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Neumann, Saint John Nepomucene

(Encyclopedia)Neumann, Saint John Nepomucene, 1811–60, American Roman Catholic bishop, the first American male to be canonized (1977), b. Bohemia. After studying at Prague he settled (1836) in the United States, ...

Rivoli Veronese

(Encyclopedia)Rivoli Veronese rēˈvōlē vārōnāˈzā [key], village (1991 pop. 52,683), Venetia, NE Italy, on the Adige River. It was the scene in Jan., 1797, of a decisive French victory over the Austrians. Ma...

Twelfth Night

(Encyclopedia)Twelfth Night, Jan. 5, the vigil or eve of Epiphany, so called because it is the 12th night from Christmas, counting Christmas as the first. In England, Twelfth Night has been a great festival marking...

Black Tom

(Encyclopedia)Black Tom, part of Jersey City, N.J., also called Black Tom Island. In July, 1916, German saboteurs demolished U.S. munitions stores there; in Jan., 1917, they destroyed the Kingsland, N.J., munitions...

Geary, John White

(Encyclopedia)Geary, John White gērˈē [key], 1819–73, American politician and Union general in the Civil War, b. Mt. Pleasant, Pa. In San Francisco from 1849 to 1852, Geary was the first U.S. postmaster, the l...

Cushing, William Barker

(Encyclopedia)Cushing, William Barker, 1842–74, Union naval hero in the Civil War, b. Delafield, Wis., educated at Annapolis. Cushing became noted for a series of daredevil exploits, particularly for his sinking ...

Agnes, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Agnes, Saint, 4th cent., virgin martyr. A noble Roman girl martyred at the age of 13 after rejecting a well-born suitor. She was included in the Depositio Martyrum of 354. On her feast day lambs are b...

Four Freedoms

(Encyclopedia)Four Freedoms. In his message to Congress proposing lend-lease legislation (Jan. 6, 1941), President Franklin Delano Roosevelt stated that Four Freedoms should prevail everywhere in the world—freedo...

Fort Pickens

(Encyclopedia)Fort Pickens, fortification on the western end of Santa Rosa Island at the entrance to Pensacola Bay, NW Fla. When Florida joined the Confederacy in Jan., 1861, Fort Barrancas on the mainland was evac...

John Bosco, Saint

(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 de Sales) for...