NAU, FRANÇOIS-NICOLAS. - Distinguished French orientalist, b. at Thil (Moselle) on 15 May 1864, d. at Paris on 2 Sept. 1931. Ordained to the priesthood in Paris on 17 Dec. 1887, he taught mathematics and astronomy at the Catholic Institute, and in 1928 became dean of the Ecole des sciences. N.'s activity and productivity in Oriental studies were remarkable, especially with regard to Syriac authors. Together with his teacher, Msgr. Graffin, N. founded the PO in 1899 and directed the Revue de l'Orient chrétien from 1911 to 1919.
Among his publications should be noted: several documents and studies on the Maronites in the Revue de l'Orient chrétien, 4 (1899) and 5 (1900); a selection of Syriac canons in Le canoniste contemporain, 28 (1905), pp. 641-53, 705-711; 29 (1906), pp. 5-13; the edition of the Liber legum regionum in the Patrologia Syriaca (II, Paris 1907, cols. 490-659), of the French version of Nestorio's Libro di Eracle (ibid. 1910), of the Storia della Chiesa nestoriana by Barbadébabá (PO 9 [ibid. 1913] and 23 [ibid. 1932]), and of documents for the history of the Nestorians (PO 13 [ibid. 1916]).