Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 11.djvu/90

 NICHOLAS

64

NICHOLAS

he is one of the most popular saints in the Greek as well .'IS the Latin Church, there is scarcely anything historically certain about liini except that he was Bishop of Myra in the fourth century. Some of the main points in his leuenii are as follows: He was born at Parara, a city of Lycia in Asia Minor; in his youth he made a pilcrimaKc to ICnypt and I'ali'sline; shortly after his return ho became llisliop of Myra; east into prison durinp; the i)ersecution of Diocletian, he was released after the accession of Constantino, and was present at the Council of Nica;a. In 1087 Italian merchants stole his body at Myra, bringing it to liari in Italy.

The numerous miracles St. Nicholas is said to have wrought, both before and after his death, are out- growths of a long tradition. There is reason to doubt his presence at Niciea, since his name is not mentioned in any of the old lists of bishops that attended this council. His cult in the Greek Church is old and es- pecially popular in Russia. As early as the sixth cen- tury Emperor Justinian I built a church in his honour at Constantinople, and his name occurs in the liturgy ascribed to St. Chrysostom. In Italy his cult seems to have begun with the translation of his relics to Bari, but in Germany it began already under Otto II, probably becai:se his wife Theophano was a Grecian. Bishop Reginald of Eichstadt (d. OOU is known to have written a metric, "Vita S. Nicholai". The course of centuries has not lessened his popularity. The following places honour him as patron: Greece, Russia, the Kingdom of Naples, Sicily, Lorraine, the Diocese of Liege; many cities in Italy, Germany, Aus- tria, and Belgium; Campen in the Netherlands; Corfu in Greece; Freiburg in Switzerland; and Moscow in Russia. He is patron of mariners, merchants, bakers, travellers, children etc. His representations in art are as various as his alleged miracles. In Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands they have the cus- tom of making him the secret purveyor of gifts to chil- dren on 6 December, the day on which the Church cele- brates his feast; in the United States and some other countries St. Nicholas has become identified with the popular Santa Claus who distributes gifts to children on Christmas eve. His rehcs are still preserved in the church of San Nicola in Bari; up to the present day an oily substance, known as Mayina di S. Nicola, which is highly valued for its medicinal powers, is said to flow from them.

The traditionary legends of St. Nicholas were first collected and written in Greek bv Metaphrastes in the tenth century. They are printed in y. 6'., CXVI sq. A Latin translation by Giusti- NIANI (Venice, l.'>02 and 1513) is printed in SuBltJS, De probatis sanctorum historiis, 6 December. There is an immense amount of ancient and modern literature. The following modern authori- ties are noteworthy: (Iai:ta, N. Xicold di Bari, vescovo di Mira (Naples, 1904); Bi i " s. Nicold, vescom di Mira

(Monza, 1900): Gi ' ' delle reliquie di s. Nicold di

Bari in Bassarion, "HJ), 317-328; Schnell, Si.

Xickolaus der hcil. I: I '- r/reund (Brunn, 1883-5, and

Ravensburg, 188G) ; ruAXM\ui:i{. Der h. Nikolaus u. seine Vereh- runff (Miinster. 1894); Laroche. Vie de s. Nicholas, eviQue de Myre. patron de la Lorraine (Paris, 1886, 1893) ; Idem, La manne de t. Nicholas in Revue Suisse Calholique, XXI (Freiburg, 1890), 56- 68. 122-137: Kayata, Monographic de Veglise grecque de Marseille etviedes. Nicholas de Myre (Marseilles, 1901).

Michael Ott.

Nicholas of Osimo (AtrxiMAXus), celebrated preacher and author, b. at Osimo, Italy, in the second half of the fourteenth century; d. at Rome, 1453. After having studied law, and taken the degree of doctor at Bologna, he joined the Friars Minor of the Observants in the convent of San Paolo. Conspicuous for zeal, learning, and preaching, as companion of St. James of the Marches in Bosnia, and as Vicar-Provin- cial of Apulia (1439), Nicholas greatly contributed to the prosperity of the Observants for whom (1440) he obtained complete independence from the Conven- tuals, a privilege shortly after revoked according to the desire of St. Hemardine. He was also appointed Visitator and afterwards Superior, of the Holy Land,

but many difficulties seem to have hindered him from the discharge of these offices. Nicholas wrot(! both in Latin and Italian a niunber of treatises on moral theol- ogy, the spiritual life, and on the Rule of St. Fran- cis. Wo mention the following: (1) "Supplomonlum Sununa' Magi.stratiie sen Pisanclhe", a revisoti and increased edition of the "Summa" of Bartholomew of San Concordio (or of Pisa), O.P., completed at Milan, 1444, with many editions before the end of the fifteenth century: Venice, 1473 sqq.; Genoa, 1474; Milan, 1479; Reutlingon, 1483; Nuremberg, 1494. (2) "(Juadriga Spirituale", in Italian, treats in a popular way what the author considers the four principal means of salvation, viz. faith, good works, confession, and prayer. These arc like the four wheels of a chariot, whence the name. 'I'he work was printed at Jesi, 147.5, and under the name of St. Bernardino of Siena in 1494.

Wadding, Scriptores Ord. Min. (Rome. 1806), 179 (Rome, 1906), 17fi; Idem, Annales Minorum ad an. US7, n. 13-16, 2nd ed.. X (I!. .mo, 17!H, 1li)-.30; ad an. HS8, n. 21-23, XI (Rome, 1734), ,i'i 1' ' '".n. 29, XI (Rome, 1734), 111 passim; Sbabai-ea,

.s;/. Home, 1806), 550; SpEZl.rre OpereHe rotoari (/»

/■'/,■ \ oimo. Irf^ti dilinqun inrrliti tratli da' codici Vati-

Ml,, ,l;..ii,. '.-'■'.•. pr,-fn,.r-- I T-ir^i I,^ v,„p,,vo, Cenni cronolo-

gim-l,ui,„.r " /' / ■ ' hiMraechi, 1SS6),

161, 221: M /, I'iiria, 1826), I,

i, n. 214'.>-7.. , ,1'-. .-' II. J 11 III- w. . ' ;. .,. \i nih-n und Litera- tur des Caiti^ni^'Jiiu 7,',. /<:,.„ ,,.„. (.-.j.'i.j/, :.,., mij ,hf Gegenwarl, I (Stuttgart, 1877), 435-37; Dietterle. Die Summa: Conjessorum in Zeitschriftfur Kirchengeschichte, ed. Brieger, XXVH (Gotha, 1906), 183-88.

LivAEius Oliger.

Nicholas of Strasburg, mystic, flourished early in the fourteenth century. Educated at Paris, he was later on lector at the Dominican convent, Cologne. Ap- pointed by John XXII, he made a canonical visitation of the German Dominican province, where great dis- cord prevailed. Relying on two papal briefs dated 1 August, 1325, it appears that the sole commission re- ceived from the pontiff was to reform the province in its head and members, and to act as visitor to the sis- ters. Nicholas, however, assumed the office of in- quisitor as well, and closed a process already begun by Archbishop Heinrich (Cologne) against Master Eck- hart, O.P., for his teachings on mysticism, in favour of the latter (1326). In January, 1327, the arch- bishop renewed the cause and arraigned Nicholas as a patron of his confrere's errors. Almost simultane- ously, Hermann von Hbchst, a discontented religious on whom Nicholas had imposed a well-merited pen- alty, took revenge by having him excommunicated. Nicholas, however, was soon released from this sen- tence by Pope John, that he might appear as definitor at the general chapter of his order convened at Per- pignan. May 31, 1327. He is last heard of after the settlement of the process against Eckhart as vicar of the German Dominicans, 1329. Thirteen extant .ser- mons show him to have been of a rather practical turn of mind.

Having realized the inherent necessity of solid piety being based upon the principles of sound theology, he urges in clear, pregnant, and forceful stylo the sacred importance of good works, penitential (iraclices and indulgences, confession and the Holy Eucharist. Only by the use of these means can the love of C!od be well- regulated and that perfect conversion of the heart at- tained which is indispensable for a complete remission ofguill. Built up on so firm a groundwork, there is noth- ing to censure but much to commend in his allegorical interpretations of Sacred Scripture, which are other- wise consistent with his fondness for parable and ani- mated illustration. " De Adventu Christi ", formerly attributed to Nicholas, came originally from the pen of John of Paris.

Preger, Meistcr Eckhart und die Inquisition (Munich, 1869) ; Idem, Oesch. der deutsch. Mystik im MiUelalter, II (Leipzig. 1881); Denifle, ActeiislUcke zu Meister Eckharts Prozess in Zeitschr. f. deutachcs Altertum u. deutsche Literatur, XXIX (XVII) (1885); Idem, Der Ptagialor, Nich. von Strassb. in Archiv /. Lit. u. Kirchen-