
Actual Grace
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Grace ( gratia, Charis ), in general, is a supernatural gift of God to intellectual creatures (men, angels ) for their eternal salvation, whether the latter be furthered and attained through salutary acts or a state of holiness.
Before the Council of Trent, the Schoolmen seldom distinguished actual grace from sanctifying grace. But, in consequence of modern controversies regarding grace, it has become usual and necessary in theology to draw a sharper distinction between the transient help to act (actual grace) and the permanent state of grace (sanctifying grace). For this reason we adopt this distinction as our principle of division in our exposition of the Catholic doctrine. In this article we shall treat only of actual grace. (See also SANCTIFYING GRACE.)
Actual grace derives its name, actual , from the Latin actualis ( ad actum ), for it is granted by God for the performance of salutary acts and is present and disappears with the action itself. Its opposite, therefore, is not possible grace, which is without usefulness or importance, but habitual grace, which causes a state of holiness, so that the mutual relations between these two kinds of grace are the relation between action and state , not those between actuality and potentiality . Later, we shall discuss habitual grace more fully under the name of sanctifying or justifying grace. As to actual grace, we have to examine: (1) its Nature; (2) its Properties. The third, and difficult, question of the relationship between grace and liberty shall be reserved for discussion in the article CONTROVERSIES ON GRACE.
I. NATURE OF ACTUAL GRACE
To know the nature of actual grace, we must consider both the comprehension and the extension of the term. Its comprehension is exhibited to us by (a) its definition; its extension, by the complete enumeration of all Divine helps of grace; in other words, by (b) the logical division of the idea, inasmuch as the sum of all the particulars represents, in every science, the logical extent of an idea or term.
A. The Definition of Actual GraceThe definition of actual grace is based on the idea of grace in general, which, in Biblical, classical, and modern language, admits of a fourfold meaning. In the first place, subjectively, grace signifies good will, benevolence; then, objectively, it designates every favour which proceeds from this benevolence and, consequently, every gratuitous gift ( donum gratuitum, beneficium ). In the former (subjective) sense, the king's grace grants life to the criminal condemned to death; in the latter (objective) sense the king distributes graces to his lieges. In this connection grace also stands for charm, attractiveness; as when we speak of the three Graces in mythology, or of the grace poured forth on the lips of the bridegroom (Ps. xliv, 3), because charm calls forth benevolent love in the giver and prompts him to the bestowal of benefactions. As the recipient of graces experiences, on his part, sentiments of gratefulness, and expresses these sentiments in thanks, the word gratiae (plural of gratia ) also stands for thanksgiving in the expressions gratias agere and Deo gratias , which have their counterpart in the English, to say grace after meals.
A comparison of these four senses of the word grace reveals a clear relationship of analogy among them, since grace , in its objective signification of "gratuitous gift" or "favour", occupies a central position around which the other meanings may be logically grouped. For the attractiveness of the recipient as well as the benevolence of the giver is the cause, whereas the expression of thanks which proceeds from the grateful disposition is the effect, of the gratuitous gift of grace. This last-mentioned meaning is, consequently the fundamental one in grace. The characteristic idea of a free gift must be taken in the strict sense and exclude merit in every form, be it in the range of commutative justice as, e.g., in sale and purchase, or in that of distributive justice, as is the case in the so-called remunerations and gratuities. Hence St. Paul says: "If by grace, it is not now by works: otherwise grace is no more grace" ( Romans 11:6 ).
True, even gratuitous Divine gifts may still fall within the range of mere nature. Thus we petition God, under the guidance of the Church, for mere natural graces, as health, favourable weather, deliverance from plague, famine, and war. Now such natural graces, which appear simultaneously as due and gratuitous, are by no means a contradiction in themselves. For, first, the whole creation is for mankind a gratuitous gift of the love of God, whom neither justice nor equity compelled to create the world. And secondly the individual man can, in virtue of his title of creation, lay a rightful claim only to the essential endowments of his nature. Goods granted over and above this class, though belonging to the just demands of human nature in general, have for him the significance of an actual grace, or favour, as, for example, eminent talents, robust health, perfect limbs, fortitude. We would have omitted mentioning this so-called "grace of creation", had not Pelagius, by emphasizing the gratuitous character of such natural graces, succeeded, at the Synod of Diospolis or Lydda (A.D. 415) in deluding the unsuspecting bishops in regard to the dangers of his heresy. The five African bishops, Augustine among them, in their report to Pope Innocent I, rightly called attention to the fact that Pelagius admitted only the grace through which we are men, but denied grace properly so called, through which we are Christians and children of God. Whenever Scripture and tradition speak simply of grace , reference is made to a supernatural grace which is opposed to natural grace as to its contrary and lies so far beyond all rightful claim and strenuous effort of the creature that it remains positively undue to the already existing nature, because it includes goods of a Divine order, as, e.g., Divine sonship, indwelling of the Spirit, vision of God. Actual grace is of this kind, because as a means, it stands in intrinsic and essential relation to these Divine goods which are the end. As a consequence, the most important element characteristic of its nature must be the supernatural.
As a further determining factor must be added its necessary derivation from the merits of Christ's redemption ; for there is the question of Christian grace. In the Thomist theory of redemption, which considers not Christ, but the Trinity, as the cause of grace in the angels and in our first parents in Paradise, the addition of this new characteristic appears self-explanatory. As to the Scotists, they derive each and every supernatural grace in heaven and on earth solely from the merits of Christ, inasmuch as the God-Man would have appeared on earth even had Adam not sinned. But they, too, are compelled to introduce, in the present dispensation, a distinction between the "grace of Christ" and the "grace of the Redeemer" for the reason that, in their ideal theory, neither the angels nor the inhabitants of Paradise owe their holiness to the Redeemer. The addition, ex meritis Christi , must therefore be included in the notion of actual grace. But there are also merely external graces, which owe their existence to the merits of Christ's redemption -- as the Bible, preaching, the crucifix, the example of Christ. One of these, the hypostatic union, marks even the highest point of all possible graces. The Pelagians themselves sought to outdo one another in their encomiums on the excellency of Christ's example and its effectiveness in suggesting pious thoughts and salutary resolutions. They thus endeavoured to avoid the admission of interior graces inherent in the soul; for these alone were opposed to Pelagius' proudly virtuous supremacy of the free will ( liberum arbitrium ), the whole strength of which resided within itself. For this reason the Church all the more emphatically proclaimed, and still proclaims, the necessity of interior grace for which exterior graces are merely a preparation. Yet there are also interior graces which do not procure the individual sanctification of the recipient, but the sanctification of others through the recipient. These, by the extension of the generic term to specifically designate a new subdivision, are, by antonomasia, called gratuitously given graces ( gratia gratis datae ). To this class belong the extraordinary charismata of the miracle-worker, the prophet, the speaker of tongues, etc. (see 1 Corinthians 12:4 sqq. ), as well as the ordinary powers of the priest and confessor. As the object of these graces is, according to their nature, the spread of the Kingdom of God on earth and the sanctification of men, their possession in itself does not exclude personal unholiness. The will of God, however, is that personal righteousness and holiness should also distinguish the possessor. With regard to the personal holiness of man, only that interior grace is of importance which is interiorly inherent in the soul and renders it holy and pleasing to God. Hence its name, ingratiating grace ( gratia gratum faciens ). To this category belongs not only sanctifying, but also actual grace.
Taking into account, then, all the elements so far considered, we may define actual grace as a supernatural help of God for salutary acts granted in consideration of the merits of Christ.
It is called a "help of God for salutary acts", because, on the one hand, it differs from permanent sanctifying grace, in that it consists only in a passing influence of God on the soul, and, on the other, it is destined only for actions which have a necessary relation to man's eternal salvation. It is further called a "supernatural help" so as to exclude from its definition not only all merely natural graces, but also, in a special manner, ordinary Divine conservation and concurrence (concursus generalis divinus). Finally, the "merits of Christ " are named as its meritorious cause because all graces granted to fallen man are derived from this one source. It is for this reason that the prayers of the Church either invoke Christ directly or conclude with the words: Through Jesus Christ Our Lord .
We have laid down above, as the most important characteristic of the nature of actual (and of every Christian) grace, its supernatural character. This was done partly because a deeper insight into its nature may be gained from the analysis of this element. As pure nature is in itself completely incapable of performing salutary acts through its own strength, actual grace must come to the rescue of its incapacity and supply the deficient powers, without which no supernatural activity is possible. Actual grace thus becomes a special causal principle which communicates to impotent nature moral, and especially physical, powers. Grace, as a moral cause, presupposes the existence of obstacles which render the work of salvation so difficult that their removal is morally impossible without special Divine help. Grace must be brought into operation as healing grace (gratia sanans, medicinalis); free will, bent towards the earth and weakened by concupiscence, is yet filled with love of good and horror of evil. The consciousness of the necessity of this moral influence may become so perfect that we beg of God the grace of a violent victory over our evil nature; witness the celebrated prayer of the Church: "Ad te nostras, etiam rebelles, compelle propitius voluntates" (Vouchsafe to compel our wills to Thee albeit they resist). In the ordinary course of things the Divine inspiration of joy in virtue and aversion from sin will, no doubt, methodically lead to the free performance of salutary acts; but the moral influence of grace can effect the temporary control of freedom in the sinner. The sudden conversion of the Apostle Paul is an illustration of this. It will be readily understood that the above-mentioned triumph over the obstacles to salvation demands in itself a grace which is natural only in substance, but supernatural in mode. Hence many theologians require even for the so-called state of pure nature (which never existed) such natural graces as are mere remedies against the fomes peccati of natural concupiscence. The end of supernatural bliss and the consequently necessary endowment with supernatural means of grace would not have existed in this state (status natura purae), but the disastrous results of an evil tendency unbridled would have been experienced to the same extent as after the fall.
More important than the moral causality of grace is its physical causality, for man must also receive from God the physical power to perform salutary works. Without it, activity in the order of salvation is not only more difficult and laborious, it is altogether impossible. The feet of a child, to draw a comparison from actual life, may be so weak that a mere moral influence, such as the holding out of a beautiful toy, will not suffice to enable it to walk without the physical support of the mother -- the use of the leading-strings. The latter situation is the one in which man is placed with regard to supernatural activity.
From the question which is to be discussed later, and which regards the metaphysical necessity of grace for all salutary acts, whether of an easy or difficult nature, it follows, with irresistible logic, that the incapacity of nature cannot be ascribed solely to a mere weakened condition and moral difficulties resulting from sin, but that it must be attributed also, and principally, to physical inability. The communication of the physical power to the soul admits, theologically, of only one interpretation, namely, that grace raises the faculties of the soul (intellect and will) above their natural constitution into a supernatural sphere of being, and thus renders them capable of substantially supernatural operations. The reason why, through our inner consciousness, we can gain no psychological knowledge of this higher activity of the soul lies in the fact that our self-consciousness extends solely to the acts, and in no wise to the substance, of the soul. From this same fact arises the philosophical necessity of proving the spirituality, the immortality, and the very existence of the human soul from the characteristic nature of its activity. Inexorable theological logic postulates the supernatural nature of the acts tending towards our salvation, because theological faith, for example, "the beginning, foundation, and source of all justification", must certainly be of the same supernatural order as the intuitive vision of God to which it ultimately leads. The necessity of the physical causality of grace, as is readily seen, is nowise dependent on the existence of concupiscence, but remains just as imperative for our first parents in their state of innocence and for the angels subject to no evil tendency. Actual grace, therefore, considered under this aspect, bears the name of "elevating grace" ( gratia elevans ), though not in a sense which would exclude from it the possibility of simultaneously fulfilling the moral function of healing grace in the present state of man. It is only after these considerations that the comprehension of the nature of actual grace in all its relations becomes possible, that we may say, with Perrone: Actual grace is that unmerited interior assistance which God, in virtue of the merits of Christ, confers upon fallen man in order to strengthen, on the one hand, his infirmity resulting from sin and, on the other, to render him capable, by elevation to the supernatural order, of supernatural acts of the soul, so that he may attain justification, persevere in it to the end, and thus enter into everlasting life.
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The logical division of actual grace should enumerate all the kinds to which the definition is universally applicable. If we adopt the different faculties of the soul as our principle of division, we shall have three kinds: graces of the intellect, of the will, and of the sensitive faculties. With regard to the consent of the will we distinguish two pairs of graces: first, preventing and co-operating; then efficacious and merely sufficient grace. It must be immediately shown that all these graces are no arbitrarily invented entities, but actually existing realities.
1. Graces of the Different Faculties of the SoulThe illuminating grace of the intellect ( gratia illuminationis, illustrationis ) first presents itself for consideration. It is that grace which in the work of salvation suggests good thoughts to the intellect. This may happen in a twofold manner, either mediately or immediately. The existence of mediate graces of the mind is not only vouched for a priori by the presence of merely external graces, as when a stirring sermon or the sight of the crucifix forces the sinner to earnest reflection; it is also explicitly attested by Holy Writ where the "commandment of the Lord" is represented as "enlightening the eyes" (Ps. xviii 9), and the external example of Christ as a model for our imitation (I Pet., ii, 21). But, as this mediate grace need neither interrupt the psychological course of the law governing the association of ideas nor be of a strictly supernatural nature, its sole object will be to prepare unostentatiously the way for a grace of greater importance and necessity, immediate illuminating grace. In the latter, the Holy Ghost Himself through immediate elevation and penetration of the powers of the mind prompts the soul and manifests to it in a supernatural light the eternal truths of salvation. Though our sacred discourses be perfect masterpieces of eloquence, though our picture of the wounds of the crucified Saviour be ever so vivid and realistic, they alone can never be the first step towards the conversion of a sinner, except when God by a vigorous impulse stirs the heart and, according to an expression of St. Fulgentius (Ep. xvii, De incarn. et grat., n. 67), "opens the ear of the interior man". St. Paul acknowledges, also, that the faith which his own preaching and that of his disciple Apollo had sown in Corinth, and which, under their "planting and watering" (mediate grace of preaching), had taken root, would have miserably perished, had not God himself given "the increase". (See 1 Corinthians 3:6 : "Ego plantavi, Apollo rigavit, sed Deus incrementum dedit.") Among the Fathers of the Church none has more strongly emphasized the fruitlessness of preaching without interior illumination than the Doctor of Grace, Augustine, who says among other things: "Magisteria forinsecus adjutoria quaedam sunt et admonitiones; cathedram in caelo habet qui corda tenet" ("Instruction and admonition help somewhat externally, but he who reaches the heart has a place in heaven" -- Tract. III, 13, in I Joh.). The more speculative question may now be asked: Whether the mediate and immediate grace of the mind affects the idea, the judgment, or the reasoning. There can be no doubt that it primarily influences the judgment ( judicium ), be the latter theoretical (e.g. on the credibility of revelation) or practical (e.g. regarding the hideous character of sin). But the reasoning process and the idea ( apprehensio ) may also become a grace of the mind, firstly, because they both belong to the essence of human knowledge, and grace always operates in a manner conformable to nature; secondly because ideas are in final analysis but the result and fruit of condensed judgments and reasonings.

Besides the grace of the mind, the strengthening grace of the will (generally called gratia inspirationis ) plays not only the most important, but an indispensable, part, for no works of salvation are even thinkable without operations of the will. It may also be either mediate or immediate, according as the pious affections and wholesome resolutions are awakened in the soul by the immediately preceding illumination of the mind or by God Himself (by appropriation the Holy Ghost). Owing to the psychological interpenetration of cognition and volition, every (mediate or immediate) grace of the mind is in itself also a grace affecting the will. This twofold action -- on intellect and will -- has therefore the significance of two different acts of the soul, but of only one grace. Consequently, immediate elevation and motion of the will by the Holy Spirit can alone be considered a new grace. The Pelagians logically denied the existence especially of this grace, even if, according to the improbable opinion of some historians of dogma, they were forced by Augustine in the course of the debate to admit at least the immediate grace of the mind. Augustine threw in the whole weight of his personality in favour of the existence and necessity of the grace of the will, to which he applied the names, delectatio caelestis, inspiratio dilectionis, cupiditas boni , and the like. The celebrated Provincial Council of Carthage (A.D. 418) confirmed his teaching when it declared that grace does not simply consist in the manifestation of the Divine precepts whereby we may know our positive and negative duties, but it also confers upon us the power to love and accomplish whatever we have recognized as righteous in things pertaining to salvation (cf. Denzinger, "Enchiridion", 10th ed., n. 104, Freiburg, 1908). The Church has never shared the ethical optimism of Socrates, which made virtue consist in mere knowledge, and held that mere teaching was sufficient to inculcate it. If even natural virtue must be fought for, and is acquired only through energetic work an constant practice, how much more does not a supernatural life of virtue require the Divine help of grace with which the Christian must freely co-operate, and thus advance by slow degrees in perfection. The strengthening grace of the will, like the grace of the mind, assumes the form of vital acts of the soul and manifests itself chiefly in what are called affections of the will. Scholastic psychology enumerates eleven such affections, namely: love and hatred, delight and sadness, desire and aversion, hope and despair, daring and fear, finally, anger. This whole list of feelings has, with the sole exception of despair, which imperils the work of salvation, a practical significance in relation to good and evil; these affections may therefore develop into real graces of the will. But, inasmuch as all motions of the will may be ultimately reduced to love as fundamental feeling (cf. St. Thomas, Summa I-II:25:2 ), the functions of the grace of the will may be systematically focussed in love; hence the concise declaration of the above-mentioned Synod of Carthage (1. c.): "Cum sit utrumque donum Dei, et scire Quid facere debeamus et diligere ut faciamus" (Since both are gifts of God -- the knowing what we ought to do, and the desire to do it). But care must be taken not to understand immediately, by this "love", perfect love of God, which comes only at the end of the process of justification as the crowning-stone of the edifice, even though Augustine (De Trinit., VIII, 10, and frequently) honours with the name caritas the mere love for good and any good motion of the will whatsoever. Berti (De theol. discipl., XIV, 7), therefore, is wrong when he asserts that, according to Augustine, the only grace properly so called is the theological virtue of charity. Are faith, hope, contrition, fear, only graces improperly so called, or do they become graces in the true sense only in connection with charity?
It cannot be determined with certainty of faith whether to the graces of mind and will so far spoken of should be added special actual graces affecting the sensitive faculties of the soul. But their existence may be asserted with great probability. For if, according to an appropriate remark of Aristotle (De anima, I, viii), it is true that thinking is impossible without imagination, supernatural thought also must find its originator and point of support in a corresponding phantasm to which, like the ivy on the wall, it clings and thus creeps upward. At any rate, the harmonious agreement of the grace of the intellect with the accompanying phantasm can but be of favourable influence on the soul visited by grace. It is likewise clear that in the rebellious motions of concupiscence, which reside in the sensitive faculties, the grace of the will has a dangerous enemy which must be overcome by the infusion of contrary dispositions, as aversion from sin, before the will is aroused to make firm resolutions. Paul, consequently, thrice be sought the Lord that the sting of the flesh might depart from him, but was answered: "Sufficit tibi gratia mea" (II Cor. xii, 9).
2. Graces regarding Free WillIf we take the attitude of free will as the dividing principle of actual grace, we must first have a grace which precedes the free determination of the will and another which follows this determination and co-operates with the will. This is the first pair of graces, preventing and co-operating grace ( gratia praeveniens et cooperans ). Preventing grace must, according to its physical nature consist in unfree, indeliberate vital acts of the soul; co-operating grace, on the contrary, solely in free, deliberate actions of the will. The latter assume the character of actual graces, not only because they are immediately suggested by God, but also because they may become, after the achievement of success, the principle of new salutary acts. In this manner an intense act of perfect love of God may simultaneously effect and, as it were, assure by itself the observance of the Divine commandments. The existence of preventing grace, officially determined by the Council of Trent (Sess. VI, cap. v), must be admitted with the same certainty as the facts that the illuminating grace of the intellect belongs to a faculty not free in itself and that the grace of the will must first and foremost exhibit itself in spontaneous, indeliberate, unfree emotions. This is proved by the Biblical metaphors of the reluctant hearing of the voice of God (Jer., xvii, 23; Ps. xciv, 8), of the drawing by the Father (John, vi, 44), of the knocking at the gate (Apoc., iii, 20). The Fathers of the Church bear witness to the reality of preventing grace in their very appropriate formula: "Gratia est in nobis, sed sine nobis", that is, grace as a vital act is in the soul, but as an unfree, salutary act it does not proceed from the soul, but immediately from God. Thus Augustine (De grat. et lib. arbitr., xvii 33), Gregory the Great (Moral., XVI, x), Bernard of Clairvaux (De grat. et lib. arbitr., xiv), and others. As the unfree emotion of the will are by their very nature destined to elicit free salutary acts, it is clear that preventing grace must develop into helping or co-operating grace as soon as free will gives its consent. These free salutary acts are, according to the Council of Trent (Sess. VI, cap. xvi), not only actual graces, but also meritorious actions ( actus meritorii ). There is just as little doubt possible regarding their existence as concerning the fact that many men freely follow the call of grace, work out their eternal salvation, and attain the beatific vision, so that the dogma of the Christian heaven proves simultaneously the reality of co-operating graces. Their principal advocate is Augustine (De grat. et lib. arbitr., xvi, 32). If the more philosophical question of the co-operation of grace and liberty be raised, it will be easily perceived that the supernatural element of the free salutary act can be only from God, its vitality only from the will. The postulated unity of the action of the will could evidently not be safeguarded, if God and the will Performed either two separate acts or mere halves of an act. It can exist only when the supernatural power of grace transforms itself into the vital strength of the will, constitutes the latter as a free faculty in actu primo by elevation to the supernatural order, and simultaneously co-operates as supernatural Divine concurrence in the performance of the real salutary act or actus secundus. This co-operation is not unlike that of God with the creature in the natural order, in which both perform together one and the same act, God as first cause ( causa prima ), the creature as secondary cause ( causa secunda ). For further particulars see St. Thomas, "Contra Gent.", III, lxx.
A second pair of graces important for the understanding of the controversies on grace is that of efficacious and merely sufficient grace ( gratia efficax et mere sufficiens ). By efficacious grace is understood that Divine assistance which, considered even in actu primo , includes with infallible certainty, and consequently in its definition, the free salutary act; for did it remain inefficacious, it would cease to be efficacious and would therefore be self-contradictory. As to whether the infallibility of its success is the result of the physical nature of this grace or of the infallible foreknowledge of God ( scientia media ) is a much debated question between Thomists and Molinists which need not be further treated here. Its existence, however, is admitted as an article of faith by both sides and is established with the same firmness as the predestination of the elect or the existence of a heaven peopled with innumerable saints. As to "merely sufficient grace", Calvinists and Jansenists have, as is well known, eliminated it from their doctrinal system. They admitted only efficacious graces whose action overpowers the will and leaves no room for freedom. If Jansen (d. 1638) nominally admitted "sufficient grace", calling it "little grace" ( gratia parva ), he understood by it, in reality, only "insufficient grace", i.e. "one from which no action can result, except its insufficiency be removed by another grace" (De grat. Christ., IV, x). He did not shrink from reviling sufficient grace, understood in the Catholic sense, as a monstrous conception and a means of filling hell with reprobates, while later Jansenists discovered in it such a pernicious character as to infer the appropriateness of the prayer: "a gratia sufficiente, libera nos Domine" ("From sufficient grace, O Lord deliver us". -- Cf. prop. 6 damn. ab Alex. VIII, a. 1690 in Denzinger, n. 1296). The Catholic idea of sufficient grace is obtained by the distinction of a twofold element in every actual grace, its intrinsic energy ( potestas agendi, vis ) and its extrinsic efficiency ( efficientia ). Under the former aspect there exists between sufficient and efficacious grace, both considered in actu primo , no real, but only a logical, distinction; for sufficient grace also confers full power for action, but is condemned to unfruitfulness owing to the free resistance of the will. If, on the contrary, extrinsic efficiency be considered, it is evident that the will either co-operates freely or not . If it refuses its co-operation, even the strongest grace remains a merely sufficient one ( gratia mere sufficiens ) although by nature it would have been completely sufficient ( gratia vere sufficiens ) and with good will could have been efficacious. This ecclesiastical conception of the nature of sufficient grace, to which the Catholic systems of grace must invariably conform themselves, is nothing else but a reproduction of the teaching of the Bible. To cite only one text (Prov., i 24), the calling and the stretching-out of the hand of God certainly signifies the complete sufficiency of grace, just as the obstinate refusal of the sinner "to regard", is tantamount to the free rejection of the proffered hand. Augustine is in complete agreement with the constant tradition on this point, and Jansenists have vainly claimed him as one of their own. We have an example of his teaching in the following text: "Gratia Dei est quae hominum adjuvat voluntates; qua ut non adjuventur, in ipsis itidem causa est, non in Deo" ("It is the grace of God that helps the wills of men; and when they are not helped by it, the reason is in themselves, not in God." -- "De pecc. mer. et rem." II, xvii). On the Greek Fathers see Isaac Habert, Theologia Graecor. Patrum, II, 6 sq. (Paris, 1646).
II. PROPERTIES OF ACTUAL GRACE
After the treatment of the nature of actual grace, we come logically to the discussion of its properties. These are three in number: necessity, gratuity, and universality.
A. The Necessity of Actual GraceWith the early Protestants and Jansenists, the necessity of actual grace may be so exaggerated as to lead to the assertion of the absolute and complete incapacity of mere nature to do good; or, with the Pelagians and Semipelagians, it may be so understood as to extend the capacity of nature to each and every thing, even to supernatural activity, or at least to its essential elements. The three heresies of early Protestantism and Jansenism, Pelagianism, and Semipelagianism furnish us with the practical division which we adopt for the systematic exposition of the Catholic doctrine.
1. Early Protestantism and JansenismWe maintain against early Protestantism and Jansenism the capacity of mere nature in regard to both religious knowledge and moral action. Fundamental for natural religion and ethics is the article of faith which asserts the power of mere reason to derive a certain natural knowledge of God from creation (Vatican., Sess. III, de revelat., can. i). This is a central truth which is most clearly attested by Scripture (Wisdom, xiii, 1 sqq.; Rom., I, 20 sq.; ii, 14 sq.) and tradition. Unswervingly adhering to this position, the Church has ever exhibited herself as a mighty defender of reason and its inherent powers against the ravages of scepticism so subversive of all truth. Through the whole course of centuries she has steadfastly clung to the unalterable conviction that a faculty of perception constituted for vision, like human reason, cannot possibly be condemned to blindness, and that its natural powers enable it to know, even in the fallen state, whatever is within its legitimate sphere. On the other hand, the Church also erected against presumptuous Rationalism and Theosophism a bulwark for the defence of knowledge by faith, a knowledge superior to, and different in principle from rational knowledge. With Clement of Alexandria she drew a sharp distinction between gnosis and pistis -- knowledge and faith, philosophy and revelation, assigning to reason the double role of indispensable forerunner and docile handmaid (cf. Vatican., Sess. III, cap. iv). This noble struggle of the Church for the rights of reason and it true relation to faith explains historically her decidedly hostile attitude towards the scepticism of Nicholas de Ultricuria (A.D. 1348), towards the Renaissance philosophy of Pomponatius (1513) defending a "twofold truth", towards the so-called "log-stick-and-stone" theory ( Klotz-Stock-und-Steintheorie ) of Martin Luther and his followers, so inimical to reason, towards the doctrine of the complete powerlessness of nature without grace defended by Baius and Jansen, towards the system of Hermes impregnated with Kantian criticism, towards traditionalism, which based all moral and religious knowledge on the authority of language and instruction, finally, against the modern Agnosticism of the Modernists, which undermines the very foundations of faith and which was only recently dealt so fatal a blow by Pope Pius X's condemnation. Documentary evidence has thus been produced that the Catholic Church far from being an "institution of obscurantism", has at all times fulfilled a powerful and far-reaching mission of civilization, since she took reason and science under her powerful patronage and defended their rights against those very oppressors of reason who are accustomed to bring against her the groundless charge of intellectual inferiority. A sound intellectualism is just as indispensable a condition of her life as the doctrine of a supernatural order raised above all the limits of nature. (cf. Chastel, "De la valeur de la raison humaine", Paris, 1854.)
Not less reasonable an attitude was assumed by the Church respecting the moral capabilities of fallen man in the domain of natural ethics. Against Baianism, the forerunner of Jansenism, she adhered in her teaching to the conviction confirmed by healthy experience, that natural man is capable of performing some naturally good works without actual grace, and particularly without the grace of faith, and that not all the deeds of infidels and pagans are sins. This is evidenced by the condemnation of two propositions of Baius by Pope Pius V in the year 1567: "Liberum arbitrium sine gratiae Dei adjutorio nonnisi ad peccandum valet" ("Free will without the aid of God's grace avails for nothing but sin." -- Prop. xxvii), and again: "Omnia opera infidelium sunt peccata et philosophorum virtutes sunt vitia" ("All the acts of infidels are sins, and their virtues are vices." -- Prop. 25). The history of paganism and everyday experience condemn, moreover, with equal emphasis these extravagant exaggerations of Baius. Among the duties of the natural moral law some -- as love for parents or children, abstention from theft and drunkenness -- are of such an elementary character that it is impossible to perceive why they could not be fulfilled without grace and faith at least by judicious, cultured, and noble-minded pagans. Did not the Saviour himself recognize as something good natural human love and fraternal greeting, such as they exist also among publicans and pagans? He denied to them only a supernatural reward ( mercedem , Matt., v, 46 sq.). And Paul has explicitly stated that "the Gentiles, who have not the [Mosaic] law, do by nature [ naturaliter, physei ] those things that are of the law" (Rom., ii, 14). The Fathers of the Church did not judge differently. Baius, it is true, adduced Augustine as his chief witness, and in the latter's writings we find, to be sure, sentences which seem to favour him. Baius, however, overlooked the fact that the former rhetorician and Platonic idealist of Hippo does not always weigh every word as carefully as the wary Schoolman Thomas Aquinas, but consciously delights (cf. Enarr. in Ps. xcvi, n. 19) in antonomastically applying to the genus the designation which belongs only to the highest species. As he calls the least good motion of the will caritas , by anticipation, so he brands every unmeritorious work ( opus steriliter bonum ) as sin ( peccatum ) and false virtue ( falsa virtus ). In both cases it is an obvious use of the rhetorical figure called catachresis. With a strong perception for the ethically good, wherever it may be found, he eulogizes elsewhere the chastity of his heathen friend Alypius (Confess., VI, x) and of the pagan Polemo (Ep. cxl, 2), admires the civil virtues of the Romans, the masters of the world (Ep. cxxxviii, 3), and gives expression to the truth that even the most wicked man is not found completely wanting in naturally good works ("De Spiritu et litera", c. xxviii. -- Cf. Ripalda, "De Ente supernaturali", tom. III: "Adversus Baium et Baianos", Cologne, 1648; J. Ernst, "Werke und Tugenden der Unglaubigen nach Augustinus", Freiburg, 1871).
The ethical capacity of pure, and especially of fallen, nature has undoubtedly also its determined limits which it cannot overstep. In a general manner, the possibility of the observance of the easier natural precepts without the aid of natural or supernatural grace may be asserted, but not the possibility of the observance of the more difficult commandments and prohibitions of the natural law. The difficulty of determining where the easy ends and the difficult begins will naturally lead, in some secondary questions, to great diversity of opinion among theologians. In fundamental points, however, harmony is easily obtainable and exists in fact. In the first place, all without exception are agreed on the proposition that fallen man cannot of his own strength observe the natural law in its entirety and for a long time without occasional errors and lapses into grievous sin. And how could he? For, according to the Council of Trent (Sess. VI, Cap. xiii), even the already justified man will be victorious in the "conflict with the flesh, the world, and the devil " only on condition that he co-operate with never-failing grace (cf. Rom., vii, 22 sqq.). Secondly, all theologians admit that the natural will, unaided by Divine assistance, succumbs, especially in the fallen state, with moral (not physical) necessity to the attack of vehement and enduring temptations against the Decalogue. For could it by its own strength decide the conflict in its own favour even at the most critical moments, that power which we have just eliminated would be restored to it, namely the power to observe unaided, through the prompt victory over vehement temptations, the whole natural law in all its extent. The practical significance of this second universally admitted proposition lies in the acknowledgment that, according to revelation, there is no man on earth who does not occasionally meet with this or that grievous temptation to mortal sin, and even the justified are no exception to this law; wherefore, even they are bound to constant vigilance in fear and trembling and to never-ceasing prayer for Divine assistance (cf. Council of Trent, 1. c.). In the third question, whether natural love of God, even in its highest form ( amor Dei naturalis perfectus ), is possible without grace, the opinions of theologians are still very divergent. Bellarmine denies this possibility on the ground that, without any grace, a mere natural justification could in such a case be brought into being through the love of God. Scotus, on the contrary, spiritedly defends the attainability of the highest natural love for God. A golden middle course will easily open to the one who accurately distinguishes between affective and effective love. The affective element of the highest love is, as natural duty, accessible to the mere natural will with out grace. Effective love, on the contrary, since it supposes an unchanging, systematic, and active will, would entail the above-discarded possibility of triumphing over all temptations and of observing the whole moral law. (For further details on these interesting problems, see Pohle, "Lehrbuch der Dogmatik", 4th ed., II, 364-70, Paderborn, 1909.)
According to Jansenism, the mere absence of the state of grace and love ( status gratiae et caritatis ) branded as sins all the deeds of the sinner, even the ethically good ones (e.g., almsgiving). This was the lowest ebb in its disparagement and depreciation of the moral forces in man; and here, too, Baius had paved the way. The possession of sanctifying grace or theological love thus became the measure and criterion of natural morality. Taking as his basis the total corruption of nature through original sin (i.e. concupiscence) as taught by early Protestantism, Quesnel, especially (Prop. xliv in Denzinger, n. 1394), gave the above-expressed thought the alleged Augustinian form that there is no medium between love of God and love of the world, charity and concupiscence, so that even the prayers of the impious are nothing else but sins. (Cfr. Prop. xlix: "Oratio impiorum est novum peccatum et quod Deus illis concedit, est novum in eos judicium"). The answer of the Church to such severe exaggerations was the dogmatic Bull, "Unigenitus" (1713), of Pope Clement XI. The Council of Trent (Sess. VI, can. vii) had however already decreed against Martin Luther : "Si quis dixerit, opera omnia quae ante justificationem fiunt . . . vere esse peccata . . . anathema sit" (If anyone shall say that all the works done before justification are indeed sins, let him be anathema ). Moreover, what reasonable man would concede that the process of justification with its so-called dispositions consists in a long series of sins? And if the Bible, in order to effect the conversion of the sinner, frequently summons him to contrition and penance, to prayer and almsdeeds, shall we admit the blasphemy that the Most Holy summons him to the commission of so many sins?
The Catholic doctrine on this point obstinately adhered to through all the centuries, is so clear that even an Augustine could not have departed from it without becoming a public heretic. True, Baius and Quesnel succeeded in cleverly concealing their heresy in a phraseology similar to the Augustinian, but without penetrating the meaning of Augustine. The latter, it must be conceded, in the course of the struggle with self-confident Pelagianism, ultimately so strongly emphasized the opposition between grace and sin, love of God and love of the world, that the intermediary domain of naturally good works almost completely disappeared. But Scholasticism had long since applied the necessary correction to this exaggeration. That the sinner, in consequence of his habitual state of sin, must sin in everything, is not the doctrine of Augustine. The universality of sin in the world which he contemplated, is not for him the result of a fundamental necessity, but merely the manifestation of a general historical phenomenon which admits of exceptions (De spir. et lit., c. xxvii, n. 48). He specifically declares marital love, love of children and friends to be something lawful in all men, something commendable, natural and dutiful, even though Divine love alone leads to heaven. He admits the possibility of these natural virtues also in the impious: "Sed videtis, istam caritatem esse posse et impiorum, i.e. paganorum, Judaeorum, haereticorum" (Serm. cccxlix de temp. in Migne, P.L., XXXIX, 1529).
2. PelagianismPelagianism, which still survives under new forms, fell into the extreme directly opposed to the theories rejected above. It exaggerated the capacity of human nature to an incredible degree, and hardly left any room for Christian grace. It amounted to nothing less than the divinization of the moral forces of free will. Even when it was question of acts tending to supernatural salvation, natural will was declared able to rise by its own strength from justification to eternal life. Rank naturalism in its essence, Pelagianism contained, as a logical consequence, the suppression of original sin and the negation of grace. It laid down the proud assertion that the sovereign will may ultimately raise itself to complete holiness and impeccability ( impeccantia, anamartesia ) through the persevering observance of all the precepts, even the most difficult, and through the infallible triumph over every temptation, even the most vehement. This was an unmistakable reproduction of the ancient Stoic ideal of virtue. For the self-confident Pelagian, the petition of the Lord's Prayer, "Lead us not into temptation", served, properly speaking, no purpose: it was at most a proof of his humility, not a profession of the truth. In no other part of the system is the vanity of the Christian Diogenes so glaringly perceptible through the lacerated cloak of the philosopher. Hence the Provincial Synod of Carthage (418) insisted on the true doctrine on this very point (see Denzinger, nn. 106-8) and emphasized the absolute necessity of grace for all salutary acts. True, Pelagius (d. 405) and his disciple Caelestius, who found an active associate in the skilful and learned Bishop Julian of Eclanum, admitted from the beginning the improper creative grace, later also a merely external supernatural grace, such as the Bible and the example of Christ. But the heresiarch rejected with all the more obstinacy the inner grace of the Holy Ghost, especially for the will. The object of grace was, at the most, to facilitate the work of salvation, in no wise to make it fundamentally possible. Never before had a heretic dared to lay the axe so unsparingly to the deepest roots of Christianity. And never again did it occur in ecclesiastical history that one man alone, with the weapons of the mind and ecclesiastical science overthrew and annihilated in one generation an equally dangerous heresy. This man was Augustine. In the short period between A.D. 411 and A.D. 413 no fewer than twenty-four synods were held which considered the heresy of Pelagius. But the death-blow was dealt as early as 416 at Mileve, where fifty-nine bishops, under the leadership of St. Augustine, laid down the fundamental canons which were subsequently (418) repeated at Carthage and received, after the celebrated "Tractoria" of Pope Zosimus (418), the value of definitions of faith. It was there that the absolute necessity of grace for salvation triumphed over the Pelagian idea of its mere utility, and the absolute incapacity of nature over supreme self-sufficiency. When Augustine died, in 430, Pelagianism was dead. The decisions of faith issued at Mileve and Carthage were frequently renewed by ecumenical councils, as in 529 at Orange, lastly at Trent (Sess. VI, can. ii).
The beautiful parable of the vine and its branches (John xv, 1 sqq.) should have been sufficient to reveal to Pelagianism what a striking contrast there was between it and antecedent Christianity. Augustine and the synods time and again used it in the controversy as a very decisive proof out of the mouth of the Saviour Himself. Only when the supernatural vital union of the Apostles with the vine ( Christ ) planted by the Father is established, does it become possible to bring forth supernatural fruit; for "without me you can do nothing" (John, xv, 5). The categorical assertion of the necessity of grace for the holy Apostles themselves brings home to us still more forcibly the absolute incapacity of mere fallen nature in the performance of salutary acts. All supernatural activity may be concretely summed up in the three following elements: salutary thoughts, holy resolves, good actions. Now the Apostle Paul teaches that right thinking is from God (II Cor., iii, 5), that the righteous will must be based on Divine mercy (Rom. ix, 16), finally that it is God who works in us, "both to will and to accomplish" (Phil., ii, 13). The victorious struggle of St. Augustine, which earned for him the honourable title of "Doctor of Grace", was merely a struggle for the ancient Catholic truth. Pelagianism was immediately felt in the Christian community as a thorn in the flesh and as the poison of novelty. Before all the world Augustine could attest: "Talis est haeresis pelagiana, non antiqua, sed ante non multum tempus exorta" ("Such is the Pelagian heresy, not ancient, but having sprung up a short time ago." -- De grat., et lib. arbitr., c. iv). In fact, the teaching of the most ancient Fathers of the Church, e.g. Irenaeus (Adv. haer., III, xvii, 2), did not differ from that of Augustine, although it was less vigorous and explicit. The constant practice of prayer in the ancient Church pointed significantly to her lively faith in the necessity of grace, for prayer and grace are correlative ideas, which cannot be separated. Hence the celebrated axiom of Pope Celestine I (d. 432): "Ut legem credendi statuat lex supplicandi" ("That the law of prayer may determine the law of belief" -- See Denzinger, n. 139). It is clearly evident that the Fathers of the Church wished the universally expressed necessity of grace to be undertood not merely a moral necessity for the strengthening of human weakness, but as a metaphysical one for the communication of physical powers. For in their comparisons they state that grace is not less necessary than are wings for flying, the eyes for seeing, the rain for the growth of plants, etc. In accorance with this, they also declare that, in as far as supernatural activity is concerned, grace is just as indispensable for the angels not subect to concupiscence, and was for man before the fall, as it is for man after the sin of Adam.
There is need of special refutation of Pelagius's presumptuous contention that man is capable of avoiding unaided during his whole lifetime all sins; nay, that he can even rise to impeccability. The Council of Trent (Sess. VI, can. xxiii), with much more precision than the Synod of Mileve (416), answered this monstrosity with the definition of faith: "Si quis hominem semel justificatum dixerit . . posse in tota vita peccata omnia etiam venialia vitare, nisi ex speciali Dei privilegio, quemadmodum de beata Virgine tenet ecclesia, anathema sit" (If anyone shall say that a man once justified . . . can, throughout his life, avoid all sins, even venial, unless by a special privilege of God, as the Church believes of the Bl. Virgin Mary, let him be anathema ).
This celebrated canon presents some difficulties of thought which must be briefly discussed. In its gist it is an affirmation that not even the justified, much less the sinner and infidel, can avoid all sins, especially venial ones, through his whole life except by special privilege such as was granted to the Mother of God. The canon does not assert that besides Mary other saints, as St. Joseph or St. John the Baptist, possessed this privilege. Almost all theologians rightly consider this to be the sole exception, justified only by the dignity of the Divine maternity. Justice is done to the wording of the canon, if by tota vita we understand a long period, about a generation, and by peccata venialia chiefly the semi-deliberate venial sins due to surprise or precipitancy. It is in no way declared that a great saint is unable to keep free from all sin during a short interval, as the interval of a day; nor that he is incapable of avoiding for a long time with ordinary grace and without special privilege all venial sins committed with full deliberation or complete liberty. The same must be said with still greater reason of mortal sins, although the preservation of baptismal innocence may be of rare occurrence. The expression, omnia peccata , must be understood collectively, as applying to the sum, and not distributively, as meaning each individual sin, which would no longer be a sin if it could not be avoided in every instance For the same reason the words, non posse , designate not a physical, but a moral impossibility of avoiding sin, i.e. a difficulty based on insuperable obstacles which only a special privilege could suppress. The meaning is, therefore: The observer of a long series of temptations in the life of a just man will find that at some time or other, today or tomorrow, the will held captive by concupiscence will succumb with moral necessity. This may be due to negligence, surprise, weariness, or moral weakness -- all of which are factors that do not completely destroy the freedom of the will and thus admit at least of a venial sin. This hard truth must naturally grieve a proud heart. But it is precisely to curb pride, that most dangrous enemy of our salvation, and to nourish in us the precious virtue of humility, that God permits these falls into sin. Nothing incites us more powerfully to vigilance and perseverance in prayer than the consciousness of our sinfulness and infirmity. Even the greatest saint must, therefore, pray daily not out of hypocrisy or self-deception, but out of an intimate knowledge of his heart: "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors" (Matt., vi, 12). A holy Apostle had to acknowledge of himself and his intimate friends: "In many things we all offend" (James, iii, 2). Boldly, could the hagiographer in the Old Testament raise the question not difficult of answer: "Who can say: My heart is clean, I am pure from sin?" (Proverbs, xx, 9). This view, defended by the Bible, was also the constant sentiment of the Fathers of the Church, to whom the proud language of the Pelagians was unknown. To the latter's consideration Augustine (De nat. et grat., xxxvi) presents the impressive thoughts: "Could we bring together here in living form all the saints of both sexes and question them whether they were without sin, would they not exclaim unanimously: 'If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us'?" (I John, i, 8.)
3. SemipelagianismSemipelagianism is an unsuccessful attempt to effect a compromise between Pelagianism and Augustinism, attributing to mere nature and its capabilities a somewhat greater importance in matters pertaining to salvation than Augustine was willing to concede. Several pious monks of Marseilles (hence also the name of "Massilians"), John Cassian (d. 432) at their head, held (about A.D. 428) the following opinion of the relationship between nature and grace:
- A distinction must be established between "the beginning of faith" ( initium fidei ) and "increase in the faith" ( augmentum fidei ); the former may be referred to the natural power of free will, while increase in the faith and faith itself can only be the work of Christian grace.
- Nature can merit grace through its own efforts, but this natural merit ( meritum naturae ) is only founded in equity, it does not confer, as Pelagius contended, a right in strict justice.
- "Final perseverance" ( donum perseverantiae ) specifically can be secured by the justified with their own strength, and is therefore not a special grace.
- The bestowal or denial of baptismal grace in children is dependent on their conditional future merits or demerits, which the Omniscience of God foresaw not historically, but hypothetically from eternity.
More Volume: A 1,348
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AërAer(Greek aer , "the air"). The largest and outer-most covering of the chalice and paten in ... |
Aërius of PontusAeris of PontusA friend and fellow ascetic of Eustathius, who became Bishop of Sebaste (355), and who ... |
AëtiusAetiusA Roman general, patrician, and consul, b. towards the end of the fourth century; d. 454. He ... |
Añazco, Pedro dePedro de AnazcoBorn at Chachapoyas (Peru) in 1550; died at Asuncion, Paraguay, 1605. His father was Pedro de ... |
AachenAachen(In French, Aix-la-Chapelle , the name by which the city is generally known; in Latin Aquae ... |
Aarhus, Ancient See ofAncient See of Aarhus in Denmark(ARUSIA, ARUSIENSIS). The diocese included the provinces (amter) of Aarhus and Randers, ... |
AaronAaronBrother of Moses, and High Priest of the Old Law. I. LIFE Altogether different views are ... |
Abachum, Audifax, Martha, and Maris, SaintsSts. Maris, Martha, Audifax, and AbachumAll martyred at Rome in 270. Maris and his wife Martha, who belonged to the Persian nobility, ... |
AbaddonAbaddonA Hebrew word signifying: ruin, destruction ( Job 31:12 ); place of destruction; the ... |
AbandonmentAbandonment(More properly, S ELF -A BANDONMENT ) A term used by writers of ascetical and mystical ... |
Abarca, PedroPedro AbarcaTheologian, born in Aragon in 1619; died 1 October, 1693, at Palencia. He entered the Society ... |
AbarimAbarim( Hebrew har ha'abharim, hare ha'abharim ; Septuagint to oros to Abarim, en to peran tou ... |
AbbéAbbeA French word meaning primarily and strictly an abbot or superior of a monastery of men. It came ... |
AbbaAbbaAbba is the Aramaic word for "father." The word occurs three times in the New Testament ( Mark ... |
Abbadie, Antoine d'Antoine d'AbbadieAntoine d'Abbadie Astronomer, geodetist, genographer, physician, numismatist, philologian, born ... |
Abban of Magheranoidhe, SaintSt. Abban of Magheranoidhe(Magheranoidhe is also rendered Murneave or Murnevin). Nephew of St. Ibar, the apostle of ... |
Abban of New Ross, SaintSt. Abban of New RossSt. Abban of New Ross -- also known as St. Ewin, Abhan, or Evin, but whose name has been locally ... |
Abban the Hermit, SaintSt. Abban the HermitThough he lived in Abingdon ( England ), he was certainly an Irishman. He is commemorated on ... |
Abbeloos, Jean BaptisteJean Baptiste AbbeloosOrientalist, born 15 January, 1836, at Goyck, Belgium; died 25 February, 1906. He was educated ... |
AbbessAbbessThe female superior in spirituals and temporals of a community of twelve or more nuns. With a few ... |
AbbeyAbbeyA monastery canonically erected and autonomous, with a community of not fewer than twelve ... |
Abbo CernuusAbbo Cernuus("The crooked"). French Benedictine monk of St-Germain-des-Prés in Paris, sometimes ... |
Abbon, SaintSt. Abbon(Or ABBO.) Born near Orléans c. 945; died at Fleury, 13 November, 1004, a monk of ... |
AbbotAbbotA title given to the superior of a community of twelve or more monks. The name is derived from abba ... |
Abbot, CommendatoryCommendatory AbbotAn ecclesiastic, or sometimes a layman, who holds an abbey in commendam, that is, who draws its ... |
Abbot, HenryHenry AbbotLayman, martyred at York, 4 July, 1597, pronounced Venerable in 1886. His acts are thus related ... |
Abbot, LayLay Abbot( abbatocomes, abbas laicus, abbas miles ). A name used to designate a layman on whom a king ... |
Abbreviation, Methods ofMethods of AbbreviationThe use of abbreviations is due, in part, to exigencies arising from the nature of the materials ... |
Abbreviations, EcclesiasticalEcclesiastical AbbreviationsThe words most commonly abbreviated at all times are proper names , titles (official or ... |
AbbreviatorsAbbreviators( Abbreviare = "shorten", "curtail"). Abbreviators are those who make an abridgment or ... |
AbderaAbderaA titular see in the province of Rhodope on the southern coast of Thrace, now called Bouloustra. ... |
AbdiasAbdias(A Minor Prophet). This name is the Greek form of the Hebrew `Obhádhyah , which means ... |
Abdias of BabylonAbdias of BabylonAn apocryphal writer, said to have been one of the seventy-two Disciples of Christ, and first ... |
AbdicationAbdicationAbdication, ecclesiastically considered, is the resignation of a benefice or clerical dignity. ... |
Abdon and Sennen, SaintsSts. Abdon and Sennan(Variously written in early calendars and martyrologies Abdo, Abdus; Sennes, Sennis, Zennen.) ... |
AbductionAbductionAbduction may be considered as a public crime and a matrimonial diriment impediment. Viewed as a ... |
AbecedariaAbecedariaComplete or partial lists of letters of the alphabet, chiefly Greek and Latin, inscribed on ... |
AbecedariansAbecedariansA sect of Anabaptists who affected an absolute disdain for all human knowledge, contending ... |
AbelAbel (Son of Adam)(From the Hebrew word for Vanity , "probably so called from the shortness of his ... |
AbelAbel (Place Name)("Meadow") Name of several places distinguished by additional words: (1) Abel-Beth-Maacha ... |
Abel, Blessed ThomasBlessed Thomas Abel(Also ABLE, or ABELL.) Priest and martyr, born about 1497; died 30 July, 1540. He was ... |
Abelard, PeterPeter AbelardDialectician, philosopher, and theologian, born 1079; died 1142. Peter Abelard (also spelled ... |
Abelly, LouisLouis AbellyLouis Abelly (1603-91) was Vicar-General of Bayonne, a parish priest in Paris, and ... |
Aben-Ezra, Abraham-ben-MéirAbraham-Ben-Meir Aben-Ezra(Or IBN 'EZRA). A celebrated Spanish Rabbi, born at Toledo in 1092; died on his journey from ... |
AbenakisAbenakisA confederation of Algonquin tribes, comprising the Penobscots, Passamaquoddies, Norridgewocks, ... |
Abercius, Inscription ofInscription of AberciusA Greek hagiographical text, which has, however, undergone alterations, and a Greek inscription ... |
Abercromby, JohnJohn AbercrombyDied 1561. During the Scottish Reformation we know that the Catholic clergy were treated with ... |
Abercromby, RobertRobert Abercromby(Sometimes known as Sanders and as Robertson). A Jesuit missionary in Scotland in the time ... |
Aberdeen, The Diocese ofAberdeen(Scotland). A see was founded in 1063 at Mortlach by Bl. Beyn. The earliest mention of the old ... |
Aberdeen, The University ofThe University of AberdeenThe founder of this, one of the three universities established in Scotland in Catholic times, ... |
Aberle, Moritz vonMoritz von AberleCatholic theologian, b. at Rottum, near Biberach, in Swabia, 25 April, 1819; d. at Tübingen, ... |
Abgar, The Legend ofThe Legend of AbgarThe historian Eusebius records a tradition (H.E., I, xii), which he himself firmly believes, ... |
Abhan, SaintSt. Abban of New RossSt. Abban of New Ross -- also known as St. Ewin, Abhan, or Evin, but whose name has been locally ... |
AbiatharAbiathar( Hebrew ebhyathar , Father of plenty, or, the great one is father). Descendant of ... |
AbilaAbilaA titular see of Phoenicia, in the region of Mt. Libanus, now Suk Wady Barada, near Damascus, ... |
Abingdon, The Abbey ofThe Abbey of AbingdonThis abbey, located in the County of Berkshire, England, was founded A.D. 675, by Cyssa, ... |
Abington, ThomasThomas Abington(Or HABINGTON). An English antiquarian, b. 1560; d. 1647. His father, who was treasurer to ... |
Abiogenesis and BiogenesisBiogenesis and AbiogenesisAccording to their Greek derivation these two terms refer to the origin of life. Biogenesis is ... |
AbiponesAbiponesThis Indian tribe, linguistically of Guaycuru stock, formerly roaming the east side of the ... |
AbisaiAbisai( Abhishay, abhshay ; Septuagint Abessa, Abisai ). Son of David's sister Sarvia, and ... |
AbjurationAbjurationA denial, disavowal, or renunciation under oath. In common ecclesiastical language this term ... |
AbnerAbnerA son of Ner, a cousin of Saul, and commander-in-chief of Saul's army ( 1 Samuel 14:50 ; 17:55 ; ... |
Abomination of Desolation, TheThe Abomination of DesolationThe importance of this Scriptural expression is chiefly derived from the fact that in Matthew ... |
AbortionAbortionAbortion (from the Latin word aboriri , "to perish") may be briefly defined as "the loss of a ... |
Abortion, Physical Effects ofPhysical Effects of AbortionDefinition The expulsion of the human ovum occurring during the first three months of pregnancy, ... |
Abra de Raconis, Charles François d'Charles Francois d'Abra de RaconisA French bishop, born at the Château de Raconis in 1580 of a Calvinistic family ; died ... |
Abrabanel, Don IsaacDon Isaac Abrabanel(Also: Abravanel, Abarbanel). Jewish statesman, apologist and exegete, born in Lisbon ... |
AbrahamAbrahamThe original form of the name, Abram , is apparently the Assyrian Abu-ramu . It is doubtful ... |
Abraham (in Liturgy)Abraham (In Liturgy)While of peculiar interest to the liturgiologist (especially in the classification of the ... |
Abraham a Sancta ClaraAbraham a Sancta ClaraA Discalced Augustinian friar, preacher, and author of popular books of devotion, b. at ... |
Abraham EcchelensisAbraham EcchelensisA learned Maronite, born in Hekel, or Ecchel (hence his surname), a village on Mount Lebanon, in ... |
Abraham, The Bosom ofThe Bosom of AbrahamIn the Holy Bible , the expression "the Bosom of Abraham " is found only in two verses of St. ... |
AbrahamitesAbrahamites(1) Syrian heretics of the ninth century. They were called Brachiniah by the Arabs, from the ... |
Abram, NicholasNicholas AbramJesuit theologian, born in 1589, at Xaronval, in Lorraine; died 7 September, 1655. He taught ... |
AbrasaxAbrasaxThe study of Abrasax is, at first sight, as discouraging as it is possible to imagine. The name ... |
AbsalomAbsalom( Abhshalom in Hebrew; Abessalom, Apsalomos in Greek). The name of several distinguished ... |
Absalon of LundAbsalon of LundAlso known as AXEL, a famous Danish prelate, b. in 1128, at Finnestoë in Seeland; d. 21 ... |
AbsintheAbsinthe( Hebrew la'anah .) Wormwood, known for its repulsive bitterness ( Jeremiah 9:15 ; 23:15 ; ... |
Absolute, TheThe AbsoluteA term employed in modern philosophy with various meanings, but applied generally speaking to ... |
AbsolutionAbsolution( Ab = from; solvere = to free) Absolution is the remission of sin, or of the punishment ... |
AbstemiiAbstemiiAn abstemius is one who cannot take wine without risk of vomiting. As, therefore, the ... |
AbstinenceAbstinenceInasmuch as abstinence signifies abstaining from food, the Bible narrative points to the first ... |
Abstinence, Physical Effects ofPhysical Effects of AbstinenceThe effects on the human system of abstinence from flesh meats divide themselves naturally and ... |
AbstractionAbstraction( Latin abs , from trahere , to draw). Abstraction is a process (or a faculty) by which the ... |
AbthainAbthain(Or ABTHANE). An English or Lowland Scotch form of the middle-Latin word abthania (Gaelic, ... |
Abucara, TheodoreTheodore AbucaraA bishop of Caria in Syria ; d., probably, in 770. In his anti-heretical dialogues (P.G., ... |
AbundiusAbundiusAn Italian bishop, b. at Thessalonica early in the fifth century; d. 469. He was the fourth ... |
AbydusAbydus(ABYDOS). A titular see of Troas in Asia Minor , suffragan of Cyzicus in the ... |
AbyssAbyss(Greek abyssos ). Abyss is primarily and classically an adjective, meaning deep, very deep ... |
AbyssiniaAbyssiniaGeography Abyssinia, extending from the sixth to the fifteenth degree of north latitude, and ... |
AcaciaAcacia(In Hebrew shíttah , plural shíttîm ; Theod. pyxos ; Vulgate, spina ... |
Acacians, TheThe AcaciansKnown also as the HOMOEANS, an Arian sect which first emerged into distinctness as an ... |
AcaciusAcacius (Bishop of Beroea)Bishop of Beroea. Born in Syria c. 322; died c. 432. While still very young he became a monk ... |
AcaciusAcacius (Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine)Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine, disciple and biographer of Eusebius, the historian, whose ... |
AcaciusAcacius (Patriarch of Constantinople)Patriarch of Constantinople; Schismatic ; d. 489. When Acacius first appears in authentic ... |
Acacius, SaintSt. AcaciusBishop of Melitene in the third century. The Greeks venerate him on different days, but ... |
Academies, RomanRoman AcademiesThe Italian Renaissance at its apogee [from the close of the Western Schism (1418) to the ... |
Academy, The FrenchThe French AcademyThe French Academy was founded by Cardinal de Richelieu in 1635. For several years a number of ... |
AcadiaAcadiaThe precise location and extent of Acadia was a subject of constant dispute and consequent ... |
AcanthusAcanthus (Titular See)A titular see of Macedonia, on the Strymonic Gulf, now known as Erisso. Its inhabitants were ... |
AcanthusAcanthus (Plant)A plant, indigenous to middle Europe, the leaf of which has served in all ages as an ornament, or ... |
AcathistusAcathistus (Akathistos)(Greek akathistos ; a privative, kathizo "sit"; i.e. not sitting; standing). The title ... |
Acca, SaintSt. AccaBishop of Hexham, and patron of learning (c. 660-742). Acca was a Northumbrian by birth and ... |
AccaronAccaron( Ekron ). The most northern of the five principal Philistine cities ( Joshua 13:3 ; 15:11 ... |
Accentus EcclesiasticusAccentus EcclesiasticusThe counterpart of concentus . In the ancient Church music all that portion of the liturgical ... |
AcceptanceAcceptanceAcceptance, in canon law, the act by which one receives a thing with approbation or ... |
AcceptantsAcceptantsThose Jansenists who accepted without any reserve or mental restriction the Bull Unigenitus ... |
AccessionAccession(From Latin accedere , to go to; hence, to be added to). Accession is a method of acquiring ... |
AccessusAccessusA term applied to the voting in conclave for the election of a pope, by which a cardinal ... |
AcciajuoliAcciajuoliName of three cardinals belonging to an illustrious Florentine family of this name. ANGELO, ... |
AccidentAccident[Latin accidere , to happen what happens to be in a subject; any contingent, or nonessential ... |
AcclamationAcclamation( Latin ad , to, clamare , to cry out). IN CIVIC LIFE The word acclamatio (in the plural, ... |
Acclamation (in Papal Elections)Acclamation (In Papal Elections)One of the forms of papal election . The method of electing the Roman Pontiff is contained in ... |
Accommodation, BiblicalBiblical AccommodationWe shall consider (1) what is meant by biblical accommodation; (2) its use in Sacred Scripture; ... |
AccompliceAccompliceA term generally employed to designate a partner in some form of evildoing. An accomplice is one ... |
Accursius, FrancescoFrancesco Accursius( Italian Accorso ). (1)FRANCESCO ACCURSIUS (1182-1260) A celebrated Italian jurisconsult of ... |
AcephaliAcephaliA term applied to the Eutychians who withdrew from Peter Mongus, the Monophysite Patriarch of ... |
AcerenzaAcerenza(ACHERONTIA.) This archdiocese, in the provinces of Lecce and Potenza, Italy, has been ... |
Achéry, Lucas d'Lucas d'AcheryFrench Benedictine (Maurist), born 1609 at Saint Quentin in Picardy; died in the monastery of ... |
AchabAchab( 'A'h'abh, Achaab in Jeremiah 29:22 , 'Ehabh, Achiab ) Son of Amri and King of Israel, ... |
AchaiaAchaia(Ægialeia). The name, before the Roman conquest in 146 B.C., of a strip of land between ... |
AchaicusAchaicusA Corinthian Christian, who, together with Fortunatus and Stephanas, carried a letter from the ... |
AchazAchaz(AHAZ). King of Juda, placed variously, 741-726 B.C., 744-728, 748-727, 724-709, 734-728. It ... |
AchiacharusAchiacharusAchiacharus is mentioned only once in the Vulgate version of Tobias ( 11:20 , under the form ... |
Achilleus and Nereus, Domitilla and Pancratius, SaintsSts. Nereus and Achilleus, Domitilla and PancratiusThe commemoration of these four Roman saints is made by the Church on 12 May, in common, and ... |
AchimaasAchimaas(1) Father of Achinoam, wife of Saul ( 1 Samuel 14:50 ). (2) Son of Sadoc, the priest. He was ... |
AchimelechAchimelech(1) The priest of Nobe who extended hospitality to David during his flight from the court of ... |
AchitopelAchitopelAchitopel was an able and honoured counsellor of David, who joined the rebellion of Absalom. ... |
AchonryAchonry(Gaelic, Achadh-Chonnaire , Connary's Field). In Ireland, suffragan to the Archdiocese of ... |
Achor ValleyAchor ValleyThe scene of the death of the "troubler" Achan, with whom its name is associated ( Joshua 7:26 ). ... |
AchridaAchridaA titular see in Upper Albania, the famous metropolis and capital of the medieval kingdom of ... |
Achterfeldt, Johann HeinrichJohann Heinrich AchterfeldtTheologian, b. at Wesel, 17 June, 1788; d. at Bonn, 11 May, 1877. He was appointed professor of ... |
Achtermann, Theodore WilliamTheodore William AchtermannA German sculptor, was born in 1799, at Munster in Westphalia, of poor parents. After working on ... |
Aci-Reale, The Diocese ofAci-Reale(JACA REGALIS). Located in the island of Sicily ; includes fourteen communes in the civil ... |
Acidalius, ValensValens Acidalius( German, Havekenthal ). Philologist, Latin poet, and convert to the Catholic Church, b. ... |
Ackermann, LeopoldLeopold AckermannA Catholic professor of exegesis, b. in Vienna, 17 November, 1771; d. in the same city, 9 ... |
AcmoniaAcmoniaA titular see of Phrygia Pacatiana, in Asia Minor, now known as Ahat-Keui. It is mentioned by ... |
AcoemetaeAcoemetae(Greek akoimetai , from privative a and koiman , to rest). Sometimes, an appellation ... |
AcolouthiaAcolouthia(From the Greek akoloutheo , to follow.) In ecclesiastical terminology signifies the ... |
AcolyteAcolyte(Greek akolouthos ; Latin sequens, comes , a follower, an attendant). An acolyte is a ... |
Acosta, JoaquínJoaquin AcostaA native of Colombia in South America, who served in the Colombian army and in 1834 attempted a ... |
Acosta, José deJose de AcostaThe son of well-to-do and respected parents, born at Medina del Campo in Spain, 1540; died at ... |
AcquapendenteAcquapendenteA diocese in Italy under the immediate jurisdiction of the Holy See, comprising seven towns ... |
AcquavivaAcquaviva (Cardinals)Name of several Italian cardinals. FRANCESCO, b. 1665 at Naples, of the family of the ... |
AcquavivaAcquaviva (Cardinals)Name of several Italian cardinals. FRANCESCO, b. 1665 at Naples, of the family of the ... |
Acquaviva, ClaudiusClaudius AcquavivaFifth General of the Society of Jesus , born October, 1543; died 31 January, 1615. He was the ... |
AcquiAcquiA diocese suffragan of Turin, Italy, which contains ninety-three towns in the Province of ... |
AcreAcre(SAINT-JEAN-D'ACRE). In Hebrew Accho , in the Books of MachabeesPtolemais , in Greek ... |
AcrePtolemais(SAINT-JEAN D'ACRE) Ptolemais, a titular metropolis in Phoenicia Prima, or Maritima. The ... |
AcrosticAcrostic( Akros stichos , "at the end of a verse".) A poem the initial or final letters (syllables or ... |
Act of Settlement (Irish)Act of Settlement (Irish)In 1662 an act was passed by the Irish Parliament, the privileges of which were restored on the ... |
Acta PilatiActa Pilati(Or the Gospel of Nicodemus.) This work does not assume to have written by Pilate, but to have ... |
Acta Sanctæ SedisActa Sanctae SedisA Roman monthly publication containing the principal public documents issued by the Pope, ... |
Acta Sanctorum HiberniæActa Sanctorum HiberniaeThe abbreviated title of a celebrated work on the Irish saints by the Franciscan, John Colgan ... |
Acta Triadis ThaumaturgæActa Triadis Thaumaturgae(THE ACTS OF A WONDER-WORKING TRIAD) The lives of St. Patrick, St. Brigid, and St. Columba; ... |
Acton, Charles JanuariusCharles Januarius ActonAn English cardinal, born at Naples, 6 March, 1803; died at Naples, 23 June, 1847. He was the ... |
Acton, JohnJohn ActonAn English canonist, after 1329 canon of Lincoln; born 1350. His name is spelled variously, ... |
Acton, John Emerich Edward Dalberg, Baron ActonLord ActonBaron Acton, Professor of Modern History at Cambridge, 1895-1902, born at Naples, 10 January, ... |
Acton, John Francis EdwardJohn Francis Edward ActonSixth Baronet of the name, son of a Shropshire physician, born at Besançon, 3 June, 1736; ... |
Acts of Roman CongregationsActs of Roman CongregationsA term used to designate the documents (called also decrees) issued by the Roman Congregations in ... |
Acts of the ApostlesActs of the ApostlesIn the accepted order of the books of the New Testament the fifth book is called The Acts of the ... |
Acts of the MartyrsActs of the MartyrsIn a strict sense the Acts of the Martyrs are the official records of the trials of early ... |
Acts, CanonicalCanonical ActsAccording to the old Roman jurisprudence, acts are the registers ( acta ) in which were ... |
Acts, HumanHuman ActsActs are termed human when they are proper to man as man; when, on the contrary, they are ... |
Acts, IndifferentIndifferent ActsA human act may be considered in the abstract ( in specie ) or in the concrete ( in ... |
Actual GraceActual GraceGrace ( gratia, Charis ), in general, is a supernatural gift of God to intellectual creatures ... |
Actus et PotentiaActus Et PotentiaA technical expression in scholastic phraseology. I. The terms actus and potentia were ... |
Actus primusActus PrimusA technical expression used in scholastic philosophy. Actus means determination, complement, ... |
Actus PurusActus PurusA term employed in scholastic philosophy to express the absolute perfection of God. In all ... |
AcuasAcuasOne of the first to spread Manicheism in the Christian Orient. He was probably a Mesopotamian, ... |
Ad Apostolicae Dignitatis ApicemAd Apostolicae Dignitatis ApicemApostolic letter issued against Emperor Frederick II by Pope Innocent IV (1243-54), during the ... |
Ad Limina ApostolorumAd Limina ApostolorumAn ecclesiastical term meaning a pilgrimage to the sepulchres of St. Peter and St. Paul at ... |
Ad Limina VisitVisit Ad Limina(Sc. Apostolorum ) The visit ad limina means, technically, the obligation incumbent on ... |
Ad Sanctam Beati Petri SedemAd Sanctam Beati Petri SedemThis letter was issued by Alexander VII , and is dated at Rome, 16 October, 1656, the second ... |
Ad Universalis EcclesiaeAd Universalis EcclesiaeA papal constitution dealing with the conditions for admission to religious orders of men in ... |
Adalard, SaintSt. AdalardBorn c. 751; d. 2 January, 827. Bernard, son of Charles Martel and half-brother of Pepin, was ... |
AdalbertAdalbertArchbishop of Hamburg - Bremen ; born about 1000; died 1072 at Goslar; son of Count Friedrich ... |
Adalbert IAdalbert I(Or ALBERT). Archbishop of Mainz (Mayence) 1111 to 1137. He was of the family of the Counts ... |
Adalbert, SaintSt. AdalbertApostle of the Slavs, probably a native of Lorraine, d. 981. He was a German monk who was ... |
Adalbert, SaintSt. AdalbertBorn 939 of a noble Bohemian family ; died 997. He assumed the name of the Archbishop Adalbert ... |
AdamAdamThe first man and the father of the human race. ETYMOLOGY AND USE OF WORD There is not a ... |
Adam in Early Christian Liturgy and LiteratureAdam in Early Christian Liturgy and LiteratureAdam's importance to the Fathers and to the authors of the many apocryphal writings of the ... |
Adam of BremenAdam of BremenA German historian and geographer of the eleventh century. The dates of his birth and death are ... |
Adam of FuldaAdam of FuldaBorn about 1450, died after 1537, one of the most learned musicians of his age. He was a monk of ... |
Adam of MurimuthAdam of MurimuthAn English chronicler of about the middle of the fourteenth century. He was a canon of St. ... |
Adam of PerseigneAdam of PerseigneA French Cistercian, Abbot of the monastery of Perseigne in the Diocese of Mans, b. about the ... |
Adam of St. VictorAdam of St. VictorA prominent and prolific writer of Latin Hymns, born in the latter part of the twelfth century, ... |
Adam of UskAdam of UskAn English priest, canonist, and chronicler, born at Usk, in Monmouthshire, between 1360 and ... |
Adam ScotusAdam Scotus(Or THE PREMONSTRATENSIAN). A theologian and Church historian of the latter part of the ... |
Adam, JohnJohn AdamA distinguished preacher and a strenuous opponent of Calvinists and Jansenists, born at Limoges ... |
Adam, NicholasNicholas AdamLinguist and writer, b. in Paris, 1716; d. 1792. He achieved distinction by a peculiar grammar of ... |
Adam, The Books ofThe Books of AdamThe Book of Adam, or "Contradiction of Adam and Eve", is a romance made up of Oriental fables. It ... |
Adami da Bolsena, AndreaAndrea Adami Da BolsenaAn Italian musician b. at Bolsena, 1663; d. in Rome, 1742. Through the influence of Cardinal ... |
AdamitesAdamitesAn obscure sect, dating perhaps from the second century, which professed to have regained Adam's ... |
Adamnan, SaintSt. Adamnan (Eunan)(Or Eunan). Abbot of Iona, born at Drumhome, County Donegal, Ireland, c. 624; died at the ... |
Adams, JamesJames AdamsProfessor of humanities at St. Omers , born in England in 1737; died at Dublin, 6 December, ... |
Adams, Ven. JohnVen. John AdamsPriest, martyred at Tyburn, 8 October, 1586. He had been a Protestant minister, but being ... |
AdanaAdanaA diocese of Armenian rite in Asia Minor (Asiatic Turkey). This ancient Phoenician colony ... |
AdarAdar(1) A frontier town in the South of Chanaan ( Numbers 34:4 ; Joshua 15:3 ). It has not been ... |
Adauctus and Felix, SaintsSts. Felix and AdauctusMartyrs at Rome, 303, under Diocletian and Maximian. The Acts, first published in Ado's ... |
Adda, Ferdinando d'Ferdinando d'AddaCardinal and Papal Legate, b. at Milan, 1649; d. at Rome, 1719. He was made Cardinal-Priest ... |
Addai, Doctrine ofDoctrine of Addai( Latin Doctrina Addoei ). A Syriac document which relates the legend of the conversion ... |
AddasAddasOne of the three original disciples of Manes, who according to the Acts of Archelaus introduced ... |
Addeus and Maris, Liturgy ofLiturgy of Addeus and MarisThis is an Oriental liturgy, sometimes assigned to the Syrian group because it is written in the ... |
Addresses, EcclesiasticalEcclesiastical AddressesIt is from Italy that we derive rules as to what is fitting and customary in the matter of ... |
Adelaide, Archdiocese ofAdelaideCentred in Adelaide, capital of South Australia. It comprises all the territory of South ... |
Adelaide, SaintSt. AdelaideAbbess, born in the tenth century; died at Cologne, 5 February, 1015. She was daughter of ... |
Adelaide, SaintSt. Adelaide(ADELHEID). Born 931; died 16 December, 999, one of the conspicuous characters in the struggle ... |
Adelard of BathAdelard of BathA twelfth-century Scholastic philosopher, b. about 1100. Adelard was probably an Englishman by ... |
Adelham, John PlacidJohn Placid Adelham(Or ADLAND). A Protestant minister, born in Wiltshire, who became a Catholic and joined ... |
AdelmannAdelmannBishop of Brescia in the eleventh century. Of unknown parentage and nationality, he was ... |
AdelophagiAdelophagi( Adelos = secretly, and phalo = I eat). A sect mentioned by the anonymous author known ... |
AdenVicariate Apostolic of Aden(ADANE). It comprises all Arabia, and is properly known as the Vicariate Apostolic of Arabia ... |
AdeodatusAdeodatusSon of St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo , b. 372; d. 388. St. Augustine was not converted to ... |
Adeodatus (II), Pope SaintPope St. Adeodatus(Reigned 672-676). A monk of the Roman cloister of St. Erasmus on the Coelian Hill. He was ... |
Adeodatus I, Pope SaintPope St. Deusdedit(Adeodatus I). Date of birth unknown; consecrated pope, 19 October (13 November), 615; d. 8 ... |
Adeste FidelisAdeste FidelisA hymn used at Benediction at Christmastide in France and England since the close of the ... |
AdjurationAdjuration(Latin adjurare , to swear; to affirm by oath ). An urgent demand made upon another to do ... |
AdministratorAdministratorThe term Administrator in its general sense signifies a person who administers some common ... |
Administrator (of Ecclesiastical Property)Administrator (Of Church Property)One charged with the care of church property . Supreme administrative authority in regard to all ... |
Admonitions, CanonicalCanonical AdmonitionsA preliminary means used by the Church towards a suspected person, as a preventive of harm or a ... |
AdmontAdmontA Benedictine abbey in Styria, Austro-Hungary, on the river Enns, about fifty miles south of ... |
Ado of Vienne, SaintSt. Ado of VienneBorn about 800, in the diocese of Sens ; d. 16 December, 875. He was brought up at the ... |
AdonaiAdonaiAdonai (Hebrew meaning "lord, ruler") is a name bestowed upon God in the Old Testament. It is ... |
AdoniasAdonias(Hebrew: Adoniyah, Adoniyahuh , Yahweh is Lord; Septuagint : Adonias .) Fourth son of ... |
AdoptionAdoptionIN THE OLD TESTAMENT Adoption, as defined in canon law, is foreign to the Bible . The incidents ... |
Adoption, CanonicalCanonical AdoptionIn a legal sense, adoption is an act by which a person, with the cooperation of the public ... |
Adoption, SupernaturalSupernatural Adoption( Latin adoptare , to choose.) Adoption is the gratuitous taking of a stranger as one's own ... |
AdoptionismAdoptionismAdoptionism, in a broad sense, a christological theory according to which Christ, as man, is the ... |
AdorationAdorationIn the strict sense, an act of religion offered to God in acknowledgment of His supreme ... |
Adoration, PerpetualPerpetual AdorationA term broadly used to designate the practically uninterrupted adoration of the Blessed ... |
Adorno, FrancisFrancis AdornoA celebrated Italian preacher, b. 1531; d. at Genoa, 13 January, 1586. He was a member of the ... |
Adoro Te DevoteAdoro Te Devote("I adore Thee devoutly"). A hymn sometimes styled Rhythmus , or Oratio, S. Thomæ ... |
AdriaAdriaAn Italian bishopric, suffragan to Venice, which comprises 55 towns in the Province of Rovigo, ... |
Adrian I, PopePope Adrian IFrom about 1 February, 772, till 25 December, 795; date of birth uncertain; d. 25 December, 795. ... |
Adrian II, PopePope Adrian II(Reigned 867-872.) After the death of St. Nicholas I , the Roman clergy and people ... |
Adrian III, Pope SaintPope St. Adrian IIIPope St. Adrian III, of Roman extraction, was elected in the beginning of the year 884, and ... |
Adrian IV, PopePope Adrian IVBorn 1100 (?); died 1 September, 1159. Very little is known about the birthplace, parentage, or ... |
Adrian of Canterbury, SaintSt. Adrian of CanterburyAn African by birth, died 710. He became Abbot of Nerida, a Benedictine monastery near ... |
Adrian of CastelloAdrian of CastelloAlso called D E C ORNETO from his birthplace in Tuscany ; an Italian prelate distinguished ... |
Adrian V, PopePope Adrian V(OTTOBUONO FIESCHI). A Genoese, and nephew of Innocent IV. He was elected at Viterbo 12 July ... |
Adrian VI, PopePope Adrian VIThe last pontefice barbaro ( Guicciardini, XIV, v), and the only pope of modern times, except ... |
AdrianopleAdrianopleA city of Turkey in Europe. According to legend, Orestes, son of Agamemnon, built this city at ... |
Adrichem, Christian Kruik vanChristian Kruik van Adrichem(Christianus Crucius Adrichomius). Catholic priest and theological writer, b. at Delft, 13 ... |
AdsoAdsoAbbot of the Cluniac monastery of Moutier-en-Der, d. 992, on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem; one of ... |
Aduarte, Diego FranciscoDiego Francisco AduarteMissionary and historian, b. 1566, at Saragossa, in Spain ; d. at Nueva Segovia, in the ... |
AdullamAdullam(Hebrew Adhullam , Vulgate Odollam , but Adullam in Joshua 15:35 .) (1) A Chanaanite ... |
Adulteration of FoodAdulteration of Food( Latin adulterare , to pollute, to adulterate). This act is defined as the addition of any ... |
AdulteryAdulteryIt is the purpose of this article to consider adultery with reference only to morality. The study ... |
AdventAdvent(Latin ad-venio , to come to). According to present [1907] usage, Advent is a period ... |
AdventistsAdventistsA group of six American Protestant sects which hold in common a belief in the near return of ... |
Advertisements, Book ofBook of AdvertisementsA series of enactments concerning ecclesiastical matters, drawn up by Matthew Parker, ... |
Advocates of Roman CongregationsAdvocates of Roman CongregationsAdvocates of Roman Congregations are persons, ecclesiastical or lay, versed in canon and civil ... |
Advocates of St. PeterAdvocates of St. PeterA body of jurists constituting a society whose statutes were confirmed by a brief of Leo ... |
Advocatus DiaboliAdvocatus Diaboli("Advocate of the Devil" or "Devil's Advocate"). A popular title given to one of the most ... |
Advocatus EcclesiæAdvocatus EcclesiaeA name applied, in the Middle Ages , to certain lay persons , generally of noble birth, whose ... |
AdvowsonAdvowson( Latin, advocatio ; Old French, avoëson ). In English law the right of patronage ... |
AdytumAdytum(From adyton ; sc. a privative + dyo =enter). A secret chamber or place of retirement in ... |
Aedan of Ferns, SaintSt. Aedan of Ferns( 'Aedh-og or Mo-Aedh-og ). Bishop and patron of Ferns, in Ireland, b. at Inisbrefny, near ... |
Aedh of KildareAedh of KildareKing of Leinster, and an Irish saint, commemorated by Colgan under date of 4 January; but ... |
Aegidius of Assisi, BlessedBl. Aegidius of AssisiOne of the original companions of St. Francis. He is also known as Blessed Giles, and holds the ... |
Aegidius of ViterboAegidius of ViterboCardinal, theologian, orator, humanist, and poet, born at Viterbo, Italy ; died at Rome, 12 ... |
Aelfred the GreatAlfred the Great( Also Ælfred). King of the West-Saxons, born Wantage, Berkshire, England 849; died ... |
Aelfric, Abbot of EynshamAelfric, Abbot of EynshamAlso known as "the Grammarian", the author of the homilies in Anglo-Saxon, a translator of Holy ... |
AelnothAelnothMonk and biographer, of whom nothing is known except his Life of St. Canute the Martyr, written in ... |
Aelred, SaintSt. AelredAbbot of Rievaulx, homilist and historian (1109-66). St. Ælred, whose name is also written ... |
Aeneas of GazaAenas of GazaA Neo-Platonic philosopher, a convert to Christianity, who flourished towards the end of the ... |
Aengus, Saint (the Culdee)St. Aengus (The Culdee)An Irish saint who flourished in the last quarter of the eighth century, and is held in ... |
AenonAenon(Greek Ainon ; Vulgate, Ænnon ; Douay, Ennon ). Mentioned in John 3:23 , as the ... |
AeonsAeonsThe term appropriated by Gnostic heresiarchs to designate the series of spiritual powers evolved ... |
AestheticsAestheticsÆsthetics may be defined as a systematic training to right thinking and right feeling in ... |
Aeterni PatrisAeterni PatrisThe Apostolic Letter of Pius IX, by which he summoned the Vatican Council. It is dated Rome, ... |
Aeterni Patris (2nd)Aeterni PatrisAn encyclical letter of Pope Leo XIII (issued 4 August, 1879); not to be confused with the ... |
Affinity (in Canon Law)Affinity (In Canon Law)A relationship arising from the carnal intercourse of a man and a woman, sufficient for the ... |
Affinity (in the Bible)Affinity (In the Bible)Scripture recognizes affinity as an impediment to wedlock. This is evident from the ... |
AffirmationAffirmationA solemn declaration accepted in legal procedure in lieu of the requisite oath. In England, ... |
AfflighemAfflighemA Benedictine abbey near Alost in Brabant, Belgium. It was founded by a party of six knights ... |
Affre, Denis AugusteDenis Auguste AffreArchbishop of Paris, b. at St. Rome-de-Tam, in the Department of Tam, 27 September, 1793; d. in ... |
Afonzo de AlbuquerqueAfonzo de Albuquerque(Also D ALBOQUERQUE ; surnamed "T HE G REAT "). Died at Goa 16 December, 1515. He was ... |
Afra, SaintSt. AfraMARTYR. The city of Augusta Vindelicorum (the present Augsburg ) was situated in the northern ... |
AfricaAfricaThis name, which is of Phoenician origin, was at first given by the Romans to the territory ... |
African Church, EarlyEarly African ChurchThe name, Early African Church, is given to the Christian communities inhabiting the region ... |
African LiturgyAfrican LiturgyThis liturgy was in use not only in the old Roman province of Africa of which Carthage was the ... |
African SynodsAfrican SynodsThere was no general council of the entire Church held at any time in North Africa. There ... |
AgabusAgabusMentioned in Acts 11:28 , and 21:10 , as a prophet of the New Testament. Most probably both ... |
AgapeAgapeThe celebration of funeral feasts in honour of the dead dates back almost to the beginnings ... |
AgapetæAgapetae( agapetai , beloved). In the first century of the Christian era, the Agapetae were virgins ... |
AgapetusAgapetusA deacon of the church of Sancta Sophia at Constantinople (about 500), reputed tutor of ... |
Agapetus I, Pope SaintPope St. Agapetus I(Also AGAPITUS.) Reigned 535-536. Date of birth uncertain; died 22 April, 536. He was the son ... |
Agapetus II, PopePope Agapetus IIA Roman by birth, elected to the papacy 10 May, 946; he reigned, not ingloriously, for ten ... |
Agar, William SethWilliam Seth AgarAn English Canon, born at York, 25 December, 1815; died 23 August, 1872. He was educated at ... |
Agatha, SaintSt. AgathaOne of the most highly venerated virgin martyrs of Christian antiquity, put to death for her ... |
AgathangelusAgathangelusA supposed secretary of Tiridates II, King of Armenia, under whose name there has come down a ... |
AgathiasAgathiasA Byzantine historian and man of letters, born at Myrina in Asia Minor about 536; died at ... |
Agatho, Pope SaintPope St. AgathoBorn towards the end of the sixth century in Sicily ; died in Rome, 681. It is generally ... |
AgaunumAgaunum(Today ST. MAURICEEN-VALAIS). Agaunum, in the diocese of Sion, Switzerland, owes its fame to ... |
Agazzari, AgostiniAgostini AgazzariA musical composer, born 2 December 1578, of a noble family of Sienna; died probably 10 April, ... |
Agde, Council ofCouncil of AgdeHeld in 506 at Agatha or Agde in Languedoc, under the presidency of St. Caesarius of Arles . ... |
Age of ReasonAge of ReasonThe name given to that period of human life at which persons are deemed to begin to be morally ... |
Age, CanonicalCanonical AgeThe word age , taken in its widest meaning, may be described as "a period of time ". The ... |
Agen, Diocese ofAgen(AGINNUM.) Comprises the Department of Lot and Garonne. It has been successively suffragan to ... |
Agents of Roman CongregationsAgents of Roman CongregationsPersons whose business it is to look after the affairs of their patrons at the Roman Curia. The ... |
AggeusAggeus (Haggai)Name and personal life Aggeus, the tenth among the minor prophets of the Old Testament, is ... |
Aggressor, UnjustUnjust AggressorAccording to the accepted teaching of theologians, it is lawful, in the defense of life or limb, ... |
Agiles, Raymond d'Raymond d'Agiles( Or AGUILERS.) A chronicler and canon of Puy-en-Velay, France, toward the close of the ... |
Agilulfus, SaintSt. AgilulfusAbbot of Stavelot, Bishop of Cologne and Martyr, 750. We know but little of this Saint. The ... |
Agios O TheosAgios O Theos(O Holy God). The opening words in Greek of an invocation, or doxology, or hymn –for ... |
Agnelli, Fra. GuglielmoFra. Guglielmo AgnelliSculptor and architect, b. at Pisa, probably in 1238; d. probably in 1313. He was a pupil of ... |
Agnelli, GiuseppeGiuseppe AgnelliChiefly known for his catechetical and devotional works, b. at Naples, 1621; d. in Rome, 17 ... |
Agnellus of Pisa, BlessedBl. Agnellus of PisaFriar Minor and founder of the English Franciscan Province, born at Pisa c. 1195, of the noble ... |
Agnellus, Andreas, of RavennaAndreas Agnellus of RavennaHistorian of that church, b. 805; the date of his death is unknown, but was probably about 846. ... |
Agnes of Assisi, SaintSt. Agnes of AssisiYounger sister of St. Clare and Abbess of the Poor Ladies, born at Assisi, 1197, or 1198; died ... |
Agnes of Bohemia, BlessedSt. Agnes of Bohemia(Also called Agnes of Prague). Born at Prague in the year 1200; died probably in 1281. She was the ... |
Agnes of Montepulciano, SaintSt. Agnes of MontepulcianoBorn in the neighbourhood of Montepulciano in Tuscany about 1268; died there 1317. At the age ... |
Agnes of Prague, BlessedSt. Agnes of Bohemia(Also called Agnes of Prague). Born at Prague in the year 1200; died probably in 1281. She was the ... |
Agnes of Rome, Saint and MartyrSt. Agnes of RomeOf all the virgin martyrs of Rome none was held in such high honour by the primitive church, ... |
Agnesi, Maria GaetanaMaria Gaetana AgnesiBorn at Milan, 16 May, 1718; died at Milan, 9 January, 1799, an Italian woman of remarkable ... |
AgnetzAgnetz(Latin, agnus , lamb), the Slavonic word for the square portion of bread cut from the first ... |
AgnoetaeAgnoetae( agnoetai ) from agnoeo , to be ignorant of) The name given to those who denied the ... |
AgnosticismAgnosticismA philosophical theory of the limitations of knowledge, professing doubt of or disbelief in some ... |
Agnus DeiAgnus DeiThe name Agnus Dei has been given to certain discs of wax impressed with the figure of a lamb ... |
Agnus Dei (in Liturgy)Agnus Dei (In Liturgy)A name given to the formula recited thrice by the priest at Mass (except on Good Friday and ... |
AgonisticiAgonistici( Agon ="struggle"). One of the names given by the Donatists to those of their followers who ... |
Agony of ChristAgony of Christ(From agonia , a struggle; particularly, in profane literature, the physical struggle of ... |
Agony, Archconfraternity of HolyArchconfraternity of Holy AgonyAn association for giving special honour to the mental sufferings of Christ during His Agony ... |
Agostini, PaoloPaolo AgostiniBorn at Vallerano in 1593; died 1629, famous composer and pupil of the celebrated Nanini, whose ... |
Agostino Novello, BlessedBl. Agostino Novello(Matteo Di Termini), born in the first half of the thirteenth century, at Termini, a village of ... |
Agoult, Charles Consstance César Joseph Matthieu d'Charles Constance Cesar Joseph Mattheu d'AgoultA French prelate, born at Grenoble, 1747; died at Paris, 1824. He studied at the Seminary of ... |
AgraAgraArchdiocese ; it is situated in British India, and lies between 25°30' and 32' N. lat., and ... |
AgramAgram (Zagreb)(Also ZAGRAB; Latin Zagrabia ). Archiepiscopal see of the ancient kingdom of Croatia, in ... |
AgraphaAgraphaA name first used, in 1776, by J.G. Körner, for the Sayings of Jesus that have come down to ... |
AgrarianismAgrarianismThe Latin word agrarius was applied historically to laws or their partisans, favoring the ... |
Agreda, Maria deMarie de Agreda(Or, according to her conventual title, Maria of Jesus) A discalced Franciscan nun ; born ... |
AgriaAgria(ERLAU, EGER, JAGER). An archiepiscopal see of Hungary, founded in 1009, and made an ... |
Agricius, SaintSt. AgriciusBishop of Trier (Trèves), in the fourth century (332 or 335). A local ninth-century ... |
Agricola, AlexanderAlexander AgricolaA celebrated composer of the fifteenth century, and pupil of Okeghem, was, according to some, of ... |
Agricola, GeorgeGeorge Agricola(BAUER, latinized into AGRICOLA). Physician, mineralogist, historian, and controversialist, b. ... |
Agricola, RudolphRudolph AgricolaA distinguished humanist of the earlier period, and a zealous promoter of the study of the ... |
Agrippa of Nettesheim, Heinrich CorneliusHeinrich Cornelius Agrippa of NettesheimBorn 14 September, 1486, at Cologne ; died at Grenoble or Lyons in 1534 or 1535. One of the ... |
AgrippinusAgrippinusBishop of Carthage at the close of the second and beginning of the third century. During his ... |
Aguas CalientesAguas Calientes(Lat. AQUAE CALIDAE). A Mexican see dependent on Guadalajara; erected by Leo XIII, Decree ... |
Aguirre, Joseph Saenz deJoseph Saenz de AguirreCardinal, and learned Spanish Benedictine ; born at Logro o, in Old Castile, 24 March, 1630; ... |
AhicamAhicam("My brother has risen"). A high court official under Josias and his two sons, who protected ... |
Ahriman and OrmuzdAhriman and Ormuzd(More correctly ORMUZD AND AHRIMAN.) The modern Persian forms of Anro-Mainyus and Ahura ... |
Aiblinger, Johann CasparJohann Caspar AiblingerComposer, born 23 February, 1779, at Wasserburg, Bavaria ; died at Munich, 6 May 1867. In his ... |
Aichinger, GregorGregor AichingerOrganist and composer of sacred music , born probably at Ratisbon in 1565; died at Augsburg, ... |
Aidan of Lindisfarne, SaintSt. Aidan of LindisfarneAn Irish monk who had studied under St. Senan, at Iniscathay (Scattery Island). He is placed as ... |
Aiguillon, Duchess ofDuchess of AiguillonMarie de Vignerot de Pontcourlay, Marquise of Combalet and Duchesse d'Aiguillon; niece of ... |
Aikenhead, MaryMary AikenheadFoundress of the Irish Sisters of Charity, born in Cork, 19 January, 1787; died in Dublin, 22 ... |
Ailbe, SaintSt. AilbeBishop of Emly in Munster ( Ireland ); d. about 527, or 541. It is very difficult to sift out ... |
Aileran, SaintSt. AileranAn Irish saint, generally known as "Sapiens" (the Wise), one of the most distinguished professors ... |
Ailleboust, Family of d'Family of d'Ailleboust(1) Louis d'Ailleboust Sieur de Coulanges, third Governor of Canada, date of birth unknown; ... |
Ailly, Pierre d'Pierre d'Ailly(PETRUS DE ALLACO). French theologian and philosopher, bishop and cardinal, born 1350 at ... |
Aimerich, MateoMateo AimerichA learned philologist, born at Bordil, in Spain, 1715; died at Ferrara, 1799. He entered the ... |
AireAire(Abram). Comprises the territory of the Department of Landes. It was a suffragan of Auch ... |
Airoli, Giacomo MariaGiacomo Maria Airoli( Also Ayroli). A Jesuit Orientalist and Scriptural commentator; born at Genoa, 1660; ... |
AisleAisle( Latin ala ; Old Fr. aile ), sometimes written Isle, Yle, and Alley; in architecture one of ... |
AistulphAistulph(Also Aistulf, Astulph, Astulf, and Astolph). King of the Lombards; died 756. He succeeded his ... |
Aix, Archdiocese ofAix( Aquae Sextiae ). Full title, the Archdiocese of Aix, Arles, and Embrun. Includes the ... |
Aix-en-Provence, Councils ofCouncils of Aix-En-ProvenceCouncils were held at Aix in 1112, 1374, 1409, 1585, 1612, 1838, and 1850. In that of 1612 the ... |
Ajaccio, Diocese ofAjaccio(ADJACENSIS). Comprises the island of Corsica. It was formerly a suffragan of the ... |
AkathistosAcathistus (Akathistos)(Greek akathistos ; a privative, kathizo "sit"; i.e. not sitting; standing). The title ... |
AkhminAkhminA city of Upper Egypt, situated on the banks of the Nile. Of late years it has attained great ... |
Akominatos, Michael & NicetasMichael and Nicetas AkominatosMichael (d. 1215) and Nicetas (d. 1206); also known as Choniates, from their native city, Chonia ... |
AlabamaAlabamaThe twenty-second State admitted into the Federal Union of America. It lies north of the Gulf of ... |
AlabandaAlabandaA titular see of Caria in Asia Minor, supposed to be the present Arab-Hissar. A list of its ... |
AlabasterAlabaster(Greek alabastros , -on ; Latin alabaster , -trum ; of uncertain origin). The ... |
AlagoasAlagoasA South American diocese, in eastern Brazil, dependent on Bahia. By a decree of Leo XIII , ... |
Alagona, PietroPietro AlagonaTheologian, born at Syracuse, 1549; died in Rome, 19 October, 1624. He entered the Society of ... |
Alain de l'IsleAlain de l'Isle(Also called ALAIN OF LILLE, ALANUS AB INSULIS, or DE INSULIS, ALAIN VON RYSSEL etc.). Monk, ... |
AlalisAlalis(ALALIUS). A titular see of Phoenicia ( Palmyra ), whose episcopal list is known from 325 ... |
Alaman, LucasLucas AlamanA Mexican statesman and historian of great merit, b. at Guanajuato in Mexico, of Spanish parents, ... |
Alamanni, NiccolòNiccolo AlamanniA Roman antiquary of Greek origin, b. at Ancona, 12 January, 1583; d. in Rome, 1626. He was ... |
Alan of TewkesburyAlan of TewkesburyA Benedictine abbot and writer, d. 1202. Alan is stated by Gervase of Canterbury, a ... |
Alan of WalsinghamAlan of WalsinghamDied c. 1364; a celebrated architect, first heard of in 1314 as a junior monk at Ely, ... |
Alanus de RupeAlanus de Rupe (Alanus de la Roche)( Sometimes DE LA ROCHE). Born about 1428; died at Zwolle in Holland, 8 September, 1475. ... |
Alarcón, Pedro Antonio dePedro Antonio de AlarconNovelist and poet, b. at Guadix, Spain, in 1833; d. at Valdemoro, near Madrid, in 1891. After ... |
AlaskaAlaskaI. HISTORY The first definite knowledge of Alaska was acquired in 1741 through the expedition ... |
AlatriAlatriAn Italian bishopric under the immediate jurisdiction of the Holy See, comprising seven towns ... |
AlbAlbA white linen vestment with close fitting sleeves, reaching nearly to the ground and secured ... |
Alba Pompeia, Diocese ofAlba PompeiaComprises eighty towns in the province of Cuneo and two in the province of Alexandria, in Italy. ... |
Alban, SaintSt. AlbanFirst martyr of Britain, suffered c. 304. The commonly received account of the martyrdom of ... |
AlbanensesAlbanensesManichæan heretics who lived in Albania, probably about the eighth century, but concerning ... |
AlbaniAlbaniA distinguished Italian family, said to be descended from Albanian refugees of the fifteenth ... |
AlbaniaAlbaniaThe ancient Epirus and Illyria, is the most western land occupied by the Turks in Europe. Its ... |
AlbanoAlbanoA suburban see, comprising seven towns in the Province of Rome. Albano (derived from Alba Longa ... |
AlbanyAlbanyDiocese comprising the entire counties of Albany, Columbia, Delaware, Fulton, Greene, ... |
AlbengaAlbengaDiocese comprising seventy-nine towns in the province of Port Maurice and forty-five in the ... |
Albergati, NiccoloNiccolo AlbergatiCardinal and Bishop of Bologna, b. at Bologna in 1357; d. at Sienna, 9 May, 1443. He entered ... |
Alberic of Monte CassinoAlberic of Monte CassinoDied 1088; cardinal since 1057. He was (perhaps) a native of Trier, and became a Benedictine. ... |
Alberic of OstiaAlberic of OstiaA Benedictine monk, and Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia from 1138-47. Born in 1080, at Beauvais in ... |
Albero de MontreuilAlbero de MontreuilArchbishop of Trier, b. near Toul, in Lorraine, about 1080; d. at Coblenz, 18 January, 1152. ... |
Alberoni, GiulioGiulio AlberoniCardinal and statesman; b. 30 May, 1664, at Firenzuola in the duchy of Parma ; d. 26 June, ... |
Albert Berdini of Sarteano, BlessedBl. Albert Berdini of SarteanoFranciscan Friar and missionary, born at Sarteano, in Tuscany, 1385; died at Milan, 15 August, ... |
Albert II, Archbishop of Magdeburg in SaxonyAlbert II(Albrecht II.) Eighteenth Archbishop of Magdeburg in Saxony, date of birth unknown; d. ... |
Albert of AachenAlbert of Aachen(ALBERTUS AQUENSIS). A chronicler of the First Crusade . His "Chronicon Hierosolymitanum de ... |
Albert of BrandenburgAlbert of BrandenburgCardinal and Elector of the Holy Roman Empire, born 28 June, 1490; died 24 September, 1545. As ... |
Albert of CastileAlbert of CastileHistorian, born about 1460; died 1522. He entered the Order of St. Dominic at an early age in ... |
Albert of SaxonyAlbert of Saxony(Albert of Helmstädt) Fourteenth-century philosopher ; nicknamed Albertus Parvus, ... |
Albert of StadeAlbert of StadeA chronicler of the thirteenth century. He was born before the close of the twelfth century. It is ... |
Albert, Bishop of RigaAlbert (Albrecht), Bishop of Riga(ALBRECHT.) Bishop of Riga, Apostle of Livonia, d. 17 January, 1229. After the inhabitants of ... |
Albert, Blessed (Patriarch of Jerusalem)Blessed AlbertPatriarch of Jerusalem, one of the conspicuous ecclesiastics in the troubles between the Holy ... |
Albert, SaintSt. AlbertCardinal, Bishop of Liège, d. 1192 or 1193. He was a son of Godfrey III, Count of ... |
Alberta and SaskatchewanSaskatchewan and AlbertaThe twin provinces of the Canadian West, so called because they were formed on the same day (1 ... |
Alberti, LeandroLeandro AlbertiHistorian, born at Bologna in 1479; died same place, probably in 1552. In early youth he ... |
Alberti, Leone BattistaLeone Battista AlbertiBorn 18 February, 1404; died April, 1472, a Florentine ecclesiastic and artist of the fifteenth ... |
Albertini, NicolòNicolo Albertini(AUBERTINI) Medieval statesman, b. at Prato in Italy, c. ú d. at Avignon, 27 April, ... |
Albertrandi, John BaptistJohn Baptist Albertrandi(Also called Jan Chrzciciel, or Christian.) A Polish Jesuit, of Italian extraction, born at ... |
Albertus Magnus, SaintSt. Albertus MagnusKnown as Albert the Great; scientist, philosopher, and theologian, born c. 1206; died at ... |
Albi (Albia), Archdiocese ofAlbi (Albia)Comprises the Department of the Tarn. An archiepiscopal see from 1678 up to the time of the ... |
Albi, Council ofCouncil of AlbiThe Council of Albi was held in 1254 by St. Louis on his return from his unlucky Crusade, ... |
Albi, Juan deJuan de Albi(Also, Alba ). A Spanish Carthusian of the Convent Val-Christ, near Segovia, date of birth ... |
Albicus, SigismundSigismund AlbicusArchbishop of Prague, a Moravian, born at Mährisch-Neustadt in 1347; died in Hungary, ... |
AlbigensesAlbigenses(From Albi, Latin Albiga , the present capital of the Department of Tarn). A ... |
AlbinusAlbinusA scholarly English monk, pupil of Archbishop Theodore, and of Abbot Adrian of St. Peter's, ... |
Albrechtsberger, Johann G.Johann G. AlbrechtsbergerMaster of musical theory, and teacher of Hummel and Beethoven, b. at Klosterneuburg in Lower ... |
Albright Brethren, TheThe Albright Brethren(Known as the EVANGELICAL ASSOCIATION). "A body of American Christians chiefly of German ... |
Alcántara, Military Order ofMilitary Order of AlcantaraAlcántara, a town on the Tagus (here crossed by a bridge-- cantara , whence the name), is ... |
Alcalá, University ofUniversity of AlcalaThis university may be said to have had its inception in the thirteenth century, when Sancho IV, ... |
Alcedo, Antonio deAntonio de AlcedoSoldier, born at Quito ( Ecuador ), 1755, where his father was President of the Royal Audiencia ... |
AlchemyAlchemy(From Arabic al , the, and Greek chemia or chemeia , which occurs first in an edict of ... |
Alciati, AndreaAndrea AlciatiAn Italian jurist, born at Alzano, near Milan, 8 May, 1492; died at Pavia, 12 June 1550. He ... |
AlcimusAlcimus( Alkimos , "brave," probably a Græcized form of the Hebrew Eliacim ). High-priest, ... |
Alcmund, SaintSt. AlcmundBishop of Hexham ; died 781. Though we know practically nothing of the life of St. Alcmund, ... |
Alcock, JohnJohn AlcockBishop of Rochester, Worcester, and Ely, b. at Beverley, 1430; d. at Wisbeach Castle, 1 ... |
AlcoholismAlcoholismThe term alcoholism is understood to include all the changes that may occur in the human ... |
AlcuinAlcuin( Alhwin, Alchoin ; Latin Albinus , also Flaccus ). An eminent educator, scholar, and ... |
Aldegundis, SaintSt. AldegundisVirgin and abbess (c. 639-684), variously written Adelgundis, Aldegonde, etc. She was nearly ... |
AldersbachAldersbachA former Cistercian Abbey in the valley of the Vils in Lower Bavaria. It was founded in 1127 ... |
AldfrithAldfrithA Northumbrian king, son of King Oswin; d. 14 December, 705. He succeeded his brother, Ecgfrith. ... |
Aldhelm, SaintSt. AldhelmAbbot of Malmesbury and Bishop of Sherborne, Latin poet and ecclesiastical writer (c. ... |
Aldric, SaintSt. AldricBishop of Le Mans in the time of Louis le Debonnaire, born c. 800; died at Le Mans, 7 ... |
Aldrovandi, UlissiUlissi AldrovandiItalian naturalist, b. at Bologna, 11 Sept., 1522; d. there 10 Nov., 1607. He was educated in ... |
Alea, LeonardLeonard AleaA French polemical writer of the early years of the nineteenth century, b. in Paris, date ... |
Alegambe, PhilippePhillipe AlegambeA Jesuit historiographer, born in Brussels, 22 January, 1592; died in Rome, 6 September, ... |
Alegre, Francisco XavierFrancisco Xavier AlegreHistorian, born at Vera Cruz, in Mexico, or New Spain, 12 November, 1729; died at Bologna, 16 ... |
Alemany, Joseph SadocJoseph Sadoc AlemanyFirst Archbishop of San Francisco, California, U.S.A. b. at Vich in Spain, 3 July, 1814; ... |
Alenio, GuilioGiulio AlenioChinese missionary and scholar, born at Brescia, in Italy, in 1582; died at Fou-Tcheou, China, in ... |
AleppoAleppoArmenian Rite Archdiocese in Syria. The city of Aleppo is situated in the plain that stretches ... |
Ales and TerralbaAles and TerralbaDiocese made up of 42 communes in the province of Cagliari, Archbishopric of Oristano, Italy. ... |
Alessandria della PagliaAlessandria Della PagliaDiocese in Piedmont, Italy, a suffragan of Vercelli. It was made a see in 1175 by Alexander ... |
Alessi, GaleazzoGaleazzo AlessiA famous Italian architect, b. 1500; d. 1572. He showed an inclination for mathematics and ... |
AlessioAlessio( Lissus, Alexiensis ). Diocese in European Turkey, since 1886 suffragan of Scutari. It is ... |
Alexander (Name of Seven Men)Alexander (Name of Seven Men)(1) ALEXANDER THE GREAT King of Macedon, 336-323 B.C. He is mentioned in 1 Mach., i, 1-10; vi, 2. ... |
Alexander (Name of Several Early Bishops)Alexander (Early Bishops)ALEXANDER OF ANTIOCH Thirty-eighth bishop of that see (413-421), praised by Theodoret (Hist. ... |
Alexander Briant, BlessedBlessed Alexander BriantEnglish Jesuit and martyr, born in Somersetshire of a yeoman family about 1556; executed at ... |
Alexander I, Pope SaintPope St. Alexander ISt. Irenaeus of Lyons, writing in the latter quarter of the second century, reckons him as the ... |
Alexander II, PopePope Alexander IIReigned 1061-1073 As Anselm of Lucca, he had been recognized for a number of years as one of ... |
Alexander III, PopePope Alexander IIIPope from 1159-81 (Orlando Bandinelli), born of a distinguished Sienese family ; died 3 August, ... |
Alexander IV, PopePope Alexander IVPope from 1254-61 (Rinaldo Conti), of the house of Segni, which had already given two illustrious ... |
Alexander NatalisAlexander Natalis(Or NOEL ALEXANDRE). A French historian and theologian, of the Order of St. Dominic, b. at ... |
Alexander of AbonoteichosAlexander of AbonoteichosThe most notorious imposter of the second century of the Christian era. His life is fully ... |
Alexander of HalesAlexander of HalesFranciscan, theologian, and philosopher, one of the greatest of the scholastics, born at Hales, ... |
Alexander of LycopolisAlexander of LycopolisThe writer of a short treatise, in twenty-six chapters, against the Manichæans (PG., ... |
Alexander Sauli, BlessedBl. Alexander SauliApostle of Corsica, b. at Milan, 1533, of an illustrious Lombard family ; d. at Pavia, 11 ... |
Alexander VAlexander VPietro Philarghi, born c. 1339, on the island of Crete (Candia), whence his appellation, Peter of ... |
Alexander VI, PopePope Alexander VIRodrigo Borgia, born at Xativa, near Valencia, in Spain, 1 January, 1431; died in Rome, 18 ... |
Alexander VII, PopePope Alexander VIIFabio Chigi, born at Sienna, 13 February, 1599; elected 7 April, 1655; died at Rome, 22 May, ... |
Alexander VIII, PopePope Alexander VIIIPietro Ottoboni, born at Venice, April, 1610; elected 5 October, 1689; died at Rome, 1 February, ... |
Alexander, Saint (Bishop of Comana)St. Alexander (Of Comana)St. Alexander, known as "The charcoal burner", was Bishop of Comana, in Pontus. Whether he was ... |
Alexander, Saint (Of Cappadocia and Jerusalem)St. Alexander (Of Cappadocia and Jerusalem)St. Alexander, who died in chains after cruel torments in the persecution of Decius, was first ... |
Alexander, Saint (Patriarch of Alexandria)St. Alexander (of Alexandria)Patriarch of Alexandria, date of birth uncertain; died 17 April, 326. He is, apart from his ... |
Alexandre, Dom JacquesDom Jacques AlexandreA learned Benedictine monk of the Congregation of St. Maur, b. at Orléans, France, 24 ... |
AlexandriaAlexandriaAn important seaport of Egypt, on the left bank of the Nile. It was founded by Alexander the ... |
Alexandria, Councils ofCouncils of AlexandriaIn 231 a council of bishops and priests met at Alexandria, called by Bishop Demetrius for the ... |
Alexandria, The Church ofThe Church of AlexandriaThe Church of Alexandria, founded according to the constant tradition of both East and West by ... |
Alexandria, The Diocese ofAlexandriaSuffragan of Kingston, Ontario. It comprises the counties of Glengarry and Stormont, and was ... |
Alexandrian Library, TheThe Alexandrian LibraryThe Great Library of Alexandria, so called to distinguish it from the smaller or "daughter" ... |
Alexandrine Liturgy, TheThe Alexandrine LiturgyThe tradition of the Church of Egypt traces its origin to the Evangelist St. Mark, the first ... |
Alexandrinus, CodexCodex AlexandrinusA most valuable Greek manuscript of the Old and New Testaments, so named because it was ... |
Alexian NunsAlexian NunsEarly in the fifteenth century religious women began to be affiliated to the Alexian Brotherhood. ... |
AlexiansAlexiansOr CELLITES. A religious institute or congregation, which had its origin at Mechlin, in ... |
Alexis Falconieri, SaintSaint Alexis FalconieriBorn in Florence, 1200; died 17 February, 1310, at Mount Senario, near Florence. He was the son ... |
Alexius, SaintSt. AlexiusCONFESSOR. According to the most recent researches he was an Eastern saint whose veneration ... |
Alfield, Venerable ThomasVen. Thomas Alfield(AUFIELD, ALPHILDE, HAWFIELD, OFFELDUS; alias BADGER). Priest, born at Gloucestershire; ... |
Alfieri, Count VittorioCount Vittorio AlfieriThe greatest tragic poet of Italy ; b. at Asti (Piedmont), 17 January, 1749; d. at Florence, 8 ... |
Alfieri, PietroPietro AlfieriA priest and at one time a Camaldolese monk, b. at Rome, June, 1801; d. there 12 June, 1863. ... |
Alfonso de ZamoraAlfonso de ZamoraA converted Spanish Rabbi, baptized 1506; died 1531. He revised the Hebrew text for Ximenes's ... |
Alfonso of BurgosAlfonso of BurgosBorn of a noble family, in the city of that name ; died at Palencia, 8 December, 1489. He was ... |
Alford, MichaelMichael AlfordA Jesuit missionary in England during the persecution, b. in London 1587; d. at St. Omers, ... |
Alfred the GreatAlfred the Great( Also Ælfred). King of the West-Saxons, born Wantage, Berkshire, England 849; died ... |
Alfrida, SaintSt. AlfridaVirgin, and recluse, c. 795. This saint, whose name is variously written Elfthritha, ... |
Alfwold, SaintSt. AlfwoldBishop of Sherborne, in Dorsetshire; d. 1058. Alfwold, or Ælfwold, is a rather obscure ... |
Alger of LiégeAlger of LiegeA learned French priest, b. at Liège, about 1055; d. at Cluny, 1132. He studied at ... |
AlgheroAlgheroAn Italian diocese comprising twenty-two communes in the province of Sassari, and four in that ... |
AlgiersAlgiers(I COSIUM ) Archdiocese comprising the province of Algeria in French Africa. Its suffragans ... |
AlgonquinsAlgonquinsThe Indians known by this name were probably at one time the most numerous of all the North ... |
AlifeAlifeA diocese made up of twelve communes in the province of Caserta, Archbishopric of Benevento, ... |
Alighieri, DanteDante AlighieriItalian poet, born at Florence, 1265; died at Ravenna, Italy, 14 September, 1321. His own ... |
AlimentationAlimentationSupport or maintenance. Aliment in a broad sense means whatever is necessary to sustain human ... |
AlimonyAlimony(Latin, alimonia , nutriment, from alere , to nourish) In the common legal sense of the ... |
Aliturgical DaysAliturgical DaysThis term, though not recognized by any English dictionary has lately come into use as a ... |
All Hallows CollegeAll Hallows CollegeAn institution devoted to the preparation of priests for the missions in English-speaking ... |
All Saints' DayAll Saints' Day[ The vigil of this feast is popularly called "Hallowe'en" or "Halloween".] Solemnity ... |
All Souls' DayAll Souls' DayThe commemoration of all the faithful departed is celebrated by the Church on 2 November, or, if ... |
AllahAllahThe name of God in Arabic. It is a compound word from the article, 'al , and ilah , ... |
AllahabadAllahabadDiocese ; suffragan of the Archdiocese of Agra, India ; is included between 28° and 30° ... |
Allard, PaulPaul AllardArchaeologist and historian, b. at Rouen 15 September, 1841, admitted to the bar and practised ... |
Allatius, LeoLeo Allatius(Alacci). A learned Greek of the seventeenth century, b. on the island of Chios in 1586, and ... |
Allegranza, JosephJoseph AllegranzaA Milanese Dominican who won distinction as a historian, archaeologist, and antiquary, b. 16 ... |
Allegri, AntonioAntonio AllegriBorn in Correggio, a small Lombard town near Mantua, 1494; died 5 March, 1534. His name in ... |
Allegri, GregorioGregorio AllegriA member of the same family which produced the painter Correggio, born at Rome c. 1580; died ... |
AlleluiaAlleluiaThe liturgical mystic expression is found in the Book of Tobias, xiii, 22; then in the ... |
Allemand, JeanJean AllemandA French priest and Orientalist, born 19 November, 1799; died 9 August, 1833. After his ... |
Allen, Edward PatrickEdward Patrick AllenFifth Bishop of Mobile, Alabama, U.S. ; born at Lowell, Massachusetts, 17 March, 1853. He made ... |
Allen, FrancesFrances AllenThe first woman of New England birth to become a nun, born 13 November, 1784, at Sunderland, ... |
Allen, GeorgeGeorge AllenEducator, born at Milton, Vermont, 17 December, 1808; died in Worcester, Massachusetts, 28 May, ... |
Allen, JohnJohn Allen(1476-1534) Archbishop of Dublin, canonist, and Chancellor of Ireland. He was educated at ... |
Allen, JohnJohn AllenPriest and martyr. He was executed at Tyburn in the beginning of the year 1538, because he ... |
Allen, WilliamWilliam AllenCardinal ; b. England, 1522; d. Rome, 16 Oct., 1594. He was the third son of John Allen of ... |
Allerstein, AugustAugust Allerstein(Or Hallerstein). Jesuit missionary in China, born in Germany, died in China, probably about ... |
Alliance, HolyHoly AllianceThe Emperor Francis I of Austria, King Frederick William III of Prussia, and the Tsar Alexander I ... |
Allies, Thomas WilliamThomas William AlliesAn English writer b. 12 February, 1813; d. 17 June, 1903. He was one in whom the poetical vein ... |
Allioli, Joseph FranzJoseph Franz AllioliBorn at Sulzbach, 10 August, 1793; died at Augsburg, 22 May, 1873. He studied theology at ... |
Allison, WilliamWilliam AllisonOne of the English priests who were victims of the plots of 1679-80, and died a prisoner in ... |
AllocutionAllocutionAllocution is a solemn form of address or speech from the throne employed by the Pope on ... |
AlloriAllori(1) Angiolo di Cosimo Called I L B RONZINO , an exceptionally able painter and poet, b. at ... |
Allot, WilliamWilliam AllotA student of the University of Cambridge ; retired to Louvain on the accession of Elizabeth ... |
Allouez, ClaudeClaude AllouezOne of the most famous of the early Jesuit missionaries and explorers of what is now the western ... |
AlmaAlmaA Hebrew signifying a "young woman ", unmarried as well as married, and thus distinct from ... |
Alma Redemptoris MaterAlma Redemptoris Mater(Kindly Mother of the Redeemer). The opening words of one of the four Antiphons sung at ... |
Almagro, Diego deDiego de AlmagroD IEGO, THE E LDER Date and place of birth not satisfactorily established as yet, generally ... |
Almedha, SaintSt. ElinedVirgin and martyr, flourished c. 490. According to Bishop Challoner (Britannia Saneta, London, ... |
Almeida, JohnJohn AlmeidaA Jesuit missionary, born in London, of Catholic parents, 1571; died at Rio de Janeiro, 24 ... |
AlmeriaAlmeriaA suffragan see of the Archdiocese of Granada in Spain. It is said to have been founded by ... |
Almici, CamilloCamillo AlmiciA priest of the Congregation of the Oratory, born 2 November, 1714; died 30 December, 1779. He ... |
Almond, JohnJohn AlmondCistercian, Confessor of the Faith; died in Hull Castle, 18 April, 1585. His name has been ... |
Almond, John, VenerableVen. John AlmondEnglish priest and martyr, born about 1577; died at Tyburn, 5 December, 1612. He passed his ... |
Almond, OliverOliver AlmondPriest and writer, born in the diocese of Oxford. He is believed by Foley to have been the ... |
Alms and AlmsgivingAlms and Almsgiving(Greek eleemosyne , "pity," "mercy"). Any material favour done to assist the needy, and ... |
Alnoth, SaintSt. AlnothHermit and martyr ; died c. 700. We know very little of St. Alnoth. Neither does he appear to ... |
AlogiAlogi( a privative and logos , "word"; sc. "Deniers of the Word"). St. Irenæus (Adv. ... |
Aloysius Gonzaga, SaintSt. Aloysius GonzagaBorn in the castle of Castiglione, 9 March, 1568; died 21 June, 1591. At eight he was placed in ... |
Alpha and OmegaAlpha and OmegaIn Jewish Theology When God passed before the face of Moses on Sinai the great Law-giver of ... |
Alpha and Omega (in Scripture)Alpha and Omega (In Scripture)Alpha and Omega are the first and the last letters, respectively, of the Greek alphabet. They ... |
Alphabet, Christian Use of theChristian Use of the AlphabetThe Hebrew, Greek and Latin alphabets have been variously made use of in Christian liturgy. ... |
Alphege, SaintSt. Elphege(Or ALPHEGE). Born 954; died 1012; also called Godwine, martyred Archbishop of Canterbury, ... |
Alphonsus Liguori, SaintSt. Alphonsus LiguoriBorn at Marianella, near Naples, 27 September, 1696; died at Nocera de' Pagani, 1 August, 1787. ... |
Alphonsus Rodriguez, SaintSt. Alphonsus Rodriguez(Also Alonso). Born at Segovia in Spain, 25 July, 1532; died at Majorca, 31 October, 1617. ... |
Alpini, ProsperoProspero AlpiniPhysician and botanist, born at Marostica, in the Republic of Venice, 23 November, 1553; died at ... |
Alsace-LorraineAlsace-LorraineThe German Imperial Territory so known, and divided for State purposes into three civil districts. ... |
Altamirano, Diego FranciscoDiego Francisco AltamiranoJesuit, b. at Madrid, 26 October, 1625; d. Lima, 22 December, 1715. He wrote "Historia de la ... |
Altamura and AcquavivaAltamura and AcquavivaAn exempt archipresbyterate in the province of Bari, in southern Italy. Altamura was ... |
Altar (in Liturgy)Altar (In Liturgy)In the New Law the altar is the table on which the Eucharistic Sacrifice is offered. Mass may ... |
Altar BellAltar BellA small bell placed on the credence or in some other convenient place on the epistle side ... |
Altar BreadboxesAltar BreadboxesThese are made of wood, tin, britannia, silver, or other metal. In order that the breads may not ... |
Altar BreadsAltar BreadsBread is one of the two elements absolutely necessary for the sacrifice of the Eucharist. It ... |
Altar CandlesAltar CandlesFor mystical reasons the Church prescribes that the candles used at Mass and at other ... |
Altar CandlesticksAltar CandlesticksAn altar-candlestick consists of five parts: the foot, the stem, the knob about the middle of the ... |
Altar CanopyAltar CanopyThe "Caeremoniale Episcoporum" (I, xii, 13), treating of the ornaments of the altar, says that ... |
Altar CardsAltar CardsTo assist the memory of the celebrant at Mass in those prayers which he should know by heart, ... |
Altar CarpetsAltar CarpetsThe sanctuary and altar-steps of the high altar are ordinarily to be covered with carpets. If ... |
Altar CavityAltar CavityThis is a small square or oblong chamber in the body of the altar, in which are placed, according ... |
Altar ClothsAltar ClothsThe use of altar-cloths goes back to the early centuries of the Church. St. Optatus of Mileve ... |
Altar CrucifixAltar CrucifixThe crucifix is the principal ornament of the altar. It is placed on the altar to recall to the ... |
Altar CurtainAltar CurtainFormerly, in most basilicas, cathedrals, and large churches a large structure in the form of a ... |
Altar FrontalAltar FrontalThe frontal ( antipendium, pallium altaris ) is an appendage which covers the entire front of ... |
Altar HornsAltar HornsOn the Jewish altar there were four projections, one at each corner, which were called the horns ... |
Altar LampAltar LampIn the Old Testament God commanded that a lamp filled with the purest oil of olives should ... |
Altar LanternsAltar LanternsLanterns are used in churches to protect the altar candles and lamp, if the latter for any ... |
Altar LedgeAltar LedgeOriginally the altar was made in the shape of an ordinary table, on which the crucifix and ... |
Altar LinensAltar LinensThe altar-linens are the corporal, pall, purificator, and finger- towels. The Blessed Sacrament ... |
Altar of Our LadyAltar of Our LadyFrom the beginning of Christianity special veneration was paid to the Mother of God, which in ... |
Altar of ReposeAltar of Repose(Sometimes called less properly sepulchre or tomb, more frequently repository). The altar ... |
Altar ProtectorAltar ProtectorA cover made of cloth, baize or velvet which is placed on the table of the altar, during the ... |
Altar RailAltar RailThe railing which guards the sanctuary and separates the latter from the body of the church. It ... |
Altar ScreenAltar ScreenThe Caerem. Episc (I, xii, n. 13) says that if the High Altar is attached to the wall (or is not ... |
Altar SideAltar SideThat part of the altar which faced the congregation, in contradistinction to the side at which ... |
Altar StepsAltar StepsIn the beginning altars were not erected on steps. Those in the catacombs were constructed on the ... |
Altar StoleAltar StoleAn ornament, having the shape of the ends of a stole, which in the Middle Ages was attached to ... |
Altar StoneAltar StoneA solid piece of natural stone, consecrated by a bishop, large enough to hold the Sacred Host ... |
Altar TombAltar TombA tomb, or monument, over a grave, oblong in form, which is covered with a slab or table, having ... |
Altar VaseAltar VaseVase to hold flowers for the decoration of the altar. The Cæremoniale Episcoporum (I, xii, ... |
Altar VesselsAltar VesselsThe chalice is the cup in which the wine and water of the Eucharistic Sacrifice is contained. ... |
Altar WineAltar WineWine is one of the two elements absolutely necessary for the sacrifice of the Eucharist. For valid ... |
Altar, DoubleDouble AltarAn altar having a double front constructed in such a manner that Mass may be celebrated on ... |
Altar, HighHigh Altar(ALTARE SUMMUM or MAJUS.) The high altar is so called from the fact that it is the chief altar ... |
Altar, History of the ChristianHistory of the Christian AltarThe Christian altar consists of an elevated surface, tabular in form, on which the Sacrifice of ... |
Altar, PortablePortable AltarA portable altar consists of a solid piece of natural stone which must be sufficiently hard to ... |
Altar, PrivilegedPrivileged AltarAn altar is said to be privileged when, in addition to the ordinary fruits of the Eucharistic ... |
Altar, Stripping of anStripping of an AltarOn Holy Thursday the celebrant, having removed the ciborium from the high altar, goes to the ... |
AltarageAltarageFrom the low Latin altaragium , which signified the revenue reserved for the chaplain ... |
AltarpieceAltarpieceA picture of some sacred subject painted on the wall or suspended in a frame behind the altar, ... |
Altars (in Scripture)Altars (In Scripture)The English word altar , if the commonly accepted etymology be adopted -- alta ara -- does ... |
Altars (in the Greek Churches)Altars (In the Greek Churches)The word altar (sometimes spelled oltar ) is used in the Old Slavonic and Russian ... |
Altmann, BlessedBlessed AltmannThe friend of Gregory VII and Anselm, conspicuous in the contest of the Guelphs and ... |
Alto, SaintSt. AltoRecluse and missionary in Bavaria, c. 750. Alto has been variously described as an Anglo-Saxon ... |
AltonAlton (Illinois)The Diocese of Alton includes that part of Illinois lying south of the northern limits of the ... |
AltoonaAltoonaA suffragan see of the province of Philadelphia. The city of Altoona is situated on the eastern ... |
AltruismAltruismA term formed by Auguste Comte in 1851, on the Italian adjective altrui , and employed by him to ... |
AlumbradosIlluminati(Alumbrados.) The name assumed by some false mystics who appeared in Spain in the sixteenth ... |
AlumnusAlumnus(From Latin alo , "to nurse", or "feed"). Alumnus signifies in ecclesiastical usage, a ... |
Alunno, NiccolòNiccolo Alunno(Real name Niccolò di Liberatore) Notable Umbrian painter in distemper, born c. 1430, ... |
Alva y Astorga, Pedro d'Pedro d'Alva y AstorgaA Friar Minor of the Strict Observance, and a voluminous writer on theological subjects, ... |
Alva, The Duke ofThe Duke of Alva(FERNANDO ALVAREZ DE TOLEDO) Born 1508, of one of the most distinguished Castilian families, ... |
Alvarado, Alonzo deAlonzo de AlvaradoA Knight of Santiago, b. at Secadura de Trasmura, near Burgos, date unknown; d. 1559. He came to ... |
Alvarado, Fray Francisco deFray Francisco de AlvaradoA native of Mexico, where he entered the Dominican order 25 July, 1574. He was vicar of ... |
Alvarado, Pedro dePedro de AlvaradoOf the companions of Cortez, and among the superior officers of his army, Pedro de Alvarado ... |
Alvarez de PazAlvarez de PazA famous mystic of the Society of Jesus , born at Toledo in 1560; died at Potosi, 17 January, ... |
Alvarez, BalthazarBalthazar AlvarezA Spanish mystic, who was the spiritual director of St. Teresa, b. At Cervera, in Spain, in ... |
Alvarez, DiegoDiego AlvarezSpanish theologian, b. At Medina de Rio-Seco, Old Castile, about 1550; d. At Trani, Kingdom of ... |
Alvarez, ManoelManoel AlvarezEducator, b. on the island of Madeira, 1526; d. at Evora, 30 December 1582. In 1546 he entered ... |
Alvarus PelagiusAlvarus Pelagius(ALVARO PELAYO.) Celebrated writer, b. in Spain about 1280; d. at Seville, 25 Jan., 1352. ... |
Alypius, SaintSt. AlypiusThe bosom friend of St. Augustine, though younger than he, was, after studying under Augustine at ... |
Alzate, José AntonioJose Antonio AlzateBorn at Ozumba, Mexico, in 1738; died in 1799. Alzate, who was a priest, was one of the most ... |
Alzog, Johann BaptistJohann Baptist AlzogA Catholic church historian, born 29 June, 1808, at Ohlau in Silesia ; died 1 March, 1878, at ... |
AmaAma( Or Amma.) A Semitic term meaning mother, adopted by the Copts and the Greeks as a title of ... |
Amadeo, Giovanni AntonioGiovanni Antonio Amadeo( Also spelled Omodeo). An Italian architect and sculptor, born near Pavia in 1447; died ... |
Amadia and AkraAmadia and AkraThis double title designates two Catholic dioceses of the Chaldean Rite in Kurdistan, Turkey in ... |
Amalarius of MetzAmalarius of MetzA liturgical writer, b. at Metz, in the last quarter of the eighth century; d. about 850. He was ... |
Amalberga, SaintSt. AmalbergaSt. Amalberga, otherwise Amelia, was related in some way to Pepin of Landen. Whether she was ... |
Amalberga, SaintSt. AmalbergaA virgin, very much revered in Belgium, who is said to have been sought in marriage by Charles, ... |
AmalecAmalec (Amalek)(A MALECITES in Douay Version ; or A MALEK, A MALEKITES ). A people remembered chiefly ... |
AmalfiAmalfiThe Archdiocese of Amalfi, directly dependent on the Holy See, has its seat at Amalfi, not far ... |
AmalriciansAmalricians( Latin, Almarici, Amauriani ). An heretical sect founded towards the end of the twelfth ... |
Amalricus AugeriiAmalricus AugeriiA church-historian of the fourteenth century, and member of the Augustinian Order. He was a ... |
Amandus, SaintSaint AmandusOne of the great apostles of Flanders ; born near Nantes, in France, about the end of the ... |
AmasiaAmasia(AMASEA.) A titular see and metropolis of Pontus in Asia Minor on the river Iris, now ... |
AmastrisAmastris(Now AMASSERAH or SAMASTRO.) A titular see of Paphlagonia in Asia Minor, on a peninsula ... |
Amat, ThaddeusThaddeus AmatSecond Bishop of Monterey and Los Angeles, California, U.S., b. 31 December, 1810, at ... |
AmathusAmathusName of two titular sees, one in Syria, suffragan of Apameia, with an episcopal list known from ... |
Amazones, Diocese ofAmazones(Or MANÃOS.) A South American diocese, dependent on San Salvador of Bahia. Amazonas, the ... |
Ambarach, PeterPeter Ambarach(Also called BENEDICTUS and BENEDETTI, these names being the equivalents of the Arabic ambarak ... |
AmbitionAmbitionThe undue craving for honour. Anciently in Rome the candidates for office were accustomed to ... |
AmboAmbo(Pl. Ambos, or Ambones.) A word of Greek origin, supposed to signify a mountain or elevation; ... |
Ambo (in the Russian and Greek Church)Ambo (In the Russian and Greek Church)Its use has now practically disappeared in the Roman Rite and the only reminder of it in modern ... |
Amboise, George d'George d'AmboiseFrench cardinal, archbishop, and statesman, b. at Chaumont-sur-Loire in 1460; d. at Lyons, 25 ... |
Ambronay, Our Lady ofOur Lady of AmbronayA sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin at Ambronay, France, regarded as one of the two candles of ... |
Ambros, August WilhelmAugust Wilhelm AmbrosHistorian of music and art critic, one of the greatest in modern times, b. at Mauth, near Prague, ... |
Ambrose of Camaldoli, SaintSt. Ambrose of CamaldoliAn Italian theologian and writer, b. at Portico, near Florence, 16 September, 1386; d. 21 ... |
Ambrose of Sienna, BlessedBl. Ambrose of SiennaBorn at Sienna, 16 April, 1220, of the noble family of Sansedoni; d. at Sienna, in 1286. When ... |
Ambrose, SaintSt. AmbroseBishop of Milan from 374 to 397; born probably 340, at Trier, Arles, or Lyons ; died 4 ... |
Ambrosian BasilicaAmbrosian BasilicaThis basilica was erected at Milan by its great fourth-century bishop, St. Ambrose, and was ... |
Ambrosian ChantAmbrosian ChantThe question as to what constitutes Ambrosian chant in the sense of chant composed by St. ... |
Ambrosian HymnographyAmbrosian HymnographyThe names of St. Hilary of Poitiers (died 367), who is mentioned by St. Isidore of Seville as ... |
Ambrosian LibraryAmbrosian LibraryThe Ambrosian Library is one of the famous libraries of the world, founded between 1603 and 1609 ... |
Ambrosian Liturgy and RiteAmbrosian Liturgy and RiteThe liturgy and Rite of the Church of Milan, which derives its name from St. Ambrose, Bishop of ... |
AmbrosiansAmbrosiansSt. Ambrose cannot be counted among the founders of religious orders, although, like the great ... |
AmbrosiasterAmbrosiasterThe name given to the author of a commentary on all the Epistles of St. Paul , with the ... |
AmbulatoryAmbulatoryA cloister, gallery, or alley; a sheltered place, straight or circular, for exercise in walking; ... |
AmeliaAmeliaThe Diocese of Amelia comprises seven towns in the province of Perugia, Italy, and is under the ... |
Amelote, DenisDenis AmeloteBorn at Saintes, 1609; died in Paris, 7 October, 1678. He was ordained in 1631, was a Doctor of ... |
AmenAmenThe word Amen is one of a small number of Hebrew words which have been imported unchanged into ... |
Amende HonorableAmende HonorableAn obsolete form of honorary satisfaction, customary in the Church in France as late as the ... |
Amerbach, VeitVeit AmerbachBorn at Wembdinden in 1503; died at Ingolstadt, 13 Sept., 1557, humanist, convert from ... |
AmericaAmericaAmerica, also called the Western Continent or the New World, consists of three main divisions: ... |
America, Pre-Columbian Discovery ofPre-Columbian Discovery of AmericaOf all the alleged discoveries of America before the time of Columbus, only the bold voyages of ... |
American College at Louvain, TheThe American College at LouvainAn institution for the education of priests. Its official title is "The American College of the ... |
American College in Rome, TheThe American College at RomeThe American College in Rome, or to give the legal title, "The American College of the Roman ... |
American College in Rome, The SouthThe South American College in Rome(Legal title, COLLEGIO PIO-LATINO-AMERICANO PONTIFICIO). The Rev. Ignatius Victor Eyzaguirre, ... |
American Protective Association, TheThe American Protective AssociationUsually known as "the A.P.A.," a secret proscriptive society in the United States which became ... |
Amerigo VespucciAmerigo VespucciA famous Italian navigator, born at Florence, 9 March, 1451; died at Seville, 22 February, 1512. ... |
Amherst, Francis Kerril, D.D.Francis Kerril AmherstBishop of Northampton ; b. at London, 21 March, 1819; d. 21 August 1883. He was the eldest son ... |
Amias, Ven. JohnVen. John AmiasAn English Martyr ; b. at Wakefield; d. at York, 16 March, 1589. He exercised the trade of a ... |
Amiatinus, CodexCodex AmiatinusThe most celebrated manuscript of the Latin Vulgate Bible, remarkable as the best witness to ... |
AmiceAmiceA short linen cloth, square or oblong in shape and, like the other sacerdotal vestments, needing ... |
Amico, AntonioAntonio AmicoCanon of Palermo, and ecclesiastical historian of Syracuse and Messina, (d. 1641). He wrote ... |
Amico, FrancescoFrancesco AmicoOne of the greatest theologians of his time, b. at Cosenza, in Naples, 2 April, 1578. He entered ... |
AmidaAmida(DIARBEKIR.) An Armenian Rite diocese located in Mesopotamia, Asiatic Turkey.- The ... |
Amiens, Diocese ofAmiens(AMBIANUM). Comprises the department of Somme. It was a suffragan of the archdiocese of ... |
Amiot, Joseph MariaJoseph Maria AmiotA missionary to China, born at Toulon, 8 February, 1718; died at Pekin, 8 or 9 October, 1793. He ... |
AmisusAmisusA titular see of Pontus in Asia Minor . It was a rich commercial centre under the kings of ... |
Ammen, DanielDaniel AmmenAmerican naval officer and author, b. in Brown County, Ohio, 15 May, 1820; d. in Washington, D.C., ... |
AmmonAmmon(Egyptian Amun or Amen , "the hidden one". Hebrew Amon , Greek Ammon ). The ... |
Ammon, SaintSt. AmmonSometimes called AMUN or AMUS, born about 350; an Egyptian who, forced into marriage when ... |
Ammonian SectionsAmmonian SectionsDivisions of the four Gospels indicated in the margin of nearly all Greek and Latin manuscripts ... |
AmmonitesAmmonitesORIGIN AND RACE The Ammonites were a race very closely allied to the Hebrews. One use of their ... |
AmorbachAmorbachFormer Benedictine abbey in Lower Franconia (Bavaria), about twenty-five miles south of ... |
AmoriosAmorios(Also A MORIUM ), a titular see of Phrygia in Asia Minor, now known as Hergen Kaleh. It was a ... |
AmorrhitesAmorrhitesA name of doubtful origin and meaning, used to designate an ancient people often mentioned in ... |
Amort, EusebiusEusebius AmortPhilosopher and theologian, b. at Bibermuehle in Bavaria, 15 November, 1692; d. at Polling, 5 ... |
AmosAmosI. NAME The third among the Minor Prophets of the Old Testament is called, in the Hebrew ... |
AmovibilityAmovibilityA term applied to the condition of certain ecclesiastics in regard to their benefices or ... |
AmoyAmoyLocated in China, created in 1883, and entrusted to the care of the Dominicans. It includes the ... |
Ampè, André-MarieAmperePhysicist and mathematician, b. 22 January, 1775, at Lyons, France ; d. at Marseilles, 10 ... |
Amphilochius of IconiumAmphilochius of IconiumA Christian bishop of the fourth century, son of a Cappadocian family of distinction, b. ... |
Amphilochius of SidaAmphilochius of Sida(Or Side , located in Pamphylia.) A bishop of the first half of the fifth century, member ... |
AmphoræAmphoraeVessels generally made of clay, and furnished with ears or handles. Amphoræ were used for ... |
Ampleforth, The Abbey ofThe Abbey of AmpleforthAmpleforth, located in the county of Yorkshire, England, belongs to the English Congregation of ... |
AmpullæAmpullaeAmong the smaller objects discovered in the catacombs are a number of fragments of vessels ... |
AmpuriasAmpurias(or CASTELSARDO and TEMPIO) An Italian diocese in Sardinia, suffragan of Sassari. The Right ... |
AmraAmraThe name of certain ancient Irish elegies or panegyrics on native saints. The most famous of ... |
AmrahAmrahCentral Syria has preserved for us an unequalled series of Christian monuments. From an early ... |
AmraphelAmraphelKing of Sennaar (Shinar), or Babylonia, one of the four Mesopotamian kings—the other three ... |
AmsterdamAmsterdamAmsterdam, the capital, and second residential city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, lies, in ... |
AmuletAmuletSee also USE AND ABUSE OF AMULETS (Greek, phylakterion Latin, amuleta ). An object ... |
Amulets, Use and Abuse ofUse and Abuse of AmuletsThe origin of the word amulet does not seem to have been definitely established. ( See ... |
AmyclaeAmyclaeA titular see of Peloponnesus in Greece, in the ecclesiastical province of Hellas, a suffragan ... |
Amyot, JacquesJacques AmyotBishop of Auxerre, Grand Almoner of France, and man of letters, b. 30 October, 1513; d. 6 ... |
AnæsthesiaAnaesthesia(From Greek a , privative, and aisthesis , feeling). A term in medicine, and the allied ... |
AnabaptistsAnabaptists(Greek ana , again, and baptizo , baptize ; rebaptizers). A violent and extremely ... |
Anacletus IIAnacletus IIThe title which was taken by Cardinal Pietro Pierleone at the contested papal election of the ... |
Anacletus, Pope SaintPope St. AnacletusThe second successor of St. Peter . Whether he was the same as Cletus, who is also called ... |
AnagniAnagniThe Diocese of Anagni An Italian diocese in the province of Rome under the immediate ... |
AnalogyAnalogyA philosophical term used to designate, first, a property of things; secondly, a process of ... |
AnalysisAnalysisAnalysis ( ana ="up" or "back", and lyein , "to loose") means a separation; it is the taking ... |
AnaphoraAnaphora(Greek, ànaphorá, offering, sacrifice). A liturgical term in the Greek Rite. ... |
AnarchyAnarchy( a privative, and arche , rule) Anarchy means an absence of law. Sociologically it is ... |
Anastasia, SaintSt. AnastasiaThis martyr enjoys the distinction, unique in the Roman liturgy, of having a special ... |
AnastasiopolisAnastasiopolisName of four ancient episcopal sees located respectively in Galatia (suffragan of Ancyra ), in ... |
Anastasius BibliothecariusAnastasius BibliothecariusLibrarian of the Roman Church, b. about 810; d. 879. He was a nephew of Bishop Arsenius of ... |
Anastasius I, Pope SaintPope St. Anastasius IA pontiff who is remembered chiefly for his condemnation of Origenism. A Roman by birth, he ... |
Anastasius II, PopePope Anastasius IIA native of Rome, elected 24 Nov., 496; d. 16 Nov., 498. His congratulatory letter to Clovis, on ... |
Anastasius III, PopePope Anastasius IIIThe one hundred and twenty-third occupant of the Holy See, elected September, 911; d. November, ... |
Anastasius IV, PopePope Anastasius IVCrowned 12 July, 1153; d. in Rome, 3 December of the following year. It was during his ... |
Anastasius Sinaita, SaintSt. Anastasius SinaitaA Greek ecclesiastical writer, b. at Alexandria in the first half of the seventh century; d. ... |
Anastasius, SaintSt. AnastasiusBishop of Antioch, A.D. 559, distinguished for his learning and austerity of life; excited the ... |
Anastasius, SaintSt. AnastasiusSt. Anastasius, once a magician, became a convert of the Holy Cross and was martyred in 628. He ... |
AnathemaAnathema(Greek anathema -- literally, placed on high, suspended, set aside). A term formerly ... |
AnathothAnathothPossibly plural of Anath , a feminine Chaldean deity, worshiped in Chanaan [Enc. Bib. s.v. ... |
Anatolia, SaintSt. AnatoliaSt. Anatolia, Virgin and Martyr in the time of Decius, was put to death in the city of Thyrum, or ... |
Anatolia, SaintSt. AnatoliaSt. Anatolia, Virgin and Martyr in the time of Decius, was put to death in the city of Thyrum, or ... |
Anatolius, SaintSt. AnatoliusBishop of Laodicea in Syria, one of the foremost scholars of his day in the physical sciences ... |
Anatolius, SaintSt. AnatoliusPatriarch of Constantinople in the time of Theodosius the Younger. The heretic Dioscurus had ... |
AnatomyAnatomy(Greek, anatome ). Literally, cutting up, or dissection; now used to signify the science of ... |
AnazarbusAnazarbusA titular metropolitan see of Cilicia (Lesser Armenia), suffragan of Antioch, known also to the ... |
Anchieta, JosephJoseph AnchietaA famous Jesuit missionary, commonly known as the Apostle of Brazil, born on the Island of ... |
Anchor (as Symbol), TheThe Anchor (as Symbol)The anchor, because of the great importance in navigation, was regarded in ancient times as a ... |
AnchoritesAnchorites( `anachoréo, I withdraw), also hermits ( èremîtai, desert -dwellers, ... |
Ancient of DaysAncient of DaysA name given to God by the Prophet Daniel (7:9, 7:13, 7:22), in which he contrasts His eternal ... |
Ancilla DeiAncilla DeiIn early Christian inscriptions the title ancilla Dei is often given to a deceased woman. ... |
Ancona and UmanaAncona and UmanaAn Italian diocese in the Archdiocese of Ancona, comprising ten towns in the province of Ancona. ... |
Ancona, Ciriaco d'Ciriaco d'AnconaAn Italian antiquary whose family name was Pizzicolli, born at Ancona about 1391; died about ... |
Ancren RiwleAncren RiwleOr R EGULA I NCLUSARUM. The name given to a thirteenth-century code of rules for the life of ... |
AncyraAncyraThe modern A NGORA , a titular see of Galatia in Asia Minor, suffragan of Laodicea. It was ... |
Ancyra, Councils ofCouncils of AncyraThree councils were held in the former capital of Galatia (now Angora) in Asia Minor, during the ... |
AndalusiaAndalusiaThis appellative is derived from the Al-Andulus , the name given by the Arabs to the portion ... |
AndechsAndechsA Benedictine monastery and famous place of pilgrimage on a hill about two miles east of the ... |
Anderdon, William HenryWilliam Henry AnderdonEnglish Jesuit and writer, born in London, 26 December, 1816; died 28 July, 1890. After three ... |
Anderledy, Anthony MariaAnthony Maria AnderledyGeneral of the Society of Jesus, b. in Berisal, Canton Valais, Switzerland, 3 June, 1819; d. at ... |
Anderson, Henry JamesHenry James AndersonScientist and educator, b. in New York City, 6 February, 1799; d. at Lahore, India, 19 October, ... |
Anderson, Lionel AlbertLionel Albert AndersonAn English Dominican, b. about 1620; d. 21 October, 1710. The son of a Lincolnshire gentleman, he ... |
Anderson, PatrickPatrick AndersonA Scottish Jesuit, b. at Elgin in Morayshire in 1575; died in London, 24 September, 1624. he ... |
Anderton, JamesJames AndertonAn English Catholic, b. 1557; d. 1618. He belonged to the well-known Catholic family of Lostock ... |
Anderton, RogerRoger AndertonA Catholic layman, son of Christopher Anderton of Lostock, brother of James and uncle of Lawrence ... |
Anderton, ThomasThomas AndertonAn English Benedictine, b. in Lancashire in 1611; d. 9 October, 1671. He as the sixth son of ... |
Anderton, Venerable RobertVen. Robert AndertonEnglish priest and martyr, b. in the Isle of Wight about 1560; d. 25 April, 1586. He ... |
Andlaw, Heinrich Bernhard, Freiherr vonHeinrich Bernhard, Freiherr von AndlawA famous Catholic statesman of the nineteenth century, b. 20 August, 1803, at Freiburg im ... |
Andlaw, Venerable WilliamVen. William AndlebyMartyred at York 4 July, 1597. He was born at Etton in Yorkshire of a well-known gentle family. ... |
André, BernardBernard Andre(Andreas.) Native of Toulouse, Austin friar, poet laureate of England and chronographer of ... |
André, Yves MarieYves Marie AndreMathematician, b. 22 May, 1675, at Chateaulin, in Lower Brittany; d. at Caen, 25 February, 1764. ... |
Andrés, JuanJuan AndresLittérateur and historian, b. at Planes, Valencia, Spain, in 1740; d. in Rome in 1817. ... |
Andrada de Payva, DiegoDiego Andrada de PayvaA celebrated Portuguese theologian of the sixteenth century, b. at Coimbra 26 July 1528; d. 1 ... |
Andrada, AlonsoAlonso AndradaBiographer and ascetic writer, b. at Toledo, Spain, 1590; d. at Madrid, 20 June, 1672. Before ... |
Andrada, Antonio deAntonio de AndradaThe pioneer missionary and explorer of Thibet in the seventeenth century, b. at Oleiros, ... |
Andrea Dotti, BlessedBlessed Andrea DottiBorn 1256, in Borgo San Sepolero, Tuscany, Italy ; d. there 31 August, 1315. He was of noble ... |
Andrea PisanoAndrea PisanoOr ANDREA DA PISA (the name by which Andrea da Pontadera is known). An Italian sculptor and ... |
Andrea, Giovanni d'Giovanni d'AndreaCanonist, b. at Mugello, near Florence, about 1275; d. 1348. He was educated by his father and at ... |
Andreas of CaesareaAndrew of CaesareaBishop of that see in Cappadocia, assigned by Krumbacher to the first half of the sixth ... |
Andreas of RatisbonAndreas of Ratisbon(Or REGENSBURG.) Historian of the later fourteenth and earlier fifteenth century. All that is ... |
Andreas, SaintSt. Andrew of Crete(Sometimes called Andreas in English biography), theologian, homilist, hymnographer, b. at ... |
Andreis, Felix deFelix de AndreisFirst superior of the Congregation of the Mission ( Lazarists ) in the United States and ... |
Andres, JuanJuan AndresA Spanish canonist, born at Xativa, or San Felipe, in Valencia. Of Moorish extraction, he ... |
Andrew Avellino, SaintSt. Andrew AvellinoBorn 1521 at Castronuovo, a small town in Sicily ; died 10 November, 1608. His baptismal name ... |
Andrew Bobola, SaintSt. Andrew BobolaMartyr, born of an old and illustrious Polish family, in the Palatinate of Sandomir, 1590; ... |
Andrew Corsini, SaintSt. Andrew CorsiniOf the illustrious Corsini family ; born in Florence, in 1302; died 1373. Wild and dissolute in ... |
Andrew of Crete, SaintSt. Andrew of Crete(Sometimes called Andreas in English biography), theologian, homilist, hymnographer, b. at ... |
Andrew of LonjumeauAndrew of LonjumeauDominican missionary and papal ambassador, born in the diocese of Paris ; died c. 1253. He ... |
Andrew of RhodesAndrew of Rhodes(Sometimes, of COLOSSUS) Theologian, d. 1440. He was Greek by birth, and born of schismatic ... |
Andrew the Scot, SaintSaint Andrew the ScotArchdeacon of Fiesole, born probably at the beginning of the ninth century; died about 877. St. ... |
Andrew, Saint (Apostle and Martyr)St. AndrewThe name "Andrew" (Gr., andreia , manhood, or valour), like other Greek names, appears to have ... |
Andrew, Saint (Martyr of Lampsacus)St. AndrewA martyr of the Faith in Lampsacus, a city of Mysia, in the persecution of Decius. He and two ... |
Andrews, William EusebiusWilliam Eusebius AndrewsEditor and author, born at Norwich, England, 6 December, 1773; died London, 7 April, 1837. His ... |
Andria, DioceseAndriaComprises three towns in the Province of Bari and one in the Province of Potenza, Archdiocese of ... |
Andronicus, Probus, and Tarachus, SaintsSts. Tarachus, Probus, and AndronicusMartyrs of the Diocletian persecution (about 304). The "Martyrologium Hieronymian." contains the ... |
AnemuriumAnemuriumNow ESTENMURE, a titular see of Cilicia, situated in antiquity on a high bluff knob that marks ... |
Anerio, FeliceFelice AnerioAn eminent Roman composer, b. c. 1560; d. c. 1630. From 1575 he was for four years a boy-soprano ... |
Anerio, Giovanni FrancescoGiovanni Francesco AnerioBorn in Rome c. 1567; died c. 1620. He spent four years as a chorister at St. Peter's, under ... |
Anfossi, FilippoFilippo AnfossiAn Italian Dominican, b. at Taggia, in the province of Genoa ; d. in Rome, 14 May, 1825. Pius ... |
Ange de Saint JosephAnge de Saint JosephFrench missionary friar of the Order of Discalced Carmelites, b. at Toulouse, 1636; d. at ... |
Ange de Sainte RosalieAnge de Sainte RosalieFrench genealogist and friar of the house of the Petits-Pères of the Discalced ... |
AngelAngels(Latin angelus ; Greek aggelos ; from the Hebrew for "one going" or "one sent"; messenger). ... |
Angel, GuardianGuardian Angels( See also FEAST OF THE GUARDIAN ANGELS .) That every individual soul has a guardian angel ... |
Angela Merici, SaintSt. Angela MericiFoundress of the Ursulines, born 21 March, 1474, at Desenzano, a small town on the southwestern ... |
Angela of Foligno, BlessedBl. Angela of FolignoUmbrian penitent and mystical writer. She was born at Foligno in Umbria, in 1248, of a rich ... |
Angeli, Francesco degliFrancesco Degli Angeli( Also Angelis). Missionary to Ethiopia, born at Sorrento, Italy, 1567; died at Colela in ... |
Angeli, Girolamo degliGirolamo Degli AngeliAn eminent pioneer missionary of Japan ; born at Castro-Giovanni, Sicily, 1567; died 4 December, ... |
Angelicals, TheThe AngelicalsA congregation of women founded at Milan about 1530 by Countess Luigia Torelli of Guastalla ... |
Angelico, FraFra AngelicoA famous painter of the Florentine school, born near Castello di Vicchio in the province of ... |
Angelo Carletti di Chivasso, BlessedBl. Angelo Carletti di ChivassoMoral theologian of the order of Friars Minor ; born at Chivasso in Piedmont, in 1411; and died ... |
Angelo Clareno da CingoliAngelo Clareno Da CingoliOne of the leaders of the so-called Spiritual Franciscans, b. at Fossombrone about 1247; d. at ... |
Angels of the ChurchesAngels of the ChurchesSt. John in the Apocalypse is shown seven candlesticks and in their midst, the Son of Man ... |
Angels, Early Christian Representations ofEarly Christian Representations of AngelsAngels were seldom represented in Christian art before Constantine. The oldest fresco in which ... |
AngelusAngelusPRESENT USAGE The Angelus is a short practice of devotion in honour of the Incarnation ... |
Angelus BellAngelus BellThe triple Hail Mary recited in the evening, which is the origin of our modern Angelus, was ... |
Angelus, SilesiusSilesius Angelus(Johannes Scheffer) Convert, poet, controversialist, the son of a Lutheran Polish Nobleman, ... |
AngerAngerThe desire of vengeance. Its ethical rating depends upon the quality of the vengeance and the ... |
AngersAngers(Andegavum) Comprises the territory embraced in the department of Maine and Loire. It was a ... |
Angers, University ofUniversity of AngersThe University of Angers is, probably, a development of the cathedral school of that city. Early ... |
Anges, Notre Dame deNotre Dame de Anges(OUR LADY OF THE ANGELS) A miraculous shrine near Lur, France, containing a crypt (Sainte ... |
Angilbert, SaintSt. AngilbertAbbot of Saint-Riquier, died 18 February, 814. Angilbert seems to have been brought up at the ... |
Angiolini, FrancescoFrancesco AngioliniA noted scholar, b. at Piacenza, Italy, 1750; d. at Polotsk, 21 February, 1788. He entered the ... |
Anglesea, The Priory ofThe Priory of AngleseaThe Priory of Anglesea, Cambridgeshire, England, was founded in honour of the Blessed Virgin ... |
Anglican OrdersAnglican OrdersIn the creed of the Catholic Church, Holy Order is one of the Seven Sacraments instituted by ... |
AnglicanismAnglicanismA term used to denote the religious belief and position of members of the established Church ... |
Anglin, Timothy WarrenTimothy Warren AnglinCanadian journalist and member of Parliament, born in the town of Cloankilty, County Cork, ... |
Anglo-Saxon Church, TheThe Anglo-Saxon ChurchI. ANGLO-SAXON OCCUPATION OF BRITAIN The word Anglo-Saxon is used as a collective name for ... |
Anglona-TursiAnglona-TursiAn Italian diocese comprising twenty-seven towns and three villages in the province of Potenza ... |
Angola and CongoAngola and CongoAlso known as SANTA CRUD DE REINO DE ANGOLA, and as SAO PAOLO DE LOANDA, diocese of Portuguese ... |
AngoraAngoraArmenian rite diocese in Asia Minor (Asiatic Turkey). The Europeans now call Angora, and ... |
AngoulêmeAngouleme(ENGOLIEIMA). Diocese ; comprises the Department of the Charente in France, and has always ... |
AngraAngraThe episcopal see of the Azores, suffragan of Lisbon, known as Angra do Heroismo, created in ... |
Angulo, PedroPedro AnguloNative of Burgos in Spain, came to America in 1524 as a soldier, but joined the Dominican ... |
AnhaltAnhaltVicariate Apostolic comprising the territory of the German Duchy of Anhalt, with an area of 860 ... |
Anicetus, Pope SaintPope St. AnicetusThe Roman Pontiff who succeeded Pius towards the year 157, and reigned till about 168. ... |
Anima ChristiAnima ChristiThis well-known prayer dates its origin from the first half of the fourteenth century and was ... |
Anima, College and Church of the, in RomeCollege and Church of the Anima (In Rome)S. Maria dell' Anima, the German national church and hospice in Rome, received its name, ... |
Animals in Christian ArtAnimals in Christian ArtIn Christian art animal forms have always occupied a place of far greater importance than was ... |
Animals in the BibleAnimals in the BibleThe Bible makes no pretensions to science ; we must not therefore expect to meet in its pages ... |
Animals, Cruelty toCruelty To AnimalsPagan antiquity The first ethical writers of pagan antiquity to advocate the duty of kindness ... |
AnimismAnimism( Latin, Anima, Soul) Animism is the doctrine or theory of the soul. In current language ... |
Animuccia, GiovanniGiovanni AnimucciaAn Italian composer, born at Florence about 1500; died 1571. He was a pupil of Claude Goudimel. ... |
AniseAniseAnise ( Matthew 23:23 ) has been, since Wyclif, the rendering of anethon in the English ... |
AnnaAnna(Septuagint Anna ; some versions have Hannah which is nearer to the original Hebrew. The ... |
Anna ComnenaAnna ComnenaByzantine historian, eldest daughter of Alexius Comnenus, Emperor of Constantinople (1081-1118). ... |
Annals, EcclesiasticalEcclesiastical AnnalsThe historical literature of the Middle Ages may be classed under three general heads: ... |
AnnasAnnas(According to Blass and Wescott-Hort, Annas ; Josephus, Ananos ). Name (cf. Hebrew ... |
Annat, FrançoisFrancois AnnatFrench Jesuit, theologian, writer, and one of the foremost opponents of Jansenism, b. 5 ... |
AnnatesAnnatesThe first fruits, or first year's revenue of an ecclesiastical benefice paid to the Papal ... |
Anne d'Auray, SainteSainte Anne d'AurayA little village three miles from the town of Auray (6,500 inhabitants), in the Diocese of ... |
Anne de Beaupré, SainteSainte Anne de BeaupreDevotion to Saint Anne , in Canada, goes back to the beginning of New France, and was brought ... |
Anne de Xainctonge, VenerableVenerable Anne de XainctongeFoundress of the Society of the Sisters of St. Ursula of the Blessed Virgin , born at Dijon, 21 ... |
Anne Line, SaintSt. Anne LineEnglish martyr, d. 27 Feb., 1601. She was the daughter of William Heigham of Dunmow, Essex, a ... |
Anne, SaintSt. AnneAnne (Hebrew, Hannah , grace; also spelled Ann, Anne, Anna ) is the traditional name of the ... |
Anne-Marie Javouhey, VenerableVen. Anne-Marie JavouheyFoundress of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny, born at Chamblanc, Diocese of Dijon, 11 ... |
AnnecyAnnecy(A NNECIENSIS ) Diocese comprising the Department of Haute-Savoie in France, with the ... |
Annegarn, JosephJoseph AnnegarnCatholic theologian and popular writer, b. 13 October, 1794, at Ostbevern in Westphalia ; d. 8 ... |
Annibaldi, Annibale d'Annibale d'AnnibaldiTheologian, b. of a Roman senatorial family early in the thirteenth century; d. at Rome, 1 ... |
Annibale, Giuseppe d'Giuseppe d'AnnibaleCardinal, theologian, b. at Borbona in the Diocese of Rieti, 22 September, 1815; d. at the same ... |
Annius of ViterboAnnius of Viterbo(Giovanni Nanni). Archeologist and historian, born at Viterbo about 1432; died 13 November, ... |
Anno, SaintSt. Anno(Or HANNO). Archbishop of Cologne in 1055. When very young he entered the ecclesiastical ... |
Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, The Fact of theThe Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin MaryThe fact of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary is related in Luke 1:26-38 . The ... |
Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, The Feast of theThe Feast of the AnnunciationThe Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (25 March), also called in old ... |
Annunciation, The Orders of theThe Orders of the AnnunciationI. ANNUNCIADES A penitential order founded by St. Jeanne de Valois (b. 1464; d. 4 February, ... |
Anointing of the SickExtreme UnctionA sacrament of the New Law instituted by Christ to give spiritual aid and comfort and perfect ... |
Anquetil, Louis-PierreLouis-Pierre AnquetilA French historian, b. in Paris, 21 Feb., 1723; d. 6 Sept., 1806. He entered the Congregation of ... |
Ansaldi, Casto InnocenzioCasto Innocenzio AnsaldiTheologian and archaeologist, b. at Piacenza, in Italy, 7 March, 1710; d. at Turin, in 1780. ... |
Ansaloni, GiordanoGiordano Ansaloni(Sometimes called GIORDANO DI SAN STEFANO.) Born at San Angelo in Sicily early in the ... |
Anschar, SaintSt. Anschar(Or ANSGARIUS.) Called the Apostle of the North, was b. in Picardy, 8 September, 801; d. 5 ... |
Anse, Councils ofCouncils of AnseSeveral medieval councils were held in this French town (near Lyons ). That of 994 decreed, ... |
AnsegisusAnsegisus (Archbishop of Sens)Archbishop of Sens ; d. 25 November 879, or 883. He was a Benedictine monk, Abbot of St. ... |
Ansegisus, SaintSt. AnsegisusBorn about 770, of noble parentage; died 20 July, 833, or 834. At the age of eighteen he entered ... |
Anselm of LaonAnselm of Laon(ANSELMUS LAUDINENSIS.) Died 15 July, 1117, one of the famous theologians of the Middle ... |
Anselm of LiègeAnselm of LiegeA Belgian chronicler of the eleventh century, b. 1008; d. about 1056. He was educated at the ... |
Anselm of Lucca (the Younger), SaintSt. Anselm of Lucca, the YoungerBorn at Mantua c. 1036; d. in the same city, 18 March, 1086. He was nephew of Anselm of Lucca, ... |
Anselm, SaintSt. AnselmArchbishop of Canterbury, Doctor of the Church ; born at Aosta a Burgundian town on the ... |
Anselm, SaintSt. Anselm (Duke of Forum Julii)Abbot, Duke of Forum Julii, the modern Friuli, in the northeastern part of Italy. Wishing to ... |
Anselme, AntoineAntoine AnselmeA celebrated French preacher, b. at l'Isle-Jourdain in the Comté d'Armagnac, 13 January, ... |
Anslo, ReyerReyer AnsloDutch poet and convert, b. at Amsterdam in 1622; d. at Perugia in 1669. His parents were ... |
Anstey, Thomas ChisholmThomas Chisholm AnsteyLawyer and politician, son of one of the first settlers in Tasmania, b. in London, England, ... |
AntediluviansAntediluvians(From Latin ante =before, and diluvium =flood; people who lived before the Flood ). IN ... |
Anterus, Pope SaintPope St. Anterus(ANTEROS.) (Reigned 21 November, 235-3 January, 236). We know for certain only that he ... |
Anthelmi, JosephJoseph AnthelmiA French ecclesiastical historian , b. at Fréjus, 25 July, 1648; d. in the same city, 21 ... |
AnthemiusAnthemiusA Byzantine official of the fourth and fifth centuries, of high rank and fine character. He was ... |
Anthony of Padua, SaintSt. Anthony of PaduaFranciscan Thaumaturgist, born at Lisbon, 1195; died at Vercelli [actually Arcella -- Ed. ], ... |
Anthony of SiennaAnthony of SiennaA Dominican theologian, so called because of his great veneration for St. Catharine of Sienna, b. ... |
Anthony of the Desert, SaintSt. AnthonyFounder of Christian monasticism . The chief source of information on St. Anthony is a Greek ... |
Anthony of the Mother of GodAnthony of the Mother of God(A. DE OLIVERA). A Spanish Carmelite, b. at Leon in Old-Castile; d. 1641. He taught ... |
Anthony, Orders of SaintOrders of Saint AnthonyReligious communities or orders under the patronage of Anthony the Hermit, father of monasticism, ... |
Anthropomorphism, AnthropomorphitesAnthropomorphism( anthropos , man, and morphe , form). A term used in its widest sense to signify the ... |
AntichristAntichrist(Greek Antichristos ). In composition anti has different meanings: antibasileus denotes ... |
AntidicomarianitesAntidicomarianitesAn Eastern sect which flourished about A. D. 200 to 400, and which was so designated as ... |
AntidoronAntidoron(Greek, anti , instead of; doron , a gift; i.e. a gift instead of) The remains of the ... |
AntigonishAntigonish(Micmac, nalagitkooneech , "where the branches are torn off") Antigonish is the shiretown ... |
AntimensiumAntimensiumAlso ANTIMINSION (Greek antimension , from anti , instead of, and mensa , table, altar). ... |
AntinoeAntinoe(or ANTINOPOLIS) A titular see of the Thebaid, now Esneh or Esench, a city in Egypt, built ... |
AntinomianismAntinomianism( anti , against, and nomos , law ) The heretical doctrine that Christians are ... |
AntiochAntiochI. ANTIOCH OF SYRIA It is difficult to realize that in the modern Antakieh (28,000 inhab.), we ... |
Antioch, The Church ofChurch of Antioch( Antiocheia, Antiochia ) I. ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE CITY Of the vast empire conquered by ... |
Antiochene LiturgyAntiochene LiturgyThe family of liturgies originally used in the Patriarchate of Antioch begins with that of the ... |
Antiochus of PalestineAntiochus of PalestineA monk of the seventh century, said to have been born near Ancyra ( Asia Minor ), lived first ... |
Antipater of BostraAntipater of Bostra(In Arabia ) in the fifth century, one of the foremost Greek prelates of the Roman Orient ; ... |
AntipatrisAntipatrisA titular see of Palestine, whose episcopal list is known from 449 to 451 ( Gams,( 452). It ... |
AntiphellosAntiphellosNow ANTEPHELO, or ANDIFILO, a titular see of Lycia, on the south coast of Asia Minor, at the head ... |
AntiphonAntiphon(From the Greek antiphonon , sounding against, responsive sound, singing opposite, alternate ... |
Antiphon (in Greek Liturgy)Antiphon (in Greek Liturgy)The Greek Liturgy uses antiphons, not only in the Office, but also in the Mass, at Vespers, and ... |
Antiphon (in the Greek Church)Antiphon (In the Greek Church)( antiphonon ) Socrates, the church historian (Hist. Eccl., VI, viii), says that St. ... |
Antiphon, CommunionCommunion AntiphonThe term Communion ( Communio ) is used, not only for the reception of the Holy Eucharist, but ... |
AntiphonaryAntiphonary(Latin antiphonarium, antiphonarius, antiphonarius liber, antiphonale ; Greek ... |
Antiphonary, GregorianGregorian AntiphonaryIt is no longer possible to reconstruct completely a primitive Christian antiphonary ; by a ... |
AntipodesAntipodesSpeculations concerning the rotundity of the earth and the possible existence of human beings ... |
AntipopeAntipopeA false claimant of the Holy See in opposition to a pontiff canonically elected. At various ... |
Antiquities, BiblicalBiblical AntiquitiesThis department of archæology has been variously defined and classified. Some scholars have ... |
AntivariAntivari( Antibarium ) So called from its position opposite to Bari in Italy ; the Catholic ... |
AntofogasteAntofogasteVicariate Apostolic in Chile, dependent on the Sacred Congregation of Ecclesiastical Affairs. By ... |
Antoine, Paul GabrielPaul Gabriel AntoineA French theologian, born at Lunéville, 10 January, 1678; died at Pont-à-Mousson, ... |
Anton UlrichAnton UlrichD UKE OF B RUNSWICK — L ÜNEBURG — W OLFENBÜTTEL A convert to the ... |
Antonelli, GiacomoGiacomo AntonelliCardinal ; Secretary of State to Pius IX, b. at Sonnino, in the Papal States, 2 April 1806; d. in ... |
Antonelli, LeonardoLeonardo AntonelliCardinal, b. at Sinigaglia, 6 November 1730; d. 23 January, 1811, nephew of Cardinal ... |
Antonelli, Nicolò MariaNicolo Maria AntonelliCardinal, learned canonist, ecclesiastical historian, and Orientalist, b. at Sinigaglia, 8 July, ... |
Antoniano, GiovanniGiovanni AntonianoPatrologist, b. at Nimeguen, in Holland, early in the sixteenth century; d. same place, in 1588. ... |
Antoniano, SilvioSilvio AntonianoCardinal, writer on education, b. 31 December 1540 in Rome ; d. there 16 August 1603. He was ... |
Antoniewicz, CharlesCharles Antoniewicz(Botoz.) A Polish Jesuit and missionary, born in Lwów (Lemberg), 6 November 1807; ... |
Antoninus PiusAntoninus Pius(T ITUS Æ LIUS H ADRIANUS A NTONINUS P IUS ). Roman Emperor (138-161), born 18 ... |
Antoninus, SaintSt. AntoninusArchbishop of Florence, b. at Florence, 1 March, 1389; d. 2 May, 1459; known also by his ... |
Antonio Maria Zaccaria, SaintSt. Antonio Maria ZaccariaFounder of the Clerks Regular of St. Paul, commonly known as the Barnabites ; b. in Cremona, ... |
Antonio of Vicenza, MariaMaria Antonio of VicenzaA Reformed Minorite, b. at Vicenza, 1 March, 1834; d. at Rovigno, 22 June, 1884. After his ... |
AntoniusAntoniusA supposed Latin Christian poet of the third century, under whose name there is printed in ... |
Antony, Franz JosephFranz Joseph AntonyBorn 1790, at Muenster, Westphalia ; d. there, 1837. He received Holy Orders, and in 1819 became ... |
AntwerpAntwerp(ANVERS, ANTVERPEN, Spanish AMBERES) A city of Belgium, in the archdiocese of Mechlin, ... |
Anunciación, Fray Domingo de laFray Domingo de la AnunciacionDominican missionary, b. at Fuenteovejuna, 1510; d. in Mexico, 1591. In the world his name was ... |
Anunciación, Fray Juan de laFray Juan de la AnunciacionBorn at Granada in Spain, probably 1514; died 1594. He went to Mexico, where he joined the ... |
AostaAostaAn Italian diocese, suffragan of Turin, and comprising 73 towns in the province of Turin. ... |
ApachesApachesA tribe of North American Indians belonging linguistically to the Athapascan stock whose ... |
ApameiaApameiaA titular metropolitan see of Syria, in the valley of the Orontes, whose episcopal list dates ... |
Aparisi y Guijarro, AntonioAntonio Aparisi y GuijarroParliamentary orator, jurisconsult, Catholic controversialist, and Spanish litterateur, b. in ... |
ApellesApellesFounder of a Gnostic sect ; died at an advanced age late in the second century. What little is ... |
Aphian, SaintSt. AphianSt. Aphian (or Apian), an illustrious martyr, under the Emperor Maximian, c. 306. He was only ... |
AphraatesAphraates(Greek, Aphraates ; Syriac Aphrahat or Pharhad ). The long list of Syriac writers ... |
Apiarius of SiccaApiarius of SiccaA priest of the diocese of Sicca, in proconsular Africa. Interest attaches to him only ... |
Apocalypse, Book ofApocalypseApocalypse, from the verb apokalypto , to reveal, is the name given to the last book in the ... |
ApocatastasisApocatastasis(Greek, apokatastasis ; Latin, restitutio in pristinum statum , restoration to the original ... |
ApocrisiariusApocrisiarius(Gr. apochrisis , an answer; cf. Lat. responsalis , from responsum ). This term indicates ... |
ApocryphaApocryphaOverview The scope of this article takes in those compositions which profess to have been ... |
ApodosisApodosis(Greek apodosis , a giving back) A usage of the Greek Church corresponding somewhat to the ... |
ApollinarianismApollinarianismA Christological theory, according to which Christ had a human body and a human sensitive ... |
ApollinarisSt. ApollinarisOne of the first great martyrs of the church. He was made Bishop of Ravenna by St. Peter ... |
Apollinaris (the Elder)Apollinaris (The Elder)A Christian grammarian of the fourth century, first at Berytus in Phoenicia, then at Laodicea ... |
Apollinaris Claudius, SaintSt. Apollinaris ClaudiusA Christian apologist, Bishop of Hierapolis in Phrygia in the second century. He became ... |
Apollinaris, SaintSt. ApollinarisThe most illustrious of the Bishops of Valence, b. at Vienne, 453; d. 520. He lived in the ... |
Apollonia, SaintSt. ApolloniaA holy virgin who suffered martyrdom in Alexandria during a local uprising against the ... |
Apollonius of EphesusApollonius of EphesusAnti- Montanist Greek ecclesiastical writer, between 180 and 210, probably from Asia Minor, ... |
ApologeticsApologeticsA theological science which has for its purpose the explanation and defence of the Christian ... |
ApolysisApolysis(Greek, apolysis , dismissal) The dismissal blessing said by the Greek priest at the end ... |
ApolytikionApolytikionA dismissal prayer or hymn said or sung at the end of the Gree Mass and at other times during ... |
Apophthegmata PatrumApophthegmata( apo , from; phtheggomai , to cry out; pater , father) Sayings of the Fathers of the ... |
Aporti, FerranteAportiAn educator and theologian, born at San Martino dell'Argine, province of Mantua, Italy, 20 ... |
ApostasyApostasy( apo , from, and stasis , station, standing, or position). The word itself in its ... |
Apostle (in Liturgy)Apostle (In Liturgy)The name given by the Greek Church to the Epistle of the Divine Liturgy, which is invariably of ... |
Apostle SpoonsApostle SpoonsA set of thirteen spoons, usually silver, the handles of which are adorned with representations of ... |
Apostles of Erin, The TwelveThe Twelve Apostles of ErinBy this designation are meant twelve holy Irishmen of the sixth century who went to study at the ... |
Apostles' CreedApostles' CreedA formula containing in brief statements, or "articles," the fundamental tenets of Christian ... |
Apostles, Acts of theActs of the ApostlesIn the accepted order of the books of the New Testament the fifth book is called The Acts of the ... |
Apostles, Portraits of thePortraits of the ApostlesThe earliest fresco representing Christ surrounded by the Apostles dates from the beginning of ... |
Apostles, TheApostlesUnder this title it may be sufficient to supply brief and essential information, I. on the name ... |
Apostleship of Prayer, TheThe Apostleship of PrayerA pious association otherwise known as a league of prayer in union with the Heart of Jesus. It ... |
Apostolic BlessingApostolic BlessingThe solemn blessing ( urbi et orbi ) which, before 1870, the Holy Father himself gave from the ... |
Apostolic CameraApostolic CameraThe former central board of finance in the papal administrative system, which at one time was of ... |
Apostolic Church-OrdinanceApostolic Church-OrdinanceA third-century pseudo-Apostolic collection of moral and hierarchical rules and instructions, ... |
Apostolic ChurchesApostolic ChurchesThe epithet Apostolic ( apostolikos ) occurs as far back as the beginning of the second ... |
Apostolic CollegeApostolic CollegeThis term designates The Twelve Apostles as the body of men commissioned by Christ to spread the ... |
Apostolic ConstitutionsApostolic ConstitutionsA fourth-century pseudo-Apostolic collection, in eight books, of independent, though closely ... |
Apostolic ExecutorApostolic ExecutorA cleric who puts into execution a papal rescript, completing what is necessary in order ... |
Apostolic ExpeditorsApostolic Expeditors(Latin Expeditionarius literarum apostolicarum, Datariae Apostolicae sollicitator atque ... |
Apostolic Fathers, TheThe Apostolic FathersChristian writers of the first and second centuries who are known, or are considered, to have had ... |
Apostolic LettersApostolic Letters( Litterae apostolicae ). 1. The letters of the Apostles to Christian communities or those ... |
Apostolic MajestyApostolic MajestyA title given to the Kings of Hungary, and used, since the time of Maria Theresa, by the King ... |
Apostolic See, TheThe Apostolic See( Soles apostolica, cathedra apostolica ). This is a metaphorical term, used, as happens in ... |
Apostolic SuccessionApostolic SuccessionApostolicity as a note of the true Church being dealt with elsewhere, the object of the present ... |
Apostolic Union of Secular Priests, TheThe Apostolic Union of Secular PriestsAn association of secular priests who observe a simple rule embodying the common duties of ... |
Apostolicæ Sedis ModerationiApostolicae Sedis ModerationiA Bull of Pius IX (1846-78) which regulates anew the system of censures and reservations in ... |
Apostolicæ ServitutisApostolicae ServitutisA Bull issued by Benedict XIV, 23 February, 1741, against secular pursuits on the part of the ... |
Apostolicae CuraeApostolicae CuraeNote: An English translation of Apostolicae Curae is available here. A Bull of Leo XIII ... |
ApostoliciApostoliciThe name of four different heretical bodies. I. Heretics of the third century The sect of ... |
Apostolici MinisteriiApostolici MinisteriiA Bull issued 23 May, 1724, by Innocent XIII, for the revival of ecclesiastical discipline in ... |
Apostolici RegiminisApostolici RegiminisA Bull issued 19 December, 1513, by Leo X, in defence of the Catholic doctrine concerning the ... |
ApostolicityApostolicityApostolicity is the mark by which the Church of today is recognized as identical with the ... |
Apostolicum Pascendi MunusApostolicum Pascendi MinisA Bull issued by Clement XIII, 12 January, 1765, in defense of the Society of Jesus against ... |
ApotacticsApotactics(From Greek, apotassomai , to renounce). The adherents of a heresy which sprang up in the ... |
ApotheosisApotheosis(Greek apotheosis , from, and theos , deify). Deification, the exaltation of men to the ... |
ApparitionsVisions and ApparitionsThis article will deal not with natural but with supernatural visions, that is, visions due to ... |
ApparitorApparitorThe official name given to an officer in ecclesiastical courts designated to serve the summons, ... |
Appeal as from an abuseAppeal As From An Abuse( Appel comme d'abus ) Appeal was originally a recourse to the civil forum against the ... |
AppealsAppealsThe purpose of this article is to give a comprehensive view of the positive legislation of the ... |
AppetiteAppetite( ad , to + petere , to seek) A tendency, an inclination, or direction. As it is used by ... |
ApprobationApprobationApprobation is an act by which a bishop or other legitimate superior grants to an ecclesiastic ... |
AppropriationAppropriationIn general, consists in the attribution to a person or thing of a character or quality which ... |
ApseApse(Latin, apsis or absis , Ionic Greek, apsis , an arch). The semicircular or polygonal ... |
Apse ChapelApse ChapelA chapel radiating tangentially from one of the bays or divisions of the apse, and reached ... |
ApsidioleApsidiole(Also written ABSIDIALE). A small or secondary apse, one of the apses on either side of the ... |
Apt, Council ofCouncil of AptHeld 14 May, 1365, in the cathedral of that city by the archbishops and bishops of the ... |
AquariansAquarians(Greek, Hydroparastatai ; Latin, Aquarii ). A name given to several sects in the ... |
AquilaAquilaAn Italian archdiocese in the Abruzzi, directly dependent on the Holy See. The See of ... |
Aquila and PriscillaAquila and Priscilla( Or Prisca.) Jewish tentmakers, who left Rome (Aquila was a native of Pontus ) in the ... |
AquileiaAquileiaA former city of the Roman Empire, situated at the head of the Adriatic, on what is now the ... |
Aquileia, Councils ofCouncils of AquileiaA council held in 381, presided over by St. Valerian of Aquileia, and attended by thirty-two ... |
Aquileian RiteAquileian RiteThe See of Aquileia fell into schism during the quarrel of the Three Chapters (under Bishop ... |
Aquinas, St. ThomasSt. Thomas AquinasPhilosopher, theologian, doctor of the Church ( Angelicus Doctor ), patron of Catholic ... |
Aquino, Sora, and PontecorvoAquino, Sora, and PontecorvoAn Italian diocese immediately subject to the Holy See. It comprises 29 towns in the province ... |
Arévalo, FaustinoFaustino ArevaloA learned Jesuit hymnographer and patrologist, born 23 July, 1747. at Companario in ... |
Arévalo, Rodríguez Sanchez deRodriguez Sanchez de ArevaloA learned Spanish bishop. b. 1404, in the diocese of Segovia ; d. 4 October, 1470. After ... |
ArabiaArabiaArabia is the cradle of Islam and, in all probability, the primitive home of the Semitic race. ... |
Arabia, Councils ofCouncils of ArabiaIn 246 and 247 two councils were held at Bostra in Arabia against Beryllus, Bishop of the see, ... |
Arabia, Vicariate Apostolic ofVicariate Apostolic of ArabiaArabia formerly belonged to the mission of Galla ( Africa), but was made a separate prefecture ... |
Arabian School of PhilosophyArabian School of PhilosophyUntil the eighth century the Arabians, although they expressed their religious feelings in a ... |
ArabiciArabiciA small sect of the third century, whose founder is unknown, and which is commonly named from ... |
ArabissusArabissusA titular see of Armenia, suffragan of Melitene ; its episcopal list is known from 381 to ... |
AradAradA titular see of Palestine, said to be identical with the eminence of Tell' Arad on the way from ... |
Aragon and CastileCastile and AragonThe united kingdom which came into existence by the marriage (1469) of Isabella, heiress of ... |
Aran, The Monastic School ofThe Monastic School of AranThe three islands of Aran stretch across the mouth of Galway Bay, forming a kind of natural ... |
Aranda, Council ofCouncil of ArandaHeld at Aranda in the province of Burgos in Spain, in 1473, by Alfonso Carillo, Archbishop of ... |
Aranda, PhilipPhilip ArandaJesuit theologian, born at Moneva, Aragon, 3 February 1642; died at Saragossa, 3 June, 1695. He ... |
Arason JónArason JonThe last Catholic bishop of Iceland before the introduction of Protestantism, b. 1484; d. 7 ... |
AratorAratorA Christian poet of the sixth century, probably of Ligurian origin. He studied at Milan under ... |
AraucaniaAraucaniaLocated in Chile, established by Leo XIII in 1901, and confided to the Capuchins, It has ... |
AraucaniansAraucanians( Also Araucans, Moluches, Mapuches). The origin of the word is not yet fully ascertained. A ... |
Araujo, Antonio deAntonio de AraujoBrazilian missionary, born at St. Michael's in the Azores ; died 1632. He entered the Society ... |
Araujo, Francisco deFrancisco de AraujoSpanish theologian, b. at Verin, Galicia, 1580; d. Madrid, 19 March, 1664. In 1601, he entered the ... |
ArawaksArawaks( Also Aruacans). The first American aborigines met by Columbus -- not to be confounded ... |
Arbieto, Ignacio deIgnacio de ArbietoJesuit, born at Madrid, February, 1585; died at Lima, Peru, 7 August 1670. He joined the Society ... |
ArbitrationArbitrationArbitration in a general sense, is a method of arranging differences between two parties by ... |
Arbogast, SaintSt. Arbogast(Gaelic Arascach ). St. Arbogast has been claimed as a native of Scotland, but this is ... |
Arbroath, Abbey ofAbbey of ArbroathThis monastery was founded on the east coast of Scotland (1178) by William the Lion, for ... |
Arbuthnott, Missal ofMissal of ArbuthnottA manuscript Scottish missal or mass-book, written in 1491 by James Sibbald, priest of ... |
ArcaArcaA box in which the Eucharist was kept by the primitive Christians in their homes. St. Cyprian ( ... |
Arcachon, Our Lady ofOur Lady of ArcachonA miraculous image venerated at Arcachon, France, and to all appearances the work of the ... |
Arcadelt, JacobJacob Arcadelt(Also ARCHADELT, ARKADELT, HARCADELT) A distinguished musician, b. in Holland at the close of ... |
ArcadiopolisArcadiopolisA titular see of Asia Minor. Its episcopal list (431-879) is given in Gams (p. 444); there is ... |
ArcaeArcaeAlso ARCA, now TEL-ARKA. A titular see on the coast of Phoenicia, between Tripolis and ... |
ArcanumArcanumAn Encyclical Letter on Christian marriage, issued 10 February, 1880, by Leo XIII. Its scope ... |
ArchArchA structure composed of separate pieces, such as stone or bricks, having the shape of truncated ... |
Archæology, ChristianChristian ArchaeologyChristian archaeology is that branch of the science of archaeology the object of which is the ... |
Archæology, The Commission of SacredArchaeologyAn official pontifical board founded in the middle of the nineteenth century for the purpose of ... |
Archange de LyonArchange de LyonA preacher of the Capuchin order whose name was Michael Desgranges, b. at Lyons, 2 March, 1736; ... |
ArchbishopArchbishop( Archiepiskopos , archiepiscopus ). I. IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH An archbishop or ... |
ArchconfraternityArchconfraternityA confraternity empowered to aggregate or affiliate other confraternities of the same nature, and ... |
ArchdeaconArchdeacon( Latin archidiaconos ; Greek archidaikonos ). The incumbent of an ecclesiastical ... |
Archdeacon, RichardRichard ArchdeaconAn Irish Jesuit, whose name is sometimes given as Archdekin or Arsdekin, b. at Kilkenny, 30 ... |
ArchdioceseArchdiocese( Archidioikesis , archidioecesis ). This term does not designate an ecclesiastical ... |
ArchelaisArchelaisA titular see of Palestine, twelve miles west of the Jordan. Its episcopal list is given in ... |
Archeology, ChristianChristian ArchaeologyChristian archaeology is that branch of the science of archaeology the object of which is the ... |
Archer, JamesJames ArcherAn English missionary priest, born in London, 17 November, 1751; died 22 August, 1832. While ... |
Arches, The Court ofThe Court of ArchesThe Court of Arches, so called from the fact that it was anciently held in the Church of St. ... |
ArchiereusArchiereus(Russian, arkhierei ). A Greek word for bishop, when considered as the culmination of the ... |
ArchimandriteArchimandrite(Greek archo , I command, and mandra , a sheepfold). In the Greek Rite the superior of ... |
Archinto, FilipoFilipo ArchintoAn Italian theologian and diplomatist, born 1500 at Milan of the distinguished family of that ... |
Architecture, EcclesiasticalEcclesiastical ArchitectureThe best definition of architecture that has ever been given is likewise the shortest. It is "the ... |
Architecture, GothicGothic ArchitectureThe term Gothic was first used during the later Renaissance, and as a term of contempt. Says ... |
Archives, EcclesiasticalEcclesiastical ArchivesEcclesiastical archives may be described as a collection of documents, records, muniments, and ... |
ArchonticsArchontics(From archon , prince, ruler). A Gnostic sect which existed in Palestine and Armenia ... |
ArchpriestArchpriestJust as among the deacons of the bishop's church one stood out as the special assistant and ... |
Archpriest ControversyArchpriest ControversyThis controversy arose in England on the appointment of George Blackwell as archpriest with ... |
ArcosoliumArcosoliumThis word is derived from arcus "arch" and solium , a term sometimes used by Latin writers ... |
ArculfArculfA Frankish Bishop of the latter part of the seventh century. According to some, e.g. Alexis de ... |
ArdaghArdagh(High Field). Ardagh, an Irish diocese in the ecclesiastical province of Armagh, takes its ... |
ArdbraccanArdbraccan(Hill of Braccan, or Brecan) Site of an ancient abbey, now a parish and village in the county ... |
Ardchatten, The Priory ofThe Priory of ArdchattanAn Argyllshire house, one of the three in Scotland belonging to the Order of Vallis Caulium, or ... |
Arden, EdwardEdward ArdenAn English Catholic, executed during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, b. 1542 (?); d. 1583. He was ... |
Ardilliers, Notre Dame desNotre Dame Des Ardilliers(Latin argilla , French argile , colloquial ardille , clay). A statue, fountain, and ... |
Aremberg, Prince Charles d'Prince Charles d'ArembergDefinitor-general and Commissary of the Capuchins ; died at Brussels, 5 June, 1669. He is the ... |
AreopolisAreopolis(Rabbath-Moab). A titular see of Palestine. Its episcopal list (449-536) is given in Gams ... |
Arequipa, Diocese ofArequipaSuffragan of the Archdiocese of Lima, Peru , was erected by Gregory XIII , 15 April, 1577, at ... |
Arethas of CaesareaArethas of CaesareaBorn at Patrae, Greece, about 860; was, like all the eminent men of that time, a disciple of ... |
ArethusaArethusaA titular see of Syria near Apameia. Its episcopal list (325-680) is given in Gams (p. ... |
ArezzoArezzoA diocese of Tuscany, in Italy, which is directly dependent on the Holy See. It has 40 towns in ... |
Argüello, Luis AntonioLuis Antonio ArguelloGovernor of California, born at San Francisco, 1784; died there in 1830. His family was one of ... |
Argenson, Pierre de Voyer d'Pierre de Voyer d'ArgensonCalled the vicomte d'Argenson, chevalier, vicomte de Mouzé, seigneur de Chastres, was the ... |
ArgentinaArgentina(Argentine Republic). A South American confederation of fourteen provinces, or States, united ... |
ArgosArgosA titular see of Peloponnesian Greece, from the fifth to the twelfth century, about twenty miles ... |
Argyll and the Isles, Diocese ofArgyll and the IslesThe Diocese of Argyll, founded about 1200, was separated from the Diocese of Dunkeld ; it ... |
Argyropulos, JohnJohn ArgyropulosHumanist, and translator of Aristotle, born at Constantinople, 1416; died at Rome about 1486. It ... |
Arialdo, SaintSt. ArialdoMartyred at Milan in 1065, for his attempt to reform the simoniacal and immoral clergy of ... |
ArianismArianismA heresy which arose in the fourth century, and denied the Divinity of Jesus Christ. ... |
ArianoArianoDiocese in the Archdiocese of Beneventum, comprising seven towns in the province of Avellino, ... |
Arias de Avila, PedroPedro Arias de Avila(Also known as Pedrarias Davila). A Spanish knight from Segovia, b. about the middle of the ... |
Arias Montanus, BenedictusBenedictus Arias MontanusOrientalist, exegete, and editor of the "Antwerp Polyglot", born at Frejenal de la Sierra in ... |
Arias, FrancisFrancis AriasWriter of ascetical treatises, born at Seville in Spain, 1533, died in that place, 15 May, ... |
AriassusAriassusA titular see of Pamphylia in Asia Minor, whose episcopal list (381-458) is given in Gams (p. ... |
AriboAriboArchbishop of Mainz ; date of birth unknown; d. 6 April, 1032; son of Arbo, Count Palatine in ... |
ArindelaArindelaA titular see of Palestine, whose episcopal list (431-536) is given in Gams (page 454). |
Ariosto, LudovicoLudovico AriostoCalled "The Italian Homer". He was the son of Nicolo Ariosto, Governor of Reggio, and Daria ... |
AristeasAristeasA name given in Josephus (Ant. XII, ii passim ) to the author of a letter ascribing the Greek ... |
AristidesAristidesA Christian apologist living at Athens in the second century. According to Eusebius, the ... |
AristotleAristotleThe greatest of heathen Philosophers, born at Stagira, a Grecian colony in the Thracian ... |
AriusAriusAn heresiarch, born about A.D.ú died 336. He is said to have been a Libyan by descent. His ... |
ArizonaArizonaSaid to have been, probably in the original form of the word, Arizonac , and in this form a Pima ... |
Ark of the CovenantArk of the CovenantThe Hebrew aron , by which the Ark of the Covenant is expressed, does not call to the mind, as ... |
Ark, Noah'sNoah's ArkThe Hebrew name to designate Noah's Ark, the one which occurs again in the history of Moses' ... |
ArkansasArkansasOne of the United States of America , bounded on the north by the State of Missouri, on the ... |
Arlegui, Fray JoséFray Jose ArleguiA Spaniards from Biscay, first attached to the Franciscan province of Cantabria, then ... |
Arles, The Synods ofThe Synods of ArlesThe first Council of Arles was held in 314, for the purpose of putting an end to the Donatist ... |
Armada, The SpanishThe Spanish ArmadaThe Spanish Armada, also called the Invincible Armada ( infra ), and more correctly La Armada ... |
ArmaghArmaghArchdiocese founded by St. Patrick about 445, as the primatial and metropolitan see of ... |
Armagh, The Book ofThe Book of ArmaghTechnically known as LIBER AR(D)MACHANUS. A celebrated Irish-Latin manuscript preserved in ... |
Armagh, The School ofThe School of ArmaghThe School of Armagh seems to have been the oldest, and down to the time of the Anglo-Norman ... |
Armagnac, Georges d'Georges d'ArmagnacFrench cardinal and diplomatist, b. c. 1501; d. 2 June, 1585. He belonged to the illustrious ... |
Armellino, MarianoMariano ArmellinoBenedictine historian, b. in Rome (according to others, at Ancona ) in 1657; d. at Foligno in ... |
ArmeniaArmeniaA mountainous region of Western Asia occupying a somewhat indefinite area to the southeast of ... |
ArmenierstadtArmenierstadt( Hungarian, Szamos-Ujvar , Latin, Armenopolis ). A city in the Transylvanian county of ... |
Armentia, Fray NicolásFray Nicolas ArmentiaBishop of La Paz (capital of Bolivia, South America), appointed 22 October, 1901; b. at ... |
ArmidaleArmidaleA diocese situated in New South Wales (Australia), with its cathedral at Armidale, 335 miles ... |
ArminianismArminianismThe popular designation of the doctrines held by a party formed in the early days of the ... |
ArnauldArnauld(A RNAUT, or A RNAULT .) A celebrated family, the history of which is intimately ... |
Arne, Thomas AugustineThomas Augustine ArneEnglish composer, b. 12 March 1710, at London ; d. 5 March, 1778. Although of Catholic ... |
Arni ThorlakssonArni ThorlakssonAn Icelandic bishop, b. in Iceland, 1237; d. at Bergen, 1297. While a deacon, he visited ... |
ArnobiusArnobiusA Christian apologist, flourished during the reign of Diocletian (284-305). St. Jerome says, in ... |
ArnoldArnoldName of several medieval personages. Arnold Amalricus Cistercian monk, Abbot of ... |
Arnold of BresciaArnold of Brescia(ARNALDUS, ARNOLDUS, ERNALDUS) Born at Brescia towards the end of the eleventh century, ... |
Arnoldi, AlbertoAlberto Arnoldi(Or di Arnoldo). Italian sculptor and architect, b. at Florence, fourteenth century. In 1364, ... |
Arnoldi, BartholomaeusBartholomaeus ArnoldiUsually called Usingen, after his birthplace, an Augustinian friar, teacher of Luther, and with him ... |
Arnolfo di CambioArnolfo di CambioSometimes called di Lapo, the principal master of Italian Gothic, b. at Florence, about 1232; d. ... |
Arnoudt, Peter JosephPeter Joseph Arnoudt( Also: Aernoudt, Arnold). Jesuit writer on spiritual subjects, born at Moere Belgium, 17 ... |
Arnpeck, VeitVeit ArnpeckBavarian historian, b. at Landshut in 1440; d. at the same place about the year 1505. He was ... |
Arnulf of BavariaArnulf of BavariaSon of Luitpold of the Agilulfing family and of Kunigunde, and Duke of Bavaria from 907 to 937. ... |
Arnulf of LisieuxArnulf of Lisieux(Lexoviensis or Luxoviensis). In France ; d. 31 August, 1184. He was educated by his ... |
Arnulf of Metz, SaintSt. Arnulf of MetzStatesman, bishop under the Merovingians, born c. 580; died c. 640. His parents belonged to a ... |
ArrasArras(Atrebatum). Diocese comprising the Department of Pas-de-Calais in France. On the occasion of ... |
Arras, Councils ofCouncils of ArrasIn 1025 a council was held at Arras against certain (Manichaean) heretics who rejected the ... |
Arriaga, Pablo JoséPablo Jose ArriagaBorn at Vergara, in Biscay, 1564, entered the Society of Jesus in 1579, and in 1585 went to ... |
Arricivita, JuanJuan ArricivitaA native of Mexico in the eighteenth century. Little more is known of his life than that he was ... |
Arrighetti, NicolòNicolo ArrighettiA professor of natural philosophy at Spoleto, Prato, and Sienna, b. at Florence, 17 March, 1709; ... |
Arrighetti, NicolaNicola ArrighettiMathematician, b. at Florence and died there in 1639. He was distinguished as a litterateur, but ... |
Arrowsmith, Venerable EdmundVen. Edmund ArrowsmithEnglish martyr, born in 1585 at Haddock; executed at Lancaster, 23 August, 1628. He is of great ... |
ArsacidæArsacidaeIt was under the Dynasty of the Arsacids, who ruled the Persian empire from the year 256 B.C. ... |
Arsenius AutorianosArsenius AutorianosPatriarch of Constantinople, in the thirteenth century; died 1273. He entered a monastery in ... |
Arsenius, SaintSt. ArseniusAnchorite; born 354, at Rome ; died 450, at Troe, in Egypt. Theodosius the Great having ... |
ArsinoeArsinoeA titular see of Egypt, now Medinet el Fayum, capital of the district of that name, and ... |
Art, ChristianChristian Art" Christian art" is a term which, while it always applies to the fine arts and their creations ... |
Art, EcclesiasticalEcclesiastical ArtBefore speaking in detail of the developments of Christian art from the beginning down to the ... |
ArtemonArtemon(Or Artemas). Mentioned as the leader of an Antitrinitarian sect at Rome, in the third ... |
Arthur, JamesJames Arthur(Didacus Arturus). A Dominican friar, and a theologian of note, b. at Limerick, Ireland, ... |
Arthur, ThomasThomas ArthurA celebrated Catholic physician of the seventeenth century, born at Limerick, 1593, died c. ... |
Articles of FaithArticles of Faith(Greek, arthron ; Latin, articulus , joint). Certain revealed supernatural truths such ... |
Articles, The OrganicThe Organic ArticlesA name given to a law regulating public worship, comprising 77 articles relative to Catholicism, ... |
ArtoklasiaArtoklasia(Greek artos = bread, klao = to break; the breaking of bread). A peculiar service in the ... |
Arts, Bachelor ofBachelor of ArtsA degree marking the completion of the traditional curriculum of the college. In the medieval ... |
Arts, Master ofMaster of ArtsAn academic degree higher than that of Bachelor. The conferring of the degree of Master of Arts, ... |
Arts, The Faculty ofThe Faculty of ArtsOne of the four traditional divisions of the teaching body of the university. It is impossible to ... |
Arts, The Seven LiberalThe Seven Liberal ArtsThe expression artes liberales , chiefly used during the Middle Ages, does not mean arts as we ... |
ArtvinArtvinArtvin, a Russian city in the trans-Caucasian province of Kutais, is situated near Turkish ... |
Arundel, ThomasThomas ArundelSixtieth Archbishop of Canterbury, second son of Robert, Earl of Arundel and Warren, b. 1353; ... |
ArundellArundell (Family)Thomas, first Lord Arundell of Wardour Born 1560; died at Oxford, 7 November, 1639. He was the ... |
Asaph, SaintSt. Asaph(Or Asa). First Bishop of the Welsh See of that name (second half of the sixth century). ... |
AscalonAscalonA titular see of Palestine whose episcopal list (351-930 or 40) is given in Gams (p. 453). It ... |
AscelinAscelinAmbassador of Innocent IV (1243-54) to the Tartars. He entered the Dominican Order, probably at ... |
Ascendente DominoAscendente DominoA Bull issued by Gregory XIII, 24 May, 1584, in favor of the Society of Jesus, to confirm the ... |
AscensionAscensionSee also The Feast of the Ascension . The elevation of Christ into heaven by His own power ... |
Ascension, Feast of theFeast of the AscensionSee also The Fact of the Ascension . The fortieth day after Easter Sunday , commemorating ... |
Ascetical TheologyAscetical TheologyAscetics, as a branch of theology, may be briefly defined as the scientific exposition of ... |
AsceticismAsceticismThe word asceticism comes from the Greek askesis which means practice, bodily exercise, and ... |
Aschbach, Joseph, Ritter vonJoseph, Ritter von AschbachGerman historian, b. at Hochst, in Hesse-Nassau, 29 April, 1801; d. at Vienna, 25 April, 1882. In ... |
Ascoli, Satriano, and CirignolaAscoli, Satriano, and CirignolaAn Italian diocese, suffragan to the Archdiocese of Beneventum, comprising six towns and two ... |
Ascoli-PicenoAscoli-PicenoDiocese comprising sixteen towns in the Province of Ascoli-Piceno, two in that of Aquila, and two ... |
AseityAseityAseity (Latin a , from; se , itself: ens a se ) is the property by which a being exists ... |
AsenethAsenethThe daughter of Putiphare (Poti-phera), priest of On. The Pharaoh of Egypt gave her to wife ... |
AserAserThough the form Aser uniformly appears in the Septuagint, Vulgate, and Douay versions, an ... |
AsgaardAsgaardAsgaard (from As , plural Aeser , or in English, "Ases"--Norwegian for the gods--and gaard ... |
Ash WednesdayAsh WednesdayThe Wednesday after Quinquagesima Sunday , which is the first day of the Lenten fast. The ... |
Ashby, GeorgeGeorge AshbyMonk of the Cistercian Monastery of Jervaulx in Yorkshire, executed after the Pilgrimage of ... |
Ashby, ThomasThomas AshbySuffered at Tyburn, 29 March, 1544. His name was originally contained in the process of the ... |
AshesAshesIt is not easy to arrive at the fundamental conception of the liturgical use of ashes. No doubt ... |
Ashley, Venerable RalphVenerable Ralph AshleyMartyr and Jesuit lay-brother; first heard of, it seems, as cook at Douay College, which he ... |
Ashton, JohnJohn AshtonAn early Jesuit missionary in Maryland ; born in Ireland, 1742; died in Maryland, 1814, or ... |
Ashton, Venerable RogerVen. Roger AshtonMartyr, third son of Richard Ashton of Croston, in Lancashire. He was hanged, drawn, and ... |
AsiaAsiaIn the present article it is intended to give a rapid survey of the geography, ethnography, ... |
Asia MinorAsia MinorThe peninsular mass that the Asiatic continent projects westward of an imaginary line running ... |
AsiongaberAsiongaber (Ezion-Geber)More properly Ezion-geber, a city of Idumea, situated on the northern extremity of the ... |
Aske, RobertRobert AskeAn English gentleman, and nominal leader of the 30,000 Northern Catholics who rose in defence ... |
AsmodeusAsmodeusThe name of the demon mentioned in the Book of Tobias (iii, 8). The name is most probably ... |
AspendusAspendusA titular see of Pamphylia in Asia Minor, situated along the Eurymedon, on a lofty hill that ... |
AspergesAsperges(Latin, aspergere, to wash, sprinkle). The rite of sprinkling the congregation with holy ... |
Aspilcueta, MartinMartin Aspilcueta(Also AZPILCOETA.) Generally known as Navarrus, or Doctor Navarrus, a famous Spanish canonist ... |
Ass, The, in Caricature of ChristiansThe Ass (In Caricature of Christians)The calumny of onolatry, or ass-worship, attributed by Tacitus and other writers to the Jews, ... |
AssamAssamA Prefecture Apostolic in the ecclesiastical province of Calcutta, India, established in 1889. ... |
AssemaniAssemani(Arabic, Sam'an , i.e. Simeon ) The name of an illustrious Maronite family of Mount ... |
Assemblies of the French ClergyAssemblies of the French ClergyQuinquennial representative meetings of the Clergy of France for the purpose of apportioning ... |
Asser, JohnJohn Asser(Or Asserius Menevensis). A learned monk of St David's, Menevia, b. in Pembrokeshire; d. ... |
Asses, Feast ofFeast of AssesThe celebration of the "Festum Asinorum" in medieval and ecclesiastical circles was a pastime ... |
Assessor of the Holy OfficeAssessor of the Holy OfficeAn official of the Congregation of the Inquisition. The Holy Office is better known as the ... |
AssessorsAssessorsAssessors, in ecclesiastical law, are learned persons who function is to counsel a judge with ... |
Assicus, SaintSt. AssicusBishop and Patron of Elphin, in Ireland, one of St. Patrick's converts, and his worker in ... |
AssideansAssideansAssideans (Hebrew, chasidim , saints; Greek, Asidaioi ), men endowed with grace ( Psalm 39:5 ; ... |
Assimilation, PhysiologicalPhysiological AssimilationIn this sense the word may be defined as that vital function by which an organism changes nutrient ... |
Assimilation, PsychologicalPsychological AssimilationAs applied to a mental process, assimilation derives all its force and meaning from the analogy ... |
AssisiAssisiDiocese located in the civil province of Umbria, Italy. The town of Assisi ( Assisium ), ... |
Assistant at the Pontifical ThroneAssistant at the Pontifical Throne(ASSISTENS THRONO PONTIFICIO.) Bishops-assistant at the pontifical throne are those prelates ... |
Assizes of JerusalemAssizes of JerusalemThe signification of the word assizes in this connection is derived from the French verb ... |
Assmayer, IgnazIgnaz AssmayerAn Austrian musician, born at Salzburg, 11 February, 1790; died in Vienna, 31 August, 1862. ... |
Association of IdeasAssociation of Ideas(1) A principle in psychology to account for the succession of mental states; (2) the basis ... |
Association of Priestly PerseveranceAssociation of Priestly PerseveranceA sacerdotal association founded in 1868 at Vienna, and at first confined to that Archdiocese. ... |
Association, Right of VoluntaryRight of Voluntary AssociationI. LEGAL RIGHT A voluntary association means any group of individuals freely united for the ... |
Associations, PiousPious AssociationsUnder this term are comprehended all those organizations, approved and indulgenced by Church ... |
AssuerusAssuerusThe name of two different persons in the Bible : I. In Ezra 4:6 , and Esther 1:17 , it ... |
Assumption of MaryAssumption of MaryThe Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 15 August; also called in old liturgical ... |
Assumption, Augustinians of theAugustinians of the Assumption (The Assumptionists)(Also called the Assumptionists .) This congregation had its origin in the College of the ... |
Assumption, Little Sisters of theLittle Sisters of the AssumptionA congregation whose work is the nursing of the sick poor in their own homes. This labour they ... |
Assumption, Sisters of theSisters of the AssumptionA congregation of French nuns devoted to the teaching of young girls. It was founded in 1839 by ... |
AssumptionistsAugustinians of the Assumption (The Assumptionists)(Also called the Assumptionists .) This congregation had its origin in the College of the ... |
Assur (multiple definitions)Assur(Septuagint Assour .) (1) The name used in the Old Testament to designate the Assyrian land ... |
Assur (titular see)Assur(Or Assuræ.) A titular see of Proconsular Africa, now Henchir-Zenfour. Its episcopal ... |
AssyriaAssyriaIn treating of Assyria it is extremely difficult not to speak at the same time of its sister, ... |
Assyrian RiteEast Syrian RiteAlso known as the Chaldean, Assyrian, or Persian Rite. History and Origin This rite is used by ... |
AsteriskAsterisk(From the Greek aster , a star). This is a utensil for the Liturgy according to the Greek ... |
AsteriusAsteriusName of several prominent persons in early Christian history. (1) Asterius of Petra, a ... |
AstiAstiOne of the divisions of the province of Alexandria, and suffragan of Turin. Asti is a very old ... |
AstonAstonThe name of several English Catholics of prominence. Sir Arthur, member of an ancient and ... |
AstorgaAstorga(ASTURIGA AUGUSTA.) Suffragan of Valladolid in Spain, dates it is said, from the third ... |
AstrologyAstrologyThe supposed science which determines the influence of the stars, especially of the five older ... |
AstronomyAstronomy(From Greek astron , star; nemein , to distribute). A science of prehistoric antiquity, ... |
Astronomy in the BibleAstronomy in the BibleNo systematic observations of the heavenly bodies were made by the Jews. Astral worship was rife ... |
Astros, Paul-Thérèse-David d'Paul-Therese-David d'AstrosA French cardinal, b. At Tourves (Var.) in 1772; d. 29 September, 1851. He was a nephew of ... |
Astruc, JeanJean AstrucBorn At Sauves, 19 March, 1684; died At Paris, 5 May, 1766. He was the son of a converted ... |
AtahuallpaAtahuallpaProperly ATAU-HUALLPA (etymology usually given as from huallpa , the name of some indigenous ... |
Atahualpa, Jean SantosJuan Santos AtahualpaAn Indian from Cuzco who, being in the service of a Jesuit, went to Spain with his master. ... |
AtavismAtavism(Latin, atavus , a great-grandfather's grandfather, an ancestor). Duchesne introduced the ... |
AthabascaVicariate Apostolic of Athabasca(Northwest Territories). Suffragan of Saint Boniface ; erected 8 April, 1862, by Pius IX. ... |
Athanasian Creed, TheThe Athanasian CreedOne of the symbols of the Faith approved by the Church and given a place in her liturgy, is a ... |
Athanasius, SaintSt. AthanasiusBishop of Alexandria ; Confessor and Doctor of the Church ; born c. 296; died 2 May, 373. ... |
AtheismAtheism( a privative, and theos , God, i.e. without God ). Atheism is that system of thought ... |
Athelney, The Abbey ofThe Abbey of AthelneyThe Abbey of Athelney, established in the County of Somerset, England, was founded by King Alfred, ... |
AthenagorasAthenagorasA Christian apologist of the second half of the second century of whom no more is known than ... |
AthenryAthenryA small inland town in the county Galway, Ireland, anciently called Athnere, from Ath-na-Riagh ... |
Athens, ChristianChristian AthensChristianity was first preached in Athens by St. Paul. He came to Athens from Berœa of ... |
Athens, Modern Diocese ofModern Diocese of AthensThe Greeks have long regarded their religion as a national affair. This notion is so deep-rooted ... |
Athias, JosephJoseph AthiasBorn in Spain, probably in Cordova, at the beginning of the seventeenth century; died at ... |
Athos, MountMount AthosAthos is a small tongue of land that projects into the Aegean Sea, being the eastern-most of the ... |
Atienza, Juan deJuan de AtienzaBorn at Tordehumos, near Valladolid, in Spain, in the year 1546, eldest son of the royal ... |
Atkinson, JamesJames AtkinsonCatholic confessor, tortured to death in Bridewell prison in 1595. His pathetic and romantic ... |
Atkinson, NicholasNicholas AtkinsonPriest and martyr, probably to be identified with Venerable Thomas Atkinson. Dodd, who mentions ... |
Atkinson, Paul, of St. FrancisPaul Atkinson of St. FrancisOne of the notable confessors of the English Church during the age which succeeded the ... |
Atkinson, SarahSarah AtkinsonPhilanthropist and biographer, born at Athlone, Ireland, 13 October, 1823; died Dublin 8 July ... |
Atkinson, Ven. ThomasVen. Thomas AtkinsonMartyred at York, 11 March, l6l6. He was born in the East Riding of Yorkshire, was ordained ... |
AtomAtom(Gr. a privative, and temno , cut; indivisible). Primarily, the smallest particle of ... |
AtomismAtomismAtomism [ a privative and temnein to cut, i.e. indivisible] is the system of those who hold ... |
Atonement, Day ofDay of Atonement (Yom Kippur)( Hebrew Yom Hakkippurim . Vulgate, Dies Expiationum , and Dies Propitiationis — ... |
Atonement, Doctrine of theDoctrine of the AtonementThe word atonement , which is almost the only theological term of English origin, has a ... |
AtribAtribA titular see of Lower Egypt (Athribites) whose episcopal list (325-479) is given in Gams ... |
AtriumAtriumI. An open place or court before a church. It consisted of a large quadrangle with colonnaded ... |
AttainderAttainderA bill of attainder may be defined to be an Act of Parliament for putting a man to death or for ... |
Attala, SaintSt. AttalaBorn in the sixth century in Burgundy ; died 627. He first became a monk at Lérins, but, ... |
AttaliaAttalia(Also ATTALEIA.) A titular metropolitan see of Pamphylia in Asia Minor. Its episcopal list ... |
Attaliates, MichaelAttaliatesByzantine statesman and historian, probably a native of Attalia in Pamphylia, whence he seems ... |
AtticusAtticusPatriarch of Constantinople (406-425), born at Sebaste in Armenia ; died 425. He was ... |
Attigny, Councils ofCouncils of AttignyIn 765, St. Chrodegang of Metz and thirty-seven other bishops mutually promised in an ... |
Attila the HunAttila the HunKing and general of the Huns; died 453. Succeeding in 433 to the kingship of Scythian hordes ... |
Attiret, Jean DenisJean Denis AttiretPainter, born at Dole, France, 31 July, 1702; died at Pekin, 8 December, 1768. He made serious ... |
AttoAttoA faithful follower of Gregory VII in his conflict with the simoniac clergy, born probably at ... |
Atto of PistoiaAtto of PistoiaBorn at Badajoz in Spain, 1070; died 22 May, 1155. He became Abbot of Vallombrosa, (Tuscany) in ... |
Atto of VercelliAtto of VercelliA learned theologian and canonist of the tenth century, son of the Viscount Aldegarius and ... |
Attracta, SaintSt. Attracta(Or ST. ARAGHT). A contemporary of St. Patrick from whom she received the veil. She is known ... |
Attributes, DivineDivine AttributesIn order to form a more systematic idea of God, and as far as possible, to unfold the ... |
AttritionAttritionAttrition or Imperfect Contrition (Latin attero , "to wear away by rubbing"; p. part. ... |
AttudaAttudaA titular see of Phrygia in Asia Minor whose episcopal list (431-879) is given in Gams (446). |
Aubarède, Jean-Michel-d'AstorgJean-Michel-d'Astorg AubaredeCanon regular, and Vicar Capitular of Pamiers, born 1639; died 4 August, 1692. He was educated ... |
Aubermont, Jean-Aontoine d'Jean-Antoine d'AubermontTheologian of Bois-le-Duc ; died 22 November, 1686. He joined the Dominicans in 1633, taught ... |
Aubery, JosephJoseph AuberyJesuit missionary in Canada, born at Gisors in Normandy, 10 May, 1673; died at St. ... |
Aubignac, François Hédelin, Abbé d'Francois Hedelin, Abbe d'AubignacGrammarian, poet, preacher, archeologist, philologist. Born at Paris, 4 August, 1604; died at ... |
Aubusson, Pierre d'Pierre d'AubussonGrand Master of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem , born 1423; died 1503. He made his first ... |
AuchAuch(Augusta Auscorum). Archdiocese ; comprises the Department of Gers in France. Before the ... |
AucklandAucklandDiocese comprising the Provincial District of Auckland (New Zealand), with its islets, and the ... |
Auctorem FideiAuctorem FideiA Bull issued by Pius VI, 28 August, 1794, in condemnation of the Gallican and Jansenist acts ... |
Audiences, PontificalPontifical AudiencesPontifical Audiences are the receptions given by the pope to cardinals, sovereigns, princes, ... |
Audifax, Abachum, Martha, and Maris, SaintsSts. Maris, Martha, Audifax, and AbachumAll martyred at Rome in 270. Maris and his wife Martha, who belonged to the Persian nobility, ... |
AudiffrediGiovanni Battista AudiffrediBorn at Saorgio, near Nice, in 1734; died at Rome, July, 1794. He entered the Dominican Order, ... |
Audin, J.-M.-VincentJ.-M.-Vincent AudinBorn at Lyons in 1793; died in Paris, 21 February, 1851. He first studied theology in the ... |
Audisio, GuglielmoGuglielmo AudisioBorn at Bra, Piedmont, Italy, 1801; died in Rome, 27 September, 1882. He was professor of ... |
AuditorAuditorThe designation of certain officials of the Roman Curia, whose duty it is to hear ( Latin ... |
AudranAudranThe family name of four generations of distinguished French artists, natives of Paris and Lyons, ... |
Auenbrugger, LeopoldLeopold Auenbrugger( Or von Auenbrugg). An Austrian physician, born 19 November, 1722; died 17 May, 1807. He ... |
Aufsees, Jobst Bernhard vonJobst Bernhard von AufseesCanon of Bamberg and Würzburg, born 28 March, 1671, on the family estate of Mengersdorf; ... |
Auger, EdmondEdmond AugerBorn 1530, near Troyes ; died at Como, Italy, 31 January, 1591, one of the great figures in ... |
AugilæAugilae( Or Augila). A titular see of Cyrenaica in Northern Africa. It was situated in an oasis ... |
AugsburgAugsburgDiocese in the Kingdom of Bavaria, Germany, suffragan of the Archdiocese of Munich-Freising, ... |
Augsburg, Synods ofSynods of AugsburgFrom the time of St. Boniface (d. 754), especially during periods of earnest revival of ... |
AugustaAugustaA titular see of Cilicia in Asia Minor, whose episcopal list (363-434) is given in Gams (435). ... |
Augustin von AlfeldAugustin von Alfeld(Alveldt, or Alveldianus) One of the earliest and most aggressive opponents of Luther, born in ... |
Augustine of Canterbury, SaintSt. Augustine of CanterburyFirst Archbishop of Canterbury, Apostle of the English; date of birth unknown; d. 26 May, ... |
Augustine of Hippo, Life of SaintSt. Augustine of Hippo( See also WORKS OF SAINT AUGUSTINE and TEACHING OF SAINT AUGUSTINE .) The great St. ... |
Augustine of Hippo, Teaching of SaintTeaching of St. Augustine of HippoSt. Augustine of Hippo (354-430) is "a philosophical and theological genius of the first order, ... |
Augustine of Hippo, Works of SaintWorks of St. Augustine of HippoSt. Augustine of Hippo (354-430) was one of the most prolific geniuses that humanity has ever ... |
Augustine, Rule of SaintRule of St. AugustineThe title, Rule of Saint Augustine , has been applied to each of the following documents: ... |
Augustinian CanonsCanons and Canonesses Regular(Also called REGULAR CLERICS, RELIGIOUS CLERICS, CLERIC-CANONS, AUGUSTINIAN CANONS, BLACK CANONS, ... |
AugustiniansHermits of St. Augustine(Generally called Augustinians and not to be confounded with the Augustinian Canons ). A ... |
Augustinians of the AssumptionAugustinians of the Assumption (The Assumptionists)(Also called the Assumptionists .) This congregation had its origin in the College of the ... |
Augustinus, AntoniusAntonius AugustinusHistorian of canon law and Archbishop of Tarragona in Spain, born at Saragossa 26 February, ... |
Augustinus-Verein, TheThe Augustinus-VereinAn association organized in 1878 to promote the interests of the Catholic press, particularly the ... |
AugustopolisAugustopolisA titular see of Palestine, suffragan of Petra. Its episcopal list (431-536) is given in Gams ... |
AugustusAugustusThe name by which Caius Julius Caesar Octavianus, the first Roman emperor, in whose reign Jesus ... |
Augustus Abbey, FortFort Augustus AbbeySt. Benedict's Abbey, at Fort Augustus, Inverness-shire, is at present the only monastery for ... |
Aulne AbbeyAulne Abbey(Alna). A former Cistercian monastery near Landelies on the Sambre in the Diocese of ... |
AumbryAumbryVariously written AMBRY, or AUMBRYE, is a derivative through the French of the classical ... |
Aunarius, SaintSt. Aunarius(Or Aunacharius). Bishop of Auxerre in France, born 573, died 603. Being of noble birth, he ... |
AureaAurea(Golden). A title given to certain works and documents: Bulla, the charter of emperor ... |
AurelianAurelian(Lucius Dominius Aurelianus). Roman Emperor, 270-275, born of humble parents, near Sirmium in ... |
AureliopolisAureliopolisA titular see of Lydia in Asia Minor, whose episcopal list (325-787) is given in Gams (p. 447). |
AureliusAureliusArchbishop of Carthage from 388 to 423. From the title of St. Cyprian, Carthage was one of the ... |
Aurelius Antoninus, MarcusMarcus Aurelius AntoninusRoman Emperor, A.D. 161-180, born at Rome, 26 April, 121; died 17 March, 180. HIS EARLY LIFE ... |
Aureoli, PetrusPetrus Aureoli(Aureolus, D'auriol, Oriol). A Franciscan philosopher and theologian, called on account of ... |
AuriesvilleAuriesvilleThe site of the Mohawk village, Montgomery County, New York, U.S.A. in which Father Issac Jogues, ... |
Aurispa, GiovanniGiovanni AurispaA famous ltalian humanist and collector of Greek manuscripts, born about 1369 at Noto, in ... |
Aurora Lucis RutilatAurora Lucis RutilatThis is one of the Ambrosian hymns , but its author is unknown. It has been revised and ... |
Ausculta FiliAusculta FiliA letter addressed 5 December 1301, by Pope Boniface VIII to Philip the Fair, King of France. ... |
Ausonius, Decimus MagnusDecimus Magnus AusoniusA professor and poet born about A. D. 310; died, probably, about A.D. 394. The son of a physician ... |
Austin, JohnJohn AustinAn English lawyer and writer, born 1613 at Walpole, in Norfolk; died London, 1669. He was a ... |
AustraliaAustralia(Also known as N EW H OLLAND till about 1817). Australia is geographically the world's ... |
Austremonius, SaintSt. AustremoniusApostle and Bishop of Auvergne (c. 314). All that is certainly known of Austremonius is deduced ... |
Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, TheAustro-Hungarian MonarchyBy this name is designated the European monarchy whose dominions have for their main ... |
AuthenticAuthenticThe term is used in two senses. It is applied first to a book or document whose contents are ... |
Authenticity of the BibleAuthenticity of the BibleThe authenticity or authority of Holy Writ is twofold on account of its twofold authorship. ... |
Authority, CivilCivil AuthorityCivil Authority is the moral power of command, supported (when need be) by physical coercion, ... |
Authorized Version, TheThe Authorized VersionName given to the English translation of the Bible produced by the Commission appointed by James ... |
AutocephaliAutocephali(Greek, autokephaloi , independent). A designation in early Christian times of certain ... |
Autos SacramentalesAutos Sacramentales(Spanish auto , act or ordinance; sacramental , sacramental, pertaining to a sacrament) ... |
Autpert, AmbroseAmbrose AutpertAn early medieval writer and abbot of the Benedictine Order, born in France, early in the ... |
Autran, JosephJoseph AutranFrench poet, born at Marseilles 20 June, 1813; died in the same city, 6 March, 1877. He pursued ... |
AutunAutunTHE DIOCESE OF AUTUN (Augustodonum). Comprises the entire Department of Saone et Loire in ... |
Auxentius of MilanAuxentius of MilanNative of Cappadocia, ordained (343) to the priesthood by Gregory, the intruded Bishop of ... |
Auxentius of MopsuestiaAuxentius of Mopsuestia(360) Baronius places this bishop in the Roman martyrology, because of the story told by ... |
Auxentius, JuniorAuxentius, JuniorAuxentius, Junior — originally Mercurinus, a Scythian, and a disciple of Ulfilas, or ... |
Auxerre, Councils ofCouncils of AuxerreIn 585 (or 578) a Council of Auxerre held under St. Annacharius formulated forty-five canons, ... |
Auxiliary BishopAuxiliary BishopA bishop deputed to a diocesan who, capable of governing and administering his diocese, is ... |
Auxilius of NaplesAuxilius of NaplesThe name (probably fictitious, according to Hefele ) of an ecclesiastic to whom we owe a series ... |
AvaAvaA German poetess, the first woman known to have written in German and probably identical with a ... |
Avancini, NicolaNicola AvanciniChiefly known as an ascetical writer, born in the Tyrol, 1612; died 6 December, 1686. He entered ... |
AvariceAvariceAvarice (from Latin avarus , "greedy"; "to crave") is the inordinate love for riches. Its ... |
AvatarAvatarAn Anglicized form of the Sanskrit, avatara , "descent", from the root tr , "pass" (cf. ... |
Avaugour, Pierre du Bois, Baron d'Pierre du Bois, Baron d'AvaugourThe Baron d'Avaugour (d. 1664) was sixth Governor General of Canada. Born of an ancient family in ... |
Ave MariaHail MaryThe Hail Mary (sometimes called the "Angelical salutation", sometimes, from the first words in its ... |
Ave Maris StellaAve Maris Stella(Hail, thou Star of Ocean.) The first verse of an unrhymed, accentual hymn, of seven stropes of ... |
Ave ReginaAve ReginaAn antiphon so called from its first line, Ave regina caelorum (Hail, Queen of Heaven ). It ... |
AvellinoAvellinoAn Italian diocese in the Province of Naples, suffragan to Benevento. Avellino was founded by ... |
Avellino, Saint AndrewSt. Andrew AvellinoBorn 1521 at Castronuovo, a small town in Sicily ; died 10 November, 1608. His baptismal name ... |
AvempaceAvempace(Ibn Badsha, or Ibn Badja, called by the Scholastics Aven-Pace and Avempace). Arabian ... |
Avendano, FernandoFernando AvendanoPriest born at Lima, Peru, either towards the end of sixteenth or in the beginning of the ... |
AverbodeAverbodeA Premonstratensian abbey belonging to the circary of Brabant and situated near Diest in the ... |
AverroesAverroes(Abul Walid Mahommed Ibn Achmed, Ibn Mahommed Ibn Roschd). Arabian philosopher, astronomer, ... |
Aversa, Diocese ofAversaComprising twenty-one towns in the Province of Caserta and twelve in the Province of Naples, it ... |
Avesta, TheThe AvestaThe sacred books of Parsees, or Zoroastrians, and the main source of our knowledge concerning ... |
Avesta, Theological Aspects of theTheological Aspects of the AvestaI. GOD The name of the Supreme God of the Avestic system is Ahura Mazda (in the Achaemenid ... |
AvicebronAvicebronSalamo Ben Jehuda Ben Gebirol (or Gabirol), whom the Scholastics, taking him for an Arabian, ... |
AvicennaAvicenna(ABN ALI AL HOSAIN IBN ABDALLAH IBN SINA, called by the Latins AVICENNA). Arabian physician ... |
AvignonAvignonAvignon, written in the form of Avennio in the ancient texts and inscriptions, takes its name ... |
Avignon, Councils ofCouncils of AvignonNothing is known of the council held here in 1060. In 1080 a council was held under the ... |
Avignon, University ofUniversity of AvignonThe University of Avignon (1303-1792), developed from the already existing schools of the city, ... |
AvilaAvila(ABULA) Diocese ; suffragan of Valladolid in Spain. Its episcopal succession dates at least ... |
Avila, Francisco deFrancisco de AvilaCurate or vicar in the province of Huarochiri of Peru, later curate at Huánaco, ... |
Avila, Sancho deSancho de AvilaBorn at Avila of the Kings, in Old Castile, 1546, and named after the place of his birth; died at ... |
Avitus, SaintSt. Avitus(Alcimus Ecdicius). A distinguished bishop of Vienne, in Gaul, from 490 to about 518, ... |
Aviz, Order ofOrder of AvizA military body of Portuguese knights. The Kingdom of Portugal, founded in 1128, was not ... |
Avranches, Council ofCouncil of AvranchesIn 1172 (September 27-28) a Council was held at Avranches in France, apropos of the troubles ... |
Avril, PhilippePhilippe AvrilJesuit, born at Angoulême, France, 16 September, 1654; died in a shipwreck in 1698. He was ... |
AxumAxum(A UXUME .) A titular metropolitan see of ancient Christian Ethiopia. Its episcopal ... |
Ayacucho, Diocese ofAyacucho( Or Guamanga). A Peruvian diocese, suffragan to Lima. The See of Guamanga was erected by ... |
Ayeta, Fray Francisco deFray Francisco de AyetaA Spanish Franciscan of the seventeenth century, and (while time and place of his birth and ... |
Ayllón, Lucas Vésquez deLucas Vasquez de AyllonSpanish discoverer of Chesapeake Bay, and the first of those daring navigators who tried to find a ... |
Aylward, James Ambrose DominicJames Ambrose Dominic AylwardTheologian and poet, born at Leeds, 4 April, 1813; died at Hinckley (England), 5 October, 1872. ... |
AymaráAymaraAlso Aymara (etymology unknown as yet). A numerous tribe of sedentary Indians inhabiting the ... |
Aymeric of PiacenzaAymeric of PiacenzaA learned Dominican, b. at Piacenza, Italy ; d. at Bologna, 19 August, 1327. Soon after his ... |
Azara, Féliz deFeliz de AzaraSpanish naturalist, b. at Barbunales in Aragon, 18 May, 1746; d. 1811. He first embraced the ... |
Azaria, AristacesAristaces AzariaA Catholic Armenian abbot and archbishop, b. at Constantinople, 18 July, 1782; d. at Vienna, 6 ... |
Azarias, BrotherBrother Azarias(Patrick Francis Mullany). Educator, essayist, littérateur, and philosopher, b. near ... |
Azevedo, Luiz deLuiz de AzevedoAn Ethiopic missionary and scholar, born, according to probable narration of Franco (Imogem da ... |
Azor, JuanJuan AzorBorn at Lorca, province of Murcia, Southern Spain, in 1535; entered the Society of Jesus, 18 ... |
AzoresAzores(Portuguese Acores , "Falcons") An archipelago situated in that tract of the Atlantic Ocean ... |
AzotusAzotus( Hebrew Ashdodh ; in Septuagint Azotos ) (1) One of the five great cities of the ... |
AztecsAztecsProbably from Aztatl (heron), and Tlacatl (man),"people of the heron", in the Nahuatl, or ... |
AzymesAzymes(Greek azymos , without leaven; Hebrew maççoth ). Unfermented cakes used by ... |
AzymitesAzymites(A privative, and zyme , leaven). A term of reproach used by the schismatic Greeks since ... |
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