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Hilda, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Hilda, Saint, 614–80, English abbess of Whitby, princess of Northumbria. She became a Christian at the age of 13 and a nun at 33. About 647 she set out for a convent in France, but was recalled by S...

Heinemann, Gustav

(Encyclopedia)Heinemann, Gustav go͝osˈtäf hīnˈəmän [key], 1899–1976, West German political leader. A corporation lawyer and wartime leader of the Confessing Church, he helped found the Christian Democratic...

Angelus Silesius

(Encyclopedia)Angelus Silesius yōhänˈəs shĕfˈlər [key], 1624–77, German poet. He is best known for his pastoral lyric cycles Heilige Seelenlust (1657–68) and Cherubinischer Wandersmann (1674–75), which...

Gronchi, Giovanni

(Encyclopedia)Gronchi, Giovanni jōvänˈnē grônˈkē [key], 1887–1978, Italian political leader. He entered parliament in 1919 as a member of the new Popular party. When Benito Mussolini seized power in 1922 a...

Gotthelf, Jeremias

(Encyclopedia)Gotthelf, Jeremias yārāmēˈäs gôtˈhĕlf [key], 1797–1854, Swiss writer and clergyman. His real name was Albert Bitzius; his pen name is that of the hero of his autobiographical Bauernspiegel (...

Joseph of Arimathea, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Joseph of Arimathea, Saint ârˌĭməthēˈə [key], in the New Testament, wealthy man, probably a member of the Sanhedrin, who gave the body of Jesus a decent burial. The Christian Church has always ...

Papin, Denis

(Encyclopedia)Papin, Denis dənēˈ päpăNˈ [key], 1647–1712?, French physicist and inventor. He was an assistant of Christian Huygens and of Robert Boyle and was professor of mathematics at the Univ. of Marbur...

Mansur, al-, 914–1002, Moorish regent of Córdoba

(Encyclopedia)Mansur, al- (Muhammad ibn Abi-Amir al-Mansur billah), 914–1002, Moorish regent of Córdoba, known in Spanish as Almanzor. He became steward to Princess Subh, wife of the caliph Hakim II, and under h...

Lupercalia

(Encyclopedia)Lupercalia lo͞opərkālˈyə [key], ancient Roman festival held annually on Feb. 15. The ceremony of the festival was intended to secure fertility and keep out evil. Two male youths, clad in animal s...

Manasseh ben Israel

(Encyclopedia)Manasseh ben Israel, 1604–57, Jewish scholar and communal leader, b. Portugal. Early in his life he settled in Amsterdam, where he became a rabbi and started (1627) the first Hebrew press there. He ...