Nicetius of Trier

Saint Nicetius of Trier was the most important bishop of the see of Trier in Germany, the last Gallo-⁠Roman bishop there. He reposed in 566 (other sources say 563).

He came of a Gallo-⁠Roman family of Aquitaine and from his youth entered a monastery; he was a monk and abbot in Auvergne. Through the patronage of King Theuderic I he was confirmed as bishop, and about 527 (our records say 532) he set out for Trier. The city had suffered greatly in the disorders of the Migrations. One of his first cares was to rebuild the cathedral, for which he brought craftsmen from Italy; he also built a fortified castle with a chapel on the Moselle and replanted vineyards on the slopes above the river. He preached daily, rebuked the sins of nobles and people alike, and did not spare the king and his courtiers. He excommunicated King Chlothar I for his misdeeds, and the king exiled him in 560; after his death his son Sigebert I allowed him to return. He took part in several synods of the Frankish bishops and presided at the synod of Toul (550). He corresponded with bishops and abbots in distant lands, wrote to the Emperor Justinian about the Monophysite controversies, and to Chlodoswinda, wife of the Lombard king Alboin, to urge her to bring her husband to the Catholic faith. He drew many clerics to Trier, among them the young Venantius Fortunatus. He lived very ascetically, fasting often, and would go, hidden under a hooded cloak, to pray in the churches of the city while the clerics were at their meal. He founded a school for the training of the clergy; its best-⁠known pupil is Aredius, later abbot of Limoges, whose testimony Gregory of Tours preserved in the oldest Life of Nicetius. He was buried in the church of Saint Maximin at Trier.

In the diocese of Trier he is revered on 1 October. He is a saint of the undivided Church and is commemorated on 5 December (New Calendar).