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feast
(Encyclopedia)feast, commemorative banquet symbolizing communal unity. Generally associated with primitive rituals and later with religious practices, feasts may also commemorate such events as births, marriages, h...Joseph, Saint
(Encyclopedia)Joseph, Saint, husband of the Virgin Mary, a carpenter, a descendant of the house of David. He was apparently dead at the time of the Passion, for his last appearance in the Gospels is at the finding ...bank holidays
(Encyclopedia)bank holidays, days when the law requires that banks be closed. In the United States the list varies from state to state but generally includes, besides the major holidays, many days that are observed...Birrell, Augustine
(Encyclopedia)Birrell, Augustine bĭrˈəl [key], 1850–1933, English essayist and public official. As chief secretary for Ireland (1907–16) his failure to end the plotting that resulted in the Easter Rebellion ...Ash Wednesday
(Encyclopedia)Ash Wednesday, in the Western Church, the first day of Lent, being the seventh Wednesday before Easter. On this day ashes are placed on the foreheads of the faithful to remind them of death, of the so...Hallelujah
(Encyclopedia)Hallelujah ăl– [key] [Heb.,=praise the Lord], joyful expression used in Hebrew worship; cf. Pss. 104–6, 111–13, 115–17, 135, 146–50. Christian liturgies make wide use of it, particularly at...Brooks, Phillips
(Encyclopedia)Brooks, Phillips, 1835–93, American Episcopal bishop, b. Boston. In 1869 he began his ministry at Trinity Church, Boston, where he became one of the most influential ministers of his time. In 1891 h...vigil
(Encyclopedia)vigil vĭjˈəl [key] [Lat.,=watch], in Christian calendars, eve of a feast, a day of penitential preparation. In ancient times worshipers gathered for vespers before a great feast and then waited out...Dionysius Exiguus
(Encyclopedia)Dionysius Exiguus dīənĭshˈēəs ĕksĭgˈyo͞oəs [key], d. c.545, Roman monk, chronologist, and scholar, a transmitter of Greek thought to the Middle Ages. He made collections of 5th-century papa...Germanus of Auxerre, Saint
(Encyclopedia)Germanus of Auxerre, Saint jərmāˈnəs, ōsĕrˈ [key], d. 448, Gaulish churchman, bishop of Auxerre (after c.418). St. Patrick was under his tutelage for 12 years. Popes Celestine I and Leo I sent ...Browse by Subject
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