NORIS, ENRICO. – Augustinian theologian and cardinal, born in Verona on 29 Aug. 1631, died in Rome on 23 Feb. 1704. He entered religious life in 1646; he was in Rome, then regent of studies at Pesaro (1658–62), Perugia (1662–64), Florence (1664–66), and finally Padua (1666–72). During these years he composed the Historia pelagiana (Padua 1673), an extensive expository-polemical treatment of the soteriological doctrine of the bishop of Hippo, which, according to N., was misinterpreted not only by Baio and Gian-senio, but also by their opponents.
Summoned by Cosimo III of Tuscany, he went to Florence, where he was appointed theologian to the Grand Duke, tutor to his son Gian Gastone, and professor of ecclesiastical history at the University of Pisa (1674–92). In 1675 Christina of Sweden appointed him a member of her Roman Academy and asked Clement X, and subsequently Innocent XI, that N. come to Rome; but he always refused, because in Tuscany he could devote himself to his studies with greater freedom. Only in 1692 did he yield, at the command of Innocent XII, who that same year appointed him first custodian of the Vatican Library. In 1695 he was created cardinal.
N. was one of the major scholars of the seventeenth century, admired by Lupus, Mabillon, Montfaucon, Papebroch, Magliabechi, and Muratori for his extensive and reliable knowledge of sacred and profane history, archaeology, chronology, and numismatics, the fruit of a tenacious memory and tireless work, which he often continued for up to 14 hours a day.
His works were printed for the most part between 1673 and 1700; subsequently, under the direction of the brothers P. and G. Ballerini, the Opera omnia appeared (4 vols., Verona 1729–32, with vol. V, Mantua 1741). Volume I contains the theological works: Historia pelagiana (cols. 1–538); Dissertatio historica de synodo V oecumenica (cols. 549–854); Vindiciae augustinianae (cols. 865–1296). In this third work N. sets forth and defends his interpretation of the Augustinian doctrine concerning concupiscence, the virtues of infidels,
predestination, and the efficacy of Grace; this gave rise to accusations of Baianism and Jansenism, but after repeated examination he was declared free of them (1695). N. replied to his adversaries with apologetic writings (cols. 1297–1506). Among the works contained in the other four volumes, the following should be recalled: Historia controversiae de uno e Trinitate passo; Apologia monachorum Scythiae; Historia donatistarum ex morisianis schedis excerpta; Istoria delle investiture; 204
letters on learned subjects. The correspondence remains partly unpublished, notwithstanding the contribution of L. G. Pelissier, Le card. H. de N. et sa correspondance, in Studi e documenti di storia e di diritto, 11 (1890), pp. 25–64, 253–332. A good edition of the theological works is that of Bassano 1769 (3 folio volumes), with useful observations by G. L. Berti; the Vindiciae also appears in PL 47, 573–882.