Biography
Nicasius of Die
About Nicasius of Die
Nicasius, known in French as Nicaise, was a fourth-century bishop associated with Die. The Diocese of Valence remembers him as the only bishop from Gaul to sign at the Council of Nicaea in 325. His participation gives him a place in the recorded beginnings of the region’s Christian episcopate.
The Catholic Encyclopedia identifies him as the earliest historically known bishop of Die. It distinguishes this attested figure from an earlier bishop named Martinus, whom the seventeenth-century writer Polycarpe de la Rivière placed at the beginning of the succession.
The exact identification of the see in the conciliar lists has received some caution. B. J. Kidd’s history names the Gallic participant as Nicasius of Divio and considers Die in Dauphiny a possible identification. The modern diocesan history follows the identification with Die.
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