Nicolas De Narbonne

Nicolas De Narbonne, superior-general of the Carmelite Order, was born in Narbonne, or, as some suppose, in Toulouse. He was elected vicar-general of the order in the Eastern countries in the year 1250, and superior or prior-general of all the congregation, after the death of Simon Stock, in 1265. Almost all the other circumstances of his life are unknown, or related in terms which render them doubtful. Thus several writers of the order, in collecting obscure traditions, have even attributed to him miracles. His principal and most authentic title to celebrity is a work still unpublished, which the bibliographers call Sagitta ignea (the fiery arrow). As he recounts in it, in terms full of bitterness, the faults, the disorders of the Oriental Carmelites, and the misfortunes which have been their just punishment, this work. has been several times quoted by the enemies of monastic institutions. See Catal. Bibl. Cotton. p. 90; Hist. litter. de la France, 19:129.