ON ST. NICETIUS, BISHOP OF VESONTIO.
Beginning of the seventh century.
Preface.
Nicetius, Bishop of Vesontio in Burgundy (St.)
By I. B.
[1] At Vesontio, the metropolis of the Sequani, St. Nicetius, the twenty-second Bishop of that city, is venerated on 8 February, as Joannes Jacobus Chiffletius attests in part 2 of his Vesontio. Concerning him, Molanus writes in his additions to Usuardus: "On the same day, the birthday of St. Nicetius, Bishop and Confessor of Besancon, a man of outstanding sanctity." Ferrarius also records him, but, following the erroneous catalogue of Demochares, reports that he was the second Bishop of Vesontio. Saussaius also treats of him in his Gallican Martyrology, asserting that his body is buried in the church of St. Peter, where it enjoys great veneration from the devout people, and that his sacred memory is honored today with a celebrated procession of the Cathedral Clergy and with the sacred offices.
[2] Chiffletius reports that the following is prescribed in an ancient ceremonial codex of the Metropolitan church: "On the feast of St. Nicetius, the sixth day before the Ides of February, there is a procession to Mass in the church of St. Peter, where the body of the same Saint rests, with a procession and all due ceremony, except for banners." He adds concerning the burial of the Saint: "He is believed to lie near the high altar, and the site has never been excavated." Since his body was brought to the church of St. Peter, which had originally been built by Eusebius, the fourth Bishop, and which Nicetius himself had rebuilt, as is established from ancient codices, and since he was buried outside the walls of the same church, as he himself had directed while still alive; and since the pious survivors, who wished neither to leave his sacred body in the open air nor to place it in any location other than the one he had chosen, built for him a church of his own containing a tomb within the sanctuary—we think this should be understood in the sense that the church of St. Peter was enlarged in the part where it now contains the bones of St. Nicetius (for no ancient book, as far as I know, mentions a church of St. Nicetius), and that in the course of time, the high altar of the church of St. Peter came to be the very one which the faithful had formerly erected near the tomb of St. Nicetius. So Chiffletius.
[3] This is a different person from St. Nicetius, Bishop of Trier, who is venerated on 5 December. The Life of this Nicetius of Vesontio was sent to us by our Petrus Franciscus Chiffletius from the manuscript codices of the Church and diocese of Vesontio; the principal part of which his brother had already published in his Vesontio. From the books of St. John, St. Stephen, and St. Peter. He lived at the beginning of the seventh century after the birth of Christ, as is evident in the Life from the age of King Theoderic of Burgundy, who died in the year 613.
LIFE BY AN ANONYMOUS AUTHOR
Drawn from the Besancon manuscripts by Petrus Franciscus Chiffletius, S.J.
Nicetius, Bishop of Vesontio in Burgundy (St.)
BHL Number: 6093
[1] Virtue, a disposition of the soul given by the gift of God Most High to mortals, trains them to live well, demonstrates the use of reason, and shows what is useful together with what is honorable. It teaches also what each person should pursue and what he should flee; how he should discern between good and evil; and that he should not deviate in any way from the one from whom the substantial form draws its essence—knowing himself to exist in and through Him, in whom and through whom he may recognize that all things are one.
[2] Holy men, therefore, loving and following this virtue above all things, despising the vanity of the world destined to die, devoted themselves to the divine services; their hearts and flesh exulted in the service of the living God. Among whom we believe without doubt that the Blessed Nicetius, an apostolic man, attained the summit of religion as Archbishop of the Church of Chrysopolis. Today we commemorate the day of his blessed migration to heaven; and we have condensed his praiseworthy life, given its greatness, into a brief account. For in proportion to the number of virtues dwelling in him, we offer but a few, whose multiplicity we are in no way able to comprehend.
[3] In the time, therefore, of Theoderic, King of the Burgundians, who was the grandson of Queen Brunhild, to whose wishes the same King most often deferred, the See of Besancon had been widowed for a long time. After the glorious contest of the blessed martyrdom of the Blessed Antidius, Bishop of the same See, consummated in the barbarian irruption of the Vandals, this man, one of the most eminent, was destined by divine providence to be patron of the same See, by the equal consent of the Clergy and the people. For the holy Church of Besancon obtained this right from the beginnings of the primitive Church in perpetuity: that no power should in any manner or for any reason substitute a Bishop unless the common devotion of the Clergy and the people had canonically elected him.
[4] In the Blessed Bishop there was, against diabolical errors, the fullness of heavenly wisdom; against the conflicts of the world, the fortitude of unfailing constancy. His eloquence, divinely inspired, taught the people to live holily; he strengthened his subjects with examples of the blessed life; filled with the Holy Spirit, he confuted the world and its lovers. O how justly we proclaim that he is to be praised with every encomium—he whom sanctity made a Priest, erudition a Teacher, and true faith an outstanding Confessor!
[5] A prudent and extraordinary man, because he hastened with ardent soul toward heavenly things, he possessed earthly things in deed alone, not in affection. And because he knew that one cannot serve both God and Mammon, serving God alone, he commanded riches, constant in giving alms, vigorous in vigils, conspicuous in prayer. He was illustrious as much in doctrine as in life; he confirmed his preaching by his works. His speech was lovely in purity, laudable in simplicity, admirable in grace; and because he perfectly possessed the gift of the grace of the Holy Spirit, he was loved by all the people.
[6] An Israelite man in whom there was no guile, supported by the firmness of faith, he trampled upon the provocations of heresy and governed the holy Church in the orthodox faith. How great and how industrious he was in this office, anyone who diligently inquires can find in the epistles of Blessed Pope Gregory concerning the same heresy that was cut off, directed to him and other Bishops of Gaul. For he was a contemporary of Blessed Pope Gregory, and had very much enjoyed the fellowship of his sanctity through letters. He very frequently sent him letters concerning the suppression of heresy, concerning holy preaching among the people of God, concerning the ministry of the law, and the doctrine of the faith. He himself, lawfully fulfilling his office, both attended diligently and most carefully to the precepts of the Master and in no way deviated from the commandments of the Lord.
[7] At that time, the Blessed Columbanus was the most celebrated Father of the monastery of Luxeuil; at whose request the Blessed Bishop Nicetius, most holy, visited Anagrates, and Luxeuil, and Fontanas, and in both monasteries, in the churches built by Columbanus of holy memory (because they were in his diocese), he dedicated the altars. And there, after a sweet and admirable conversation about divine matters, after shedding floods of many tears and exchanging very frequent kisses, the Bishop returned to the city, while Columbanus remained at Luxeuil for some time, educating the monks in the monastic life. How great the charity of true concord between them was, and how great their fellowship in prayer, it is not easy to say. For day and night they desired to see each other; they frequently sent salutatory letters to one another and were eager to exhort and admonish each other in the service of God.
[8] After this, however, when a discord arose between Queen Brunhild and the most blessed Columbanus (for there is no concord between good and evil), by order of King Theoderic (for the Queen was pressing the matter), he was expelled from Luxeuil and led by the hands of soldiers to the city of Besancon in exile. When the Blessed Nicetius saw him, he was filled with the eagerness of mutual affection, and offering consolation for his brother's adversity, he sympathized with modesty and was filled with great joy because he had the opportunity of conversing with such a man. He kept him there for a long time, treating him with honor, with due respect for the King's authority, until the will of God, in whose hand all things are, by His power and disposition freed the blessed man from this exile and brought him back. The Blessed Columbanus did not consider that he had suffered exile, but rather that he had been present at the delights of God's paradise, for as long as he remained with the holy Bishop.
[9] When the almighty God willed that the most blessed Confessor and Archbishop should be rewarded for his service, and since he had been faithful over a few things and was to be set over many, he began to be somewhat troubled by fevers. When he already perceived that the day of his departure was imminent, he convened the Clergy and the people, delivered a word of salvation, announced the day of his calling from this world, and left them peace, following in the footsteps of his Master and Savior. On the sixth day before the Ides of February, he himself, having put off the mortal man, rested in the Lord. His most sacred body was carried to the church which his predecessor of holy memory, Eusebius, the fourth Bishop, had built in honor of Blessed Peter, Prince of the Apostles, and he was buried outside the walls, just as he himself had arranged during his lifetime. The people, however, moved by holy devotion, built for him a church of his own, containing his tomb within the sanctuary, so that he whom they had held as their most beloved Pastor on earth, they might deserve to have as a merciful intercessor in heaven. There the most merciful Lord showed what manner of life His servant had led, whose bones shine with innumerable miracles; to whose tomb the faithful people hasten, confident of receiving what they rightfully ask—to the praise and glory of Him to whom belong honor and jubilation through infinite ages. Amen.
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