Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Anne, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Anne, Saint, in tradition, mother of the Virgin and wife of St. Joachim. She is not mentioned in Scripture, but her cult is very old. In the West she has been especially popular since the Middle Ages....

Helena, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Helena, Saint hĕlˈənə [key], c.248–328?, mother of Constantine I. She became a Christian in 313. According to tradition she found (327) the relic of the True Cross in Jerusalem and identified th...

Anselm, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Anselm, Saint ănˈsĕlm [key], 1033?–1109, prelate in Normandy and England, archbishop of Canterbury, Doctor of the Church (1720), b. Aosta, Piedmont. After a carefree youth of travel and schooling...

Anthony, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Anthony, Saint ănˈtənē, ănˈthənē [key], 251?–c.350, Egyptian hermit, called St. Anthony of Egypt and St. Anthony the Abbot. At the age of 20 he gave away his large inheritance and became a h...

Angilbert, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Angilbert, Saint ăngˈgĭlbərt [key], d. 814, Frankish statesman and courtier under Charlemagne, abbot of Centula (now Saint-Riquier), near Amiens. He was highly regarded in the Carolingian revival ...

Gildas, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Gildas, Saint gĭlˈdəs [key], d. 570, British historian, possibly a Welsh monk. Shortly before 547 he wrote the De excidio et conquestu Britanniae, a Latin history of Britain dealing with the Roman ...

Anastasia, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Anastasia, Saint ănəstāˈshə [key], 4th cent., Roman noblewoman, kind to the poor, martyred under Diocletian. Her cult can be traced back to 5th-century Rome. In the Roman Catholic Church, her fea...

Anacletus, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Anacletus, Saint: see Cletus, Saint. ...

Genevieve, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Genevieve, Saint jĕnˈəvēvˌ, Fr. zhənvyĕvˈ [key], c.420–c.500, patron saint of Paris. A nun renowned for good works, she is said to have averted, by fasting and prayer, an expected attack of ...

George, Saint

(Encyclopedia)George, Saint, 4th cent.?, perhaps a soldier in the imperial army who died for the faith in Asia Minor. His life is cloaked in legends; Gibbon's identification of him with George of Cappadocia is fals...