Blessed Theodoric I of Metz

Theodor ic was born in Saxony; he was the son of Count Everard and Amalrada, sister of Saint Matilda, wife of Henry the Fowler, King of Germany. Through his mother, he was first cousin to the Emperor Otto the Great and to Saint Bruno, Archbishop of Cologne. Theodoric brought into the world at his birth all the excellent dispositions that could be wished for in a child of his standing. After receiving the first lessons of wisdom and piety from his mother, he was sent to Saint-Gall, where he studied for ten years under Kerold, the famous monk of that abbey. From Saint-Gall, Theodoric went to continue his studies at the cathedral of Halberstadt, of which he became a canon. Bruno, Archbishop of Cologne, his relative, called him to his side to perfect him in the sciences and virtue. The progress he made there prompted the holy prelate to h ave him named to the bishopric of Metz in 961. The pious bishop did much good during his long episcopate. One of the first things he believed he ought to do was to form an association between his cathedral and that of Halberstadt, in gratitude for having received part of his education there and having held a prebend in it. Having accompanied his cousin Bruno to the court of Lothair, King of France, in 965, he received the last breath of the holy prelate, who died at Reims, and brought his body back to Cologne. After Bruno's death, Emperor Otto I, who appreciated Theodoric's talents and virtue, chose him as one of his principal advisors and wished to have him always with him, even during his travels. The Bishop of Metz accompanied the monarch several times to Italy.

It was during these travels that Blessed Theodoric collected that great number of relics with which he enriched his church, and in particular the Abbey of Sa int-Vincent, which he h ad founded in 968 on an island in the Moselle, very near his episcopal city. In 970, he received the body of Saint Lucy from Corfu, 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 thereby gave occasion for the formation of that town. But the object that always occupied him the most was his Abbey of Saint-Vincent. He endowed it richly and populated it with monks drawn from Gorze and Saint-Arnould. A love of studies reigned in these two houses, and its school became one of the most famous in the region, under the skillful direction of Adalbert and Sigebert of Gembloux. Theodoric did good to the other monasteries of his diocese, and also contributed to the foundation of several, in particular Vergaville, Bouxières, and Chaligny. He worked zealously for the reform of the famous abbeys of Saint-Gall and Senones.

In 980, Theodoric accompanied Otto II to Italy and followed him in all his expeditions. He was especially of great assistance to him in the unfortunate Calabrian campaign, 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 the Empress Theophanu with delivering him from the hands of the enemy. In 983, Otto having fallen ill in Rome, Theodoric attended him in death and rendered him the last duties. 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 raised from the ground, 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 possessed at the end of the last century. For a long time, the chasuble was used on the feast day of Blessed Theodoric, which was celebrated at Saint-Vincent Abbey on September 7.

Notice due to the kindness of Father Noël, parish priest and archpriest of Briey.