NONNtTS
100
NORBERT
Paris censor. ARiiinst the "Dirtionnairp jiliilnso-
phiciuc", in which Voltaire had recapitulated, inidcr
a popuhir form, all his attacks on Cliri.sliaiiil v,
Nonnotte publislicd (he "Diclionnairc plul(isoplii(|uc
de la religion" (.\vignon, 1772). in which lie rcijlicd
to all the objections (lion brought aKaiii.st rcliKi<in.
The work Wiis (raiisl;L(c(l into Kalian .and German.
Tow.ards the end of hi.s life Xoniiottc published "Les
philosophes des (rois premiers sircles" (Paris, 1789),
m which he con(ras(eil (he ancient and (he modern
philosophers. The work was transla(ed into (ierman.
He also WTote "Lettre i un ami snr les honn,etetes
litt<;raires " (Paris, 17G()), and "Reponsc aux Ecl.air-
cissements historiques et au.x additions de Voltaire"
(Paris, 1774). These publications obtained for their
author a eulogistic Brief from Clement XIII (1768),
and the congratulations of St. Alphonsus Liguori,
who declared that he had alwaj's at liand his "golden
works" in which the chief truths of the Kaith were de-
fended with learning and propriety against the objec-
tions of Voltaire and his friends. Nonnotte was also
theauthorof "L'emploi de I'argent" (.Vvignon, 1787),
translated from MalTei; "Le gouvernement des pa-
roisses" (posthumous, Paris, 1802). All were published
under the titleCEuvresdeNonnotte"(Besan9on, 1819).
L'ami de la religion, XXV, 385; Sabatier de Castres, Les tTois siicles de la littiralure fran,:aise (The Hague, 1781); Sommer- TOQEL, Bib. de la C. de J(sus (Paris, 1894), V, 1803-7; IX, 722.
Antoine Degert.
Nonnus, of Panopolis in Upper Egypt (c. 400), the reputed author of two poems in hexameters; one, AwfvamKd, about the mysteries of Bacchus, and the other the "Paraphr.ose of the Fourth Gospel". Draseke proposes Apollinaris of Laodicea (Theolog. Litteraturzeitung, 1891, 332), and a fourteenth-cen- tury MS. suggests Ammonius as the author of the "Paraphrase", but the similarity of style makes it very probable that the two poems have the same au- thor. Nonnus would then seem to have been a pagan when he wrote the first, and afterwards to have become a Christian. Nothing else is known of his life. The "Paraphrase" is not completely extant; 3750 lines of it, now divided into twenty-one chapters, are known. It has some importance as evidence of the text its author used, and has been studied as a source of textual criticism (Blass, "Evang. sec. loh. cum varise lectionis delectu", Leipzig, 1902; Janssen in "Texte u. Untersuchungen", XXIII, 4, Leipzig, 1903). Otherwise it has little interest or merit. It is merely a repetition of the Gospel, verse by verse, inflated with fantastic epithets and the addition of imaginarj' details. The "Paraphrase" was first pub- lished by the Aldine Press in 1.501. The edition of Heinsius (Leyden, 1627) is reprinted in P. G., XLIII, 749-1228. The best modern edition is by Scheindler: "Nonni Panopolitani paraphrasis s. evang. loannei" (Leipzig, 1881).
Fabricics-Harles. Bibl.graca, VIII (Ilamburg, 1802), 601-12; KoECHLT, Opuscula philaloaiea, 1 (Leipzig, 1881), 421-46; Kinkel, Die Ueberlieferung der Paraphrase des ev. loh. von Nonnos, I (Zurich, 1870); Tiedke, Nonniana (Berlin, 1883).
Adrian Fortescue.
Norbert, Saint, b. at Xanten on the left bank of the Rhine, near We.sel, c. 1080; d. at Magdeburg, 6 June, 1134. His father, Heribert, Count of (3ennep, was related to the imperial house of Germany, and his mother, Hadwigis, was a descendant of the ancient house of Lorraine. A stately bearing, a penetrating intellect, a tender, earnest heart, marked the future apostle. Ordained subdeacon, Norbert was ap- pointed to a canonrj' at Xaiitcn. Soon after he was summoned to the Court of Frederick, Prince-Bishop of Cologne, and later to that of Henry V, Emperor of Germany, whose almoner be became. The Bishopric of Cambray was olTered to him, but refused. Nor- bert allowed himself to be so carried away by pleasure that nothing short of a miracle of grace could make
him lead the life of an earnest cleric. One day, while
riding to Vreden, a village near .\;inten, he was over-
t:ikcn by a storm. A tliunilerbolt fell at his horse's
feet; the frightened animal threw its rider, and for
ne:irly an hour he lay like one dead. Thus humbled,
Norbert became a sincere penitent. Henouncing his
ai)pointment at Court, he retired to Xanten to lead a
life of penance.
Understanding, however, that he stood in need of guidance, he placed himself under the direction of Cono, Abbot of Siegburg. In gratitude to Cono, Norbert founded the Abbey of I'iirstenberg, endowed it with a portion of his property, and made it over to Cono and his Benedictine successors. Norbert, was then in his thirty-fifth year. Feeling that he was called to the priesthood, he presented himself to the Bishop of Cologne, from whose hands he received Holy Orders. After a forty days' retreat at Siegburg Abbey, he celebrated his first Mass at Xanten and preached an earnest discourse on the transitory char- acter of this world's i>lcasures and on man's duties towards God. The insuKs of some young clerics, one of whom even spat in his face, he bore wi( h wonderful patience on that occasion. Norbert often went to Siegburg Abbey to confer with Cono, or to the cell of Ludolph, a holy and learned hermit-priest, or to the Abbey of Klosterrath near Rolduc. Accused as an in- novator at the Council of Fritzlar, he resigned all his ecclesiastical preferments, disposed of his es(ate, and gave all to the poor, reserving for himself only what was needed for the celebration of Holy Mass. Barefooted and begging his bread, he journeyed as far as St. Giles, in Languedoc, to confer with Pope Gelasius concerning his future life. Unable to keep Norbert at his court, Gelasius granted him faculties to preach wherever he judged proper. At Valenciennes Norbert met (March, 1119) Burchard, Bishop of Cambray, whose chaplain joined him in his apostolic journeys in France and Belgium. After the death of Pope Gelasius (29 January, 1119) Norbert wished to confer with his successor, Calixtus II, at the Council of Reims (Oct., 1119). The pope and Bartholomew, Bishop of Laon, requested Norbert to found a religious order in the Diocese of Laon, so that his work might be per- petuated after his death. Norbert chose a lonely, marshy valley, shaped in the form of a cro.ss, in the Forest of Coucy, about ten miles from Laon, and named Pr6montr6. Hugh of Fosses, Evermode of Cambray, Anthony of Nivelles, seven students of the celebrated school of Anselm, and Ralph at Laon were his first disciples. The young community at first lived in huts of wood and clay, arranged like a camp around the chapel of St. John the Bapti.st, but they soon built a larger church and a monastery for the religious who joined them in increasing numbers. Going to Cologne to obtain rehcs for their church, Norbert discovered, through a vision, the spot where those of St. Ursula and her companions, of St. Gereon, and of other martyrs lay hidden.
Women also wished to become members of the now religious order. Blessed Ricwera, widow of Count Raymond of Clastres, was St. Norbert's first spiritual daughter, and her example was followed by women of the best families of France and Germany. Soon after this, Norbert returned to Germany and preached in Westphalia, when Godfrey, Count of Kappenberg, offered himself and gave three of his castles to be made into abbeys. On his return from Germany, Norbert was met by Theobald, Count of Champagne, who wished to become a member of the order; but Nor- bert insisted that God wished Theobald to marry and do good in the world. Theobald agreed to this, but begged Norbert to prescribe a rule of life. Norbert prescribed a few rules and invested Theobald with the white scapular of the order, and thus, in 1122, the Third Order of St. Norbert was instituted. The aaint was soon requested by the Bishop of Cam'
