NOGARET, *GUGLIELMO* - Enciclopedia Cattolica, Vol. VIII, p. 1118

Machine translation of the 1948–1954 Italian original. The original text is authoritative.

NOGARET, *GUGLIELMO*. - Born around 1260 in St-Felix de Caraman (Toulouse). Professor of law at Montpellier (1291), then judge of Beaucaire (1294), he was dear to Philip the Fair and became a member of the royal curia (1296); he was knighted, made chancellor, and baron, being enriched with fiefs and lordships.

Armed with all the legal quibbles of the legists, he was the minister of the king’s wickedness, especially in the struggle against Boniface VIII, in which he supported the falsehoods and distortions of the papal enemies, particularly after the publication of the bull *Ausculta fili* (5 Dec. 1301). He joined the Colonna in their struggle against the Pope, and in the spring of 1303, with a band of ruffians, he entered the papal lands with the bold plan of seizing and taking him to France. On the eve of the day when the bull of excommunication against Philip the Fair, *Super Petri solio* (7 Sept. 1303), was to be published, he entered Anagni with Sciarra Colonna, attacked the papal palace, and took the aged Pontiff prisoner, who refused to yield to the violence used against him. The next day the city rose up and, after a fierce struggle, freed the Pope and drove out the French.

N., having returned to his homeland, received further great favors and was later appointed vice-chancellor of France (22 Sept. 1307); he actively participated in the suppression of the Templars and in the staged trial against the memory of Boniface VIII. He died in April 1313, after obtaining *ad cautelam* absolution from Clement V.

Article illustration — (from G. Chierici, in *Ambrosiana*, ..., p. 51)

NOLA, DIOCESE OF - Basilica of the Holy Martyrs. Apse - Cimitile.

The most celebrated figure in N. is St. Felix, whose tomb was the object of great veneration. The verses of a certain *Carmen de S. Felice* (Carm. 18) are attributed to Paulinus of Nola, but they contain more of popular tradition than of true and certain history; there is no certain chronology, so that one can only conjecture the time when Bishop Maximus lived. Later tradition also made Felix a bishop and even a martyr.

The second bishop of N. of whom we have news is Paulinus himself, whose episcopate began between 408 and 416. The third bishop is Paul, who consecrated in 403 or 404 the monumental basilica erected by St. Paulinus in honor of St. Felix (cf. Ep., XXXII). The episcopate of St. Paulinus (v.), who succeeded Paul, did not begin until between 408 and 416. The following bishops are: Paulinus Junior, who died on 1 September 442 (epitaph); Felix, who died on 9 February 484 (epitaph). After eliminating a Bishop Deodatus, who never existed but was confused with an archpriest of the same name, the following succeeded: John Talaia (484), who, forced by the Monophysites to leave the see of Alexandria and take refuge in Rome, was given the Church of N. by Felix III (Liberatus, *Breviarium*, 18); Theodosius, who died on 7 December 490 (epitaph); Serenus, mentioned in several letters of Pope Gelasius (492-96) and present at the Roman Synod of 449; Priscus, who died on 23 February 523 (epitaph); Leo I of this name (536), present at the synod held in that year under Patriarch Menas; John (535-60), mentioned in two letters of Pelagius I (overlooked by Lanzoni); Gaudentius, mentioned in two letters of St. Gregory the Great (594, 595). In an uncertain year of the 7th century belong Aurelian and Senatus, known from their epitaphs. Later are Leo III, Lupinus, Sixtus, another Leo, and John around 940. Contemporary with Urban II (1088-99) and Paschal II (1099-1118) was Bishop William. When Salerno was erected as a metropolitan see around 983, it appears that John XV on 12 July 989 subjected N. to it; and after the principality fell through the work of Robert the Guiscard, Naples asserted its rights over the diocese of N., but Paschal II (1100-1106) still declared N. subject to the archbishop of Salerno, Alfano. Only in 1179 is N. clearly found to be dependent on Naples; in the Lateran Council of that year, the Nolese bishop Bernard is recorded among the suffragans of the Church of Naples, of which it is still a suffragan today.

III. THE NEW PAULINIAN CONSTRUCTIONS. THE SURVIVING MONUMENTS OF CIMITILE. — When Paulinus returned to N. for the second time (394 and 395), he found around the tomb of his patron other basilicas; according to the *Carmen Natalicium* VI (400), five; according to the letter XXXII to Severus (403 and 404), four.

St. Felix had been buried outside the walls, in open countryside; his remains had been placed in a modest tomb, covered by a marble slab lined with silver; two holes, opened in the marble, allowed aromas to reach the interior of the tomb, which was protected by a wooden edicule. Later, a three-aisled basilica was built, whose vault rested on rough masonry pillars, and the edicule occupied the western end of the main nave. Paulinus enlarged the basilica, replacing the pillars with marble columns supporting full arches, on which rested a vault, perhaps decorated with stucco, now destroyed. On the intrados of the arches and on the frieze above them was a rich mosaic decoration with a blue and yellow background of vine scrolls; on the frieze, an inscription in eight hexameters in gold letters, which ran in two rows around the four walls. It is the poem that begins: *Paruus erat locus, ante sacris augustus agendis*. On the frieze of this same peristyle, but on the outer side, another poem in gold letters, of which only wretched traces remain. Behind the altar stand two columns with two saints carved in high relief on the front of the capitals, *sanctus Faustillus, sanctus Felix*; Faustillus is unknown. To the left are the tombs of Paulinus Junior, successor of St. Paulinus, who died in the year 444, and of Bishop Felix, who died in 484. On the wall to which these are attached, a fresco represents what seems to be a city, surrounded by walls with towers, perhaps the representation of Jerusalem, which has a strong analogy with the mosaic of Madaba. Behind the north side of the peristyle rises a wall pierced by arcades that has the appearance of an iconostasis: on the side facing the apse it is decorated with a series of paintings ranging from the 7th to the 14th century. The wall is cut by two arched passageways; and in the section between the two passageways are three images representing the Virgin flanked by St. Paulinus and St. Felix.

Exiting the basilica through the south door, one finds the so-called Basilica of the Martyrs. This is essentially three square rooms with frescoes from the 13th and 14th centuries, with two small altars in the central room and frescoes depicting St. Eusebius on the left altar and St. Mary Magdalene on the right. In the room furthest to the left, excavations in 1935 uncovered a series of ground tombs, oriented from east to west, with semicircular heads. In one of these heads a painting was discovered depicting Jonah being vomited by the whale. Of particular importance is the *prothyrum* of this basilica, supported by two pillars, covered with gold on all four sides; on the bracket resting on the capital is the inscription *LEO TERTIVS EPISCOPUS FECIT*. This bishop has been assigned, on the basis of Nolese writers but without secure foundation, to the 8th century. Also noteworthy are two fragments (now in the care of the Superintendency of Monuments) that formed a triangular slab intended to serve as a ramp for an ambo; they depict part of the scene of Jonah (only the tail of the monster surrounded by fish remains), and on the lower edge is read: *HOC OPVS LVPINVS ERS RENO (cauit)*. Two other slabs, of different period and style, represent one the calf and the lion, symbols of the evangelists Luke and Mark, the other the eagle and the lion, also symbols, with the divine Lamb in the middle, holding a cross in its right paw.

The new great Basilica Paoliniana, begun in 401 and consecrated in 403, stands beside the ancient basilica where the martyr rested. The three entrance doors to the south corresponded to three entrances placed on the side of the ancient basilica, through which one could glimpse the tomb of St. Felix. It had three naves, with a double row of columns surmounted by arches; the apse was triconch. Of the two minor apses, the one on the left was intended for meditation and prayer, and there the sacred books were kept, a model of an ecclesiastical library; the one on the right housed the sacred vessels.

From some fragments it is deduced that the walls were covered with polychrome marble slabs, components of geometric designs. But nothing remains of the famous mural paintings commissioned by Paulinus, depicting a cycle of biblical scenes, nor of the inscriptions that accompanied them.

This distinguished sanctuary, one of the most famous pilgrimage sites in the 4th and 5th centuries, suffered the worst profanations at the hands of the barbarians of the late ancient world, the Lombards, and the Saracens, as well as the plundering and neglect of 19th-century men. Only from 1931 to 1935 were research and excavations resumed.

Paleochristian monument of N. — In the hypogeum of the cathedral of N. a marble slab is preserved, of which the central panel depicts a jeweled cross with the apocalyptic letters suspended from the transverse arm; from the foot of the cross flow the four symbolic rivers. Just above the transverse arm are two stars beneath rays; on the sides of the cross are two pomegranate plants, and around it, five doves. The entire scene is framed by a border decorated with vine tendrils, which, starting from a vase at the foot of the cross, rejoin at its summit. On either side of the central panel are two smaller side panels, depicting two lit candelabra. The dominant idea of this precious monument is the cross, that is, triumphant Christ. The symbolism is heightened if one considers that it is an altar frontal. It is assigned to the end of the 5th century, at the latest the early 6th.

N. and the Bells. — The first to use the word “N.” to denote a small bell was the fabulist Avienus (4th–5th century). To find “N.” with the meaning of bells, one must go as far as Flodoard (10th century). The first testimony of the connection between the bell and N. is in Walafrid Strabo (9th century); but the connection of bells with St. Paulinus, in the sense that St. Paulinus would have been the inventor of bells, is of a much later period, the 16th century. However, if St. Paulinus did not contribute to the invention of bells, nor did the city of N. to their origins, Campania played a very important role in their history because the earliest testimony to the use of bells to summon monks to prayer refers precisely to Campania, and specifically to Eugenius, the famous abbot of Lucullanum, which stood in Naples on the hill now called Pizzofalcone.

BIBL.: fundamental works by Ambrogio Leone, Guadagno, Remondini, Ambrosini, and Ughelli, noted by P. Fr. Kehr, Italia Pontif., VIII, Berlin 1935, p. 279; and DACL XII (1935), pp. 1422–65, bibl. 1455–57. For Christian epigraphy: CIL, X, 1338 ff.; E. Diehl, Inscriptiones Latinae Christianae Veteres, I–III, Berlin 1925–31. For the Damasian epigram: A. Ferrara, Epigrammata Damasiana, Rome 1942, pp. 213–15. For St. Paulinus: V. Fabre, Essai sur la chronologie de l’oeuvre de St Paulin de Nole, Paris 1948; id., St Paulin et l’amitié chrétienne, ibid. 1949 (abridged bibliography); and also: D. Mallardo, Cronologia della lettera XIX di S. Paolino, in Rendic. d. R. Accad. di archeol., 20 (1940), p. 107 ff. For the monuments of Cimitile: H. Holtzinger, Die Basilika des Paulinus in N., in Zeitschr. f. bild. Kunst, 20 (1885), pp. 135–41; F. X. Kraus, Gesch. der christl. Kunst, I, Freiburg im Br. 1896, p. 302 ff.; F. Wickhoff, Das Aspismosalk des Paulinus in N., in Röm. Quartalschr., 3 (1889), pp. 15–45; A. W. Byvanck, Mededeelingen van het Nederlandsch histor. Instituut te Rome, 9 (1929), pp. 49–70; id., Byzantinische Zeitschr., 30 (1929–30), pp. 447–554; M. T. Tozzi, Bollettino d’arte, 25 (1931–32), pp. 272–81; 504–16; G. Chierici, Lo stato degli studi intorno alle basiliche della Cimitile, in Riv. d’arch. crist., 16 (1939), pp. 59–72, reprinted in Atti del IV Congresso internaz. di archeol. crist., 11 (1948), p. 29; id., Sant’Ambrogio e le costruzioni paoliniane di Cimitile, in Ambrosiana, Milan 1942, p. 315 ff.; R. C. Goldschmidt, Paulin- und Kirchenbauten s. at Nole, Amsterdam 1940. For N. as a pilgrimage destination in the 4th–5th centuries and the miracles of St. Felix, see B. Kötting, Peregrinatio religiosa, Regensburg 1950, pp. 250–54. For the altar frontal, D. Mallardo, Una fronte d’altare nolana della fine del sec. V, Naples 1938 (Campania Romana, pp. 269–291, tav.).

IV. THE GILLIES OF N

So are called eight very tall wooden “machines,” shaped like obelisks or bell towers, which are carried in procession at N. for the feast of St. Paulinus. They are built by local craftsmen under the direction of the “festival masters.” The designs vary from year to year and reflect motifs of Renaissance, Baroque, Oriental, or modern architecture, adapted to local tastes.

In 1931, the fifteenth centenary of the saint’s death, the decorations developed a single theme, an apologetic commentary on the life and works of the saint. Each “gilly” is constructed with a wooden framework in the shape of a square-based pyramid, then triangular, and firmly joined to give solidity to the whole; on this skeleton the “decoration,” composed of five sections, is applied. The gilly usually ends with a sacred statue, and on the third, central section there is always the figure of St. Paulinus. The procession commemorates the welcome that the people of Nola gave to their bishop upon his return from captivity. The festival lasts three days, specifically Saturday, Sunday, and Monday after June 22 (the dies natalis of the saint). On Saturday evening the gillies are “dressed” in front of the houses of the “festival masters”; on Sunday morning they are brought to Piazza del Duomo and blessed by the bishop amid the jubilation of the crowd, the sound of music, and the throwing of confetti and coriander seeds over the silver bust of the saint. The heavy structures are carried on the shoulders by teams of about forty bearers, called “paranze,” who proceed dancing in agile competition with one another. Amid the gillies stands the boat, recalling the arrival of the saint by sea, and there is invariably a “Moor,” to recall that it came from the Black Continent. The parade follows a traditional order which, in the popular interpretation, is meant to reproduce the sequence in which the various tradesmen and artisans moved to meet the saint; presumably, it is an order of precedence among ancient guilds. It is as follows: gardener, tavern keeper, pork butcher, baker, butcher, shoemaker, blacksmith, and tailor. On Monday the “dressing” of the gillies takes place, and with music, illuminations, and songs the festival comes to an end. The origin of the name lies in the fact that at first actual flowers were used, which were soon attached to poles and later to woven reeds; then, in a spirit of competition, the present “machines” of about 30 meters were developed, though the traditional flowered pole, or as they say, flowered torch, has not entirely disappeared: two of these are still preserved and are carried in front of the first two gillies. All this is analogous to what has happened with the “candelieri” of Nulvi and Sassari, or the “ceri” of Gubbio. — See pl. CXXI.

BIBL.: special issue of La Festa, Bologna, 14 June 1931; XV Centenario paoliniano, special issue, Nola 1931; A. D’Amato, La tradizionale festa dei gigli a N., in Lares, 2 (1931), pp. 52–63.