ON SAINT ALDRIC, BISHOP OF LE MANS.
PrefaceAldric, Bishop of Le Mans in Gaul (S.)
About the year of Christ 856.
[1] Aldric is recorded as the twenty-second Bishop of Le Mans by Demochares, Jean Chenu, and Claude Robert; as the twenty-third by Pierre Vieil below. Ferrarius in his General Catalogue of Saints records his birthday on the 7th of the Ides of January. Andreas Saussay also in the Gallican Martyrology on the same day: The feast day of St. Aldric. "At Le Mans, St. Aldric, Bishop and Confessor, who, governing that Church after Franco with outstanding glory of piety, learning, and other episcopal endowments; The duration of his tenure. was attacked by the machinations of those who envied his eminence and driven from his see. But afterwards, when his innocence was established, he was restored to his chair by the judgment of the Apostolic See and the command of Pope Gregory IV. After he had governed his Church for fourteen years with great holiness and prudence, he was stricken with paralysis; having written a letter to the Fathers of the Second Council of Soissons, he humbly sought for himself, both while living and whenever deceased, the aid of the Church's prayers. Gladdened by this promise, he fell asleep in Christ with a peaceful end and, like gold tested in the furnace, having become a vessel of glory, was borne up to the heavenly court." But Saussay errs in the number of years. For since the Council of Soissons was held in the year 853, he must have survived at least until the year 854; and since he was present at the Second Council of Aachen held on February 6, 836, it is established that he sat for at least eighteen full years — to say nothing of the fact that in his Life, section 6, he is said to have been made Bishop in the year 832.
[2] Jean Moreau, a Canon of Le Mans, is said to have published his Life from ancient manuscripts, which Pierre Vieil translated into French. Since I have not been able to obtain the Latin version until now, I have rendered the French back into Latin. Life. There exists in Volume 2 of the Councils of Gaul a letter of Pope Gregory IV, dated about the year 835, concerning Bishop Aldric of Le Mans, to the effect that he should not be accused anywhere except before the Apostolic See. The same Aldric was sent, together with Herchinrad, Bishop of Paris, by the Second Council of Aachen held in the year 836 to King Pippin of Aquitaine. He was present at and subscribed to the Council of Paris in the year 846, the seventh year of Charles the Bald, and to the Fourth Council of Tours in the year 849, the tenth year of Charles the Bald. Concerning the same, there exists Canon 4 of the Second Council of Soissons, celebrated on the Kalends of May in the year 853, which reads thus: "Furthermore, Aldric, Bishop of the city of Le Mans, afflicted with paralysis, sent a letter explaining the cause of his absence and asking that they would assist him most especially while still living and whenever deceased with their holy prayers. Overflowing with charity, all promised that they would do so, and they enjoined upon his Metropolitan, the venerable Bishop Amalric of the city of Tours, that he should go to that city and unanimously commanded him to carry out diligently whatever would be profitable for that Church." Whether Aldric died in the immediately following year is not established. At least in the year 859, Robert, Bishop of Le Mans, subscribed to the Council held at Savonnieres.
[3] Moreover, the sufferings that St. Aldric endured in the time of Louis the Pious seem to have continued also under Lothair's reign, and he was compelled to deposit his possessions for safekeeping at the monastery of Fossatum; which certain impious men, wishing to plunder, were prevented by heaven, as is related below on January 15 in the miracles of St. Maurus, Chapter 7. He gave the body of St. Liborius to the Church of Paderborn, which had requested it through legates, in the year 836, as we shall relate on July 23 from a contemporary author.
LIFE.
Aldric, Bishop of Le Mans in Gaul (S.)
From the French of Pierre Vieil.
[1] The family of St. Aldric. Aldric was the twenty-third Bishop of Le Mans, descended from an ancient and noble family distinguished by a particular zeal for defending the Catholic religion and practicing virtue. His father Syonius was born in Gaul; his mother Gerilda traced her lineage from the Germans. From his earliest age he was formed in every virtue and wisdom by the instruction and domestic companionship of two Bishops of Le Mans, Franco I and Franco II, whose outstanding reputation for integrity and learning is celebrated. From there he was led by his father to the court of Charlemagne, life at court: the arena of every virtue and liberal art. He then attached himself to Louis the Pious, heir no less of his father's piety and magnanimity than of his empire. He proved his character to both and quickly won the favor and goodwill of both; he was also dear to the other courtiers.
[2] Virtues: With singular prudence he directed the course of his own life, standing with steady step on the precipice of human prosperity: for neither ancestral wealth nor the splendor of his birth, nor the favor and dignity of the court, humility. could call him back from his innate modesty and self-abasement. He was carried to divine affairs with such zeal that he inflamed the minds of very many with the desire to pursue so illustrious an example. Averse to courtly games and pleasures, he used his time frugally and wisely, drawing from the company of others incentives for his own virtue. He violated no fast prescribed by the Church and neglected no celebration of holy days. The duties of charity were his particular care.
[3] From these beginnings, as he gradually strove toward the highest things, the prompting of a special divine grace breathed upon him. Plan to change his manner of life. For when at Aachen — where the Pious Emperor was accustomed to reside for the most part — he was pouring out prayers to God in the church with remarkable ardor of spirit, he felt himself divinely urged to renounce worldly pursuits and to consecrate himself entirely to the service of God. He therefore obeyed the divine Spirit, but with such moderation and prudence that there was no one who would attribute this change to a lightness of mind insufficiently acquainted with worldly affairs. For before he undertook what he had planned, he persisted in asking God for more certain signs of His divine will, lest he be ensnared by some trick of the enemy. Nor were his prayers in vain. His resolution in this purpose was confirmed from heaven.
[4] He becomes a Canon of the Church of Metz. He requested his dismissal from the King and at length obtained it with difficulty, along with a rich benefice in the Church of Metz and other individual positions for his two companions. He had clearly resolved to lead a holy life there, removed from all the noise of human society. Gondulf, Bishop of Metz, received him kindly and honorably; and having soon learned of his purpose and read the royal letters in which he was warmly commended, he enrolled him in the order of the clergy. He spent a year in this apprenticeship of sacred functions, and then, having been initiated into the higher sacred orders, was named Deacon of the Church of St. Stephen. He had served three years in this office when Gondulf died, and was succeeded by Drogo, a son of Charlemagne. Drogo embraced Aldric with great love and, having learned that he surpassed the rest in modesty and chastity, consecrated him a priest and appointed him Precentor of his Church. Thereafter, by certain steps of virtue as it were, he rose to the dignity of Primicerius, by the unanimous consent and votes of the entire clergy. He proved his diligence and modesty in discharging this office to all. For although he held the second rank of dignity after the Bishop, he yet relaxed nothing of the kindness of his character, nor did he assume any new splendor for his household. Virtue won him authority; modesty won him the goodwill of all. Even those who burned most with pride and the desire for honors, after some acquaintance with him, found themselves gradually conformed to humility of spirit and contempt for transient dignities. Whoever was entangled in difficult affairs and the complexities of disputes hastened most eagerly to him: no one departed without being furnished with timely counsel for his affairs.
[5] Confessor of the Emperor. Again the Emperor summoned him to court and entrusted to him the guidance of his conscience — for which task he could not easily have found anyone more suitable in all of Gaul. He had such influence with men of every rank that all revered him as a father. Nor can a father of a family show greater solicitude and diligence in establishing, governing, and forming his household in virtue and augmenting it with suitable resources than was Aldric's zeal in caring for the domestics and dependents of the palace. He did not flatter anyone, nor did he conceal faults. He admonished the King and the magnates freely without any respect of persons. And they received everything with the most equitable dispositions. Such grace was in his words, seasoned with distinguished gravity, as befitted a Bishop, a Vicar of God, the King of kings and Lord of lords.
[6] Bishop of Le Mans. Meanwhile Franco the Younger departed this life. Aldric was given to him as successor by the King, after consulting the nobles and clergy of Le Mans. He was consecrated Bishop by Archbishop Landran of Tours on the 11th of the Kalends of January December 22 in the year 832. Accompanied by a distinguished retinue of noble men to his city and church, he was received with such joy and love by the people and clergy that it was as if an angel sent from heaven were present. Not long after, Emperor Louis the Pious himself visited him: received by him and the nobles of the province of Le Mans with the highest honor, he stayed there for eight days and in the meantime restored certain possessions that had been seized from his predecessors, among which the lordship of Villeneuve is counted. So pleasing to him had been the devotion of the Bishop and people toward him and the public acclaim.
[7] His illustrious works: Aqueduct. Aldric soon turned his attention to the embellishment of the basilicas and the city. Seeing that the citizens were afflicted by a shortage of water, which had to be imported into the city from outside and purchased at a price, he accomplished by his industry and magnificence that waters were channeled into the city from afar by subterranean aqueducts and flowed abundantly before the very sacred church, where at no small expense he erected that distinguished fountain which is still called the Fountain of St. Julian. Then, so that the Canons might dwell closer to the church and not be mingled with the common folk, he built dwellings sufficiently convenient for the usage of that time: Cloister and common life of the Canons. the place still retains the name, being called the Cloister of the Canons. Moreover, he either prescribed or persuaded them to adopt a common table. He restored the basilica once built by St. Julian, which had somewhat deteriorated with age; The church and translation of St. Julian. but seeing that it was too narrow to hold the great multitude of people who gathered at certain times for the purpose of offering prayers and fulfilling vows, he himself built a new church at great expense, which is now called the Choir of St. Julian, because Aldric translated into it the relics of St. Julian the Confessor from the monastery of Le Pre, where they had previously been buried. On account of this illustrious deposit, he gave the basilica the name of St. Julian, which had first been consecrated in honor of the Virgin Mother of God, and then of the holy Martyrs Gervasius and Protasius. This Translation was made in the year of Christ 834, on the 8th of the Kalends of August July 25. Then at the village of Berulle on the river Sarthe, he founded a distinguished monastery and endowed it with ample revenue for the support of religious men. He restored the monastery of St. Vincent, Monasteries restored. which had shamefully collapsed through the ravages of war and the negligence of its superiors. He recalled home the monks of Le Pre, whom the fear of the Normans had put to flight — against whom the Count of Le Mans was then waging war.
[8] He was unable, however, to maintain the peaceful and tranquil course he had begun. For when wicked men had incited the sons of Louis the Pious against their father, Expelled, he is restored by the Pope. Aldric, who had defended the cause of the Pious Emperor, was expelled from his see. Having seized the bishopric, sacrilegious men plundered all his possessions, not even keeping their impious hands from churches and monasteries. No refuge lay open to the exile except with the most holy Father, the supreme Bishop of all, the Roman Pope. Received kindly by him and relying especially on his protection, he returned safely to Gaul, recovered his church and patrimony, and hiring workmen, he repaired what the factious and impious men had destroyed.
[9] A distinguished statue of the Crucifix. Among his magnificent works, a silver statue of Jesus Christ affixed to the cross stood out, elegantly overlaid with gold, which was preserved down to our own age with great devotion of the peoples, until certain wicked men — sprung from the viper's seed of those who once had attacked Aldric — seized, shattered, and profaned this august monument, along with other relics from sacred places: a striking proof that they are no differently disposed in spirit toward the Savior of the world than those ancestors of theirs, those infernal firebrands, who now burn in the eternal flames of hell.
[10] Aldric is renowned for miracles. Such indeed was Aldric's piety that he was honored by God with miracles while still living. For when he was performing the sacred office to dedicate the church of St. Julian, several sick persons recovered their full health during the time of Vespers, and among them a lame man was given the ability to walk. On the following day, at the time of Matins, a deaf man obtained his hearing; another, mute from his very birth, began to speak and praise God; a demoniac was freed from his disgraceful guest; a blind man, while Aldric was offering the sacrifice of the Mass, recovered his sight. These things are to be attributed not so much to the merits of St. Julian as to the prayers of Aldric — God bearing witness how pleasing to Him were his teaching and his life, laden with so many pious and holy works. At last, having administered his diocese holily and successfully for twenty-four years, he died, consumed by a lingering fever, and was buried on January 8 in the church of St. Vincent, and began to live a blessed and immortal life with Christ, to whom be everlasting honor and glory, Amen.
Annotationsp. The Normans ravaged the maritime provinces of Gaul around the time of St. Aldric, as can be seen in Du Chesne's Norman Histories.
q. This happened in the year 833.
r. But above it was said that he was afflicted with paralysis; unless, because this appears to have been of long duration, a fever also supervened.