ST NICETIUS, ARCHBISHOP OF LYON, CONFESSOR - 2 APRIL

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN APRIL

Saints celebrated on the 2nd of April

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 NICETIUS, ARCHBISHOP OF LYON, CONFESSOR 

[Called by the French Nizier.]  Saint Nicetius was descended from an ancient noble Gaulish family in Burgundy, and, by the care of virtuous parents, received a learned and pious education. 

HUMILITY AND ASSIDUOUS PRAYER

Humility and assiduous prayer were his favourite virtues from the cradle. In his father’s house he always chose to appear the lowest in the family, though by birth he had a right to claim the highest place next his parents. He readily gave a preference in all things to his brethren, and took a singular delight, during his hours of recreation, in performing the most servile offices. 

HE INSTRUCTED THEM IN ALL CHRISTIAN DUTIES

He instructed, with the utmost diligence, the servants and children in all Christian duties, and taught them the psalter and church office. He succeeded his uncle, St Serdot, in the See of Lyons in 551, which he governed with indefatigable zeal during twenty-two years, till his happy death on April 2, 577. Great miracles confirmed the opinion of his sanctity: his relics are preserved in the parish church of his name, in Lyons [Lyon]: his memory is famous in France, and recorded in the Roman Martyrology.   

(From Fr Butler's Lives of the Saints)