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Oratory, Congregation of the

(Encyclopedia)Oratory, Congregation of the [Lat. abbr., Cong. Orat.], in the Roman Catholic Church, founded in 1575, an association of secular priests organized into independent communities according to the rule wr...

Gomorrah

(Encyclopedia)Gomorrah or Gomorrha both: gəmôrˈə, –mŏrˈə [key], in the Bible, city, destroyed with Sodom. Some have speculated that the ruins southeast of the Dead Sea at Numeira, discovered in 1973, may b...

Nergal

(Encyclopedia)Nergal nŭrˈgäl, –gəl [key], ancient deity worshiped in Babylonia and Assyria. He was a god of the midsummer sun, of war, of the chase, and of the dead. He could be beneficent, but he was primari...

Tokarczuk, Olga

(Encyclopedia)Tokarczuk, Olga, 1962–, Polish writer. Widely considered the foremost Polish novelist of her generation, she also is politically active and has been a frequent critic of Poland's right-wing governme...

Baruch, book of the Septuagint and of the Apocrypha

(Encyclopedia)Baruch, early Jewish book included in the Septuagint, but not included in the Hebrew Bible and placed in the Apocrypha in the Authorized Version. It is named for a Jewish prince Baruch (fl. 600 b.c.),...

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. ...

Sela

(Encyclopedia)Sela or Selah sēˈlə [key] [Heb.,=rock], in the Bible, unidentified town, S of the Dead Sea. Amaziah captured it and renamed it Joktheel. Some identify Sela with Petra. Sela in the first chapter of ...

Styx

(Encyclopedia)Styx stĭks [key], in Greek mythology, river of Hades that the souls of the dead had to cross on their journey from the realm of the living. It was a sacred river, and by its name even the gods took t...

blowfly

(Encyclopedia)blowfly, name for flies of the family Calliphoridae. Blowflies are about the same size as, and resemble, the housefly; because they are usually metallic blue or green they are also called bluebottle o...

Hemans, Felicia Dorothea (Browne)

(Encyclopedia)Hemans, Felicia Dorothea (Browne) hĕmˈənz [key], 1793–1835, English poet. She married Capt. Alfred Hemans in 1812, had five children, and separated from him in 1818. Although she wrote much mild ...