Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Willibald, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Willibald, Saint wĭˈlĭbôld [key], d. 787?, English missionary in Germany. He traveled in the East and was sent from Rome on a mission to aid St. Boniface. He was made first bishop of Eichstätt. S...

Catherine, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Catherine, Saint kăthˈrən, kăthˈərĭn [key], 4th cent.?, Alexandrian virgin martyr. Nothing certain is known of her life, and in 1969 her name was dropped from the liturgical calendar. According...

Benedict, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Benedict, Saint bĕnˈədĭkt [key], d. c.547, Italian monk, called Benedict of Nursia, author of a rule for monks that became the basis of the Benedictine order, b. Norcia (E of Spoleto). He went to ...

Paulinus, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Paulinus, Saint pôlīˈnəs [key], d. 644, Italian missionary, bishop of York (625–33). He was a Roman monk who went to England with the mission of St. Augustine of Canterbury in 601. For some year...

Christopher, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Christopher, Saint krĭsˈtəfər [key] [Gr.,=Christ bearer], 3d cent.?, martyr of Asia Minor. His characteristic legend is that one day when he was carrying a little child over a river, he felt the c...

Luke, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Luke, Saint [Gr. Lucas], traditional author of the third Gospel (see Luke, Gospel according to Saint) and of its sequel, the Acts of the Apostles. Paul's letter to the Colossians identifies him as “...

Bernadette, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Bernadette, Saint bûrnədĕtˈ [key], 1844–79, French peasant girl who reported seeing the Virgin Mary in apparitions at a grotto near Lourdes, her home, in 1858. She was born Marie Bernarde Soubir...

Saint Matthews

(Encyclopedia)Saint Matthews, city (1990 pop. 15,800), Jefferson co., N Ky., E suburb of Louisville; inc. 1950. It is residential.

Ephraem, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Ephraem, Saint ēˈfrāˌəm [key], a.d. 308?–373, Syrian theologian, Doctor of the Church. He taught at Nisibis and Edessa and composed biblical exegeses (now almost all lost) and numerous sacred v...

Saint Helena

(Encyclopedia)Saint Helena həlēˈnə [key], island, 47 sq mi (122 sq km), in the S Atlantic Ocean, 1,200 mi (1,931 km) W of Africa. Together with the islands of Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, it comprises the Br...

Browse by Subject