Nicetius
Encyclopedia
Saint Nicetius (d. ~566) was a bishop of Trier, born in the latter part of the fifth century, exact date unknown; died in 563 or more probably 566.
Saint Nicetius was the most important bishop of the ancient See of Trier, in the era when, after the disorders of the Migrations
, Frankish
supremacy began in what had been Roman Gaul
. Considerable detail of the life of this vigorous and zealous bishop is known from various sources, from letters written either by or to him, from two poems of Venantius Fortunatus
and above all from the statements of his pupil Aredius
, later Abbot of Limoges
, which have been preserved by Gregory of Tours
(De vitis Patrum, xvii; De Gloria Confessorum, xciii-xciv).
Nicetius came from a Gallo-Roman family; his home was apparently in Auvergne
. The Nicetius mentioned by Sidonius Apollinaris
(Epist. VIII, vi) may have been a relative. From his youth he devoted himself to religious life and entered a monastery
, where he developed so rapidly in the exercise of Christian virtue and in sacred learning that he was made abbot
. It was while abbot that King Theuderic I
(511-34) learned to know and esteem him, Nicetius often remonstrating with him on account of his wrong-doing without, however, any loss of favour. After the death of Bishop Aprunculus of Trier, an embassy of the clergy and citizens of Trier came to the royal court to elect a new bishop. They desired Saint Gallus, but the king refused his consent. They then selected Abbot Nicetius, whose election was confirmed by Theodoric. About 527 Nicetius set out as the new bishop for Trier, accompanied by an escort sent by the king, and while on the journey had opportunity to make known his firmness in the administration of his office.
Trier had suffered terribly during the disorders of the Migrations. One of the first cares of the new bishop was to rebuild the cathedral
church, the restoration of which is mentioned by the poet Venantius Fortunatus. Archæological research has shown, in the cathedral of Trier, the existence of mason-work belonging to the Frankish period which may belong to this reconstruction by Nicetius. A fortified castle (castellum) with a chapel built by him on the river Moselle
is also mentioned by the same poet (Poem., Lib. III, n. xii). The saintly bishop devoted himself with great zeal to his pastoral duty. He preached daily, opposed vigorously the numerous evils in the moral life both of the higher classes and of the common people, and in so doing did not spare the king and his courtiers. Disregarding threats, he steadfastly fulfilled his duty. On account of his misdeeds he excommunicated King Chlothar I (511-61), who for some time was sole ruler of the Frankish dominions; in return the king exiled the determined bishop (560). The king died, however, in the following year, and his son and successor Sigebert I
, the ruler of Austrasia
(561-75), allowed Nicetius to return home. Nicetius took part in several synods of the Frankish bishops: the synod of Clermont
(535), of Orléans
(549), the second synod of Clermont (549), the synod of Toul
(550) at which he presided, and the synod of Paris
(555).
Nicetius corresponded with ecclesiastical dignitaries of high rank in distant places. Letters are extant that were written to him by Abbot Florianus
of Romain-Moûtier (Canton of Vaud
, Switzerland
), by Bishop Rufus of Octodurum (now Martigny, in the Canton of Valais
, Switzerland), and by Archbishop Mappinius of Reims
.
The general interests of the Church did not escape his watchful care. He wrote an urgent letter to Emperor Justinian of Constantinople
in regard to the emperor's position in the controversies arising from Monophysitism
. Another letter that has been preserved is to Chlothsind
, wife of the Lombard
King Alboin
, in which he exhorts this princess to do everything possible to bring her husband over to the Catholic faith.
In his personal life Nicetius was very ascetic and self-mortifying; he fasted frequently, and while the priests and clerics who lived with him were at their evening meal he would go, concealed by a hooded cloak, to pray in the churches of the city. He founded a school of his own for the training of the clergy. The best known of his pupils is the later Abbot of Limoges, Aredius
, who was the authority of Gregory of Tours for the latter's biographical account of Nicetius.
at Trier. His feast is celebrated at Trier on 1 October; in the Roman Martyrology
his name is placed under 5 December. The genuineness of two treatises ascribed to him is doubtful: "De Vigiliis servorum Dei" and "De Psalmodiæ Bono".
Saint Nicetius was the most important bishop of the ancient See of Trier, in the era when, after the disorders of the Migrations
Migration Period
The Migration Period, also called the Barbarian Invasions , was a period of intensified human migration in Europe that occurred from c. 400 to 800 CE. This period marked the transition from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages...
, Frankish
Franks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
supremacy began in what had been Roman Gaul
Gaul
Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...
. Considerable detail of the life of this vigorous and zealous bishop is known from various sources, from letters written either by or to him, from two poems of Venantius Fortunatus
Venantius Fortunatus
Venantius Honorius Clementianus Fortunatus was a Latin poet and hymnodist in the Merovingian Court, and a Bishop of the early Catholic Church. He was never canonised but was venerated as Saint Venantius Fortunatus during the Middle Ages.-Life:Venantius Fortunatus was born between 530 and 540 A.D....
and above all from the statements of his pupil Aredius
Aredius
Saint Aredius , also known as Yrieix, was Abbot of Limoges and chancellor to Theudebert II, King of Austrasia in the 6th century. He founded the monastery of Attanum, and the various French communes called St. Yrieix are named after him....
, later Abbot of Limoges
Limoges
Limoges |Limousin]] dialect of Occitan) is a city and commune, the capital of the Haute-Vienne department and the administrative capital of the Limousin région in west-central France....
, which have been preserved by Gregory of Tours
Gregory of Tours
Saint Gregory of Tours was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours, which made him a leading prelate of Gaul. He was born Georgius Florentius, later adding the name Gregorius in honour of his maternal great-grandfather...
(De vitis Patrum, xvii; De Gloria Confessorum, xciii-xciv).
Nicetius came from a Gallo-Roman family; his home was apparently in Auvergne
Auvergne (province)
Auvergne was a historic province in south central France. It was originally the feudal domain of the Counts of Auvergne. It is now the geographical and cultural area that corresponds to the former province....
. The Nicetius mentioned by Sidonius Apollinaris
Sidonius Apollinaris
Gaius Sollius Apollinaris Sidonius or Saint Sidonius Apollinaris was a poet, diplomat, and bishop. Sidonius is "the single most important surviving author from fifth-century Gaul" according to Eric Goldberg...
(Epist. VIII, vi) may have been a relative. From his youth he devoted himself to religious life and entered a monastery
Monastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
, where he developed so rapidly in the exercise of Christian virtue and in sacred learning that he was made abbot
Abbot
The word abbot, meaning father, is a title given to the head of a monastery in various traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not actually the head of a monastery...
. It was while abbot that King Theuderic I
Theuderic I
Theuderic I was the Merovingian king of Metz, Rheims, or Austrasia—as it is variously called—from 511 to 533 or 534....
(511-34) learned to know and esteem him, Nicetius often remonstrating with him on account of his wrong-doing without, however, any loss of favour. After the death of Bishop Aprunculus of Trier, an embassy of the clergy and citizens of Trier came to the royal court to elect a new bishop. They desired Saint Gallus, but the king refused his consent. They then selected Abbot Nicetius, whose election was confirmed by Theodoric. About 527 Nicetius set out as the new bishop for Trier, accompanied by an escort sent by the king, and while on the journey had opportunity to make known his firmness in the administration of his office.
Trier had suffered terribly during the disorders of the Migrations. One of the first cares of the new bishop was to rebuild the cathedral
Cathedral
A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...
church, the restoration of which is mentioned by the poet Venantius Fortunatus. Archæological research has shown, in the cathedral of Trier, the existence of mason-work belonging to the Frankish period which may belong to this reconstruction by Nicetius. A fortified castle (castellum) with a chapel built by him on the river Moselle
Moselle
Moselle is a department in the east of France named after the river Moselle.- History :Moselle is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...
is also mentioned by the same poet (Poem., Lib. III, n. xii). The saintly bishop devoted himself with great zeal to his pastoral duty. He preached daily, opposed vigorously the numerous evils in the moral life both of the higher classes and of the common people, and in so doing did not spare the king and his courtiers. Disregarding threats, he steadfastly fulfilled his duty. On account of his misdeeds he excommunicated King Chlothar I (511-61), who for some time was sole ruler of the Frankish dominions; in return the king exiled the determined bishop (560). The king died, however, in the following year, and his son and successor Sigebert I
Sigebert I
Sigebert I was the king of Austrasia from the death of his father in 561 to his own death. He was the third surviving son out of four of Clotaire I and Ingund...
, the ruler of Austrasia
Austrasia
Austrasia formed the northeastern portion of the Kingdom of the Merovingian Franks, comprising parts of the territory of present-day eastern France, western Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Metz served as its capital, although some Austrasian kings ruled from Rheims, Trier, and...
(561-75), allowed Nicetius to return home. Nicetius took part in several synods of the Frankish bishops: the synod of Clermont
Clermont-Ferrand
Clermont-Ferrand is a city and commune of France, in the Auvergne region, with a population of 140,700 . Its metropolitan area had 409,558 inhabitants at the 1999 census. It is the prefecture of the Puy-de-Dôme department...
(535), of Orléans
Orléans
-Prehistory and Roman:Cenabum was a Gallic stronghold, one of the principal towns of the Carnutes tribe where the Druids held their annual assembly. It was conquered and destroyed by Julius Caesar in 52 BC, then rebuilt under the Roman Empire...
(549), the second synod of Clermont (549), the synod of Toul
Toul
Toul is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in north-eastern France.It is a sub-prefecture of the department.-Geography:Toul is located between Commercy and Nancy, and situated between the Moselle River and the Canal de la Marne au Rhin....
(550) at which he presided, and the synod of Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
(555).
Nicetius corresponded with ecclesiastical dignitaries of high rank in distant places. Letters are extant that were written to him by Abbot Florianus
Florianus
-Biography: Florian was reportedly a maternal half-brother to the Emperor Marcus Claudius Tacitus. Appointed Praetorian Prefect in Tacitus's army in his campaign against the Goths, according to the available sources, he was chosen by the army in the West to succeed Tacitus in 276, without the...
of Romain-Moûtier (Canton of Vaud
Vaud
Vaud is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland and is located in Romandy, the French-speaking southwestern part of the country. The capital is Lausanne. The name of the Canton in Switzerland's other languages are Vaud in Italian , Waadt in German , and Vad in Romansh.-History:Along the lakes,...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
), by Bishop Rufus of Octodurum (now Martigny, in the Canton of Valais
Valais
The Valais is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland in the southwestern part of the country, around the valley of the Rhône from its headwaters to Lake Geneva, separating the Pennine Alps from the Bernese Alps. The canton is one of the drier parts of Switzerland in its central Rhône valley...
, Switzerland), and by Archbishop Mappinius of Reims
Reims
Reims , a city in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France, lies east-northeast of Paris. Founded by the Gauls, it became a major city during the period of the Roman Empire....
.
The general interests of the Church did not escape his watchful care. He wrote an urgent letter to Emperor Justinian of Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
in regard to the emperor's position in the controversies arising from Monophysitism
Monophysitism
Monophysitism , or Monophysiticism, is the Christological position that Jesus Christ has only one nature, his humanity being absorbed by his Deity...
. Another letter that has been preserved is to Chlothsind
Chlothsind
Chothsind was a daughter of Ingund and King Chlothar I, who was himself one of four sons of King Clovis I. She was the first wife of Alboin King of the Lombards. According to Paul the Deacon, she had one child by Alboin, Albsuinda.- References :...
, wife of the Lombard
Lombards
The Lombards , also referred to as Longobards, were a Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin, who from 568 to 774 ruled a Kingdom in Italy...
King Alboin
Alboin
Alboin was king of the Lombards from about 560 until 572. During his reign the Lombards ended their migrations by settling in Italy, the northern part of which Alboin conquered between 569 and 572...
, in which he exhorts this princess to do everything possible to bring her husband over to the Catholic faith.
In his personal life Nicetius was very ascetic and self-mortifying; he fasted frequently, and while the priests and clerics who lived with him were at their evening meal he would go, concealed by a hooded cloak, to pray in the churches of the city. He founded a school of his own for the training of the clergy. The best known of his pupils is the later Abbot of Limoges, Aredius
Aredius
Saint Aredius , also known as Yrieix, was Abbot of Limoges and chancellor to Theudebert II, King of Austrasia in the 6th century. He founded the monastery of Attanum, and the various French communes called St. Yrieix are named after him....
, who was the authority of Gregory of Tours for the latter's biographical account of Nicetius.
Veneration
Nicetius was buried in the church of St. MaximinSt. Maximin's Abbey, Trier
St. Maximin's Abbey was a Benedictine monastery in Trier in the Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.-History:The abbey, traditionally considered one of the oldest monasteries in western Europe, was held to have been founded by Saint Maximin of Trier in the 4th century. Maximin St. Maximin's Abbey was a...
at Trier. His feast is celebrated at Trier on 1 October; in the Roman Martyrology
Roman Martyrology
The Roman Martyrology is the official martyrology of the Roman Rite of the Roman Catholic Church. It provides an extensive but not exhaustive list of the saints recognized by the Church.-History:...
his name is placed under 5 December. The genuineness of two treatises ascribed to him is doubtful: "De Vigiliis servorum Dei" and "De Psalmodiæ Bono".
External links
- Nicetius at the Catholic EncyclopediaCatholic EncyclopediaThe Catholic Encyclopedia, also referred to as the Old Catholic Encyclopedia and the Original Catholic Encyclopedia, is an English-language encyclopedia published in the United States. The first volume appeared in March 1907 and the last three volumes appeared in 1912, followed by a master index...