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Copts

(Encyclopedia)Copts kŏpts [key], the native Christian minority of Egypt; estimates of the number of Copts in Egypt range from 5% to 17% of the population. Copts are not ethnically distinct from other Egyptians; th...

Albigenses

(Encyclopedia)Albigenses ălbĭjĕnˈsēz [key] [Lat.,=people of Albi, one of their centers], religious sect of S France in the Middle Ages. In 1208 the papal legate, a Cistercian, Peter de Castelnau, was murdere...

Russian and Soviet Rulers since 1462 (table)

(Encyclopedia)Russian and Soviet Rulers since 1462(including dates of rule) House of Rurik House of Godunov Usurpers House of Romanov Provisional Government(premiers) Soviet Russia (1917–22) and the U...

Langham, Simon

(Encyclopedia)Langham, Simon lăngˈəm [key], d. 1376, English prelate and statesman, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He ruled the abbey of Westminster with such skill that Edward III appointed (1360) him t...

Verschaffelt, Pieter Anton

(Encyclopedia)Verschaffelt, Pieter Anton pēˈtər änˈtôn vĕrskhäfˈəlt [key], 1710–93, Flemish rococo sculptor. He spent about 10 years in Rome, where he executed a monument to Pope Benedict XIV. In 1752 h...

Cornelius, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Cornelius, Saint kôrnēlˈyəs [key], d. 253, pope (251–253); successor of St. Fabian. His rule was marked by the support of St. Cyprian and the opposition of the antipope Novatian, and by the prob...

Dodsley, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Dodsley, Robert, 1703–64, English publisher and author. He wrote occasional verses, and also several plays, including The King and the Miller of Mansfield (1737); a ballad opera, The Blind Beggar of...

Porta, Guglielmo della

(Encyclopedia)Porta, Guglielmo della dĕlˈlä pôrˈtä [key], d. 1577, Italian sculptor. His early works are in Genoa. In 1546 he went to Rome, where he was employed by Pope Paul III in restoring certain antique...

Jesuit Estates Act

(Encyclopedia)Jesuit Estates Act jĕzhˈəwĭt, jĕzˈ– [key], law adopted in 1888 by the Quebec legislature, partly to indemnify the Society of Jesus for Jesuit property confiscated by the British during the per...

Spellman, Francis Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Spellman, Francis Joseph, 1889–1967, American Roman Catholic cardinal, b. Whitman, Mass. Educated at Fordham and the American College at Rome, he was ordained May 14, 1916. He was a parish priest in...