ST NICETAS, BISHOP AND MARTYR - 20 MARCH

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MARCH

Saints celebrated on the 20th of March

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.

ST NICETAS, BISHOP AND MARTYR 

Saint Nicetas was an 8th century bishop in Asia Minor, one of those who, in defence of the Catholic practice of venerating the pictures and statues of the saints, suffered persecution and exile. He died about A.D. 735.

(From The Book of Saints, 1921, by the Monks of Ramsgate)

HIS ENTRY IN THE ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Apollonia, the bishop Saint Nicetas, who breathed his last in exile, where he had been sent for upholding the veneration of holy images.

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of Nicetas, your blessed bishop and martyr, 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.