Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Vitus, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Vitus, Saint vīˈtəs [key], 4th cent.?, Sicilian martyr. Vitus is invoked against diseases including epilipsy, nervous disorders, and St. Vitus' Dance (Sydenham's chorea). He is one of the Fourteen ...

Barnabas, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Barnabas, Saint bärˈnəbəs [key], Christian apostle. He was a Cypriot and a relative of St. Mark; his forename was Joseph. Several passages in the New Testament relate that Barnabas was a teacher a...

Bartholomew, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Bartholomew, Saint bärthŏlˈəmyo͞o [key], in the New Testament, one of the Twelve Apostles, usually identified with Nathanael. Nathanael is a given name, Bartholomew an Aramaic patronymic meaning ...

Gildas, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Gildas, Saint gĭlˈdəs [key], d. 570, British historian, possibly a Welsh monk. Shortly before 547 he wrote the De excidio et conquestu Britanniae, a Latin history of Britain dealing with the Roman ...

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...

Aldhelm, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Aldhelm, Saint ôldˈhĕlm [key], 639?–709, English churchman and scholar. He was abbot of Malmesbury (from 675) and became the first bishop of Sherborne (705). A distinguished student of the classi...

Eustathius, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Eustathius, Saint yo͞ostāˈthēəs [key], c.280–c.335, patriarch of Antioch (324?–330?), leader at the First Council of Nicaea. He was deposed and exiled by a faction led by Eusebius of Nicomedi...

Adalbert, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Adalbert, Saint ădˈəlbərt [key], 956–97, bishop of Prague, b. Bohemia. He was a missionary in Russia, Prussia, and Poland and was martyred in Danzig. He is patron of Bohemia and Poland. Feast: A...

Saint-Vith

(Encyclopedia)Saint-Vith săNvētˈ [key], Ger. Sankt Vith, town (1991 pop. 8,623), Liège prov., E Belgium, in the Malmédy district and near the German border. An important road and rail junction in World War II,...

Aloysius, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Aloysius, Saint ălōĭˈshəs [key], 1568–91, Italian Jesuit, b. Luigi Gonzaga, heir to the marchese de Castiglione. Highly devout from childhood, he renounced his title and entered (1585) the Soci...

Browse by Subject