1689), being a reply to the "Défense de la Réformation' written by the minister, Claude, against the "Préjugés légitimes"; "Essais de morale" (Paris, 1671-78); "Les prétendus Réformés convaincus de schisme" (Paris, 1684); "De l'unité de l'Eglise" or "Réfutation du nouveau système de M. Jurieu" (Paris, 1687), a condensed and decisive criticism of the theory of the "fundamental articles"; "Réfutation des principales erreurs des Quiétistes" (Paris, 1695); "Instructions théologiques et morales sur les sacrements" (Paris, 1706), "sur le Symbole" (Paris, 1706), "sur l'Oraison dominicale, la Salutation angélique, la Sainte Messe et les autres prières de l'Eglise" (Paris, 1706), "sur le premier commandement du Décalogue" (Paris, 1709); "Traité de la grâce générale" (Paris, 1715), containing all that Nicole had written at different times on grace; "Traité de l'usure" (Paris, 1720). GOUJET, Histoire de la vie et des ouvrages de Nicole (Paris, 1733); BESOIGNE, Vie de Nicole in the Histoire de Port-Royal, V; (Both of these authors are Jansenists and write as such.) an anonymous Biography of Nicole in the Continuation des essais de morale (Luxemburg, 1732); Cerveau, L'esprit de Nicole (Paris, 1765); MERSAN, Pensées de Nicole (Paris, 1806); FLOSS in Kirchenlex., s. v.; HURTER, Nomenclator, II. J. FORGET. Nicolet, DIOCESE OF (NICOLETANA), in the Province of Quebec, Canada, suffragan of Quebec. It comprises the counties of Nicolet, Yamaska, Arthabaska, Drummond, and a small part of Shefford and Bagot. The see takes its name from the town of Nicolet (population 3915), situated on the south bank of the St. Lawrence, opposite Trois-Rivières. It was erected into a bishopric on 11 July, 1885, by separation from the Diocese of Trois-Rivières, the first occupant of the see being Mgr Elphège Gravel. He was born on 12 October, 1838, at Saint-Antoine de Richelieu, Quebec; consecrated at Rome on 2 August, 1885, and died, 28 January, 1904. His successor, Mgr Joseph-Simon-Herman Brunault, the present occupant of the see, was born at St-David, Quebec, on 10 January, 1857; educated at the seminary of Nicolet and the Canadian College, Rome; ordained, 29 June, 1882. Having ministered two years in the cathedral of St. Hyacinth and taught for many years in the seminary of Nicolet, first as professor of literature, and then of theology, he was named coadjutor to Mgr Gravel and consecrated titular Bishop of Tubuna, 27 December, 1899; and succeeded as Bishop of Nicolet, 28 January, 1904. The seminary of Nicolet was founded in October, 1803, and affiliated to the Laval University of Quebec, in 1863; it contains over 320 students; a grand séminaire, likewise affiliated to the University of Laval, was established at Nicolet, 22 February, 1908. The religious in the diocese are as follows: Sœurs de l'Assomption de la Sainte-Vierge, teachers, founded at St-Grégoire (Nicolet) in 1853, have eighteen houses in the diocese; Sœurs Grises (de Nicolet), hospitallers, three houses; Congrégation de Notre-Dame (of Montreal), teachers, at Arthabaskaville, and Victoriaville; Sœurs de la Présentation de la Bienheureuse Vierge Marie, teachers, at St-David and Drummondville; Sœurs Grises de la Croix (of Ottawa), teachers and nurses, with academy and school of house-keeping at St-François du Lac, and a school at Pierreville (Abenaki Indian village); Religieuses hospitalières de St-Joseph (of Montreal), hospitallers, at Arthabaskaville; Sœurs du Précieux-Sang, and Sœurs de la Sainte-Famille at Nicolet; the Frères des Ecoles Chrétiennes have schools at Nicolet, Arthabaskaville, La Baie, and St-Grégoire; the Frères de la Charité are at Drummondville; and the Frères du Sacré-Cœur teach at Arthabaskaville, and Victoriaville. General Statistics.-Secular priests, 140; brothers, 120; sisters, 400; churches with resident priests, 65; mission, 1; theological seminary, 1; college seminary, 1; commercial colleges and academies for boys, 11; students, 1500; academies for young ladies in charge of sisters, 28; students, 1800; normal school for young ladies, 1; parochial schools, 500; children attending parochial schools, 20,000; orphan asylums, 1; orphans, 120; hospitals, 3; population: Catholic French Canadians, 90,000; Irish Canadians, 600; Protestants, 1800; total population, 92,400. J.-S.-HERMAN BRUNAULT. Nicolò de' Tudeschi ("abbas modernus" or "re"abbas Panormitanus" centior", or "Siculus"), a Benedictine canonist, b. at Catania, Sicily, in 1386; d. at Palermo, 24 February, 1445. In 1400 he entered the Order of St. Benedict; he was sent (1405-06) to the University of Bologna to study under Zabarella; in 1411 he became a doctor of canon law, and taught successively at Parma (1412-18), Siena (1419-30), and Bologna (1431-32). Meanwhile in 1425, he was made abbot of the monastery of Maniacio, near Messina, whence his name "Abbas", to which has been added "modernus" or "recentior" (in order to distinguish him from "Abbas antiquus" a thirteenth century canonist who died about 1288); he is also known as Abbas Siculus" on account of his Sicilian origin. In 1433 he went to Rome where he exercised the functions of auditor of the Rota and Apostolic referendary. The following year he relinquished these offices and placed himself at the service of Alfonso of Castile, King of Sicily, obtaining the mitanus". During the troubles that marred the ponSee of Palermo in 1435, whence his name "Panortificate of Eugene IV, Nicolò at first followed the party of this pontiff but subsequently allied himself with the antipope Felix V who, in 1440, named him cardinal. In his "Tractatus de concilio Basileensi" he upheld the doctrine of the superiority of a general council to the pope. It was his canonical works, and "In Clementinas", that won him the title of especially his "Lectura in Decretales" "In Sextum", great authority; he also wrote "Consilia", "Quæs"lucerna juris" (lamp of the law) and insured him tiones", "Repetitiones", "Disputationes, disceptationes et allegationes", and "Flores utriusque juris". A fine edition of his works appeared at Venice in 1477; among later, frequent editions, that published in 161718 (Venice) in 10 folio volumes is especially notable. II (Stuttgart, 1877), 312-313; SABBADINI, Storia documentata della Reale Università di Catania (Catania, 1898), 10 sq. BRANDILEONE, Notizie su Graziano e su Niccolò de Tudeschis tratte da una cronaca inedita. Studi e memorie per la storia dell' Università di Bologna, I (Bologna, 1909), i, 18-21. SCHULTE, Die Gesch. der Quellen u. Lit. des canonischen Rechtes, A. VAN HOVE. Nicomedes, SAINT, martyr of unknown era, whose feast is observed 15 September. The Roman Martyrologium and the historical Martyrologies of Bede and his imitators place the feast on this date. The Gregorian Sacramentary contains under the same date the orations for his Mass. The name does not appear in the three oldest and most important MSS. of the "Martyrologium Hieronymianum", but was inserted in later recensions ("Martyrol. Hieronymianum", ed. De Rossi-Duchesne, in Acta SS., Nov., II, 121). The saint is without doubt a martyr of the Roman Church. He was buried in a catacomb on the Via Nomentana Itineraries make explicit reference to his grave, and near the gate of that name. Three seventh century Pope Adrian I restored the church built over it (De Rossi, "Roma Sotterranea", I, 178-79). A titular church of Rome, mentioned in the fifth century, was known of the circumstances of his death. The legend dedicated to him (titulus S. Nicomedis). Nothing is duces him as a presbyter and places his death at the of the martyrdom of Sts. Nereus and Achilleus introend of the first century. Other recensions of the martyrdom of St. Nicomedes ascribe the sentence of death to the Emperor Maximianus (beginning of the fourth century). Acta SS., Sept., V, 5 sqq.; Analecta Bollandiana, XI, 268-69; MOMBRITIUS, Sanctuarium, II, 160-61; Bibliotheca hagiographica latina, ed. BOLLANDISTS, II, 901-02; DUFOURCQ, Les Gesta Martyrum romains, I (Paris, 1900), 200-10; MARUCCHI, Les catacombes romaines (Rome, 1900), 254-56. J. P. KIRSCH. Nicomedia, titular see of Bithynia Prima, founded by King Zipoetes. About 264 B. C. his son Nicodemes I dedicated the city anew, gave it his name, made it his capital, and adorned it with magnificent monuments. At his court the vanquished Hannibal sought refuge. When Bithynia became a Roman province Nicomedia remained its capital. Pliny the Younger mentions, in his letters to Trajan, several public edifices of the city, a senate house, an aqueduct which he had built, a forum, the temple of Cybele, etc. He also proposed to join the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmora by a canal which should follow the river Sangarius and empty the waters of the Lake of Sabandja into the Gulf of Astacus. A fire then almost destroyed the town. From Nicomedia perhaps, he wrote to Trajan his famous letter concerning the Christians. Under Marcus Aurelius, Dionysius, Bishop of Corinth, addressed a letter to his community warning them against the Marcionites (Eusebius, "Hist. Eccl.", IV, xxiii). Bishop Evander, who opposed the sect of the Ophites (P. L., LIII, 592), seems to have lived at the same time. Nicomedia was the favourite residence of Diocletian, who built there a palace, a hippodrome, a mint, and an arsenal. In 303 the edict of the tenth persecution caused rivers of blood to flow through the empire, especially in Nicomedia, where the Bishop Anthimus and a great many Christians were martyred. The city was then half Christian, the palace itself being filled with them. In 303, in the vast plain east of Nicomedia, Diocletian renounced the empire in favour of Galerius. In 311 Lucian, a priest of Antioch, delivered a discourse in the presence of the judge before he was executed. Other martyrs of the city are numbered by hundreds. Nicomedia suffered greatly during the fourth century from an invasion of the Goths and from an earthquake (24 Aug., 354), which overthrew all the public and private monuments; fire completed the catastrophe. The city was rebuilt, on a smaller scale. In the reign of Justinian new public buildings were erected, which were destroyed in the following century by the Shah Chosroes. Pope Constantine I visited the city in 711. In 1073 John Comnenus was there proclaimed emperor and shortly afterwards was compelled to abdicate. In 1328 it was captured by the Sultan Orkhan, who restored its ramparts, parts of which are still preserved. Le Quien (Oriens Christ., I, 581-98) has drawn up a list of fifty metropolitans, which may easily be completed, for Nicomedia has never ceased to be a metropolitan see. Some Latin archbishops are also mentioned by Le Quien (III, 1017) and by Eubel (Hierarchia Catholica medii ævi, I, 381). As early as the eighth century the metropolitan See of Nicomedia had eight suffragan sees which disappeared by degrees. Among its bishops, apart from those already mentioned, were: the three Arians, Eusebius, Eudoxius, and Demophilus, who exchanged their see for that of Constantinople; St. Theophylactus, martyred by the Iconoclasts in the ninth century; George, a great preacher and a friend of Photius; Philotheus Bryennios, the present titular, who discovered and published Audax Tv άпоσтóλv. To-day Nicomedia is called Ismidt, the chief town of a sanjak directly dependent on Constantinople. It has about 25,000 inhabitants, who are very poor, for the German port of Haïdar Pacha has completely ruined its commerce. Since 1891 the Augustinians of the Assumption have a mission and school, and the Oblates of the Assumption, a school and a dispensary. The Latin Catholics number about 250 in the region of the mission, seventy of them living in the city. The Armenian Catholic parish numbers 120. TEXIER, Asie Mineure (Paris, 1862), 60-68; CUINET, La Turquie d'Asie (Paris), IV, 355–64. S. VAILHÉ. Nicopolis, a titular see, suffragan of Sebasteia, in Armenia Prima. Founded by Pompey after his decisive victory over Mithridates, it was inhabited by veterans of his army and by members of the neighbeautiful, well-watered plain lying at the base of a bouring peasantry, and was delightfully situated in a thickly-wooded mountain. All the Roman highways intersecting that portion of the country and leading to Comana, Polemonium, Neocæsarea, Sebasteia, etc., radiated from Nicopolis which, even in the time of Strabo (XII, iii, 28), boasted quite a large population. Given to Polemon by Anthony, in 36 B. c., Nicopolis was governed from A. D. 54, by Aristobulus of Chalcis and definitively annexed to the Roman Empire by Nero, A. D. 64. It then became the metropolis of Lesser Armenia and the seat of the provincial diet the Augusti, it raised temples to Zeus Nicephorus and which elected the Armeniarch. Besides the altar of to Victory. Christianity reached Nicopolis at an early date and, under Licinius, about 319, forty-five of the city's inhabitants were martyred; the Church venerates them on 10 July. St. Basil (P. G., XXXII, 896) calls the priests of Nicopolis the sons of confessors and martyrs, and their church (P. G., XXXII, 834) the mother of that of Colonia. About 472, St. John the Silent, who had sold his worldly goods, erected a church there to the Blessed Virgin. In 499 Nicopolis was destroyed by an earthquake, none save the bishop and his two secretaries escaping death (Bull. Acad. de Belgique, 1905, 557). This disaster was irreparable, and although Justinian rebuilt the walls and erected a monastery in memory of the Forty-five Martyrs (Procopius, "De Edificiis ", III, 4), Nicopolis never regained its former splendour. Under Heraclius it was captured by Chosroes (Sebeos, "Histoire d'Heraclius", tr. Macler, p. 62) and thenceforth was only a mediocre city, a simple see and a suffragan of Sebasteia in Lesser Armenia, remaining such at least until the eleventh century, as may be seen from site of ancient Nicopolis is occupied by the Armenian the various "Notitia episcopatuum". To-day the Village of Purkh, which has a population of 200 families and is near the city of Enderes, in the sanjak of Kara-Hissar and the vilayet of Sivas. Notable among the eight bishops mentioned by Le Quien is St. Gregory who, in the eleventh century, resigned his bishopric and retired to Pithiviers in France. The Church venerates him on 14 March. LE QUIEN, Oriens christianus (Paris, 1740), I, 427-30; Acta Sanctorum, July, III, 34-45; CUMONT, Studica Pontica (Brussels, 1906), 304-14. S. VAILHÉ. Nicopolis, DIOCESE OF (NICOPOLITANA), in Bulgaria. The city of Nicopolis (Thrace or Moesia), situated at the junction of the Iatrus with the Danube, was built by Trajan in commemoration of his victory over the Dacians (Ammianus Marcellinus, XXXI, 5; Jornandès, "De rebus geticis", ed. Savagner, 218). Ptolemy (III, xi, 7) places it in Thrace and Hierocles in Mosia near the Hamus or Balkans. In the "Ecthesis" of pseudo-Epiphanius (Gelzer, “Ungedruckte Texte der Notitia episcopatuum", 535), Nicopolis figures as an autocephalous archbishopric about 640, and then disappears from the episcopal lists, owing to the fact that the country fell into the hands of the Bulgarians. Le Quien (Oriens christianus, I, 1233) has preserved the names of two ancient bishops: Marcellus in 458, and Amantius in 518. A list of the Latin titulars (1354-1413) may be found in Eubel (Hierarchia catholica medii ævi, Münster, I, 381). The city is chiefly noted for the defeat of the French and Hungarian armies (25 September, 1396) which made the Turks masters of the Balkan peninsula. The Latin mission of Bulgaria, subject during the sixteenth century to the Archbishops of Antivari, afterwards received Franciscan missionaries from Bosnia, and in 1624 formed an independent province called "custodia Bulgaria". In 1763 it was confided to the Baptistines of Genoa and in 1781, to the Passionists who have no canonical residences in the country, simply parishes. One of them is usually appointed Bishop of Nicopolis. The Franciscan bishops formerly resided at Tchiprovetz, destroyed by the Turks in 1688, but after the war and the pestilence of 1812, the bishop established himself at Cioplea, a Catholic village which the Bulgarians had just founded near Bucharest and where his successors resided until 1883, when the Holy See created the Archbishopric of Bucharest. The Bishop of Nicopolis, ceasing then to be apostolic administrator of Wallachia, chose Roustchouk as his residence and still lives there. In the diocese there are 13,000 Catholics; 24 priests, 5 of whom are seculars; 17 Passionists and 2 Assumptionists; 15 churches, and 3 chapels. The Assumptionists have a school at Varna, the Oblates of the Assumption a boarding-school in the same city, and the Sisters of Our Lady of Sion a boarding-school at Roustchouk. Ptolemy, ed. MÜLLER, I (Paris), 481; LE ROULX, La France en Orient au XIV siècle, I (Paris, 1886), 211-99; Echos d'Orient, VII (Paris), 207-9; Missiones catholica (Rome, 1907). S. VAILHÉ. Nicopolis, a titular see and metropolis in ancient Epirus. Augustus founded the city (B. c. 31) on a promontory in the Gulf of Ambracia, in commemoration of his victory over Anthony and Cleopatra at Actium. At Nicopolis the emperor instituted the famous quinquennial Actian games in honour of Apollo. The city was peopled chiefly by settlers from the neighbouring municipia, of which it was the head (Strabo III, xiii, 3; VII, vii, 6; X, ii, 2). According to Pliny the Elder (IV, 2) it was a free city. St. Paul intended going there (Tit., iii, 12) and it is possible that even then it numbered some Christians among its population; Origen sojourned there for a while (Eusebius, "Hist. eccl.", VI, 16). Laid waste by the Goths at the beginning of the fifth century (Procopius, "Bell. goth.", IV, 22), restored by Justinian (Idem, "De Edificiis", IV, 2), in the sixth century it was still the capital of Epirus (Hierocles, "Synecdemus", ed. Burchhardt, 651, 4). The province of ancient Epirus of which Nicopolis was the metropolis, constituted a portion of the western patriarchate, directly subject to the jurisdiction of the pope; but, about 732, Leo the Isaurian incorporated it into the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Of the eleven metropolitans mentioned by Le Quien (Oriens christianus, II, 133-38) the most celebrated was Alcison who, early in the sixth century, opposed the Monophysite policy of Emperor Anastasius. The last known of these bishops was Anastasius, who attended the Ecumenical Council in 787, and soon afterwards, owing to the decadence into which Nicopolis fell, the metropolitan see was transferred to Naupactus which subsequently figured in the Notitiæ episcopatuum. Quite extensive ruins of Nicopolis are found three miles to the north of Prevesa and are called Palaio-Prevesa. SMITH, Diet. Greek and Roman Geography, II (London, 1870), 426; LEAKE, Northern Greece, I, 185; WOLFE, Journal of Geographical Society, III, 92 sq. S. VAILHÉ. Nicosia, a city of the Province of Catania, in Sicily, situated at a height of about 2800 feet above the level of the sea. In its neighbourhood are salt mines and sulphur springs. The town is believed to stand on the site of the ancient Otterbita, which was destroyed by the Arabs. It has a fine cathedral, with a magnificent portal and paintings by Velasquez. Santa Maria Maggiore, also, is a beautiful church. The episcopal see was erected in 1818, its first prelate being Mgr Cajetan M. Averna, Nicosia was the birthplace of the Blessed Felix of Nicosia, a Capuchin lay brother. Within the diocese is the ancient city of Triona, which was an episcopal see from 1087 to 1090. Nicosia is a suffragan of Messina, from the territory of which that of Nicosia was taken; it has 23 parishes, with 60,250 inhabitants, 4 religious houses of men, and 5 of women, and 3 schools for girls. CAPPELLETTI, Le Chiese d'Italia, XXI (Venice, 1857). of Cyprus. Nicosia, TITULAR ARCHDIOCESE OF, in the Province LE QUIEN, Oriens christianus, II (Paris, 1740), 1076; Acta Sanctorum, III Junii, 174-78; Analecta Bollandiana (Brussels, 1907), 212-20; MAS LATRIE, Histoire des Archevêques latins de Church of Cyprus (London, 1901), passim; PHRANGOUDES, Cyprus Pile de Chypre (Genoa, 1882); HACKETT, A History of the Orthodox (Athens, 1890), in Greek; CHAMBERLAYNE, Lacrima Nicosienses (Paris, 1894). S. VAILHÉ. Nicotera and Tropea, DIOCESE OF (NICOTERENSIS ET TROPEIENSIS), suffragan of Reggio di Calabria. Nicotera, the ancient Medama, is a city of the Province of Catanzaro, in Calabria, Italy; it was destroyed by the earthquake of 1783. Its first known bishop was Proculus, to whom, with others, a letter of St. Gregory the Great was written in 599. With the exception of Sergius (787), none of its bishops is known earlier than 1392. Under Bishop Charles Pinti, the city was pillaged by the Turks. In 1818, it was united on equal terms (aque principaliter) with the Diocese of Tropea. This city is situated on a reef, in the gulf of St. Euphemia connected with the mainland by a narrow strip. It is the birthplace of the painter Spanò, the anatomists Pietro and Paolo Voiani, and the philosopher Pasquale Galluppi. It has a beautiful cathedral, restored after its destruction by the earthquake of 1783. Here the Greek Rite was formerly used. Only three bishops before the Norman conquest are known; the first, Joannes, is referred to the year 649; among its other prelates was Nicolò Acciapori (1410), an eminent statesman. The diocese has 72 parishes, with 78,000 inhabitants, a Franciscan nouse, and a house of the Sisters of Charity. CAPPELLETTI, Le Chiese d'Italia, XXI. U. BENIGNI. Nictheroy, DIOCESE OF. See PETROPOLIS. Nider, JOHN, theologian, b. 1380 in Swabia; d. 13 August, 1438, at Colmar. He entered the Order of Preachers at Colmar and after profession was sent to Vienna for his philosophical studies, which he finished at Cologne where he was ordained. He gained a wide reputation in Germany as a preacher and was active at the Council of Constance. After making a study of the convents of his order of strict observance in Italy he returned to the University of Vienna where in 1425 he began teaching as Master of Theology. Elected prior of the Dominican convent at Nuremberg in 1427, he successively served as socius to his master general and vicar of the reformed convents of the German province. In this capacity he maintained his early reputation of reformer and in 1431 he was chosen prior of the convent of strict observance at Basle. He became identified with the Council of Basle as theologian and legate, making several embassies to the Hussites at the command of Cardinal Julian. Sent as legate of the Council to the Bohe mians he succeeded in pacifying them. He journeyed to Ratisbon (1434) to effect a further reconciliation with the Bohemians and then proceeded to Vienna to continue his work of reforming the convents there. During the discussion that followed the dissolution of the Council of Basle by Eugene IV, he joined the party in favour of continuing the Council in Germany, abandoning them, however, when the pope remained firm in his decision. He resumed his theological lectures at Vienna in 1436 and was twice elected dean of the university before his death. As reformer he was foremost in Germany and welcomed as such both by his own order and by the Fathers of the Council of Basle. As a theologian his adherence to the principles of St. Thomas and his practical methods made him distinguished among his contemporaries. The most important among his many writings is the "Formicarius" (5 vols., Douai, 1602) a treatise on the philosophical, theological, and social questions of his day. Among his theological works are the following: "Commentarius in IV libros Sententiarum" (no longer extant); "Præceptorum divinæ legis" (Douai, 1612, seventeen other editions before 1500); "Tractatus de contractibus mercatorum" (Paris, 1514, eight editions before 1500); "Consolatorium timoratæ conscientiæ" (Rome, 1604); "De Morali lepra" (Regia, 1830); "Manuale ad instructionem spiritualium Pastorum" (Rome, 1513); “Alphabetum Divini Amoris" (Antwerp, 1705, in works of Gerson); "De modo bene vivendi" (commonly atttributed to St. Bernard); "De Reformatione Religiosorum Libri Tres" (Paris, 1512; Antwerp, 1611). Besides these there are several letters written to the Bohemians and to the Fathers of the Council of Basle, printed in "Monum. Concil. General., sæc. XV, Concil. Basil. Scrip.", I (Vienna, 1857). QUÉTIF-ECHARD, Scriptores O. P., I, 792 sqq.; II, 822; ToURON, Histoire des Hommes illustres de l'ordre de St. Dominique, III, 21876; SCHIELER in Kirchenlex. q. v. Nider; COLVENERIUS, J. Nider Formicarius (Douai, 1602); STEILL, Ord. Præd. Ephemerides Domincano-sacra, II (Dilling, 1692), 230; SCHIELER, Magister Johannes Nider, aus dem Orden der Prediger-Brüder (Mainz, 1885); Année Dominicaine, VII (1895), 731-46; HAIN, Rep. Bibl., III (1831); BRUMER, Predigerorden in Wien (1867); CHEVALIER, Répertoire des Sources historiques du Moyen Age, II, 3360. IGNATIUS SMITH. Nieremberg y Otin, JUAN EUSEBIO, noted theologian and polygraphist, b. of German parents at Madrid, 1595; d. there, 1658. Having studied the classics at the Court, he went to Alcala for the sciences and from there to Salamanca for canon law, where he enwishes of his father who finally obliged him to leave tered the Society of Jesus in 1614, much against the the novitiate of Villagarcía. He remained firm in his resolution and was permitted to return to Madrid to finish his probation. He studied Greek and Hebrew at the Colegio de Huete, arts and theology at Alcalá, and was ordained in 1623, making his profession in 1633. At the Colegio Imperial of Madrid he taught Sacred Scripture for three. As a director of souls he humanities and natural history for sixteen years and was much sought, being appointed by royal command confessor to the Duchess of Mantua, granddaughter of Philip II. Remarkable for his exemplary life, and indefatigable worker, and one of the most prolific the heights of prayer to which he attained, he was an writers of his time. Seventy-three printed and eleven manuscript works are attributed to him; of these, twenty-four at least are in Latin. Though his works are distinguished for their erudition, those in Spanish being characterized according to Capmani, by nobility and purity of diction, terse, well-knit phrases, forcible metaphors, and vivid imagery, certain defects mar his style, at times inelegant and marked by a certain disregard for the rules of grammar and a too pronounced use of antithesis, paronomasia, and other plays upon words. Lack of a true critical faculty often detracts from the learning. The Spanish AcadAutoridades". His principal works are: (1) "Del emy includes his name in the Diccionario de Aprecio y Estima de la Divina Gracia" (Madrid, 1638), editions of which have been issued at Saragossa, Barcelona, Seville, Majorca, also a second edition of the Madrid edition; it has been translated into Italian, French, Latin, German, Panayano, and condensed into English (New York, 1866, 1891); (2) drid, 1640), of which there are fifty-four Spanish edi"De la Diferencia entre lo Temporal y Eterno" (Mations, and translations into Latin, Arabic, Italian, French, German, Flemish, and English (1672, 1684, 1884), Portuguese, Mexican, Guaranian, Chiquito, Panayano; (3) "Opera Parthenica" (Lyons, 1659), in Blessed Virgin, basing it upon new, although not alwhich he defends the Immaculate Conception of the ways absolutely reliable, documents; (4) "Historia naturæ maxime peregrina Libris XVI, distincta" (AntIdem de Maria" (Madrid, 1630), of which there are werp, 1635); (5) "De la afición y amor de Jesús five Spanish editions and translations into Latin, Arabic, German, Flemish, French, Italian, Portuguese, and an English translation of the first edition (1849, 1880); one edition of (6) "Obras Christianas espirituales y filosóficas" (Madrid, 1651, fol. 3 vols.), and one of (7) "Obras Christianas" (Madrid, 1665, fol. 2 vols.), are still extant. It was customary in many of the Spanish churches to read selections from these books every Sunday. 66 ANDRADE, Varones ilustres de la Compañía de Jesús, VIII (2nd ed., Bilbao (1891), 699-766; CAPMANI Y DE MONTPALAU, Teatro Histórico crítico de la Elocuencia española, V (Barcelona, 1848), ANTONIO PÉREZ GOYENΑ. Niessenberger, HANS, an architect of the latter part of the Middle Ages, whose name is mentioned with comparative frequency in contemporaneous literature. But information about his personality and his works is somewhat more difficult to find. It seems most eminent theologians and preachers of the latter half of the fifteenth century. He was a keen disciple of St. Thomas, zealous for the integrity of his teachings and adhering strictly to the traditions of his school. In his few theological works he limits himself almost entirely to the discussion of abstract questions of logic and psychology. He devoted most of his time to preaching to the Jews. He had learned their language and become familiar with their literature at Salamanca and Montpellier by associating with Jewish children and attending the lectures of the rabbis. At Ratisbon, Worms, and Frankfort-on-thehowever, that he was born in Gratz, Styria ("Seckauer frequently challenging the rabbis to a disputation. Main he preached in German, Latin, and Hebrew, Kirchenschmuck", 1880, p. 56). He worked on the choir of the Freiburg cathedral from 1471 to 1480; in He wrote two anti-Jewish works, one in Latin, "Tractatus contra Perfidos Judæos" (Esslingen, the latter year he was compelled to leave the task of building and to swear that he would not try to revenge Jewish work, and in which he severely attacked the 1475), which is probably the earliest printed antihimself for this. In 1480 he worked on the church of St. Leonhard at Basle; in 1482, on the cathedral at Jews and the Talmud. The other, written in German, is entitled "Stern des Messias" (Esslingen, 1477). Strasburg; and in the following year he probably was engaged on the great cathedral of Milan with a yearly Reuchlin in his "Augenspiegel" declared them absurd. Both works are furnished with appendices salary of 180 guilders-at least there is a "Johannes of Graz" mentioned as architect in Ricci, "Storia giving the Hebrew alphabet in Hebrew and Latin dell' archit. italiana", II, 388. The choir at Freiburg type, rules of grammar and for reading Hebrew, the was turned over to him in 1471; the contract is interDecalogue in Hebrew, some Messianic texts from the Old Testament, etc. They are among the earliesting and instructive, showing as it does the manner in which buildings of this kind were erected during the the first attempt at Hebrew grammar in that country est specimens of Hebrew printing in Germany, and latter part of the Middle Ages, and how the working by a Christian scholar. They were afterwards pubhours, wages, etc., were determined upon (Schreiber, lished separately as "Commentatio de primis linguæ "Münster zu Freiburg", Appendix, 15 sq.). The choir possesses great beauty, but it also manifests the Hebraica elementis" (Altdorf, 1764). Peter Teuto, peculiarities of Late Gothic. It is long, like the main O.P. (Quétif, I, 855), and Peter Eystettensis (Eck, church, with the nave higher, the side aisles lower and be identified with Peter Niger. "Chrysopassus Cent.", XLIX) are most probably to somewhat narrower than in the front, and surrounded by twelve chapels, enclosed on two sides by fluted columns. The arched roof, supported by beautifully carved columns, forms a network. The windows are characteristically Late Gothic, and the arches are wonderfully delicate. The whole is the work of a master. SCHREIBER, op. cit.; KUGLER, Gesch. der Baukunst, II (1859); OTTE, Kunst-Archäologie (5th ed., 1884); KEMPF, Das Münster zu Freiburg im Breisgau (Freiburg, 1898). G. GIETMANN. Niger (NIGRI, Ger. SCHWARTZ), PETER GEORGE, Dominican theologian, preacher and controversialist, b. 1434 at Kaaden in Bohemia; d. between 1481 and 1484. He studied at different universities (Salamanca, Montpellier, etc.), entered the order in 1452 at Eichstätt, Bavaria, and after his religious profession took up philosophy and theology at Leipzig, where he also produced his first literary work “De modo prædicandi” (1457). In 1459 he defended publicly in Freiburg a series of theses so successfully that the provincial chapter then in session there sent him to the University of Bologna for advanced courses in theology and canon law. Recalled after two years, he was made lector of theology and engaged in teaching and preaching. In 1465 he taught philosophy and was regent of studies in Cologne; in 1467 taught theology at Ulm; in 1469 or 1470 was elected prior in Eichstätt; on 31 May, 1473, the newly founded University of Ingolstadt conferred on him the degree of Doctor of theology; in 1474 he taught theology in the convent at Ratisbon and in 1478 became professor of Old-Testament exegesis in the University of Ingolstadt. Shortly after, upon the invitation of the patron of learning, Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, he became rector of his newly-erected Academy of philosophy, theology, and Sacred Scripture at Buda, in gratitude for which honour he dedicated to his royal friend his "Clypeus Thomistarum adversus omnes doctrinæ doctoris angelici obtrectatores" (Venice, 1481), in which he defends the teaching of St. Thomas against the Scotists and Nominalists. Niger ranks among the QUÉTIF-ECHARD, SS. Ord. Præd., I, 861 sqq.; TOURON, Hom. Ill. de l'ordre de S. Dom., III, 532-31; REUSCH, Allg. d. Biogr., XXXIII, 247 sq.; JOCHER, Allg. Gelehrtenlexikon, s. v.; PRANTL, Gesch. der Logik im Abendl. (Leipzig, 1870), 221 sq.; Katholik, Í (1891), 574; II (1902), 310; Analecta Ord. Præd., II, 367; WOLF, Bibliotheca Hebraica (Hamburg, 1721), II, 17, 1037, 1110 sqq.; IV, 525 sqq. JOSEPH SCHROEDER. Nigeria, UPPER AND LOWER, a colony of British East Africa extending from the Gulf of Guinea to Lake Chad (from 4° 30′ to 7° N. lat., and from 5° 30' to 8° 30' E. long.), is bounded on the north and west by French Sudan, on the south-west by the English colony of Lagos, on the south by the Atlantic, on the east by German Kamerun. It derives its name from the River Niger, flowing through it. The Niger, French from its source in the Guinean Sudan to the frontier of Sierra Leone and Liberia, enters Nigeria above Ilo, receives the Sokoto River at Gomba, and the Benue at Lokodja, the chief tributaries in English territory. Though the establishment of the English dates only from 1879, numerous explorers had long before reconnoitred the river and the neighbouring country. Among the most famous were Mungo Park (1795-1805), Clapperton (1822), René Caillé (1825), Lander, Barth, Mage, and recently the French officers Galliéni, Mizon, Hourst, and Lenfant. In 1879, on the initiative of Sir George Goldie, the English societies established in the region purchased all the French and foreign trading stations of Lower Niger and in 1885 obtained a royal charter which constituted them the "Royal Company of the Niger". The Royal Company developed rapidly and acquired immense territories, often at the cost of bloodshed. The monopoly of navigation which it claimed to exercise, contrary to the stipulations of the General Act of Berlin, its opposition to the undertakings of France and Germany, its encroachments on neighbouring territories, aroused numerous diplomatic quarrels which finally brought about the revocation of its privileges (1 Jan., 1900). It then became a simple commercial company with enormous territorial possessions; the conquered lands, reunited to the old Protectorate of the Niger Coast organized in 1884, constituted the British colony of |