(A.D. 1022.)
[Called in France _Thierry_. Authority: an ancient life in
Bollandus.]
S. Thierry was born at Château Thierry, so called from an ancestor of
the saint, whose family was noble and wealthy. He was taken to court and
gained the confidence of King Robert the Good. On the death of Bishop
Arnulf of Orleans, Thierry was elected, with the consent of the king, to
fill the vacant see. His appointment was opposed by a priest named
Adalric who had desired the throne for himself, and who had the
indecency to burst into the church with a band of armed men, and thrust
up to the very altar, uttering violent menaces, when Thierry was being
consecrated, in the hopes of terrifying the consecrating bishops from
what they were doing. Afterwards the priest at the head of a party of
ruffians waylaid the Bishop by night, in a lane, and throwing him from
his horse, ran him through, as they believed, with a sword. The weapon
providentially cut through his garments without wounding him; and when
the would-be assassins had fled, he rose and regained the city. Adalric,
fearing the consequences, threw himself on the compassion of the Bishop,
and asked his pardon, which Thierry frankly accorded him. Thierry died
on a journey at Tonnerre, where his kinsman Count Milo built the church
of S. Michael over his body. He was succeeded on the throne of Orleans
by the priest Adalric.