Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 11.djvu/92

 NICHOLSON

66

NICOLAi'

1124; Oxford Hislorical Socitlu Publications, XXXIX (Oxford, 189»). 109, 110; LV (Oilord, 1910). 33.

John B. Wainewric.ht.

Nicholson, Francis, a controversial writer; b. at Manchester, IO.'jO (biiptized 27 Oct.); d. at Lisbon, 13 AiiR., 1731. The son of Henry or Thomas Nicholson, a Manchester citizen, when sixteen he entered TTniver- sitvCollege, Oxford, asaservitor, and took liisdenrees as Bacholorof Arts (IS June, 16G9) and Master of Arts (4 June, 1673). Ordained an Anglican clergyman, he officiated, fir.st about Oxford, afterwards near Canter- bury, where he gained some success in reconciling Nonconformists to the Church of England. A ser- mon preached at St. Mary's, Oxford, on 20 June, 1680, led to his being chargeil with unorthodox doctrine and the fact that he had been a pupil of Obadiah Walker caused him to be suspected of Catholic tend- encies. The actual date of his reception into the Church is unknown, but during the reign of James II (16S.5-SS) he was a professed Catholic and busied him- self in the king's interests. At this time he wrote the appendix on the doctrine of the Church of England concerning the Real Presence, and the "Vindication of two recent discourses" on the same subject, added to Abraham Woodhcad's "Compendious Discourse on the Eucharist ", published in 1688. After the revolu- tion he joined the Carthusians at Nieuport in Flanders, but his health was unequal to this austere life, and in 1692 he returned to England. There he entered the service of the (^ueen Dowager, Catharine of Braganza, whom he accompanied back to Portugal. For some years lie resided at the Portuguese Court and then retired to an estate which he had bought at Pera, half a league south of the Tagus, and not, as the writer in the " Dictionary of National Biography " oddly as- serts, the "suburb of Constantinople". He spent a considerable period there in devotion and study, until reaching his seventieth year he made over all his real and personal property to the English College at Lisbon, subject to the discharge of his debts, the pro- vision of board and lodging for the remainder of his life, and a small annuity. Three years before his death at the college he sent back to the Catholic anti- quary. Dr. Cuthbert Constable, all the surviving MSS. of Abraham Woodhead, which had passed into his hands as executor of Obadiah Walker. With them also he sent his MS. life of Constable, published with additions in his edition of that author's "Third Part of a Brief Account of Church Government".

Anthony a Wood, AtheiKB Oionienses, II, reprinted from DODD, Church History, III, 462; Catholic Magazine, VI (May, 1835), 208; Foster, Alumni Oxonienses (Oxford, 1891); Gillow, Bibl. Did. Eng. Calh., s. v. Nicholson and Constable: Sdtton in Diet, Nat. Biog.; (I^koft, Kirk's Historical Account of Lisbon College (London, 1902).

Edwin Burton.

Nicodemus, a prominent Jew of the time of Christ, ment ioncd only in the Fourth Gospel. The name is of Greek origin, but at that epoch such names were occasionally borrowed by the Jews, and according to Josephus {.Ant. of the Jews, XIV, iii, 2) Nicodemus was the name of one of the ambassadors sent by Aris- tobulus to Pompey. A Hebrew form of the name (po'lpJ, Naqdimon) is found in the Talmud. Nicodemus w.as a Pharisee, and in his capacity of sanhedrist (John, vii, .50) was a leader of the Jews. Christ, in the interview when Nicodemus came to him by night, calls him a master in Israel. Judging from John, xix, 39, Nicodemus must have been a man of means, and it is probable that he wielded a certain influence in the Sanhedrim. Some writers conjecture from his question: "How can a man be born when he is old?", that he was already advanced in years, but the words are too general to warrant such a conclusion. He appears in this interview as a learned and intelli- gent believer, but timid and not easily initiated into the mysteries of the new faith. He next appears

(John, vii, 50, 51) in the Sanhedrim offering a word in defence of the accused C!alile:in; and we may infer from this passtige th:it hi- finbraced the truth as soon as it was fully made known to him. He is mentioned fiii.dly in .John, xix, 39, where he is shown co-operating with ,Iosc'ph of Arimathea in the embalming and buri:d of ,I(sus. His name occur.s later in some of the apocryphal writings, e. g. in the so-called "Acta Pilati", a heterogeneous document which in the six- teenth century was published under the title "Evan- gclium Nicodemi" (Go.spel of Nicodemus). The time of his death is unknown. The Roman Martyrol- ogy commemorates the finding of his relics, together with those of Sts. Stephen, Gamaliel, and .\bibo, on 3 August.

Conybeare, Studia Biblica, IV (Oxford, 1896), 59-132; Le CAMU.S, La vie de N.-.'i. Jfsus-Christ (Paris. 1883), I. 251 sqq.; II, 24 sqq., .W? sqq., tr. HiCKEY (3 vols.. New York, 1906-08).

James F. Dulscoll.

Nicodemus, Gospel of. See Acta Pilati.

Nicolai, Jean, celebrated Dominican theologian and controversialist, b. in 1594 at Mouzay in the Dio- cese of Verdun, France; d. 7 May, 1673, at Paris. En- tering the order at the age of twelve, he made his religious profession in 1612, studied philosophy and theology in the convent of St. James at Paris, obtained (1632) the doctorate in theology at the Sorbonne, and taught these branches with distinction in various houses of the order. He was highlj' esteemed for strict observance of the rule, prudence, rare erudition, and power of penetration. Besides Latin and Greek he was conversant with Italian, Spanish, and He- brew. He was a member of the commission appointed to examine the works and teachings of the Jansenists and to prevent the further dissemina- tion of their doctrine in the Sorbonne. In the disputes on grace between the Thomists and Mo- linists, which the teaching of Jansenius revived, he ad- hered strictly to the Thomistic doctrine. His numer- ous works fall into three classes: (a) new editions of older theologians which he supplied with commen- taries and explanatory notes; (b) his own theological works; (c) his poetical and political writings. The most important of the first class arc "Raineri de Pisis [1351] ord. Fr. Prsed. Pantheologia sive universa the- ologiaordine alphabetico per varios titulosdistributa" (Lyons, 1670): to each of the three volumes of this work he added a dissertation against the Jansenists; "S. ThomiB Aq. Expositio continua super quatuor evangelistas" (Lyons, 1670); "S.Thoma'Aq. commen- taria in quatuor libros sententiarum P. Lombardi" (Lyons, 16.59); "Commentarius posterior super Ubros sententiarum" (Lyons, 1660); "S. Thomse Aq. quse- stionesquodlibetales" (Lyons, 1660); "S. ThomoeAq. Summa theologica innumeris Patrum, Conciliorum, scripturarum ac dccretorum testimoniis ad materias controversas vel ad moralem disciplinam pertinenti- bus . . . illustrata" (Lyons, 1663); "S. Thoma; Aq. explanatio in omnes d. Pauli Ap. epistolas commen- taria" (Lyons, 1689). His important theological works are: "Judicium seu censorium sufTragium de propositione Ant. Arnaldi sorbonici doctoris et sociiad qua?stionem juris pertinente" (Paris, 1656); "Theses theologies de gratia seu theses molinisticae thomisticis notis expuncta;" (Paris, 1656); "Apologia naturae et gratia;" (Bordeaux, 1665). Against Launoy, the champion of the "Galilean Liberties", he wrote: "De jejunii christiani et Christiana; abstinentia; vero ac legit- imoritu" (Paris, 1667); "De Concilio plenario, quod contra Donatistas bapti.smi quffstionem ex Augustini sensu definivit" (Paris, 1667); "De plenarii Concihi et baptismatis hereticorum as.sertione dissertatio pos- terior anteriorem firmans" (Paris, 1668); "De bapj tismi antiquo usu ab Ecclesia instituto, dissertatio (Paris, 1668) ; " De Constantini baptismo, ubi, quando et a quibus fuerit celebratus historiea dissertatio" (Paris, 1680). The purpose of his poetical and pohti-