NOBILI
86
NOCERA
propositions constituting the essence of Jansenism,
but he always inclined, both in dogma and morals, to
opinions savouring of .lansonisni; he favoured its [)ar-
tisans and was ever hostile to the Jesuits and the ad-
versaries of the Jansenisls. Shiirlly before his eleva-
tion to the See of Paris he had approved (June, Itii):'))
the "Reflexions morales" of Pcre Quesnel, an Orato-
rian already known for his ardent attacliment to
Jansenism and destined soon to be its leader. He ear-
nestly reconuneiuled it to his priests. This approba-
tion was the source of all the cardinal's troubles.
Believing themselves thenceforth certain of his sym- pathy the Janseiiists. on dc Xoailles' elevation to the bee of Paris, i)ublislu'd a jiosthumous work of de Bar- cos (q. v.), entitled "Exposition de la foy", really the explanation ami defence of the Janscnistic doctrine of grace already condeinnctl by Rome. De Noailles con- demned the book (20 August, 1696), at least in the first part of his instruction, but in the second he set forth a theory on grace and predestination closely resembling that of de Barcos. No one was satisfied; the ordinance displeased both the Jansenists and the Jesuits. The former did not fail to call attention to the contradic- tory attitudes of the Bishop of Chalons, who approved Quesnel, and the Archbishop of Paris, who condemned de Barcos. An anonymous pamphlet published under the title "Problcmeecclesia-stique", placed side by side twenty-nine identical propositions which had been approved in the Quesnel's work and condemned in de Barcos'. Parliament condemned the lampoon to be burned; six months later it was put on the Index (2 June, 1699) and proscribed by the Holy Office.
The controversies occasioned by the publication of the "Cas de Conscience" and Quesnel's "Reflexions morales" (for which see Jansenius, in Vol. VIII, 291-2) involved de Noailles deeply in the Jansenist quarrel. In spite of repeated papal decisions of the Holy See, the cardinal, for many years, would not ac- cept the Bull "Unigenitus". Finally he yielded in May, 1728, and on 11 October following published his unconditioned acceptance of the Bull. He afterwards retracted various writings, which seemed to cast doubt on the sincerity of his submission; he restored to the Jesuits the faculties of which he had deprived them thirteen years before. He died two months later, aged 78. regarded by all with respect and esteem. His weak and uncertain character caused him to offend every- body — Jesuits and Jansenists, pope and king, partisans and adversaries of the Bull " Unigenitus". He lacked discernment in the choice of his confidants; he bore a great name, and played an important part in his time, but lacked many qualities of a great bishop. His works — diocesan ordinances and parochial instruc- tions — are mostly collected in the "Synodicon ec- clesise Parisiensis" (Paris, 1777).
De Barth^lemy, he Card, de Noailles d'a-prhs aa correspondance (Paris, 1886) ; Saint-Simon, Mimaires, ed. Boilisle, II (Paris, 1879): [Villefore], Anecdotes ou Memoires secrets (s.l., 1730): Lafitau, Re/titalion des Anecdotes {Aix, 1734); Picot, Mem, pour servir i Vhist. eccles. pendaiU le XVI I It Steele (Paris, 1853), I, II; (Guillon), Hist. gin. de I'iglise pendant le XVIII' siecte (Beaan- Con, 1823); Le Roy, La France et Rome de 1700 d 1715 (Paris, 1892); Cbou8l£, Finelon et Bosauel (Paris, 1895).
Antoinb Degert.
Nobili, Robert de', b. at Montepulciano, Tus- cany, September, 1.577; d. at Mylapore, India, in 16.56. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1597, at Naples, and after a brilliant course of studies sailed for the Indian mission in October, 1604, arriving at Goa, 20 May, 1605. After a short stay at Cochin and the FLshery Coast, he was sent in November, 1606, to Madura to study Tamil. Within a year he had ac- quired a complete mastery of Tamil, Telugu, and San- skrit. In his zeal to convert the Brahmins he adopted their mode of life and so had to cut himself off com- pletely from intercourse with his fellow missionaries. He worked in Madura, Mysore, and the Karnatic till old age and almost complete blindness compelled him
to retire to Mylapore. (For an account of his mission-
ary methods see M.^L.\B.in Rites.) De' Nobili trans-
lated into Sanskrit or compo.'icfl therein niiuiy prayers
- uul several longer works, esprcially an abridgtririit of
Christian Doctrine and a life of Our Lady, in Sanskrit verse. Nearly all these productions were lost during his imprisonment in Madura (1()39-41). His principal work in Tamil is his "Larger Catechism", in four hooks, printed after his death (partly reprinted, Trichinojioly, 1891-1906). It is a course of tlieology adapted to the needs of the country. In addition lie wrote: "A Treatise on the Eternal Life", "A Dialogue on the Faith", "A Disproof of Transmigration", "A Man- ual of Rules of Perfection", numerous hymns and several instructions not yet edited, two small cate- chisms still in actual use, "The Science of the Soul", and many prayers. He translated into Telugu several of his Tamil works, among them the two small cate- chisms. In Tamil and Telugu he enriched the vocabu- lary with appropriate Christian terms.
Bertrand, La Mission da Maduri (Paris, 1847); Lettres (di- fiantes. Collection Martin^ II, 263-60; for the pseudo-Veda, or rather paeudo-Veda hoax, see Asiatic Researches, XIV (London, 1818). 35; pseudo-Vedas seem clearly a non-Christian production: for diatribes on de' Nobili, see D'Orsay, Portuguese Discoveries (London, 1893), 254-58.
J. Castet.s.
Noble, Daniel, phy.sician, b. 14 Jan., 1810; d. at Manchester, 12 Jan., 1885. He was the son of Mary Dewhurst and Edward Noble of Preston, a descendant of an old Yorkshire Catholic family. Apprenticed to a Preston surgeon named Thomas Moore, Noble was in time admitted a member of the Royal College of Surgeons and a licentiate of Apothecaries Hall. In 1834 he began to practise in Manchester, and soon showed the special interest in mental disease which afterwards distinguished his career. In the following year he published his first work, "An Essay of the Means, physical and moral, of estimating Human Character", the tendency of which is indicated by the fact that he is described as President of the Manches- ter Phrenological Society. His practise increased, and in 1840 he married Frances Mary Louisa Ward, of Dublin; they had eight children, one of them Frances, the novelist. Cardinal Wiseman stood sponsor to his eldest child. From the University of St. Andrews he received the degrees of M.D. and M.A., and in 1867 he was elected a fellow of the College of Physicians. His other works are: — "Facts and Observations relative to the influence of manufactures upon health and life" (London, 1843); "The Brain and its Physiology, a critical disquisition of the methods of determining relations subsisting between the structure and func- tions of the encephalon" (London, 1846); "Elements of Psychological Medicine: an Introduction to the practical study of Insanity" (London, 1853-55); "Three Lectures on the Correlation of Psychology and Physiology" (London, 1854) ; "The Human Mind in its relations with the Brain and Nervous System" (London, 1858); "On certain popular fallacies con- cerning the production of epidemic diseases" (Man- chester, 1859); "On the fluctuations in the death- rate" (Manchester, 1863); "Evanescent Protestantism and Nascent Atheism, the modern religious problem " (London, 1877); "On causes reducing the effects of sanitary reform" (Manchester, 1878) and several contributions to various medical journals, the best- known of which was a paper called "Mesmerism True — Mesmerism False", which was translated into Ger- man and Dutch.
GiLLOW, Bibl. Diet. Eng. Cath.. V, 181.
Edwin Burton. Nocera, Diocese op (Nucebinensis), in Peru- gia, Umbria, Italy, near the sources of the Tina, famous for its mineral waters, especially the Fonte Angelica. According to a legend, the first Bishop of Nocera was St. Crispoldus, a disciple of the Apostles, but his Germanic name renders this doubtful; more
