8.2

 

At the age of thirty he [saint Nicetius of Lyon] was honoured with the dignity of the presbyterate, but he did not abstain from the work which he was doing. He continued to work with his hands, with the servants, so that the words of the apostles might be fulfilled, namely "Work with your hands that you may have to give to him that needeth" (Ephes. 4:28). Above all he busied himself in the task of making sure that all the children born in his house [Nicetius was still living in his parents' house along with his mother], as soon as they had left the wailings of infancy and had begun to speak, were instructed in reading and taught the psalms, so that when they entered the oratory for the divine office they so could join in the singing that they could perform the antiphons and the prayers, and ensure that devotion might importune the soul. As for chastity, not only did he keep it with greatest care, but he also always used to recommend the grace to others and taught them to abstain from all polluting contact and impure words.

 

(trans. James 1991: 51, slightly altered by J. Szafranowski)