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Pelayo

(Encyclopedia)Pelayo pāläˈyō [key], d. 737, first king (c.718–737) of Asturias. He was elected king by the tribespeople of Asturias and by Visigothic leaders who had escaped Tariq. His victory over the Moors ...

Patrick, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Patrick, Saint, c.385–461, Christian missionary, the Apostle of Ireland, b. Bannavem Taberniae (an unknown place in Britain, possibly near the Severn or in Pembroke). He was one of the most successf...

Northwich

(Encyclopedia)Northwich nôrthˈwĭch [key], town (1991 pop. 32,664), Cheshire West and Chester, W central England, at the confluence of the Weaver and Dane rivers. Northwich was once the center of England's salt p...

Medeba

(Encyclopedia)Medeba mĕdˈĭbə, mēˈ– [key], town, Jordan, the modern Madaba, E of the Dead Sea. An ancient Moabite town, it changed hands between Moab and Israel several times. In early Christian times it was...

Ascension, in Christianity

(Encyclopedia)Ascension, name usually given to the departure of Jesus from earth as related in the Gospels according to Mark (16) and Luke (24) and in Acts 1.1–11. The annual commemoration of this is one of the p...

Knox, Ronald

(Encyclopedia)Knox, Ronald, 1888–1957, English theologian and author. He attended Eton and then Balliol College, Oxford, and in 1910 was ordained as an Anglican minister. Doctrinal preferences, however, led to hi...

Tay Ninh

(Encyclopedia)Tay Ninh tā nĭn [key], city, S Vietnam, NW of Ho Chi Minh City. It is the center of the Cao Dai, a politically active religious group that was suppressed by South Vietnamese forces after an armed in...

Tebéssa

(Encyclopedia)Tébessa təbĕsˈə [key], ancient Theveste, town (1998 pop. 153,246), NE Algeria, in the Atlas Mts. The town is an important agricultural market and is noted for its silk embroidery and carpets. The...

Sebastian, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Sebastian, Saint, fl. 3d cent.?, Roman martyr. Little is known of his life. According to tradition he was an officer of the Praetorian guards much favored by Emperor Diocletian, who did not know that ...

Vigilantius

(Encyclopedia)Vigilantius vĭjˌĭlănˈshəs [key], fl. 400, Christian priest of Gaul who was violently opposed by St. Jerome. Jerome's letters and a tract, Liber contra Vigilantium, declare that Vigilantius denie...