Nicholas Of Strasburg
Nicholas of Strasburg
Mystic; flourished early in the fourteenth century. Educated at Paris, he was later on lector at the Dominican convent, Cologne. Appointed by John XXII, he made a canonical visitation of the German Dominican province, where great discord prevailed. Relying on two papal briefs dated 1 August, 1325, it appears that the sole commission received from the pontiff was to reform the province in its head and members, and to act as visitor to the sisters. Nicholas, however, assumed the office of inquisitor as well, and closed a process already begun by Archbishop Heinrich (Cologne) against Master Eckhart, O.P., for his teachings on mysticism, in favor of the latter (1326). In January, 1327, the archbishop renewed the cause and arraigned Nicholas as a patron of his confrere’s errors. Almost simultaneously, Hermann von Höchst, a discontented religious on whom Nicholas had imposed a well-merited penalty, took revenge by having him excommunicated. Nicholas, however, was soon released from this sentence by Pope John, that he might appear as definitor at the general chapter of his order convened at Perpignan, May 31, 1327. He is last heard of after the settlement of the process against Eckhart as vicar of the German Dominicans, 1329. Thirteen extant sermons show him to have been of a rather practical turn of mind.
Having realized the inherent necessity of solid piety being based upon the principles of sound theology, he urges in clear, pregnant, and forceful style the sacred importance of good works, penitential practices and indulgences, confession and the Holy Eucharist. Only by the use of these means can the love of God be well regulated and that perfect conversion of the heart attained which is indispensable for a complete remission of guilt. Built up on so firm a groundwork, there is nothing to censure but much to commend in his allegorical interpretations of Sacred Scripture, which are otherwise consistent with his fondness for parable and animated illustration. “De Adventu Christi”, formerly attributed to Nicholas, came originally from the pen of John of Paris.
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PREGER, Meister Eckhart und die Inquisition (Munich, 1869); IDEM, Gesch. der deutsch. Mystik im Mittelalter, II (Leipzig, 1881); DENIFLE, Actenstucke zu Meister Eckharts Prozess in Zeitschr. f. deutsches Altertum u. deutsche Literatur, XXIX (XVII) (1885); IDEM, Der Plagiator, Nich. von Strassb. in. Archiv f. Lit. u. Kirchengesch., IV (1888); PFEIFFER, Deutsche Mystiker des 14, Jahrh., I (Leipzig, 1845).
THOS. A.K. REILLY Transcribed by Joseph E. O’Connor
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XICopyright © 1911 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, February 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Nicholas Of Strasburg
a German mystic, was reader in the Dominican convent of Cologne about the beginning of the 14th century. He preached in many places, as at Strasburg, Freiburg, etc. In 1326 pope John XXII appointed him nuntius et minister, giving him the superintendence of the convents of his order in Germany. There are thirteen sermons of his extant, published in Pfeiffer, Deutsche Mystiker, p. 261 sq. the third and fourth are not complete. These sermon are not mystical, but rather of a practical character, insisting on inward piety and on the practice of the Christian virtues. They are, however, rich in images and allegories. Nicholas of Strasburg has sometimes beer mistaken for NICHOLAS KEMPH DE ARGENTINE, who flourished some time later. The latter was born ii 1397, became a Carthusian monk, and lived at Chemnitz in 1440. He died in 1497. Pez, in his Bibliotheca Ascetica (vol. 4, Regensb. 1724), gives the title of the writings of this Nicholas.