St. Nicetas

Feast: June 22. Saint Nicetas was a Goth warrior and lived on the eastern side of the Danube River within the boundaries of present-day Rumania. Bishop Theophilus, the well-known enlightener of the Goths and a participant in the First Ecumenical Council in 325, converted him to Christianity and baptized him. At that time, intestine warfare arose among the Goths. At the head of one hostile side stood Prince Athanarichus, a vehement pagan and a hater of Christians. At the head of the other - Frigentus. In the bloody clash of the armies, Athanarichus was victorious, and Frigentus was forced to flee to Byzantium. But soon Frigentus returned to his homeland, reinforced by the fresh troops afforded him by the Emperor Valentus (364-378). Frigentus commanded that the image of the Holy Cross be made on the standards of his army, as once did Constantine the Great. A second bloody battle took place, and this time Frigentus was victorious. But Athanarichus, with a small group of adherents, was saved by flight. After Frigentus' victory, favorable times ensued for Christianity. Bishop Theophilus' successor, Hierarch Urphilus (311-383), created the Gothic alphabet and translated many spiritual books from Greek into Gothic. Saint Nicetas, by his preaching and his pious life, greatly assisted the confirmation of the Christian faith among the Goths. A close friend of St. Paulinus of Nola, St. Nicetas was bishop of Remesiana in Dacia (modern Romania and Yugoslavia) and was noted for his successful missionary activities, especially among the Bessi, a race of marauders, which Paulinus commemorates in a poem. Nicetas wrote several dissertations on faith, the creed, the Trinity, and liturgical singing, and is believed by some scholars to be the author of Te Deum. We know little of Nicetas himself beyond the fact that on at least two occasions, he made his way from a country which Paulinus regarded as a wild region of snow and ice to visit his friend at Nola in Campania. St. Jerome also speaks very appreciatively of his work in converting the people of Dacia. After a few years, Athanarichus returned to his homeland with a numerous army, and intestine warfare again started up among the Goths. Having overcome Frigentus, Athanarichus raised up a cruel persecution against the Christians. Nicetas, having become the spiritual leader of the Christian Goths, denounced Athanarichus for godlessness and cruelty. He called on the faithful to be firm and not to fear martyrdom. Soon Nicetas was seized and given over to cruel tortures. They threw him into a fire, and he died on 15 September 372. A friend of Nicetas searched out his holy remains at night and transferred them to Cilicia. From that time, miracles and healings began to be performed from the relics of the holy Martyr Nicetas. A particle of the relics of the Great-martyr Nicetas is found in the monastery of Vysokie Dechany in Serbia.

With grateful thanks to Catholic Online.