No'e (Nois), the Gra?cized form (Tob. iv, 12; Matt, xxiv, 37, 38 ; Luke iii, 36, xvii, 26, 27) of the name of the patriarch Noah (q. v.).
Noe, Marc-Antoixe de, a French prelate, was born of noble parentage, in April, 1724, in the chateau do la Gremenaudiere, now commiuie of Ste. Soulle (Charente-Inferieure), and was educated in Paris, where he studied theologj' in the Sorbonne. On leaving his licentiate, he became successively grand vicar of Albi, then of Rouen, under M. de La Hochefoucauld, arch- bishop of one after the other of these dioceses, and in Oct., 1756, abbe commendatory of Simonc, in the diocese of Auch. Sent in May, 1762, to the general assembly of the clergy of France, M. de Noe was called, Jan. 5, 1763, to the bishopric of Lescar, and consecrated June 12 following. This seat gave him the presidency of the states of Beam and the title of first counsellor to the Parliament of Pau. He regarded his revenues, which amounted to 27,000 livres, as the patrimony of the poor ; and distributed them to those unfortunately reduced to extreme poverty by the effect of a terrible epizooty. He then opened two boxes — one for those who could give, the other for those who could only lend, and put 30,000 livres in the first, and 15,000 livres in tlie second. His example was followed, and misfortunes that all human prudence could not avert were repaired. Deputed in 1789 to the States-general by the particular states of Beam, he protested against the reunion of the three orders, withdrew into his diocese as soon as he be- lieved the instructions of his constituents were compro-
mised, and was not a party of the Constituent Assemblj% Soon the seat of Lescar was suppressed, and a Benedic- tine, Barthelemi-Jean-Baptiste Sanadon, professor of lit- erature in the College of Pau, was consecrated bishop of the Lower Pyrenees, where Lescar is situated, and the bishopric was fixed at Oleron. M. de Noe, who had not left Lescar, protested against this innovation, and, yield- ing to violence, passed into Spain. The war constrained him to leave St. Sebastian, where he had found an asy- lum, and to seek refuge in England. In 1801 he re- signed his see, in order to facilitate the execution of the compact, and on his return to France was nominated, April 9, 1802, to the bishopric of Troj'es. His concil- iatory spirit liad already caused all differences to cease, and to rally all hearts in this diocese, when death re- moved him, Sept. 22, 1802. The third day previous to his decease, we learn that Bonaparte had designated him to Pius VII for the cardinalship. The evilogy of M. de Noe was proposed to the concourse by the ^luseum of Yonne, and the Academical Society of Aube united, which decreed the prize, in 1804, to Luce de Lancival, and the second premium to JM. Humbert. Bishop Noe loved letters, and cultivated them with success; he un- derstood Hebrew and Greek, and had studied thoroughly the great models of antiquity. It was to them that he owed much elegance of style and purity prevalent in the few writings he has left, among which are a Dis- cours pronounced at Auch in 1781 for the distribution of the standards of the dragoons of the king's regiment, commanded by M. de Viella, his nephew, in the absence of M. de Lafayette, who was then in America. This discourse, filled with patriotism, is a homiletical master- piece -.—DiscQurs siir Cetatfutur de VEylise (1788, 12mo). It had been composed to be pronounced at the general assembly of the clergy of 1785 ; but it was known to contain singular ideas, and in it was the question of a renouvellemmt de la dejection de la (/entilite, of a nouveau rerjne de Jesus Christ. This doctrine, although clothed with seductive colors, approached too near millenarian- ism; and M. de Noe was requested not to pronounce this discourse. His brother had it printed later, followed hy a. Recueil de passages upon the intermedial advent of Jesus Christ, and by Remarqnes furnished by P. Lam- bert, a Dominican, an ardent defender of this system : — Traduction dhin discours de Pericles, preserved by Thu- cydides, and inserted in the translation of Isocrates by abbe Auger : — divers Mandements. The CEuvi-es de M. de Noe have been collected (Lond. 1801, 12mo); and M. Auguis has given a new and complete edition of them (Par. 1818, 8vo). This last edition contains especially an Eloge d'Evagoras, by Isocrates; an Extrait de VEloge des guei-riers marts dans la guerre du Peloponese, and is preceded by a Notice historique sur M. de Noe. It is to be regretted that in it are not found VOraisonfunebre de Don PJiilippe, infant d^Espagne, due de Panne, pro- nounced at Paris in 1766, a Panegyrique de Ste. Therese, preached at Toulouse, and a Sermon sur Vaumone. M. de Noe was one of the four bishops who, in 1765, refused their adhesion to the acts of the assembly of the clerg}-, on the subject of the bull Unigenitus ; but he was far from favoring Jansenism. See Luce de Lancival, Eloge de M. de Noe (Paris, 1805, 8vo) ; Auguis, Notice historique in- troductory to his Avorks; France j'ontijicale. — Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, xxxviii, 170.
No'eba (No£/3«), a corrupt Gnwized form (1 Esdr. V, 31) of the name elsewhere given (Ezra ii, 48) as Ne- KODA (q. v.).