ST DEODATUS, BISHOP OF NEVERS - 19 JUNE

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JUNE

Saints celebrated on the 19th of June

Prayer to the Angels and the Saints

Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.

In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.

Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.

Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.

SAINT DEODATUS, BISHOP OF NEVERS

Saint Deodatus (St Dié) was nobly born in the west of France, and endued with eminent gifts both of nature and grace. In 655 he was placed in the episcopal chair of Nevers. 

EREMITICAL LIFE

He fulfilled all the duties of the pastoral charge with great fear and trembling till in 664 he resigned his dignity, and having recommended to his clergy the choice of a successor, retired into the deserts, and there led an eremitical life. 

THE MONASTERY OF JOINTURES

In 661, Hun, lord of the Val de Galilee, near Mount Vosge, bestowed on him that territory, and his donation was confirmed by Childeric II. king of Austrasia. Upon this spot St Dié founded the monastery of Jointures, which he put under the rule of St Columban, though this was afterwards exchanged for that of St Bennet [St Benedict].

St Dié gave up his soul to God in the arms of St. Hidulphus, on June 19, in 679 or 680.

(From Fr Butler's Lives of the Saints)

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of Saint Deodatus may increase our devotion and promote our salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.