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 NEPI

750

NEPVEU

Ahirn, and later on of Thcdacl, was always united with the tribes of Uan and Ascr. When spies were sent from tlie desert of I'haran to view the land of Chana;in, Nahabi, the son of Vapsi, represented the tribe in the expedition (Num., xiii, 15). The terri- tory allotted to Nephtali in Chanaan lay to the ex- treme north of Palestine, and was bounded (Jos., xix, 33-34) on the north by the River Leontes (A'a/jr d- Qnsimiych), on the eiu<it by the course of the Jordan as far as 12 miles south of the f^ea of Galilee, on the west by the tribes of Aser and Zabulon; and on the south by that of Issachar. Including some of the finest land in Palestine, "it invites the most slothful to take pains to cultivate it" (.Joseph., "Bell. Jud.", Ill, iii, 2). Naturally, the Chanaanites of that district were most unwilling to give up their rich possessions; the Book of Judges possibly even implies that the Hebrews could not overcome the natives (i, 33) ; in fact, foreign- ers were at all times numerous in that neighbourhood, called on that account "Galilee of the Gentiles" (Isa., ix, 1; IV Kings, xv, 29). Finally, they banded to- gether under Jabin and Sisara to drive the Israelites out of the land. How this confederacy was defeated by Barac, a man of Cedes, with the warriors of Z.abu- lon and of his own tribe, called together by Debora, to the glory of Nephtali, needs not be recounted here (Judges, iv, v). .-Vgain, with Gedeon, warriors of Nephtali took part in the pursuit of the Madianites (Judges, vii, 23), and sent to David at Hebron a con- tingent of 1000 captains and 37,000 men "furnished with shield and spear" (I Par., xii, 34). And the men of Nephtali, according to Josephus, guarding the "En- trance of Emath", the key to northern Palestine, were "inured to war from their infancy" ("Bell. Jud.", loc. cit.).

Josephus, Jwlean Wars, III, iii; Commentaries on Gen., Jos., and Dcul.; Merrill, Galilee in the Time of Christ (Boston. 1881); Thomson, Tht Land and the Book, II (London. 1881); Dhorme, Les pays bibliques et l' Assyrie in Revue Biblique" (Apr., 1910), 195, 197; Laobanoe, La Prophitie de Jacob in Revue Biblique (1898), 534.

Charles L. Sgdv.iy.

Nepi and Sutri (Nepesin et Sptrin), united sees of the province of Rome, central Italy, in the Cimin- ian region. Nepi is situated on a hill of tufa, and is surrounded by great walls; its cathedral, which occu- pies the site of an ancient temple of Jupiter, contains paintings by Titian, Perugino, and Zuccari; the com- munal palace w:is begun by Vignola, and the fort was built by Peter Louis Farnese. There still exist at Nepi the ruins of an amphitheatre and of ancient baths, from which several statues in the Vatican mu- seum were taken, among these the one in basalt of King Nectanabis I, with an Egyptian inscription. Nepete and Sutrium, as these cities were called, be- longed to the Faliscans, who called the Romans to their assistance when the Etruscans invaded them; the invaders (389, 311, 310), after twice defeating the Romans, went beyond the Ciminian forest to attack the Etruscans in Etruscan territory; wherefore, Livy calls the.se towns "claustra Etruria;"; in 382, they be- came Latin colonies. In the Gothic VVarNepi was one of the last strongholds of the Goths. The town was sacked by the Lombards in .5(>9, and then fell into de- cadence. In the eighth century, however, it became the seat of Tuto, a Lombard dux, knomi for his inter- ference in the papal election of 768. In the struggle between the emperors and the popes, Nepi was im- perialist during the reigns of .Alexander II, Nicholas II, Oregon,' VII, and Innocent II; on the other hand, in 1160, it fought .against the commune of Rome, and in 1244, w.as besieged by Frederick II. A feudal pos- session, first of the prefects of Vico, and then of the Orsinis, of the Colonnas, and of Cssar Borgia, from 1.537 to 1.54.5, it was erected into a duchy in favour of Peter Louis Farnese; and when the latter was trans- ferred to Parma, Nepi returned to immediate depend- ence on the Holy See. In 1798 the French set fire to

the cathedral and to the episcopal palace, in which last edifice vahiable archives were lost. The exist- ence of an early Christian cemetery witnesses the great antiquity of the Church of Nepi, which vener- ates, as its evangelizer, St-. Ptolenueus, who, it ia claimed, was a disciple of the Apostles. In 419, Eula- lius, coinpclilor of Pope St. Boniface I, was made' Bishop of Nejii; Bishop Paulus was sent as visitor to Naples by St. (iregory the Great; Bishop Stephanus, in 8(iS, was one of the presidents and papal legates of the Council of Constantinople against Photius. The sees of Nepi and Sutri were united in 143.5.

Sutri is placed, like a hanging garden, upon a steep hill on the Cassian Way; the ancient town occupied two hills connected by a bridge, and its walls, built of great tufa rocks, are yet to be seen. In the neigh- bourhood, there are many Etruscan tombs; the an- cient amphitheatre, hewn out of the solid rock, is a re- markable work. The cathedral is of the thirteenth century, modernized by frequent alterations. Santa Maria delta Grotta is an interesting church. The hi.s- tory of Sutri in antiquity resembles that of Nei, for Sutri also was taken by the Lombards in .569, but was retaken by the exarch Romanus; Luitprand likewise took the town in 726, but in the following year re- stored it to "St. Peter". As the city is on the Cas- sian Way not far from Rome, it was, as a rule, the last halting-place of the German emperors on their way to the city, and sometimes they received there the papal legate. Two famous synods were held at Sutri, one in 1046, at which Sylvester II was deposed, and resigned the tiara; the other in 1059, was held against Benedict IX. Here also the agreement of 1111 between Pas- chal II and the emperor Henry V was concluded. In 1120, the antipope Gregory VIII withdrew to Sutri, and was besieged there by Calixtus II; he was finally delivered up to the pope by the Sutrians (1121). After this, the possession of the city was frequently contested by the Guelph counts of Anguillara and the Ghibelline prefects of Vico, especially in 1264. Sutri was contained in the Duchy of Nepi. This town also has an ancient Christian cemetery where the body of St. Romanus was found, who is the patron of the city; the cathedral possesses a statue of him by Bernini. Among the martyrs of Sutri is St. Felix (about 275). The first bishop of known date was Eusebius (465); other bishops were Martinus, or Marinus, who was sent as ambassador to Otho I in 963; Benedictus, who, in 975, became Pope Benedict VII; the famous Bishop Bonitho (Bonizo), historian of the Gregorian epoch, who was driven from his diocese by the anti-papal fac- tion and later was made Bishop of Piacenza. The diocese was united to Nepi under Bishop Luke de Tar- taris (1345); under Pomponius Cesi (1519), who be- came a cardinal, the cemetery of St. Savinilla was dis- covered; Michael Ghislieri (15.56) became Pope St. Pius V; Joseph Chianti (1701) founded the seminary; Camillas Simeoni (1782) was exiled by the French and became a cardinal. In the territory of this diocese is the city of Braciano on the lake of the .same name {tacus Sabazius); it is believed by some to be the an- cient Forum Claudii, the bishop of which was at the council of Pope Melchiades in 31)3; others identify the Forum Claudii with Oriolo, which is in the Diocese of Viterbo. The united sees of Nepi and Sutri are imme- diately dependent upon Rome; they have 31 parishes, with 42,00 inhabitants, 13 religious houses of men, and 13 of women, 10 of which maintain schools.

Cappelletti, Le Chiese <V Italia, V: Ranchiasci. Memorie storiche della cittA di Nepi. etn. (Todi, 1845-47) ; Nispi-Landi, L'an- tica cittd. di Sutri (Rome, 1887).

U. Benigni.

Nepveu, Francis, writer on ascetical subjects, b. at St. Malo, 29 April, 1639; entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus 12 October, 16.54, when but fifteen years old. Successively professor of Grammar, of Humanities and Rhetoric for six years, and of Philos-