From: rich <
richarra@gmail.com>
March 3rd - St. Cunegund
(d. 1033 A.D.)
The medieval cathedral of Bamberg, Germany, has a unique shrine. Side
by side are the tombs of Emperor St. Henry II and his empress, St.
Cunegund. Since few emperors have won the title of saint, this double
shrine is indeed unusual.
Cunegund of the Wagnerian name was the devout daughter of a noble
couple who bore the equally Wagnerian names of Siegfried and Hedwig.
She married the Duke of Bavaria, Henry. They never had any children,
but the older belief that theirs was an intentionally celibate
marriage is no longer considered true.
Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor, died in 1002. Duke Henry was elected to
succeed him. Although Henry II was thus the most important monarch in
Europe, it took him until 1014 to vindicate his position against his
warring subordinates. Only in that year were he and his wife finally
able to go to Rome and receive the crowns imperial from the hands of
Pope Benedict VIII.
Cunegund's career as empress was not a charmed one. Some of her
biographers state that she became the victim of a slander that even
deceived Henry for a while. At her own request, say these writers, she submitted to the ordeal by fire to prove her innocence. She walked
barefoot across a bed of red-hot plowshares, and suffered no harm. The
emperor, it is reported, was not only convinced by this ordeal, but
thoroughly ashamed of his moment of doubt.
While Henry II was a typical medieval politician and warrior, he was
also a man of devotion, truly interested in supporting the work of the
church and correcting abuses in it. His wife gave him her hearty
backing. She encouraged him to found the monastery and cathedral of
Bamberg. On her own, she established a convent at Kaufungen as an act
of thanks for recovery from a serious illness.
Cunegund's biographers relate an interesting and very human story
about the abbess whom she chose to head her new convent.
This abbess was Cunegund's own niece Jutta. She thought that Jutta
would do well as superior. She herself had raised her, and prepared
her for her task with much sound advice. But Jutta soon disappointed
her aunt by her giddy behavior and her love of eating. When she failed
to respond to the foundress' correction, empress and abbess had a
showdown. Cunegund even struck Jutta on the face. Oddly, the mark of
the blow remained on her cheek. Even Jutta considered this miraculous.
It brought her to her senses, and served as a visible reminder of self-discipline to the rest of the nuns.
St. Henry died in 1024. On the first anniversary of his death, the
widowed empress invited a number of prelates to attend the dedication
of the church at Kaufungen. After the singing of the gospel, Cunegund
offered at the altar a relic of the True Cross. Then she doffed her
imperial cloak and donned the habit of a nun. The bishop replaced her
crown with the veil.
As a nun the dowager empress changed her mode of life completely. She
would not allow herself or others to recall that she had formerly been
a queen. She chose for her tasks the lowliest duties of the convent;
in her opinion she deserved no better. Her daily schedule was one of
reading, prayer, and visitation of the sick. So passed the last 8
years of her life. When she died she was laid to rest next to Henry in
the handsome cathedral church that both had built.
I suppose that the principal lesson that this holy couple still
teaches the world is that the vocation of rulers and everybody else in authority is not to domineer their people but to serve them.
Saint Quote:
Let us help and commemorate them. If Job's sons were purified by th=
eir
father's sacrifice [Job 1:5], why would we doubt that our offerings
for the dead bring them some consolation? Let us not hesitate to help
those who have died and to offer our prayers for them.
--John Chrysostom
Concerning Self-Deception
Bible Quote:
21 =E2=80=9CNot every one who says to me, =E2=80=98Lord, Lord,' sha=
ll enter the
kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in
heaven. (Matthew 7:21)=C2 RSVCE
<><><><>
Whoever will come after Me, let him deny himself -Matt. 16:24
"The first step to be taken by one who wishes to follow Christ is,
according to Our Lord's own words, that of renouncing himself-that is,
his own senses, his own passions, his own will, his own judgment, and
all the movements of nature, making to God a sacrifice of all these
things, and of all their acts, which are surely sacrifices very
acceptable to the Lord. And we must never grow weary of this; for if
anyone having, so to speak, one foot already in Heaven, should abandon
this exercise, when the time should come for him to put the other
there, he would run much risk of being lost"
--St. Vincent de Paul
The same Saint made himself such a proficient in this virtue that it
might be called the weapon most frequently and constantly handled by
him through his whole life until his last breath; and by this he
succeeded in gaining absolute dominion over all the movements of his
inferior nature. Therefore, he kept his own passions so completely
subject to reason, that he could scarcely be known to have any.
("A Year with the Saints" March - Mortification)
--- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2
* Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4)