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era

(Encyclopedia)era, period of historic time. In geology, it is the name applied to large divisions of geological process, e.g., Paleozoic era (see geology). In chronology an era is a period reckoned from a fixed poi...

veronica, Christian relic

(Encyclopedia)veronica vərŏnˈĭkə [key] [Lat., probably connected with Greek Berenice], relic preserved in St. Peter's Church, Rome. It is said to be a veil that a woman used to wipe the face of Jesus as he was...

Hedge, Frederic Henry

(Encyclopedia)Hedge, Frederic Henry, 1805–90, American Unitarian clergyman and author, b. Cambridge, Mass., educated in Germany and at Harvard. He held several New England pastorates. In 1836 he joined Emerson an...

Armagh, city, Northern Ireland

(Encyclopedia)Armagh, city, S Northern Ireland. Textiles, chemicals, and processed foods are produced in the city. Armagh (originally Ard Macha) has been the ecclesiastical capital of all Ireland since ...

Palm Sunday

(Encyclopedia)Palm Sunday, in the Christian calendar, the Sunday before Easter, sixth and last Sunday in Lent, and the first day of Holy Week. It recalls the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem riding upon an ass, when h...

Advent

(Encyclopedia)Advent [Lat.,=coming], season of the Christian ecclesiastical year preceding Christmas, lasting in the West from the Sunday nearest Nov. 30 (St. Andrew's Day) until Christmas Eve. In the Roman Catholi...

benefit of clergy

(Encyclopedia)benefit of clergy, term originally applied to the exemption of Christian clerics from criminal prosecution in the secular courts. The privilege was established by the 12th cent., and it extended only ...

Hilda, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Hilda, Saint, 614–80, English abbess of Whitby, princess of Northumbria. She became a Christian at the age of 13 and a nun at 33. About 647 she set out for a convent in France, but was recalled by S...

Stanley, Arthur Penrhyn

(Encyclopedia)Stanley, Arthur Penrhyn, 1815–81, English clergyman and author. As a student at Rugby he was influenced by the liberal views of Thomas Arnold. In 1838 he was elected a fellow of University College, ...

Nones

(Encyclopedia)Nones: see calendar.