Aldric of Le Mans


Saint Aldric was Bishop of Le Mans in the time of Louis the Pious.

Life

Aldric was born of a noble family, of partly Saxon and partly Bavarian extraction, about the year 800. At the age of twelve he was placed by his father in the court of Charlemagne, in the household of his son Louis the Pious at Aix la Chapelle. Aldric was highly esteemed by both monarchs, but at the age of twenty-one he withdrew to Metz and became a priest. He was then recalled to the court by Louis, who took him as his chaplain and the guide of his conscience.
Nine years after his ordination, Aldric was made Bishop of Le Mans. He was consecrated on the 22nd of December. The emperor arrived at Mans three days after, and kept the Christmas holy-days with him. He was a learned and pious prelate, devoted to the poor and to the religious interests of his Diocese. Apart from being conspicuously virtuous, he showed a practical turn in building aqueducts and ransoming captives, as well as building new churches and restoring monasteries.
In the civil wars which followed the death of Louis, Aldric's loyalty to Charles the Bald resulted in his expulsion from his see, and he withdrew to Rome. Gregory IV reinstated him. In 836, as an emissary of the Council of Aix la Chapelle Aldric visited Pepin I, who was then King of Aquitaine, with Erchenrad, Bishop of Paris, and persuaded Pepin to order that all the possessions of the Church which had been seized by his followers should be restored.
Aldric's episcopate lasted for twenty-four years, and during his lifetime he took part in the Councils of Paris in 846 and Tours in 849. The two last years of his life he was confined to his bed by a palsy. He died at Le Mans on 7 January 856 and was buried in the church of Saint Vincent, having been bishop for twenty-four years.
He was succeeded by Robert.

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