Named after his maternal uncle Henry II, he was the only one of Stephen's sons who reached adulthood.

Emeric was educated in a strict and ascetic spirit by the Benedictine monks from Venice, Gerard, from the age of 15 to 23.

He was intended to be the next monarch of Hungary, and his father wrote his Admonitions to prepare him for this task.

Several wondrous healings and conversions happened at his grave, so on 5 November 1083 King Ladislaus I unearthed Emeric's bones in a large ceremony, and Emeric was canonised for his pious life and purity along with his father and Bishop Gerard of Csanád by Pope Gregory VII.

It is believed by some Hungarians that Amerigo Vespucci, the Italian explorer and the namesake of the Americas, was named after the saint, but no proof of this etymology exists.