Blessed Theodoric I

It was during these journeys that the blessed Thierry collected the great number of relics with which he enriched his church, and in part icular the Abbey of Sai abbaye de Saint-Vincent Abbey founded by Thierry in Metz. nt-Vincent, which he had founded in 908, on an island of the Seille, very close to his episcopal city. In 970, he received from Corfu the body of Saint Lucy, which he placed in a private oratory of the abbey church of Saint-Vincent. He also transferred there the relics of Saint Livier, a martyr of Metz. It was also he who transferred to Épinal, in the Vosges, the body of Saint Goëric, one of his predecessors, and who thereby gave rise to the formation of that city. But the object that always occupied him the most was his Abbey of Saint-Vincent. He endowed it richly and populated it with religious drawn from Gorze and Saint-Arnould. A taste for studies reigned in these two houses, and its school became one of the most famous in the country, under the skillful direction of Adalbert and Sigebert of Gembloux. Thierry did good for the other monasteries of his diocese, and also contributed to the foundation of several, in particular Vergaville, Bouxières, and Chaligny. He worked with zeal for the reform of the famous abbeys of Saint-Gall and Senones.

In 980, Thierry accompanied Otto II to Italy and followed him in all his expeditions. He was of great help to him, especially in the unfortunate campaign in Calabria, where the emperor, carried away by his courage, imprudently fell into the midst of the Greeks and Saracens. The holy bishop of Metz was tasked by Empress Theophanu with delivering him from the hands of the enemies. In 983, Otto having fallen ill in Rome, Thierry assisted him at his death and performed the final duties for him. He died himself the following year, in the exercises of the most rigorous penance, and was buried in the church of Saint-Vincent Abbey.

When his body was exhumed, more than three hundred years after his death, the purple cope and chasuble in which he had been wrapped were found intact. They were still in possession at the end of the last century. For a long time, the chasuble was used on the feast day of Blessed Thierry, which was celebrated at the Abbey of Saint-Vincent on September 7.

Blessed John of Lodi, so ni Jean de Lodi Camaldolese monk and Bishop of Gubbio. cknamed because he was born in that Italian city, was raised by his parents in the practice of virtue, despised the world early on, devoted himself to the service of the poor and the sick, and from then on practiced mortification. He lived for some time in a hut he had built for himself near a church, where he gave himself over to great austerities. The desire for greater perfection led him to the monastery of Fonte Avellana, of which the famous Saint Peter Dam ian was then superi saint Pierre Damien Superior of Fonte Avellana and biographer of Dominic. or. Under the direction of this skillful master, John made such great progress in the way of the saint that Saint Peter felt compelled to have him raised to holy orders. His virtue shone with such brilliance that, upon the death of the pious abbot, the monks of Fonte Avellana felt compelled, despite his resistance, to choose him to replace the blessed doctor as prior. In this position, he showed such great prudence joined with such perfect charity that the clergy and the people of the city of Gubbio, whose episcopal see was vacant, had the idea of requesting him as bishop from the Pope's legate. The latter readily consented and ordered John to accept this burden, which alarmed his humility. Having become a pastor of souls, the servant of God devoted himself entirely to their sanctification, while at the same time maintaining all the practices of religious life. The time of his episcopate was not of long duration; for he died the year following his consecration, that is to say, on September 7, 1106, at the age of eighty. Pope Paschal II placed h Pascal II Pope reigning during the episcopate of Geoffrey. im among the Saints; and his feast is celebrated in the Camaldolese Order on the day of his death. His body is preserved without corruption in the cathedral of Gubbio.

Acta Sanctorum.