Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Gárdonyi, Géza

(Encyclopedia)Gárdonyi, Géza gāˈzə gärˈdōnyē [key], 1863–1922, Hungarian writer. Gárdonyi first attracted attention with a cycle of satirical novels about peasant life. His works include the play Wine (...

Joseph and Asenath

(Encyclopedia)Joseph and Asenath, an early Jewish work, highly regarded in Eastern and Western Christian traditions, most likely emanating from Alexandrian Egypt between 200 b.c. and a.d. 200, probably composed in ...

Dorcas

(Encyclopedia)Dorcas tăbˈĭthə [key] [Gr. Dorcas and Aramaic Tabitha=gazelle], in the Acts of the Apostles, Christian woman of Joppa whom St. Peter raised from the dead. She made clothes for the poor. ...

Pelayo

(Encyclopedia)Pelayo pāläˈyō [key], d. 737, first king (c.718–737) of Asturias. He was elected king by the tribespeople of Asturias and by Visigothic leaders who had escaped Tariq. His victory over the Moors ...

Saint-Dizier

(Encyclopedia)Saint-Dizier săN-dēzyāˈ [key], town (1990 pop. 35,558), Haute-Marne dept., NE France, on the Marne River. It is a trading and transportation center; its manufactures include machinery, musical ins...

calico

(Encyclopedia)calico, plain weave cotton fabric in one or more colors. Calico, named for Calicut, India, where the fabric originated, was mentioned by historians before the Christian era and praised by early travel...

vespers

(Encyclopedia)vespers vĕsˈpərz [key] [Lat.,=evening], in the Christian Church, principal evening office. In the Roman rite, vespers have consisted since the 6th cent. of a few prayers, five psalms, a lesson, the...

Patrick, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Patrick, Saint, c.385–461, Christian missionary, the Apostle of Ireland, b. Bannavem Taberniae (an unknown place in Britain, possibly near the Severn or in Pembroke). He was one of the most successf...

Ascension, in Christianity

(Encyclopedia)Ascension, name usually given to the departure of Jesus from earth as related in the Gospels according to Mark (16) and Luke (24) and in Acts 1.1–11. The annual commemoration of this is one of the p...

Medeba

(Encyclopedia)Medeba mĕdˈĭbə, mēˈ– [key], town, Jordan, the modern Madaba, E of the Dead Sea. An ancient Moabite town, it changed hands between Moab and Israel several times. In early Christian times it was...