N I 
of in wedlock ; the fecond in due time received the like 
aid, and afterwards the third, by which means they were 
all rendered happy in the choice of their.hearts! Hence 
probably the ceremony of “ throwing the Hocking” on a 
wedding night. 
St. Nicholas, ftyled in feveral of the legends <J The 
glorious Confeffor,” was not the patron of infants and of 
virgins only ; he had alfo the peculiar honour of being 
worfhipped by fea-faring men of every denomination. In 
illuftration of this fa6t, it is worthy of notice, that there 
is fcarcely a place of any note around our coaft, or ad¬ 
joining the principal rivers, but has fome facred edifice 
dedicated to him. The firft churches built at Great 
Yarmouth, and others of the molt ancient fea-ports, 
were put under his prote&ion, and enriched by offerings 
from mariners, fifhermen, &c. as well as by merchants 
trading beyond fea. In other countries the like atten¬ 
tions were paid to the faint, as being peculiarly propitious 
to all connected with a fea-faring life; and we find that 
Charles the Third of Naples inftituted an Order for the 
advancement of navigation, called the Argonauts of St. 
Nicholas; (fee the article Knighthood, vol. xi. p. 811.) 
while in Ruffia in particular, numerous places of devo¬ 
tion were dedicated to this faint, to afford voyagers of 
every kind ample opportunities of praying, or returning 
thanks for profperous voyages. He is indeed generally 
held as the great patron of the Ruffian empire. Even the 
Mufcovite Laplanders have been taught to hold St. Nicho¬ 
las in veneration; and to this day place in the coffins of 
their deceafed relatives fmall images of this faint, whom 
they regard as one of the moft able and ftrenuous advo¬ 
cates for the dead. 
The reafon of St. Nicholas having been the faint moft 
revered by mariners, is accounted for by that part of his 
life, written by the monks, whereby we are allured that 
lie not only by his prayers abated a tempeft, and preferved 
the ffiip in which he was voyaging to the Holy Land, but, 
upon another occafion, perfonally appeared to fome mari¬ 
ners, Who, in a ftorm, had invoked his aid, and faved them 
from perilling, although it is worthy of remark that he 
was then living, and in a diftant region 1 Numerous 
churches, not on the coaji, were alfo placed under the 
patronage of St. Nicholas; but this is to be accounted 
for principally from the power of the Dominicans, who, 
for caufes which have eluded refearch, adopted him as 
their peculiar tutelar faint; while the dedication of 
King’s College, Cambridge, to this faint and the Virgin 
Mary, by Henry VI. is attributed to the circumitance of 
that prince having been born on the anniverfary of St. 
Nicholas, who, by the fuperftition of the times, was 
therefore confidered as having prefided at his birth. 
Brady's Clavis Calendaria. Time's Telefcope, 1814., 1815. 
NIC'HOLAS I. (Pope), who is furnamed the Great, 
was the fon of one Theodore, and a native of Rome, where 
he was ordained fub-deacon by pope Sergius II. and dea¬ 
con of the Roman church by pope Leo IV. So high was 
the reputation which he acquired in thefe offices, that, 
upon the death of pope Benedict III. in the year 858, 
the clergy, the nobility, and the people, elected him to 
the vacant dignity. When the emperor Louis II. who 
had lately left Rome, heard of this event, he returned to 
that city, and affifted in perfon at the confecration of the 
new pontiff. Some days afterwards, being told that the 
pope, attended by the Roman nobility, was coming to 
vifit him, he went out to meet him, and, after difmounting, 
took hold of the pope’s bridle, and condelcended to lead 
his horfe for fome diftance on foot; as he alfo did at the 
pope’s departure. When emperors and kings could fub- 
mit to degrade themfelves, by paying fuch extraordinary 
marks of refpeft to the bifhops of Rome, it is not at all 
furprifing that thefe priefts foon began to look upon them¬ 
felves as the lords of the univerfe, and upon the princes 
of the earth as their vaffals. One of the firft ohjefts of 
importance which engaged the attention, of the new pope, 
VOL.XVII. No. 1161. 
63 
was the ftate of affairs at Conftantinople, which had 
divided the eaftern bifhops into two parties, and feemed 
to furnifh him with a favourable opportunity of exer- 
cifing his power and authority over that rival fee. The 
emperor Michael, incenfed againft the patriarch Ignatius, 
on not finding him fufficiently obfequious to his pleafure. 
commanded him to be driven from his fee, declared law¬ 
fully depofed, and fent into exile. At the fame time Pho- 
tius, who was univerfally regarded as a man of extraor¬ 
dinary abilities, and as the rival of the ancients them¬ 
felves in every branch of literature, was elefted his fuc- 
ceffor; and, fince he was then a layman, he was hurried 
through the ecclefiaftical degrees required by the canons, 
and confecrated within fix days. Thefe events occafioned 
no little difturbance in the eaftern churches, efpecially in 
the patriarchate of Conftantinople; fome of the bifhops 
adhering to Ignatius, and others acknowledging Photius, 
Finding the bifhops thus divided, Photius refolved to 
apply to the pope, and endeavour to procure his approba¬ 
tion of his election. With this view he perfuaded the 
emperor to fend a folemn embaffy to Rome, to entreat his 
liolinefs to fend legates into the eaft, for the purpofe of re- 
ftoring with him the decayed difcipline of the church, and 
utterly extirpating the lierefy of the Iconoclafts. With 
the ambaffadors, Photius fent four bifhops, who were in- 
ftrufted to give fuch a reprefentation of what had paffed 
at Conftantinople, as he thought might induce the pope 
to efpoufe his caufe. After receiving the ambaffadors, and 
attending to the account given by the bifhops, Nicholas, 
by the advice of a council, determined to comply with the 
emperor’s requeft ; and nominated two bifhops, Rodoald 
of Porto, and Zachary of Anagni, his legates to the em¬ 
peror of the eaft. As, however, he had heard nothing 
from Ignatius himfelf, he would not acknowledge Photius 
till his ambaffadors had obtained the neceffary informa¬ 
tion on the points at iffue between them, which they were 
ordered to refer for final decifion to the judgment of the 
apoftolic fee. With letters from the pope to the emperor 
and to Photius, the legates fet out for Conftantinople; 
but no fooner was Michael apprifed that his holinefs had 
not acknowledged Photius, than he ordered them to be 
confined on their arrival, and ftriftly guarded to prevent 
their having any communication with the friends of Igna¬ 
tius. After detaining them in this fituation between three 
and four months, partly by menaces and partly by pro- 
mifes of great rewards, he engaged them to acknowledge 
his patriarch, and to exert all their intereft and credit in 
liis favour. Upon this a numerous council was alfembled 
at Conftantinople, in 861, the members of which endea¬ 
voured to extort from Ignatius a refignation of his dig¬ 
nity; and, when they found him refolute in his reful’al, 
they palled a fentence of depolition againft him, which 
was confirmed by the legates, while Ignatius appealed to 
the pope. Afterwards he was treated with great barba¬ 
rity by his rival, from whofe power he wasfo fortunate as 
to efcape, and to conceal himfelf till, the dread of an in- 
furredlion among the populace obliged the emperor to 
permit him to refide in his monaltery. In his appeal 
which he tranfmitted to the pope, he gave him a minute 
account of every thing that palled on the occafion of his 
expulfion, and the intrufion of Photius; of the proceed¬ 
ings of the council which depofed him; and of the cor¬ 
ruption of the apoftolic legates. About the fame time the 
pope received the afts of the Conftantinopolitan council 
by the fecretary of the emperor, together with letters 
from that prince and Photius. Upon comparing thefe 
a<fts and letters with the account fent to him by Ignatius, 
Nicholas determined to fupport that patriarch, and to dis¬ 
avow the proceedings of his legates; and, in order to 
fhow to all the world, in the moft public manner, his dif- 
approbation of their conduft, he immediately alfembled 
a council at Rome in 863, and folemnly declared, in the 
prefence of Leo the imperal ambaflador, that they had 
afted contrary to liis inftrudtions; that they were not 
P autlioriled 
C H O L A S. 
