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Richier, Ligier

(Encyclopedia)Richier, Ligier rēshyāˈ [key], c.1500–c.1567, French sculptor. Most of his work is in the churches of his native Lorraine. The most famous is The Entombment, consisting of 13 life-size figures i...

Eucharist

(Encyclopedia)Eucharist yo͞oˈkərĭst [key] [Gr.,=thanksgiving], Christian sacrament that repeats the action of Jesus at his last supper with his disciples, when he gave them bread, saying, “This is my body,”...

Hippolytus, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Hippolytus, Saint hĭpŏlˈĭtəs [key] [Gr.,=loosed horse], d. c.236, first antipope (c.217–235), theologian, and martyr. Probably a disciple of St. Irenaeus, he became the most astute theologian i...

Greeley, Andrew Moran

(Encyclopedia)Greeley, Andrew Moran, 1928–2013, American Roman Catholic priest, sociologist, and author, b. Oak Park, Ill.; studied St. Mary of the Lake Seminary, Mundelein, Ill. (ordained 1954). He was (1954–6...

narthex

(Encyclopedia)narthex närˈthĕks [key], entrance feature peculiar to early Christian and Byzantine churches, although also found in some Romanesque churches, especially in France and Italy. Usually extending acro...

Malachy, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Malachy, Saint mălˈəkē [key], 1095–1148, Irish churchman, reformer of the church in Ireland. His Irish name was Máel Máedoc ua Morgair. He was assistant to Cellach (Celsus), bishop of Armagh, ...

baptistery

(Encyclopedia)baptistery băpˈtĭstrē [key], part of a church, or a separate building in connection with it, used for administering baptism. In the earliest examples it was merely a basin or pool set into the flo...

council, ecumenical

(Encyclopedia)council, ecumenical ĕkˌyo͞omĕnˈĭkəl [key] [Gr.,=universal], in Christendom, council of church leaders, the decisions of which are accepted by some segment of the church as authoritative, also c...

Hussites

(Encyclopedia)Hussites hŭsˈīts [key], followers of John Huss. After the burning of Huss (1415) and Jerome of Prague (1416), the Hussites continued as a powerful group in Bohemia and Moravia. They drew up (1420) ...

Cressy, Hugh Paulinus

(Encyclopedia)Cressy, Hugh Paulinus krĕˈsē [key], 1605–74, English Benedictine monk. He was educated at Oxford and converted to Roman Catholicism in Rome in 1646. His Exomologesis (1647) is an apologia for his...