For a time, Benno, bishop of Osnabruck, Germany, joined other German bishops in siding with the emperor Henry IV against Pope Saint Gregory VII. But afterwards, Benno journeyed to Italy to ask the pope's forgiveness for his sin and to receive absolution from him. When subsequently the emperor again defied Pope Gregory, Benno hid himself to prevent the emperor from pressuring him to take his side. Benno was credited with having obtained by his prayers the cessation of a plague of locusts. He spent his final years at the monastery of Iburg. On his deathbed, after confessing his sins aloud, he insisted upon wearing his priestly vestments for the reception of Viaticum.
