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# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Niccola Pisano

From volume 11 of the work.
Architect and sculptor, b. at Pisa about 1205-07; d. there, 1278. He was the father of modern plastic art. When barely past adolescence, he came to the notice of Frederick II of Swabia who took him to attend his coronation in Rome, thence to Naples, to complete Castel Capuano and Castel dell'Uovo (1221-31). In 1233 Niccola was in Lucca; the alto-rilievo of the Deposition over the side door of the cathedral may be of this date. The marble urn or Arca made to contain the body of St. Dominic in the church bearing his name in Bologna, is said to be an early work, but shows maturity; the charming group of the Madonna and Child upon it, foreshadows all the Madonnas of Italian art. From Niccola's designs was built the famous basilica of St. Anthony in Padua, the church of the Frari in Venice is also attributed to him, possibly on insufficient grounds. In Florence he designed the interior of Sta. Trinità which Michelangelo loved so much that he called it his lady, "la mia Dama". Having been ordered by the Ghibellines to destroy the baptistery frequented by the Guelphs, Niccola undermined the tower called Guardo-morto, causing it to so fall that it did not touch the precious edifice. On his return to Pisa, the architect erected the campanile for the church of S. Niccolò which contains the remarkable winding stair unsupported at its centre; an invention repeated by Bramante for the "Belvedere", and by San Gallo in the renowned well at Orvieto. In 1242 Niccola superintended the building of the cathedral of Pistoja, and in 1263 the restoration of S. Pietro Maggiore. He remodelled S. Domenico at Arezzo, the Duomo at Volterra, the Pieve and Sta. Margherita at Cortona. Much of his work at Pisa is believed to have perished in the fire of 1610. A wonderful creation (1260) is the hexagonal, insulated pulpit of the baptistery. It is supported by seven columns, three of them resting on lions. The panels have reliefs from the New Testament; the pediments, figures of virtues; the spandrels, prophets and evangelists. The architectural part is Italian Gothic: the sculptures are mainly pure reproductions of the antique. A second pulpit for the Duomo of Siena followed in 1266. Niccola's early sculpture shows clumsiness, if we are to believe that the figures outside the Misericordia Vecchia in Florence are his. In later life, whether from Rome or from his own Camposanto at Pisa (Roman sarcophagus used for the Countess Beatrice of Tuscany; Greek vase with figures he reproduced) he learned to create with the freedom, beauty, and power of ancient art. Ruhmer suggests aptly that he may have used clay for his initial model, a method then unpractised in Italy. One of Niccola's last works in architecture was the abbey and church of La Scorgola, commemorating Charles of Anjou's victory at Tagliacozzo, now in ruins; in sculpture, the statuettes for the famous Fonte Maggiore at Perugia, erected after his design (1277-80).
CICOGNARA, Storia della scultura (Venice, 1813); PERKINS, Tuscan sculptors (London, 1864); LÜBKE, History of sculpture, tr. BURNETT (London, 1862-72).
M. L. Handley.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Niccolò Alamanni

From volume 1 of the work.
​Alamanni, Niccolò, a Roman antiquary of Greek origin, b. at Ancona, 12 January, 1583; d. in Rome, 1626. He was educated in Rome at the Greek College, founded by Gregory XIII, but was ordained deacon and priest according to the Latin rite. After teaching Greek for some time to persons of rank, he was appointed secretary to Cardinal Borghese, and afterwards made custodian of the Vatican Library. His death is said to have been caused by too close attendance at the erection of the high altar of St. Peter's, to which honorable duty he had been assigned with orders to see that the sepulchres of the holy martyrs were not interfered with in the course of the work. He wrote a "Syntagma de Lateranensibus parietibus" (Rome, 1625) on the occasion of restorations carried out in the church of St. John Lateran by his patron, Cardinal Borghese, also a dissertation on the relative importance of the right and left side as exhibited in certain old papal coins that place St. Paul to the right of St. Peter, "De dextræ lævæque manus prærogativâ ex antiquis Pontificum nummis Paulum Petro apostolo anteponentibus." He is known in the history of classical literature as the editor (Lyons, 1623) of the famous "Anecdota", or "Secret History", of Procopius, a work that was violently criticized outside of Italy.
Moréri, Dict. historique (1740), I, 206; Nicius Erythrœus, Pinacotheca Imag. Ill., I, lxx.
John J. a' Becket.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Niccolo Albergati

From volume 1 of the work.
​Albergati, Niccolo, Cardinal and Bishop of Bologna, b. at Bologna in 1357; d. at Sienna, 9 May, 1443. He entered the Carthusian Order in 1394, served as prior in various monasteries, and was made Bishop of Bologna, against his will, in 1417. In this office he still followed the Rule of his Order, was zealous for the reform of regular and secular clergy, and was a great patron of learned men, among whom was Æneas Sylvius, afterwards Pius II. Martin V, and his successor, Eugenius IV, employed ​him on several important missions, thrice to France (1422, 1431, 1435), and thrice to Lombardy (1420, 1427, 1430). He was made a Cardinal in 1420, attended the Council of Basle in 1432, and again in 1434 and 1436, as legate of Eugenius IV, a position which he also filled in January, 1348, at Ferrara, whither Eugenius had transferred the Synod. He took part in the conferences with the Greeks in preparation for the union effected at Florence. The Pope appointed him Grand Penitentiary shortly before his death. Though never formally canonized, he has long been popularly venerated as Blessed (Acta SS., II May, 469 sqq., and Analecta Boll., VIII, 381 sqq.). He is the author of various theological and other treatises, including: "Recollecta multæ electionis"; "Apologia pro Eugenio IV"; sermons, prayers, epistles (P.L., CCIV). His life has been written by many different authors, contemporary and since his time.
Eggs, Purp. doctæ. III, 14; Ruggeri, Testimonia de Nic. Alb. (Rome. 1744); Stanonik in Kirchenlex., 1, 408; Pastor, History of the Popes (London, 1892), I, passim.
Francis W. Grey.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Niccolò Alunno

From volume 1 of the work.
​Alunno, Niccolò (real name Niccolò di Liberatore), a notable Umbrian painter in distemper, born c. 1430, at Foligno; died 1502. He was the son of a painter and a pupil of Bartolommeo di Tommaso. His master's assistant was Bennozo Gozzoli, the pupil of Fra Angelico. The simple Umbrian feeling in his work was somehow modified by this Florentine influence. His earliest known example (dated 1458) is in the Franciscan Church of La Diruta, near Perugia. He painted banners for religious processions, as well as altarpieces and other pictures, died a rich man, and is supposed by Mariotti to have been the master of Perugino, Pinturicchio, and Andrea di Luigi. Some works ascribed to him are thought to be by another, and contemporary, Alunno, called Desiderato. A "Madonna Enthroned" is in the Brera Gallery in Milan, and there are altarpieces at Perugia, in the Castle at San Severino, at Gualdo ​La Bastia, and Foligno. The predella of the last, which was taken to France by Napoleon, still remains in the Louvre. One of his banners is in a church in Perugia.
Adamo Rossi of Perugia, and S. Frenfanelli Cibo of Rome, Memoirs, (1872).
Augustus Van Cleef.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli

From volume 15 of the work.
Composer, born at Naples, 4 April, 1752; died at Torre del Greco, 5 May, 1837. Having studied at the Loreto Conservatory under Fenaroli and Speranza, his first opera, "Montesuma", was given at San Carlo, 13 August, 1781. He then went to Milan, where he remained until 1794, when he took up the post of maestro di cappella at Santa Casa, Loreto (1794-1804), after which he succeeded Gugliemi as choir master of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. For refusing to conduct a "Te Deum" for Napoleon in St. Peter's, Rome, in 1811, he was taken a prisoner to Paris, but released soon after; and in 1816 he replaced Paisiello as choir master of Naples cathedral, a position he held until death. Whether as a composer of operas or of sacred music Zingarelli holds a high place, but, being a deeply religious Catholic, he devoted most of his attention to masses, oratorios, cantatas, and motets. For Loreto he composed 541 works, including 28 masses. In 1829 he wrote a cantata for the Birmingham Festival. Less than a month before his death he produced an oratorio, "The Flight into Egypt", a wonderful feat for a man of eighty-five. Of his operas "Giulietta e Romeo" (1796) is regarded as his best; and his requiem mass, composed for his own funeral, is said to embody his most devotioned church style. Bellini and Mercadante were among his pupils.
W. H. Grattan-Flood.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Niagara University

This is a subarticle of the "Universities" article.
Niagara University, situated near Niagra Falls, New York, is conducted by the Vincentians. It was founded by Rev. John F. Lynch, C.M., later first Archbishop of Toronto, and was chartered by the Legislature, 20 April, 1863, as the Seminary of Our Lady of Angels. The original building was completely destroyed by fire in December, 1864; in April, 1865, one wing of the present building was built, and in 1869, the structure was completed. On 7 August, 1883, the Regents of New York State erected the Seminary of Our Lady of Angels into a college by the name of Niagara University. A medical school was established at Buffalo, and during its existence (1883-1898), it did much to further the study of medicine, and inauguarated the movement which has resulted in requiring four years' study for the doctor's degree in New York State. In 1898 the Niagara medical school was merged into that of the Buffalo University, as was also, in 1891, the Niagara law school. Niagara University has now complete seminary, college, and high school departments, embracing courses in philosophy, higher mathematics, science languages, commerce, and music. The university possesses over 300 acres of ground, a museum, laboratories for scientific work, and a library, containing about 35,000 volumes, begun by Bishop Timon, C.M.
GRACE, Niagara Index (1870-19912); Golden Jubilee Volume.
EDWARD J. WALSH
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Nicastro

From volume 11 of the work.
(NEOCASTRENSIS).
A city of the Province of Catanzaro, in Calabria, southern Italy, situated on a promontory that commands the Gulf of St. Euphemia; above it is an ancient castle. The commerce of the port of Nicastro consists of the exportation of acid, herbs, and wine. The cathedral, an ancient temple, with the episcopal palace, was outside the city; having been pillaged by the Saracens, it was restored in the year 1100, but it was destroyed in the earthquake of 1638, with the episcopal palace, under the ruins of which most valuable archives were lost. For a long time, the Greek Rite was in use at Nicastro. The first bishop of this city of whom there is any record was Henry (1090); Bishop Tancredo da Monte Foscolo (1279) was deposed by Honorius IV for having consecrated John of Aragon, King of Sicily, but he was reinstated by Boniface VIII; Bishop Paolo Capisucco (1533) was one of the judges in the case of the marriage of Henry VIII of England; Marcello Cervino (1539) became Pope Marcellus II; Giovanni Tommaso Perrone (1639) built the new cathedral. In 1818 the ancient See of Martorano, the former Mamertum (the first bishop of which was Domnus, in 761), was united to the Diocese of Nicastro. The diocese is a suffragan of Reggio in Calabria; it has 52 parishes, with 110,100 inhabitants; 71 churches and chapels, 2 convents of the Capuchins, and one orphan asylum and boarding-school, directed by the Sisters of Charity.
CAPPELLETTI, Le Chiese d'Italia, XXI (Venice, 1870), 200.
U. BENIGNI
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Encolpion

From volume 5 of the work.
Encolpion (Gr. enkolpion, that which is worn on the breast), the name given in early Christian times to a species of reliquary worn round the neck, in which were enclosed such relics as fragments of cloth stained with the blood of a martyr, small pieces of parchment with texts from the Holy Scriptures, particles of the True Cross, etc. The custom of bearing on the person objects of this character was evidently derived from the pagan practice of wearing buloe, containing amulets, round the neck as a protection against enchantment; the Church endeavored to purify this usage from superstition by substituting objects venerated by Christians for those to which they had been accustomed before conversion. According to St. Jerome, however (in Matt., c. xxiii), some of the faithful in his day attached a superstitious importance to these aids to piety; he censures certain classes of women who seem to have, in some degree, identified sanctity with an exaggerated veneration for sacred relics: "Hoc quod apud nos superstitiosae mulierculae in parvulis evangeliis et in crucis ligno et istiusmodi rebus, quae habent quidem zelum Dei, sed non secundum scientiam, factitant" (That which superstitious women amongst us, who have a certain zeal for God but not of right knowledge, do in regard to little copies of the Gospels, the wood of the cross, and things of that kind). Encolpia were of various forms, oval, round, four-cornered, and of various materials ranging from gold to glass. In 1571 two gold encolpia, square in form, were found in tombs of the ancient Vatican cemetery, engraved on one side with the monogram of Christ between the Alpha and Omega, and on the other with a dove. Another, now lost, was found in the tomb of Maria, wife of the Emperor Honorius, bearing the names of the imperial couple with the legend VIVATIS and the monogram. The famous treasure of Monza contains the theca persica, enclosing a text from the Gospel of St. John, sent by Pope St. Gregory the Great (590-604) to Queen Theodolinda for her son Adalaold. Another of the gifts of this pope to the Lombard queen was a cruciform encolpion containing a portion of the True Cross. Probably the most interesting reliquary of this form is a gold pectoral cross discovered at Rome in 1863, in the basilica of S. Lorenzo (fuori le mura), on the breast of a corpse. On one side it bears the inscription: EMMANOTHA NOBISCUM DEUS (Emmanuel, God with us), and on the other: CRUX EST VITA MIHI, MORS INIMICE TIBI (To me the Cross is life; to thee, O enemy, it is death). To the category of encolpia belong also the vials or vessels of clay in which were preserved such esteemed relics as oil from the lamps that burned before the Holy Sepulchre and the golden keys with filings from St. Peter's chains, one of which was sent by St. Gregory the Great to the Frankish King Childebert.
MAURICE M. HASSETT
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Emmanuel-Henri-Dieudonné Domenech

From volume 5 of the work.
Abbé, missionary and author, b. at Lyons, France, 4 November, 1826; d. in France, June, 1886. In the spring of 1846, before completing his seminary studies and when not yet twenty years of age, he left France in response to an urgent appeal for missionaries to help develop the Church in the wilds of Texas, then rapidly filling up with American and European immigration. He went first to St. Louis, where he spent two years completing his theological course, studying English and German, and gathering knowledge of missionary requirements. In May, 1848, he was assigned to duty at the new German settlement of Castroville in Texas, from which he was transferred later to Brownsville. The war with Mexico was just concluded; raiding bands of Mexicans and rangers were ravaging on both sides of the Rio Grande, while outlaws from the border States and almost equally lawless discharged soldiers filled the new towns, and hostile Indians hovered constantly in the background. A cholera epidemic added its horrors. Nevertheless the young priest went bravely to work with such energy that he soon became an efficient power for good throughout all Southern Texas. In 1850 he visited Europe and was received by the pope. Returning to Texas, he continued in the mission field two years longer, when he returned to France with health broken and was appointed titulary canon of Montpellier. When the French troops were dispatched to Mexico in 1861 he was selected to accompany the expedition as almoner to the army and chaplain to the Emperor Maximilian. After the return to France he devoted his remaining years to European travel, study, and writing, and the exercise of his ecclesiastical functions. In 1882-3 he again visited America.
Among his numerous works dealing with travel, history, and theology, may be noted: "Journal d'un missionnaire au Texas et au Mexique" (Paris, 1857); "Voyage dans les solitudes américaines" (Paris, 1858); "Histoire du jansénisme"; "Histoire du Mexique" (Paris, 1868); "Souvenirs d'outre-mer" (Paris, 1884). His principal works have appeared also in English translation. In regard to his much-controverted "Manuscrit pictographique americain" (Paris, 1860), an examination of the supposed Indian pictographs leaves no doubt that in this case the unsuspecting missionary was grossly deceived.
JAMES MOONEY
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Emmanuel Schelstrate

From volume 13 of the work.
Theologian, b. at Antwerp, 1649; d. at Rome, 6 April, 1692. While he was a canon of the cathedral of Antwerp, he was called to Rome by Innocent IX and made an assistant librarian of the Vatican Library.
He was a fine scholar in early ecclesiastical history and became the accredited defender of the papal supremacy. For this reason his writings have often been very severely judged. His "Antiquitas illustrata circa concilia generalia et provincialia" (Antwerp, 1678) contains decrees of the popes and various matters of Church history; in it he attacked the errors of Launoy in regard to the primacy of Rome. Schelstrate was only able to issue two volumes of a second edition which he had planned on a large scale (1692 and 1697). He carried on controversies with Arnauld and Louis Maimbourg concerning the authority of the general councils and of the popes; he opposed the declaration of the Gallican clergy in 1682, and wrote a treatise on the origin of the Anglican Church in a controversy with Edward Stillingfleet, Dean of St. Paul's, London. He also published numerous other works.
Hurter, Nomenclator, IV (Innsbruck), 1910), 550.
R. Maere.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Emmanuel Théodore de la Tour d'Auvergne, Cardinal de Bouillon

From volume 2 of the work.
(Emmanuel Thédore de la Tour d'Auvergne)
French prelate and diplomat, b. 24 August, 1643, at Turenne, d. 2 March, 1715, at Rome. The son of Frederick Maurice, Prince of Sedan, he was of the family of the great Marshal Turenne. In 1658, he was appointed a canon of Liège; doctor of the Sorbonne in 1667; created a cardinal in 1669, at the early age of twenty-four, and, finally, provided with several rich benefices and made chief almoner to Louis XIV. But Louvois, the powerful minister of Louis XIV, inspired by enmity to the house of Turenne, successfully opposed certain of his demands on the king for the benefit of members of his family, and the cardinal's disappointment vented itself in a bitter satire on his royal master. This was used to effect Bouillon's downfall at court. The cardinal then put forth great efforts to obtain the vacant Prince-Bishopric of Liège, but could not overcome the opposition of Louvois, who secured the dignity for Clement Joseph of Bavaria. Bouillon eventually regained the royal favour and was sent as ambassador to Rome. There, contrary to the wishes of his king, he championed the cause of Fénelon against that of Bossuet and did all he could to prevent the condemnation of Fénelon's "Explication des maximes des Saints". He was recalled to France, but alleging as a reason his duties as Dean of the Sacred College, he refused to obey the royal order. His property in France was then seized, whereupon he submitted and returned, but, on his arrival in France, was exiled to his Abbey of Tournus. While in his retirement, and under the influence of bitter ennui, the cardinal caused to be composed by Baluze his "Histoire généalogique de la maison d'Auvergne" (1708, 2 vols. in fol.). From his place of retreat, also, on the breaking out of the War of the Spanish Succession, he entered into correspondence with the English Duke of Marlborough, the Earls of Orrery and Galway, and others; and in 1710, after long and vainly soliciting his recall to court, he fled to the Low Countries. A warrant for his arrest was issued by the Royal Parliament, and his possessions again confiscated. But after some years spent abroad, during which the cardinal sent to the king numerous memoirs, endeavouring to justify his conduct, he at last succeeded in obtaining the restitution of his revenues and permission to take up his residence at Rome, where he spent in peace his last days.
DE FELLER-PÉRENNÈS, Biogr. Gener. (Paris, 1834), II, 470.
Edward A. Gilligan.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Emmanuel Maignan

From volume 9 of the work.
French physicist and theologian; b. at Toulouse, 17 July, 1601; d. at Toulouse, 29 October, 1676. His father was dean of the Chancery of that city and his mother's father was professor of medicine at the University of Toulouse. He studied the humanities at the Jesuit college. At the age of eighteen he joined the Order of Minims. His instructor in philosophy was a follower of Aristotle, but Maignan soon began to dispute and oppose all that seemed to him false in Aristotle's teachings, especially of physics. He preferred Plato to Aristotle. He mastered the mathematics of the day, practically without aid from any one. At the end of a few years his ability was recognized by his superiors and he was given charge of the instruction of novices. In 1636 he was called to Rome by the general of the order to teach mathematics at the convent of the Trinità dei Monti. There he lived for fourteen years, engaged in mathematics and in physical experiments, and publishing his work on gnomonics and perspective. In 1650 he returned to Toulouse and was made provincial. When his tree years were up, he was glad to devote himself entirely to his studies. When Louis XIV, having seen his machines and curiosities at Toulouse, invited him to Paris, in 1669, through Cardinal Mazarin, he begged to be allowed to pass his life in the seclusion of the convent. His published works are: "Perspectiva horaria, sive de horologiographia, tum teorica, tum practica" (4 vols., Rome, 1848); "Cursus philosophicus" (1st ed., 4 vols., Toulouse, 1652; 2nd ed. with changes and additions, Lyons, 1673); "Sacra philosophia entis supernaturalis" (Lyons, 1662, 1st vol., and 1672, 2nd vol.); "Dissertatio theologica de usu licito pecuniæ" (Lyons, 1673). This dissertation seemed to authorize usury and was therefore censured by a number of bishops.
SAGUENS, De Vita, moribus et scriptis R. P. E. Maignani et elogium (Toulouse, 1697); NICÉRON, Mémoirs...E. M., XXXI (Paris, 1735), 346-353.
WILLIAM FOX