NORBERTINES
101
NORFOLK
brai to go and combat the infamous heresies which
Tanchelin had propagated, and which had their cen-
tre at Antwerp. As a result of his preaching the
people of the Low Countries abjured their heresies,
and many brought back to him the Sacred Species
which they had stolen and profaned. In commem-
oration of this, St. Norbert has been proclaimed the
Apostle of Antwerp, and the feast of his triumph over
the Sacramentarian heresy is celebrated in the Arch-
diocese of Mechlin on 11 July.
The rapid growth of the order was marvellous, and bishops entreated Norbert to found new houses in their dioceses. Floreffe, Viviers, St-Jo.sse, Ardenne. Cuissy, Laon, Liege, Antwerp, Varlar, Kappenberg and others were founded during the first five years of the order's existence. Though the order had already ijeen approved by the pope's legates. Norbert, ac- companied by three disciples, journeyed to Rome, in 112.5, to obtain its confirmation by the new pope, Honorius IL The Bull of Confirmation is dated 27 February, 1126. Pas-sing through Wiirzburg on his return to Pr6montr6, Norbert restored sight to a blind woman: the inhabitants were so full of admiration for him that they spoke of electing him successor to their bishop who had just died, but Norbert and his companions fled secretly. Soon after this, on his way to Ratisbon, he passed through Spier, where Lothair, King of the Romans, was holding a diet, the papal legate being present. Deputies from Magdeburg had also come to solicit a successor to their late archbishop, Rudger.
The papal legate and Lothair used their authority, and obliged Norbert to accept the vacant see. On taking possession of it, he was grieved to find that much property belonging to the Church and the poor had been usurped by powerful men, and that many of the clergy led scandalous lives. He succeeded in converting some of the transgressors, but others only became more obstinate, and three attempts were made on his life. He resisted Pietro di Leoni, who, as anti- popp, had assumed the name of Anacletus and was master in Rome, exerting himself at the Council of Reims to attach the German Emperor and the Ger- man bishops and princes more firmly to the cause of Pope Innocent II.
"Though his health was increasingly dehcate, Nor- bert accompanied Lothair and his army to Rome to put the rightful pope on the Chair of St. Peter, and he resisted the pope's concession of the investiture to the emperor. Norbert, whose health was now much impaired, accompanied the Emperor Lothair back to Germany and for some time remained with him, as- sisting him as his chancellor and adviser. In March, 1134, Norbert had become so feeble that he had to be carried to Magdeburg where he died on the Wednesday after Pentecost. By order of the em- peror, his body was laid at rest, in the Norbertine Abbey of St. Mary, at Magdeburg. His tomb be- came glorious by the numerous miracles wrought there. The BoUandists say that there is no docu- ment to prove that he was canonized by Innocent III. His canonization was by Gregory XIII in 1582, and his cultus was extended to the whole church by Clement X.
On 2 May, 1627, the saint's body was trans- lated from Magdeburg, then in the hands of Protes- tants, to the Abbey of Strahov, a suburb of Prague in Bohemia. The Chancery of Prague preserved the abjurations of six hundred Protestants who, on the day, or during the octave, of the translation, were reconciled to the Catholic Church. On that occasion the Archbishop of Prague, at the request of the civil and ecclesiastical authorities, proclaimed St. Norbert the Patron and Protector of Bohemia. (For history of the order, see Premonstratensi.^n Canons.)
Until the middle of the last century, the principal source for the biography of St. Norbert was a MS. usually attributed to Hugo,
the saint's first disciple and successor, of which numerous copies
had been made. That belonging to the Abbey of Romersdorf,
near Coblentz, Vita Norherti, auctore canonico prcBadjuvantc Hu~
gone ahhate, Fossense, is now in the British Museum. An abridg-
ment of this by SuRlus was printed in 1572: the whole MS., with
variants, was published by Abbot Vander Sterre in 1656; again,
with commentaries and notes, by P.vpebroch in Acta 5S.. XX.
Then followed: Vander Sterre. Het leven van den H, Norbertus
(Antwerp, 1623): on Pr^, La Vie de S. Norbert (Paris, 1627);
Camus. U Homme apostolique en S, Norbert (Caen, 1640) ; C. L.
Hugo. La Vie de S, Norbert (Luxemburg. 1704) ; Illana. Historia
del Gran Padre y Patriarca 5. Norberto (Salamanca. 1755).
In 1856 a MS. Life of St. Norbert discovered in the Royal Li- brary, Berlin, was published in Pertz, Mon. Germ. Hist., differing in many particulars from the Hugo MSS. mentioned above. The discovery occasioned a great revival of interest in the subject, and there followed: Tenkoff, De S. Norberto Ord. Pram. Conditore commentatio historica (Munster. 1855); Scholz. Vita S. Norherti (Breslau. 1859); Winter, Die Prdmonstratenser der IS. Jahrh, (Berlin. 1865): Rosenmund. Die oltesten Biographien des h. Nor- bertus (Berlin. 1874); Hertel, Leben des h. Norbert (Leipzig. 1881): MuHLBACHER. Die streitige Papstwahl des Jahres 1130 (Innsbruck. 1876). In the following three works, the publication of Pertz and other lately discovered documents have been used: Geudens. Life of St. Norbert (London. 1886) ; Madelaine. His- toire de S. Norbert (Lille. 1886) (the fullest and best-written biog- raphy of the saint so far published) ; van den Elsen. Levensge- schiedenis van den H. Norbertus (Averbode. 1890).
F. M. Geudens.
Norbertines. See Premonstbatensian Canons.
Norcia, Diocese op (Norsin), a city in Perugia, Italy, often mentioned in Roman history. In the ninth century it was a republic. The Dukes of Spoleto often contended with the popes for its possession; when, in 14.53, the communes of Spoleto and Cascia de- clared war against Norcia, it was defended by the pope's general Cesarini. It was the birthplace of St. Benedict; the abbots St. Spes and St. Eutychius; the monk Florentius; the painter Parasole; and the physi- cian Benedict Pegardati. The chief industry is pre- serving meats. 'The first known bishop was Stephen (c. 495). From the ninth century, Norcia was in the Diocese of Spoleto, as it appears to have been tem- porarily in the time of St. Gregory the Great. The see was re-established in 1820, and its first bishop was Cajetan Bonani. Immediately dependent on Rome, it has 100 parishes; 28,000 inhabitants; 7 religious houses of women ; 3 schools for girls.
Cappelletti, Le Chiese d' Italia, IV.
U. Benigni.
Norfolk, Catholic Dukes of. Since the Refor- mation. — Under this title are accounts only of the prominent CathoHc Diikos of Norfolk since the Refor- mation; a list of the Dukes, from the time the title passed to the Howard family, is prefixed.
1. John (1430-1485), created fir.st duke of the
Howard line in 1483, died in battle in 1485.
2. Thomas (1443-1524), son. Became duke in
1514.
3. Thomas (1473-1554), son. Succeeded m 1524.
4. Thomas (1536-1572), grandson. Succeeded
in 1554. Beheaded in 1572.
5. Thomas (1627-1677), great-great-grandson.
Dukedom restored in 1660.
6. Henry (1628-1684), brother. Succeeded in
1677.
7. Henry (165.5-1701), son. Succeeded in 1684.
8. Thomas (1683-1732), nephew. Succeeded in
1701.
9. Edward (1685-1777), brother. Succeeded in
1732.
10. Charles (1720-1786), descendant of seventh
duke. Succeeded in 1777.
11. Charles (1746-1815), son. Succeeded in 1786.
12. Bernard Edward (1765-1842), third cousin.
Succeeded in 1815.
13. Henry Charles (1791-18.56), son. Succeeded
in 1842.
14. Henry Granville (1815-1800), son. Succeeded
in 1S56.
15. Henry Fitzalan (1847- ), son. Succeeded
in"l860.
