E00747: Bishop Nicetius of Trier (eastern Gaul) claims that relics and churches dedicated to the saints are ineffective for Arians; he mentions Gothic veneration for the *Apostles (S00084), and alludes to churches or shrines of *Peter (the Apostle, S00036), *Paul (the Apostle, S00008), and *John (either the Baptist, S00020, or the Apostle and Evangelist, S00042), all probably at Rome. Letter to Chlodosinda, Queen of the Lombards, written in Latin between 561 and 569, presumably at Trier.

Nicetius of Trier, letter to Queen Cholodosinda (Epistolae Austrasicae 8)

The purpose of Nicetius' letter is to call upon Chlodosinda, a Frankish princess who had married Alboin, King of the Lombards, to persuade her husband to become a Nicene rather than an Arian. After denouncing the presence of Arian clerics at Alboin's court and putting forward biblical and theological arguments against Arianism, Nicetius discusses veneration of the saints:

Ad duodecim discipulos, quos habuit et habet, veniamus, quia ipsi Gothi hodie ipsis venerationem inpendent et reliquiis eorum, sed furtive tollent, sed nihil ibi habent, quia fidem eorum ad nulla re praesumunt. Quid est, quod in basilicas eorum, ubi corpora ipsorum hodie venerantur, non ingrediuntur? Quid est, quod nihil ibidem praesumere audent, nisi furtive, ut canes a foris, animas decipent, cum illos suos fideles rex Alboenus ibidem mittat, et ad domni Petri, Pauli, Iohannis vel reliquorum sanctorum limina perducat? Ibidem missas facere, si audent, deliberent; sed non audent, quia domni Petri discipuli non apparent et contrarii Christi esse probantur: quia, quod per crucem ipse redemit, distruere infelices inveniuntur. Qua causa venena eorum talis rex et talis aetas percipit.

'Let us come to the twelve disciples of Christ, whom he had and has, for the Goths themselves today venerate them and their relics, but they receive them furtively, they possess nothing there, because their faith achieves nothing. Why is it that they do not enter the basilicas where the bodies are venerated? Why is it that when King Alboin sends his faithful men there and leads them to the shrines of the lords Peter, Paul, John or of other saints, that they do not dare to undertake anything there, except furtively, like dogs from outside, so that they may deceive souls? They think about celebrating masses there, if they dare; but they do not dare, because they are clearly not disciples of the lord Peter and are proved to be opponents of Christ, because these unhappy men are found to destroy what he redeemed by the cross. And so such a king and such an age perceives their poison.'

Nicetius then goes on to describe the miracles of several individual Gallic saints and contrast them with the alleged absence of such miracles among Arians (E00674), and to call upon Chlodosinda to imitate the role of her grandmother Clotilde in the conversion of Clovis, referencing the cult of Martin in his account of Clovis's conversion (E00760).

Text: Gundlach 1892, 121, lines 14-23. Translation: Hillgarth 1986, 79-80, adapted.