Saint Emeric

Emeric, growing ever in grace and perfection, meditated within himself on what he might do to make himself more pleasing to his sovereign Lord. Being one night in prayer in the church of Saint George, at Veszprém, with one of his servants, and reflecting on this thought, he perceived a light that illuminated the whole church, and he heard a voice that said to him: 'Virginity is a most precious offering, and I desire that you preserve it in body and spirit until death.' He was extremely rejoiced by this command, and he beseeched this God of goodness to give him the strength to follow his vocation. He did not reveal this secret and he forbade the one who accompanied him to speak of it to anyone whatsoever during his entire life.

The king, his father, who knew nothing of this resolution, betrothed him to a daughter of royal blood, who was equally beautiful, honest, and virtuous. The prince at first showed little satisfaction with this; but he finally yielded to the prayers of this wise monarch, in the hope that God would give him the means to combine virginity with marriage. Indeed, having married the princess, he spoke to her so effectively about the beauty of chastity that he persuaded her to live together only as brother and sister. However, as he was young and had always been raised in the comforts of the court, he practiced so many austerities to preserve this precious treasure that they cut the thread of his life in the midst of his years. Thus, before he had taken possession of the kingdom that his father intended for him on earth, God gave him one much more brilliant and firm in the blessed eternity. This was on November 4th of the year 1032.

His body was buried at Alba-Royale (or Székesfehérvár, the county seat in Hungary), and God immediately rendered his burial place and his memory illustrious through several miracles. We find a very remarkable one in the History of Hungary; it occurred during the reign of Ladislas: A German, named Conrad, who had lived in all sorts of debauchery and libertinage, having been touched by God and wishing to convert, went to Rome and asked the Pope for penance and absolution for his offenses. The Holy Father, considering the number and enormity of his crimes, ordered him to wear against his bare skin an iron cuirass tightened by a chain making five turns, with a paper containing the details of all his sins, and to visit in this state all the places where he would learn there were relics, until the chain had detached itself and the sins contained in the paper were entirely erased. Conrad accepted this penance, and, burdened with this iron and this paper, he visited the holy places of Palestine. Nothing came of it; after many pilgrimages, he returned to Hungary, where, prostrate before the tomb of King Saint Stephen, he protested that he would not leav e it until he had the assurance of his pardon. In this resolution, he fell asleep, and, during his sleep, the holy king appeared to him and told him to offer his devotions at the sepulcher of his son Emeric, which was nearby, because his virginal purity allowed him to obtain extraordinary favors from God. He awoke and obeyed at that very hour; and he had barely begun to pray at this tomb when his chain broke, his cuirass detached, and the entire detail of his sins was found erased.

This miracle led King Ladislaus, the bishops, the abbots, and the greatest of the kingdom to pursue his canonization. He was raised from the ground after a three-day fast; he was placed honorably above the altar on November 4; and, as the hand of God performed several more miracles there to manifest his glory, Benedict IX canonize d him, along with Saint Stephen, his father. His feast is celebrated on this day, which is that of his canonization.

We have preserved the account of Father Giry.