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Alban, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Alban, Saint ôlˈbən [key], 3d or 4th cent., traditionally the first British martyr. He lived and died at Verulamium, now St. Albans. In 793 an abbey was founded there in his honor. Feast: Roman Cat...

Stuyvesant, Peter

(Encyclopedia)Stuyvesant, Peter stīˈvəsənt [key], c.1610–1672, Dutch director-general of New Netherland. He served as governor of Curaçao and lost a leg in an expedition against St. Martin before succeeding ...

Anastasia, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Anastasia, Saint ănəstāˈshə [key], 4th cent., Roman noblewoman, kind to the poor, martyred under Diocletian. Her cult can be traced back to 5th-century Rome. In the Roman Catholic Church, her fea...

Cyprian, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Cyprian, Saint sĭpˈrēən [key], 200?–258, Father of the Church, bishop of Carthage (c.248), and perhaps a disciple of Tertullian. Converted in his middle age, he rose quickly to become the most p...

Episcopal Church

(Encyclopedia)Episcopal Church, Anglican church of the United States. Its separate existence as an American ecclesiastical body with its own episcopate began in 1789. During the American Revolution the personal l...

Saint-Omer

(Encyclopedia)Saint-Omer săNtômĕrˈ [key], city (1990 pop. 15,304), Pas-de-Calais dept., N France, in Flanders, on the Aa River. The chief manufactures are metals, textiles, paper, and beer. The city grew around...

Saint-Hubert

(Encyclopedia)Saint-Hubert săNtübĕrˈ [key], town (1991 pop. 5,689), Luxembourg prov., SE Belgium, in the Ardennes. It is a tourist resort. Of note is a former Benedictine abbey (reputedly founded in the 7th cen...

Larsen, Peter Laurentius

(Encyclopedia)Larsen, Peter Laurentius lourĕntˈsēəs [key], 1833–1915, American educator, b. Norway. He emigrated to the United States in 1857 as a Lutheran missionary. From 1859 to 1861 he was professor of th...

church, building for Christian worship

(Encyclopedia)church [Gr. kuriakon=belonging to the Lord], in architecture, a building for Christian worship. The earliest churches date from the late 3d cent.; before then Christians, because of persecutions, wors...

Joachim, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Joachim, Saint jōˈəkĭm [key], in tradition, the father of the Virgin and husband of St. Anne; there is no mention of him in the Bible. His cult is ancient in the East, but modern in the western Ch...