Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Church, Benjamin, 1639–1718, New England colonial soldier in King Philip's War, b. Plymouth, Mass. He took a leading part in the Great Swamp Fight (Dec., 1675), W of Kingston, R.I., and finally hunt...

(Encyclopedia) Ephesians ĭfēˈzhənz [key], letter of the New Testament, written, according to tradition, by St. Paul to the Christians of Ephesus from his captivity at Rome (c.a.d. 60). There is ground for believ...

(Encyclopedia) Frederick IX, 1899–1972, king of Denmark (1947–72), son and successor of Christian X. He married (1935) Princess Ingrid of Sweden. Because he did not have a son the constitution was amended in 195...

(Encyclopedia) canon, in Christianity, in the Roman Catholic Church, decrees of church councils are usually called canons; since the Council of Trent the expression has been especially reserved to dogmatic pronounce...

(Encyclopedia) German Catholics, religious groups founded in 1844 by dissidents from the Roman Catholic Church. They were led by two excommunicated priests, Johann Czerski of Schneidemühl, Posen, and Johann Ronge o...

(Encyclopedia) Heiligenblut hīˌlĭgənblo͞otˈ [key] [Ger.,=holy blood], village, Carinthia prov., SW Austria, at the foot of the Grossglockner. It is a winter sports and mountain-climbing center. Heiligenblut is...

(Encyclopedia) iconography īˌkŏnŏgˈrəfē [key] [Gr.,=image-drawing] or iconology [Gr.,=image-study], in art history, the study and interpretation of figural representations, either individual or symbolic, reli...

(Encyclopedia) Bernard of Clairvaux, Saint klrvōˈ [key], 1090?–1153, French churchman, mystic, Doctor of the Church. Born of noble family, in 1112 he entered the Cistercian abbey of Cîteaux, taking along 4 or 5...

(Encyclopedia) Holy Family, term referring to the child Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. In the Roman Catholic Church the feast in its honor falls usually on the first Sunday after the Epiphany. In art the theme of the Holy...