NANTES
682
NANTEUIL
Aindre; Actardus (843-71), during whose time the
Breton prince, Nomenoc?, in his conflict with the
metropolitan See of Tours (q. v.), created a see at
Gu^rande, in favour of an ecclesiastic of Vannes, in the
heart of the Diocese of Nantes; the preacher Cospeau
(1621-36). The diocese venerates: the monk St.
Herve (.fi.xth century); the hermits Sts. Friard and
Secondd of Hesne (sixth century); St. Victor, hermit
at Cambon (sixth or seventh century); the English
hermit \'ital, or St. Aiaud (seventh or eighth century);
the Greek St. Henolt, .\bbot of Mius.serac in Charle-
magne's time: St. Martin of Vertou (d. 601), apostle
of the Ilerbiuiges district and founder of the Benedic-
tine monastery of \ertou; St. Hermeland, sent by St.
Lambert, Abbot of Fontenelle, at the end of the
seventh century to found on an island in the Loire the
great monastery of Aindre (now Indret); the cele-
brated raissionarj' St. Aniand, Bishop of Maastricht
(seventh century), a native of the district of Her-
bauges. Blessed Fran^oise d'Ambroise (1427-85), who
became Duchess of Brittany in 1450, had a great
share in the canonization of St. Vincent Ferrier, re-
built the choir of the collegiate church of Notre-Dame,
and founded at Nantes the monastery of the Poor
Clares. Widowed in 1457, she resisted the intrigues
of Louis XL w'ho urged her to contract a second mar-
riage, and in 1468 became a Carmelite nun at Vannes.
In 1477, at the request of Sixtus IV, she restored the
Benedictine monastery of Couets, near Nantes. The
philosopher .\belard (q. v.) was a native of the dio-
cese. The Abbey of La Meilleraye, founded in 1132,
was the beginning of an establishment of Trappist
Fathers, who played a most important part in the
agricultural development of the country. The cru-
sades were preached at Nantes by Blessed Robert of
Arbrissel, founder of Fontevrault. Venerable Charles
of Blois won Nantes from his rival Jean de Montfort
in 1341. On 8 August, 1499, Louis XII married Anne
of Brittany at Nantes — a marriage which later led to
the annexation of the Duchy of Brittany to the Crown
of France (1532). Chateaubriant, a town of the dio-
cese, was a Calvinistic centre in the sixteenth century.
For the Edict of Nantes (1595), which granted Prot-
estants religious freedom and certain political prerog-
atives, see Huguenots.
In 1665, by order of Louis XIV, Cardinal Retz was imprisoned in the castle of Nantes, from which he contrived to escape. A college was created at Nantes in 1680 for the education of Irish ecclesiastics. Cer- tain regions of the diocese were, during the Revolu- tion, the scene of the War of La Vend(5e, waged in de- fence of religious freedom and to restore royalty. At Savenay in December, 1793, succumbed the remains of the Vendean army, already defeated in the battle of Cholet. The atrocities committed at Nantes by the terrorist Carrier are well-known. Four councils were held at Nantes, in 660, 1127, 1264, and 1431. The mausoleum of Francis II, last Duke of Brittany, exe- cuted in 1507 by Michel Colomb, is one of the finest monuments of the Renaissance. The chief places of pilgrimage of the diocese are: Notre-Dame de Bon Garant at Orvault, a very old pilgrimage, repeatedly made by Francis II, Duke of Brittany; Notre-Dame de Bon Secours at Nantes, a pilgrimage centre which dates back to the fourteenth century; Notre-Dame de Toutes Aides. Notre-Dame de Mis(5ricorde became a
Clace of pilgrimage in 1026 in memory of the miracle y which the count rj- is said to have been freed from a dragon; the present seat of the pilgrimage is the Church of St. Similien at Nantes. Before the law of 1901 against congregations, the diocese counted Capuchins, Trappists, Jesuits, Missionary Priests of Mary, Augustinians, Franciscans, Missionaires of Africa, Premonstratensians, Sulpicians, and several orders of teaching brothers. The Ursulines of Nantes were established by St. Angela of Merici in 1540.
Among the congregations for women originating in
the diocese are: the Sisters of Christian Instruction, a
teaching order founded in 1820 at Beignon (Diocese
of Vannes) by Abb4 Deshayes, of which the mother-
house was transferred to St-Gildas des Bois in 1828;
Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, a teaching
and nursing order, foundetl in 1853 (mother-house
at La Haye Mahcas) ; F>anciscun Sisters, founded in
1871 (mother-house at St-Pliilhcrt de Grandlieu);
Oblate Franciscan Sisters of the Heart of Jesus,
founded in 1875 by Mile Gazeau de la Brandanniere
(mother-house at Nantes). At the beginning of the
twentieth century, the religious congregations of the
diocese conducted three creches, 44 day nurseries, 3
homes for sick cliildren, 1 institution for the blind, 1
deaf and dumb institution, 6 boys' orphanages, 17
girls' orphanages, 3 homes for poor girls, 1 institution
for the extinction of mendicity, 2 houses of mercy, 1
house to supply work to the unemployed, 1 vestiary,
10 houses of visiting nurses, 7 homes for invalids and
for retirement, 23 hospitals or asylums. The Dio-
cese of Nantes has 664,971 Catholics, 52 parishes, 209
succursal parishes.
Gullia chHst. (nova, 1856), XIV, 794-S42; Instruvienta, 171- ISS; Travers, HisL abrig^e des iviques de Nantes (3 vola., Nantes, 1S36) : KERBAUaON, L'episcopat Nantais d travers ies siicles in Revue hist, de VOuest (1888-90); Duchesne, Pastes Episco-paux, II, 356, 368: Cahour, L'apostolat de Saint Clair, premier ivique de Nantes, tradition Nantaise (Nantes, 1883) ; De la Borderie, Etudes hist, bretonnes. St. Clair et Ies origines de I'eglise de Nantes (Rennes, 1884) ; Richard, Etudes sur la legende liiurgique de Saint Clair, premier ivique de Nantes (Nantes, 1886); Richard, Les saints de I'iglise de Nantes (Nantea, 1873) ; Boyle, The Irish Col- lege in Nantes (London, 1901) ; Lalu^, Le Diocese de Nantes pendant la Rivolution (Nantea, 1893). For further bibliography see Chevauer, Topobibl., s. v.
Georges Gotau.
Nantes, Edict of. See Huguenots.
Nanteuil, Robert, French engraver and crayon- ist, b. at Reims, 1623 (1626, or 1630); d. at Paris, 1678. Little is known of his early life save that his father, a merchant of Reims, sent him to the Jftsuit school, where he received a splendid rla.^.-^iral training but no encouragement to draw. In every spare moment he was busy with his pencil or burin, and he even en- graved on the trees in the forest. He cut in wood a "Christ" and a "Virgin", copy- ing from old cop- per plates. He later went to the Benedictines, who fostered his artis- tic bent; one of the order, who patiently sat for him, is seen in the "Buste d'un Religieux" (pub- lished in 1644). He also (■ngrav<Ml Driuuncnts for his thesis in philosojjhy in 104.j (Piety, Justice, and Prudence Saluting the University), both these early attempts with the graver being notable suc- cesses. His family being in dire financial straits, Nanteuil went to Paris (1648), and worked with Reg- nesson whose sister he had married. His style now changed and developed quickly: his first method had been to use straight lines only, shallow or deep; then he practised cross-hatching and added stippling for the middle-tints (in this following Boulanger). The acme of his style shows special strokes and individual treatment for each part of the face and for each tex- ture of the draperies. His crayon and pastel por-
