NICHOLAS of GUARDIAGRELE. – Abruzzese goldsmith and sculptor, b. in the last decade of the fourteenth century, d. before 1462.
His earliest works, all signed and dated (monstrance of Francavilla a Mare, 1413; monstrance of Atessa, 1418; processional cross of Lanciano, 1422), show him to have been part of the international Gothic currents then current in Abruzzese goldsmithing in the early fifteenth century, following the medieval achievements of the schools of Sulmona and Teramo. He drew his first inspiration from the same environment of Guardiagrele, but from 1431 onwards he assimilated numerous elements of Florentine inspiration, particularly from Ghiberti. The crosses of Guardiagrele (1431), of L’Aquila (1434) and of Monticchio (1436) display in various forms the development of these new elements. Likewise the frontal of the cathedral of Teramo (1433–38), a masterpiece of Abruzzese goldsmithing, the Lateran cross (1451), and the last documented work of N., the bust of St Justine in the cathedral of Chieti (1455), though entirely remade in 1721. A series of stone sculptures (lunette with the Coronation of the Virgin on the portal of S. Maria Maggiore in Guardiagrele, the reliefs with the Angel and the Annunciation in the Museo del Bargello and on the façade of the duomo of Teramo) show him to have been a notable sculptor as well as goldsmith. His activity as a painter, however, remains a matter of debate.
Giovanni Carandente
NICHOLAS, bishop of Myra, saint. – N. was born at Patara in Lycia and became bishop of Myra about the middle of the fourth century. He is one of the most popular saints in both the Greek and the Latin Church, but no reliable data exist regarding his life. Hagiographers have woven a biography of St Nicholas of Myra by attributing to him much of the life of another Nicholas, called the Sinaite, who in the sixth century founded a monastery at Sion near Myra and later became bishop of Pinara in Lycia (d. 12 Dec. 564).
In the Praxis de Stratelis it is narrated that the saint delivered three officers from mortal danger at the time of Constantine; this story was circulated under Justinian. At Rome his image is reproduced at the beginning of the eighth century on the wall of the left nave of S. Maria Antiqua; he is nimbed, of advanced age, in a white tunic, black penula, sacred pallium, and the inscription O AITOC NIKOAAOC (Wilpert, Mosaiken, p. 708), and stands between St Athanasius and St Erasmus. At Rome there are no fewer than 26 churches dedicated in his honour and a hospital (C. Huelsen, Le Chiese di Roma, Florence 1927, pp. 389–408). At the Lateran Pope Nicholas I (858–67) erected a basilica to the saint of Myra; Callistus II rebuilt it after Worms and ordered that an image of the saint be placed in the apse, with a book in his right hand and a crozier in his left (Wilpert, Mosaiken, p. 163, fig. 43; G. B. De Rossi, Esame storico ed archeologico dell’immagine di Urbano II papa e delle altre antiche pitture nell’oratorio di S. Nicola entro il Palazzo Lateranense, in Studi in Italia, 1881, pp. 1–61). The chapel was destroyed in the time of Benedict XIV. Moreover, in the time of Leo IV (847–55) two oratories dedicated to St N. are known, one near the basilica of S. Lorenzo in Agro Verano (Lib. Pont., II, p. 112) and the other near the titulus of SS. Quattuor Coronati on the Caelian (ibid., p. 116); a third oratory was erected by Nicholas I (858–67) near the diaconia of S. Maria in Cosmedin (ibid., p. 161). In the restoration of the oratory of S. Lorenzo at the ‘Sancta Sanctorum’ of the Lateran, carried out at the behest of Honorius III (1216–27), is the mosaic image of St N., still in advanced age, bearded and wearing the mitre (Wilpert, Mosaiken, pp. 179–80 and fig. 56). At Constantinople the church at Blachernae was erected by Justinian (Procop., De aedificiis, I, 6); an oratory in the imperial palace was built by Basil the Macedonian; his feast was celebrated at Constantinople with great solemnity (Synax. Constantinopol., Brussels 1900, p. 284). Between France and Germany there may be counted not fewer than 2,000 churches dedicated in his honour; England has about 400; Iceland about 40. In the East his mosaic image was in the church of Hosios Loukas in Phocis (11th cent.). His iconography developed further after the translation of his relics to Bari (by some merchants, 9 May 1087), where a sumptuous basilica was erected in his honour and St N. became the patron of the city. It is found, for example, in the grotto of S. Stefano at Vasto near Otranto (12th cent.). Devotion to St N. manifested itself in every way, not only through liturgical celebrations but also by choosing him as patron of confraternities of young people, of schoolchildren, of bakers, of boatmen; he is even patron of prisoners; he is preferred as a baptismal name, etc. The immense devotion aroused in Apulia after the translation of 1087 was the cause of jealousy in Benevento, which, having a church dedicated to St N., would have wished pilgrims to prefer it; an ‘adventus S. Nicolai in Beneventum’ (BHL 6260) was written to extol the merits of this city against the incapacity of Bari. The iconography centres on the representation of the legends of the three maidens saved from dishonour, of the three youths killed and raised to life; the story of the miracle of the precious vessel (BHL 6172) is nothing but the adaptation of a miracle attributed to St Menas in a Greek text (BHL 1258). The oldest legend relating to St N. in the West is represented by an eleventh-century manuscript in the Karlsruhe Library (BHL 6119). A portable mosaic image attributed to the thirteenth century was stolen from the Museum of Vich (Roulin, Tableau).
