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Branly, Édouard

(Encyclopedia)Branly, Édouard ādwärˈ bräNlēˈ [key], French physicist and physician. He was professor of physics at the Catholic Institute, Paris, from 1875. He developed (1890) a coherer for the detection of...

Butler, Alban

(Encyclopedia)Butler, Alban, 1710–73, English Roman Catholic priest, compiler of lives of the saints. He was educated at Douai and was president of the English seminary at Saint-Omer. His monumental work, The Liv...

Byrd, William, English composer

(Encyclopedia)Byrd, William, 1543–1623, English composer, organist at Lincoln Cathedral and, jointly with Tallis, at the Chapel Royal. Although Roman Catholic, he composed anthems and services for the English Chu...

Peter Chrysologus, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Peter Chrysologus, Saint, c.380–450, bishop of Ravenna, Doctor of the Church. Ordained by Cornelius, bishop of Imola, he lived as a monk for several years before being named bishop by Pope Sixtus II...

benediction

(Encyclopedia)benediction [Lat.,=blessing], solemn blessing usually administered in the name of God by a priest or a minister. The temple worship at Jerusalem had fixed forms of benedictions, and Christians have al...

Benedictus

(Encyclopedia)Benedictus bĕnədĭkˈtəs [key], hymn of Zachary, taken from Luke 1.68–79. It begins in Latin, “Benedictus Dominus Deus Israel” [blessed be the Lord God of Israel]. It is used at funerals and ...

White Mountain

(Encyclopedia)White Mountain or White Hill, Czech Bílá Hora, hill near Prague, Czech Republic. There, in Nov., 1620, the Czech Protestants under Christian of Anhalt were routed by the combined armies of the empir...

Nicaea, Second Council of

(Encyclopedia)Nicaea, Second Council of, 787, 7th ecumenical council, convened by Byzantine Empress Irene. Called to refute iconoclasm, the council declared that images ought to be venerated (but not worshiped) and...

O'Connor, John Joseph

(Encyclopedia)O'Connor, John Joseph, 1920–2000, American Roman Catholic cardinal, b. Philadelphia. He was ordained a priest in 1945 and served as a military chaplain for 27 years, achieving the rank of rear admir...

Arundel, Henry Fitzalan, 12th earl of

(Encyclopedia)Arundel, Henry Fitzalan, 12th earl of ărˈəndəl [key], 1511?–1580, English statesman. Lord chamberlain under Henry VIII, he was a member of the council appointed by Henry to govern during the min...