(Encyclopedia) Driver, Samuel Rolles, 1846–1914, English clergyman and biblical scholar. He was regius professor of Hebrew and canon of Christ Church, Oxford, and from 1876 to 1884 was a member of…
(Encyclopedia) John Bosco, Saint, 1815–88, Italian priest, b. Piedmont. As a priest at Turin he was very successful in work with boys. He founded (1841) the Salesian order (i.e., order of St. Francis…
(Encyclopedia) Blair, Montgomery, 1813–83, U.S. Postmaster General (1861–64), b. Franklin co., Ky., son of Francis P. Blair (1791–1876). He resigned from the army in 1836 after serving against the…
(Encyclopedia) Italian Wars, 1494–1559, series of regional wars brought on by the efforts of the great European powers to control the small independent states of Italy. Renaissance Italy was split…
actorBorn: April 7, 1934Birthplace: EdinburghDied: Feb. 9, 2007 (London) A versatile actor and a founding member of the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1960,…
(aka Francis Kane, Harold Rubin)novelistBorn: 5/21/1916Birthplace: New York City An orphan who never discovered the identity of his parents, Robbins was a prolific though critically under-…
The Question:
Who said "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus"?
The Answer:
In 1897, Francis P. Church, an editor at The New York Sun, answered eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon's questions…
(Encyclopedia) Cooke, Terence James, 1921–83, American Roman Catholic clergyman, b. New York City. He was ordained in 1945 after earning a B.A. from St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers, N.Y. In 1957,…
(Encyclopedia) Clare or Clara, Saint, 1193?–1253, Italian nun of Assisi, devoted from her youth to St. Francis, to whom she took a vow of poverty. She led a life of great austerity. She organized her…