ALDRIC OF SENS, ST.

Monk, abbot, then archbishop of Sens; b. Gâtinais, 775; d. Ferrières, Oct.10, either 836, according to Duchesne and Levillain, or 841, according to Stein and others. Aldric (Aldericus or Audri) was of noble birth, and was educated at Saint-Martin of Tours, became monk at Ferrières (Gâtinais), was appointed to the clergy of Sens by its Archbishop Jeremiah, was called to the court of Aachen by King Louis the Pious, and was named director of the Palace School and member of the Council. In 821 he succeeded Abbot Adalbert at Ferrières; in 828 he was chosen archbishop of Sens, and was consecrated at the Council of Paris in 829. Concerned about clerical discipline, he effected a reform at the abbey of Saint-Amand in Flanders, and with Ebbo of Sens he reformed Saint-Denis. He sent his disciple Servatus lupus of Ferrières to complete his studies with Rabanus Maurus at Fulda. Preoccupied with the prosperity of his own abbey, he obtained during a visit of Louis the Pious to Ferrières the monastery of Saint-Josse in Ponthieu. He participated in the Council of Thionville rehabilitating Louis the Pious. He was buried at the abbey of Ferrières. His magnificent reliquary disappeared, and his remains were scattered when the Calvinists pillaged the abbey in 1569.

Feast: June 7.

Bibliography: j. mabillon, Acta sanctorum ordinis S. Benedictii (Venice 1733–40) v.2. Gallia Christiana 12:19–21. Patrologia Latina, ed. j. p. migne (Paris 1878–90) 105: 809–811. e. jarossay, Histoire d'une abbaye à travers les siècles: Ferrières en Gatinais (Orléans 1901). l. levillain, "Étude sur les lettres de Loup de Ferrières," Bibliothèque de l'École des Chartres 63 (1902) 85–86. g. hocquard, Catholicisme 1:288.

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