Nicholas of Pskoff or Plescow, a Russian her- mit who flourished in the second half of the IGth cen- tury, and whose legend was written by Horsey in 1570, was a great favorite of the people, and was believed to have supernatural power, because he went about un- clothed without discomfort, enduring unmoved extreme heat and cold, and performed many other extraordinary things. He was noted also for the great good he did. He is particularly remembered as the saviour of his na- tive town from the destruction threatened by czar Ivan. This prince came to Plescow with the savage intention of massacring the whole population there, as he had al- read}' done at Novgorod. According to the traditionary story, it was early morning when the czar approached the town. The bells of the churches — those voices of Russian religion — were sounding for matins, and for a moment his hard heart was melted, and his religious feeling was stirred. The hut of the hermit was close by ; Ivan saluted him and sent him a ^iresent. The holy man, in return, sent him a piece of r.ivv flesh. It was during the great fast of Lent, and Ivan expressed his surprise at such a breach of the rules of the Church. "Ivasko, Ivasko," that is "Jack, Jack" — so with his ac- customed rudeness the hermit addressed- his terrible sovereign — " thinkest thou it is unlawful to eat a piece of beast's flesh in Lent, and not unlawful to eat up so much man's flesh as thou hast already done V" At the same time he pointed to a dark thunder-cloud over their heads, and threatened their destruction b\f it, if he or any of his army touched a hair of the least child's head in that citv, which God by his good angel was preserv- ing for better purpose than his rapine. Ivan trembled and retired, and Plescow was saved. See Strahl, Gesch. v. Russland, iii, 213 sq. ; Horsey, Travels (1591), p. 161 sq. ; Karamsin, Hist, of Russia, ix, 635 (11 vols. 8vo, to 1618) ; Mouravieff, Hist. Russian Church, p. 119. (J. H. W.)
Nicholas the Sophist, a Christian philosopher who flourished under the emperor Leo I, and down to the reign of Anastasius, consequently in the latter half of the 5th century, was a pupil of Proclus. Suidas (s. V. Nt(c.) mentions two works of his: IlpoyvixvdfffiaTn and MiXirai pi]TopiKai. Part of the YlpoyvuvaafiaTa had been published previously as the work of Libanius, but has more recently appeared as the work of Nicholas in Walz's Rhetor. Grcec. i, 266-420. Suidas (s. v.) men- tions another Sophist, a native of Myra, in Cilicia, and a pupil of Lachares, who taught at Constantinople, and was the author of a Tex^i] pi]ToptKii and MtXirai. See Fabricius, Bibl. Grcec. vi, 134; Westermann, Geschichte der griech. Beredtsamkeit, § 104, n. 10.— Smith, Diet, of Gr. and Rom, Biorj. and Mythol. iii, 1192.
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 XXH appointed him nuntius et minister, giving him tlic superintendence of the convents of his order in Germany. There are thirteen sermons of his extant,
published in Pfeiffer, Deutsche Mystiher, p. 261 sq.; the third and fourth are not complete. Tliese sermons are not mystical, but rather of a practical character, in- sisting on inward piety and on the practice of the Chris- tian virtues. They are, however, rich in images and allegories. Nicholas of Strasburg has sometimes been mistaken for Nicholas Kejiph dk Argentine, who flourished some time later. The latter was born in 1397, became a Carthusian monk, and lived at Chem- nitz in 1440. He died in 1497. Pcz, in his Bibliotheca Ascetica (vol. iv, Regensb. 1724), gives the title of the writings of this Nicholas.
Nicholas (St.) of Tolentino, a Roman Catholic ascetic of the 13th century, whose personal history is enshrouded by mythical cobweb, was born in the little town of St. Angelo, near Fermo, in 1239. His parents, the legend goes, had prayed earnestly to St. Nicholas for a son, and as they believed that this son was given them through the intercession of this saint, they named him Nicholas, and dedicated him to the service of the Church. At an early age he took the habit of an Au- gustine friar, and so great was the austerity of his life that it has been said that " he did not live, but lan- guished through life." He was successful as a preacher, and his miracles and visions are numberless. He never allowed himself to taste animal food, and when he was very weak he refused a dish of doves that his brethren brought him, and waved his hand above the dish, when the doves arose and flew away. St. Nicholas of Tolen- tino died Sept. 10, 1309. Tradition teaches that at the hour of his birth a brilliant star shot through the heav- ens from St. Angelo, where he was born, and rested over the city of Tolentino, where he afterwards lived. In the year 1302 a plague visited the city of Cordova, and according to legend the governor caused the image of St. Nicholas of Tolentino to be carried through the streets of the city in solemn procession on the day which was observed as the festival of that saint. Father G, de Navas, bearing a crucifix, met the procession, when the figure of Christ stooped from the cross and embraced that of St. Nicholas, and immediately the plague was stayed. He is also represented in art as restoring a child to life, and doing many other miracles. He is painted in the black habit of his order, with a star on his breast; he often bears a crucifix wreathed w^ith lilies, typical of the purity and austerity of his life. Several of these are characteristic also of the represen- tations of Nicholas of ]Myra (q. v.), with whom this Nicholas appears to have become partially confounded. See Clement, Hand-book of Legendary and Mythological A rt, s. V.