating the populace, though he did what in him lay to prevent by
entreaties both the profanations threatened by the emperor, and also the revolt
of the people: “Tunc projecta laureata tua conculcarunt—Aisque: Romam mittam,
et imaginem S. Petri confringam.—Quòd si quospiam miseris, protestamur tibi,
innocentes sumus a sanguine quem fusuri sunt.” On the sacrileges and cruelties
exercised by the Iconoclasts in the East, see the Bollandists, August ix. To
prevent the like at Rome, some of the Greek historians say that Pope Gregory
II. withdrew himself and all Italy from the obedience of the emperor. But
Theophanes and the other Greeks were in this particular certainly mistaken, as
Thomassin takes notice. And
Natalis Alexander says: (Diss. 1, sæc. 8,) “This most learned pope was not
ignorant of the tradition of the fathers from which he never deviated; for the
fathers always taught that subjects are bound to obey their princes, though
infidels or heretics, in those things which belong to the rights of the
commonwealth.”
The case was, that when the emperors refused to
protect Italy from the barbarians, the popes, in the name of the people, who
looked upon them as their fathers and guardians, and as the head of the
commonwealth, sought protection from the French, as Thomassin observes, (p. 3,
de Benef. l, 1, c. 29.) The continuator of Fredegarius seems to say, that
Gregory III. and the Roman people created Charles Martel Patrician of Rome, by
which title was meant the protection of the church and poor, as De Marca (De
Concordiâ, l. 3, c. 11, n. 6,) and Pagi explain it from Paul the deacon. At
least Pope Stephen II. going into France to invite Pepin into Italy, conferred
on him the title of Patrician, but had not recourse to this expedient till the
Eastern empire had absolutely abandoned Italy to the swords of the Lombards.
Pope Zachary made a peace with Luitprand, king of the Lombards, and afterwards
a truce with king Rachis for twenty years. But that prince putting on the
Benedictin habit, his brother and successor Astulphus broke the treaty. Stephen
II. who succeeded Zachary in 752, sent great presents to Astulphus, begging he
would give peace to the exarchate; but could not be heard, as Anastasius
testifies. Whereupon Stephen went to Paris, and implored the protection of king
Pepin, who sent ambassadors into Lombardy, requiring that Astulphus would
restore what he had taken from the church of Rome, and repair the damages he
had done the Romans. Astulphus refusing to comply with these conditions, Pepin
led an army into Italy, defeated the Lombards, and besieged, and took Astulphus
in Pavia; but generously restored him his kingdom on condition he should live
in amity with the pope. But immediately after Pepin’s departure he perfidiously
took up arms, and in revenge put every thing to fire and sword in the
territories of Rome. This obliged Pepin to return into Italy, and Astulphus was
again beaten and made prisoner in Pavia. Pepin once more restored him his
kingdom, but threatened him with death if he ever again took up arms against
the pope; and he took from him the exarchate of Ravenna, of which the Lombard
had made himself master, and he gave it to the holy see in 755, as Eginhard
relates: “Redditam sibi Ravennam et Pentapolim, et omnem exarchatum ad Ravennam
pertinentem, ad S. Petrum traditit.” Eginhard, ib. Thomassin observes very
justly that Pepin could not give away dominions which belonged to the emperors
of Constantinople; but that they had lost all right to them after they had
suffered them to be conquered by the Lombards, without sending succours during
so many years to defend and protect them. These countries therefore either by
the right of conquest in a just war belonged to Pepin and Charlemagne, who
bestowed them on the popes; or the people became free, and being abandoned to
barbarians had a right to form themselves into a new government. See Thomassin
(p. 3, de Beneficiis, l. 1, c. 29, n. 9).
It is a principle laid down by Puffendorf,
Grotius, Fontanini, and others, demonstrated by the unanimous consent of all
ancients and moderns, and founded upon the law of nations, that he who conquers
a country in a just war, nowise untaken for the former possessors, nor in
alliance with them, is not bound to restore to them what they would not or
could not protect and defend: “Illud extra controversiam est, si jus gentium
respiciamus, quæ hostibus per nos erepta sunt, ea non posse vindicari ab his
qui ante hostes nostros ea possederant et amiserant.” (Grotius, l. 3, de Jure
belli et pacis, c. 6, 38.) The Greeks had by their sloth lost the exarchate of
Ravenna. If Pepin had conquered the Goths in Italy, or the Vandals in Africa
before Justinian had recovered those dominions, who will pretend that he would
have been obliged to restore them to the emperors? Or, if the Britons had
repulsed the Saxons after the Romans had abandoned them to their fury, might
they not have declared themselves a free people? Or, had not the popes and the
Roman people a right, when the Greeks refused to afford them protection, to
seek it from others? They had long in vain demanded it of the emperors of
Constantinople, before they had recourse to the French. Thus Anastasius
testifies that Pope Stephen II. had often in vain implored the succours of Leo
against Astulphus: “Ut juxta quod ei sæpius scripserat, cum exercitu ad tuendas
has Italiæ partes modis omnibus adveniret.” The same Anastasius relates, that
when the ambassadors of the Greek emperor demanded of Pepin the restitution of
the countries he had conquered from the Lombards, that prince answered, that as
he had exposed himself to the dangers of war merely for the protection of St.
Peter’s see, not in favour of any other person, he never would suffer the
apostolic church to be deprived of what he had bestowed on it. Pepin gave to
the holy see the city of Rome and its Campagna; also the exarchate of Ravenna
and Pentapolis, comprising Rimini, Pesaro, Fano, Senigallia, Ancona, Gubbio,
&c. He retained the office of protector and defender of the Roman church
under the title of Patrician. When Desiderius, king of the Lombards, again
ravaged the lands of the church of Rome, Charlemagne marched into Italy,
defeated his forces, and after a long siege took Pavia, and extinguished the
kingdom of the Lombards in 773, on which occasion he caused himself to be
crowned king of Italy, with an iron crown, such as the Goths and Lombards in
that country had used, perhaps as an emblem of strength. Charlemagne confirmed
to Pope Adrian I. at Rome, the donation of his father Pepin. The emperor
Charles the Bald and others ratified and extended the same. Charlemagne having
been crowned emperor of the West at Rome, by Pope Leo III. in 800, Irene who
was then empress of Constantinople, acknowledged him Augustus in 802; as did
her successor the emperor Nicephorus III. The Greeks at the same time ratified
the partition made of the Italian dominions. This point of history has been so
much misrepresented by some moderns, that this note seemed necessary in order
to set it in a true light. See Cenni’s Monumenta Dominationis Pontificiæ, in
4to. Romæ, 1760. Also Orsi’s Dissertation on this subject; Cenni’s Esame di
Diploma. &c. and Jos. Assemani, Hist. Ital. Scriptores, t. 3, c. 5. [back]
Note 3. In the partition of the empire between
Charlemagne and Irene, empress of Constantinople, Apulia and Calabria were assigned
to the Eastern empire, and the rest of Naples to Charlemagne and his
successors. Long before this, in the unhappy reign of the Monothelite emperor
Constans, about the year 660, the Saracens began to infest Sicily, and soon
after became masters of that island, and also of Calabria and some other parts
of Italy. Otho I., surnamed the Great, drove them out of Italy, and laid claim
to Calabria and Apulia by right of conquest. The Greeks soon after yielded up
their pretensions to those provinces by the marriage of Otho II. to Theophania,
daughter of Romanus, emperor of the East, who brought him Apulia and Calabria
for her dowry. Yet the treacherous Greeks joined the Saracens in those
provinces, and again expelled the Germans. But in 1008, Tancred, a noble Norman,
lord of Hauteville, with his twelve sons, and a gallant army of adventurers,
went from Normandy into Apulia, and had great success against the Saracens and
their confederates the Greeks. From this time the Normans became dukes of
Calabria, and counts and dukes of Apulia. Robert Guiscard, the most valiant
Norman duke of Apulia, augmented his power by the conquest of Sicily, Naples,
and all the lands which lie between that city and Latium or the territory of
Rome. In 1130, Roger the Norman was saluted by the pope, king of both
Sicilies. [back]
Note 4. This Robert loved the church, and was a
wise, courageous, and learned prince. He wrote sacred hymns, and among others
that which begins, “O Constantia Martyrum;” also, as some say, the “Veni Sancte
Spiritus, Et emitte cœlitus,” &c. sung in the mass for Whitsuntide. [back]
Note 5. At the entry of the cloister of St. Vanne
at Verdun is hung a picture, in which the Emperor St. Henry is represented
laying down his sceptre and crown, and asking the monastic habit of the holy
abbot Richard. The abbot required of him a promise of obedience, then commanded
him to resume the government of the empire, upon which a distich was made, in
which it is said: The emperor came hither to live in obedience; and he
practises this lesson by ruling. [back]
Note 6. Baronius and some others call St. Henry
the first emperor of that name, because Henry I. or the Fowler, was never
crowned by the Pope at Rome; without which ceremony some Italians style an
emperor only king of Germany or emperor elect; though Charles V. was the last
that was so crowned at Rome. St. Henry on his death-bed recommended to the
princes Conrad the Salic, duke of Franconia, who was accordingly chosen
emperor, was crowned at Rome in 1027, reigned with great piety and glory, and
was buried in the cathedral church at Spire, which he had built near his own
palace. He was succeeded by his son Henry the Black or III. [back]
Note 7. S. Fulgent, ep. 6. [back]
Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73). Volume
VII: July. The Lives of the Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/7/151.html
Sant' Enrico II Imperatore
- Memoria Facoltativa
973 - Bamberga, Germania, 13 luglio 1024
Enrico II è un esempio di rettitudine nell'arte del governare: per questo oltre che santo è patrono delle teste coronate. Nato nel 973 vicino a Bamberga, in Baviera, crebbe in un ambiente cristiano. Il fratello Bruno divenne vescovo di Augsburg (Augusta), una sorelle si fece monaca e l'altra sposò un futuro santo, il re d'Ungheria Stefano. Enrico venne educato prima dai canonici di Hildesheim e, in seguito, dal vescovo di Regensburg (Ratisbona), san Wolfgang. Si preparò così all'esercizio del potere, cosa che avvenne dapprima quando divenne Duca di Baviera, e poi nel 1014 quando " già re di Germania e d'Italia " Papa Benedetto VIII, lo incoronò a guida del Sacro Romano Impero. Tra i consiglieri ebbe Odilone, abate di Cluny, centro di riforma della Chiesa. Enrico morì nel 1024. Fu lui a sollecitare l'introduzione del Credo nella Messa domenicale. (Avvenire)
Patronato: Oblati benedettini
Etimologia: Enrico = possente in patria, dal tedesco
Emblema: Corona, Globo, Scettro
Martirologio Romano: Sant’Enrico, che imperatore dei Romani, si adoperò insieme alla moglie santa Cunegonda per rinnovare la vita della Chiesa e propagare la fede di Cristo in tutta l’Europa; mosso da zelo missionario, istituì molte sedi episcopali e fondò monasteri. A Grona vicino a Göttingen in Germania lasciò in questo giorno la vita.
L’Imperatore del Sacro Romano Impero e ultimo esponente della dinastia degli Ottoni Sant’Enrico II (973 o 978 – 1024) e sua moglie Santa Cunegonda di Lussemburgo (978 ca. – 1039) vissero in tempi «precari», ma il loro rapporto non fu precario e divenne di esempio per tutto il mondo occidentale e addirittura si adoperarono per rinnovare la vita della Chiesa e propagare la fede in Cristo in tutta l’Europa.
Votato inizialmente ad una carriera ecclesiastica, ricevette un’educazione scrupolosa presso la scuola capitolare di Hildersheim e a Ratisbona presso il santo vescovo Wolfango. Là acquisì una profonda pietà ed una precisa conoscenza dei problemi religiosi. Enrico ebbe un fratello, Bruno, che rinunciò agli agi della vita di corte per divenire pastore di anime come vescovo di Augusta, nonché due sorelle: Brigida, che si fece monaca, e Gisella, che andò in sposa al celebre Santo Stefano d’Ungheria.
Nel 995 Enrico II succedette al padre quale duca di Baviera e nel 1002 al cugino Ottone III come re di Germania. Contro Enrico insorse il celebre Arduino d’Ivrea, che dopo tante fatiche aveva ottenuto la corona d’Italia, ma questi lo sconfisse con un’armata e poi raggiunse Roma con sua moglie Cunegonda per ricevere nel 1004 la corona d’Italia da Papa Benedetto VIII. Nel 1014 il Pontefice lo consacrò imperatore del Sacro Romano Impero.
Segnata dall’impronta del realismo e della chiaroveggenza, la politica di Enrico II fu caratterizzata dall’abbandono delle grandiose mire universaliste di Ottone III e rafforzò l’alleanza del potere imperiale con la Chiesa. Sovrano consacrato alla più alta carica religiosa, presidente dei sinodi episcopali, canonico di alcune cattedrali, accrebbe l’autorità del clero. Restaurò nel 1004 l’Arcivescovado di Merseburg e nel 1007 fondò, con i propri beni, quello di Bamberg. Fu assai sensibile ad un sano rinnovamento della vita monastica, appoggiando alcuni riformatori come Riccardo di Saint-Vanne, sostenendo l’Abbazia di Cluny e il suo Abate Odilone.
Nel 1022 presiedette, insieme a Papa Benedetto VIII, il Concilio di Pavia, a conclusione del quale vennero emanati sette canoni contro il concubinato dei sacerdoti e la difesa dell’integrità dei patrimoni ecclesiastici: questo Concilio è considerato un momento importante del processo di riforma delle Chiesa dell’XI secolo.
Durante il regno ebbe al suo fianco Cunegonda, incoronata regina nel 1002 a Paderborn. Le fonti attestano che ella svolse un ruolo politico di primo piano. Fondò il monastero femminile di Kaufungen, vicino a Kassel, nel 1021. La coppia imperiale non ebbe figli e la causa viene rimandata a due ipotesi: voto di castità dei coniugi oppure sterilità. Alla fine dell’XI secolo sorse la tradizione della castità degli sposi. I primi a descriverla furono alcuni monaci dell’abbazia di Monte Cassino, molto legati all’Imperatore, Amato e Leone d’Ostia.
Secondo altre fonti, contemporanee ai fatti storici, viene attestata la sterilità di Santa Cunegonda. Le prime conoscenze sul matrimonio imperiale poggiano su tre brevi testi. Il cronista Titmaro di Merseburg riferisce la dichiarazione fatta da Enrico II al Sinodo di Francoforte del 1007: «(…) per mia ricompensa divina, ho scelto Cristo come erede, poiché non mi resta più alcuna speranza di avere una discendenza». Il secondo testo è una lettera del Vescovo Arnoldo di Halberstat (novembre 1007) ad un suo confratello di Würzburg: «(…) rifiutandogli una discendenza umana, farà di Dio, a Lui piacendo, il suo erede». Infine il monaco cluniacense Rodolfo il Glabro lascia scritto (prima del 1047): «Vedendo che da Cunegonda egli non poteva avere figli, non se ne separò a causa di questo, ma accordò alla Chiesa di Cristo tutto il patrimonio che avrebbe dovuto a dei figli».
Nell’alto Medioevo, una simile situazione terminava spesso con il ripudio della sposa. Come dimostra Rodolfo il Glabro, il fatto essenziale che colpì i contemporanei e fondò i termini per la reputazione di santità, fu l’inaudito rifiuto dell’Imperatore di ripudiare la moglie. La ragione di tale scelta è stata cercata nella profonda pietà cattolica dell’Imperatore, pietà che gli veniva da una tradizione ottoniana: i comportamenti matrimoniali costituirono un punto capitale delle relazioni fra gli Ottoni e la Chiesa. Infatti i suoi predecessori osservarono sempre una condotta matrimoniale esemplare: una stretta monogamia, unioni canonicamente irreprensibili, l’assenza di figli illegittimi e ripudi caratterizzarono la loro vita familiare. Emblematica una biografia commissionata dallo stesso Enrico II, la Vita della sua bisavola Santa Matilde, dove il sacramento matrimoniale primeggia: l’unione sponsale è qui celebrata come indissolubile e spiritualmente benefica per ogni coniuge. Ne emerge una coppia di sposi di stampo evangelico, modello di vita coniugale.
Enrico II non volle essere da meno della sua antenata e fu deciso nel credere e testimoniare l’indissolubilità matrimoniale, e tenne per sposa la sua Cunegonda.
Autore: Cristina Siccardi
Nella storia della Chiesa riscontriamo non poche coppie di sposi ascese alla gloria degli altari, vicende di santità coniugale sovente purtroppo poco conosciute, come quella di Cunegonda ed Enrico, quest’ultimo singolarmente festeggiato in data odierna nell’anniversario della sua morte. Le notizie sul suo conto ci provengono da due versioni della sua Vita, attribuite ad Adalberto di Utrecht ed Adalberto di Bamberga.
Nato nel 972 dal duca bavarese Enrico il Litigioso e Gisella di Borgogna, Enrico fu istruito dal vescovo di Ratisbona, San Volfango. Enrico ebbe un fratello, Bruno, che rinunciò agli agi della vita di corte per divenire pastore d’anime come vescovo di Augusta, nonché due sorelle: Brigida, che si fece monaca, e Gisella, che andò in sposa al celebre Santo Stefano d’Ungheria. Nel 995 Enrico II succedette al padre quale duca di Baviera e nel 1002 al cugino Otone III come re di Germania. Contro Enrico insorse il celebre Arduino d’Ivrea, che dopo tante fatiche aveva ottenuto la corona d’Italia, ma questi lo sconfisse con un’armata e poi raggiunse Roma con sua moglie Cunegonda per ricevere la corona imperiale da Papa Benedetto VIII, che lo pose così a guida del Sacro Romano Impero.
Enrico si mostrò in vari modi enefattore della Chiesa, restaurando le sedi di Hildeshein, Magdeburgo, Strasburgo e Meersburg. Nel 1006 fondò la diocesi di Bamberga ed in tale città fece edificare la cattedrale ed un monastero, onde rafforzare il suo potere in quella parte della Germania. In questa sua opera fu osteggiato dai vescovi di Wurzburg ed Eichstatt, che perdettero parte del territorio delle loro diocesi. Il sovrano pensò bene di ottenere al riguardo l’approvazione pontificia e lo stesso Benedetto VIII officiò nel 1020 la consacrazione della nuova cattedrale.
Il santo imperatore sostenne la riforma cluniacense, in particolare Sant’Odilone di Cluny e Riccardo di Saint-Vanne, e fu lui inoltre a sollecitare l’introduzione della recita del Credo nella Messa festiva, pur restando un potente sovrano intento ad estendere la sua influenza ed il suo potere. Alcune delle sue azioni politiche appaiono infatti equivoche, se analizzate da un punto di vista del bene del cristianesimo: rovesciò infatti la politica dei suoi predecessori nei confronti dell’Oriente cristiano e, come ebbe ad evidenziare il Dvornik, per la prima volta “il capo dell’impero del cristianesimo occidentale prende le armi contro un paese [la Polonia], il cui carattere cristiano è stato così apertametne e solennemente benedetto dal suo predecessore”.
Pur di perseguire i suoi scopi, strinse alleanze con alcune popolazioni pagane, consentendo loro di praticare le loro religioni apertamente e di portare in battaglia i loro stendardi ed i loro dei. A molti suoi contemporanei tale atteggiamento parve in assoluto contrasto con quello tradizionale dell’imperatore in dovere di convertire i pagani. Fu perciò aspramente criticato da San Bruno di Querfurt, missionario proprio in terra pagana: “E’ giusto perseguitare una nazione cristiana e concedere amicizia ad una nazione pagana? In che modo può Cristo avere relazione con Satana? In che modo possiamo paragonare la luce al buio? Non è meglio combattere i pagani per il bene del cristianesimo, piuttosto che far torto ai cristiani per onori terreni?”.
Queste sono solo alcune delle ragioni per cui pare fu problematico, agli occhi dei suoi primi biografi, dipingere Enrico II come un santo ed a tal fine non restò che creare, forse artificiosamente edificanti leggende che lo descrissero come un governante riluttante ed un monaco sincero, intento a condurre uno stile di vita ascetico, vivendo il matrimonio in castità. Si trattò però in gran parte di esagerazioni volte ad esaltare oltre misura la sua opera pubblica e la sua vita privata.
Enrico tornò nuovamente in Italia nel 1021, per una spedizione in Puglia contro i bizantini, ma si ammalò e sulla via del ritorno fu portato a Montecassino, ove secondo la leggenda guarì miracolosamente pregando sulla tomba di San Benedetto. Restò tuttavia storpio per il resto dei suoi giorni, fino alla morte avvenuta a Bamberga il 13 luglio 1024. Sua moglie Cunegonda si ritirò in un monastero benedettino da lei fondato ed infine fu sepolta accanto al marito nella cattedrale di Bamberga.
L’imperatore Enrico II, forse innanzitutto per il suo aperto appoggio concesso al papato, fu canonizzato nel 1152, o secondo altre fonti autorevoli nel 1146 dal papa Beato Eugenio III, ma solo nel 1200 fu raggiunto nel canone dei santi dalla moglie Cunegonda.
Da una «Vita antica» di sant'Enrico.
Questo santo servo di Dio, ricevuta l'unzione regale, non fu contento delle ristrettezze di un regno terreno, ma, per conseguire la corona della vita immortale, si propose di militare sotto le insegne del sommo Re. Servire lui è regnare! Perciò usò grandissima diligenza nel diffondere l'amore alla religione, nell'assicurare alle chiese benefici e suppellettili preziose. Stabilì nel suo stesso palazzo la sede episcopale di Bamberga sotto i titoli dei principi degli apostoli Pietro e Paolo e del glorioso martire Giorgio. Ne fece omaggio con diritti particolari alla santa Chiesa di Roma, per rendere alla prima Sede l'onore dovutole per diritto divino. Con questo alto patronato diede solide basi alla sua fondazione.
Perché poi a tutti sia noto con quale vigilanza quest'uomo santo abbia provveduto la sua nuova chiesa dei beni della pace e della tranquillità anche per i tempi futuri, inseriamo qui, a conferma, una sua lettera: «Enrico per divina Provvidenza re, a tutti i figli della Chiesa presenti e futuri. Siamo invitati e ammoniti dai salutari insegnamenti della Sacra Scrittura di abbandonare i beni temporali e le comodità di questa terra e cercare con ogni mezzo di conseguire le dimore eterne dei cieli. Infatti il godimento della gloria presente è transitorio e vano, a meno che non sia orientato all'eternità celeste. E la misericordia di Dio provvide al genere umano un utile rimedio quando stabilì che i beni della terra fossero il prezzo della patria celeste.
Perciò a noi, memori di questa clemenza e ben sapendo di essere stati innalzati alla dignità regale per una gratuita disposizione della misericordia di Dio, è parsa cosa buona non solo di ampliare le chiese costruite dai nostri predecessori, ma di costruirne delle nuove a maggior gloria di Dio e dotarle di benefici e favori in segno della nostra devozione. Perciò, porgendo vigile ascolto ai comandamenti del Signore e osservando i divini consigli, desideriamo mettere in serbo in cielo i tesori elargiti dalla generosa liberalità divina; in cielo dove i ladri non sfondano né rubano, né il tarlo o la tignola li consumano; in cielo dove, mentre ora ci diamo premura di raccogliervi tutte le nostre cose, anche il nostro cuore possa rivolgersi più spesso con desiderio e con amore.
Pertanto vogliamo che tutti i fedeli sappiano che noi abbiamo innalzato alla dignità di prima sede episcopale una località che si chiama Bamberga, lasciataci in eredità dal nostro padre, perché là si mantenga un solenne ricordo di noi e dei nostri genitori e si offra continuamente il sacrificio di salvezza per tutti i fedeli».
ORAZIONE
O Dio, che hai colmato dei tuoi doni Sant’Enrico
e dalla regalità terrena lo hai innalzato alla corona
eterna,
assisti e proteggi i tuoi fedeli, perchè tra le
vicende del mondo
corrano incontro a te nella giustizia e nella
santità.
Per il nostro Signore Gesù Cristo, tuo Figlio, che è
Dio,
e vive e regna con te, nell’unità dello Spirito
Santo,
per tutti i secoli dei secoli. Amen.
Autore: Fabio Arduino
