July 13 is the feast of St. Henry (973-1024), the Holy Roman Emperor and the patron of Benedictine oblates. Born at the castle of Hildesheim, in Bavaria, he became Duke of Bavaria in 995 and King of Germany in 1002. He was crowned Emperor by Pope Benedict VIII at Rome in 1014. He and his wife Cunigunde took a vow of perpetual continence and had no children.
Henry was a great benefactor of the Benedictine order — he founded the bishopric of Bamberg in 1007 and built the cathedral, and the bishopric remains one of the great monuments of Romanesque Germany. He supported the reform of Cluny and the Benedictine monasteries of his realm. He died at Grona, near Göttingen, in 1024 and was canonized in 1146 by Pope Eugene III. He is the only Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire to be canonized.
Henry is the patron of Benedictine oblates — laypeople who live the Benedictine rule in the world — and of the city of Bamberg. From Bamberg, where he built the cathedral, to Rome, where he was crowned, the July 13 feast is the feast of the Emperor who was also a Benedictine oblate.
