It is said of Henry of Bavaria that at one time, becoming weary of court life, he determined to enter a monastery. When he presented himself to Prior Richard, the faithful monk gave him the strict rules of the order. The king listened eagerly and enthusiastically expressed pleasure at the prospect of such complete consecration.

Then the prior insisted that obedience, implicit and expressed was the first requisite of sainthood. The monarch promised to follow his will in every detail. “Then go back to your throne and do your duty in the station God assigned you,” was the prior’s word to him. The king took up his scepter again, and from then until he died, his people said of him, “King Henry has learned to govern by learning to obey.”