Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Festus, Porcius pôrˈshəs [key], fl a.d. 60, Roman procurator of Judaea (a.d. 60–a.d. 62). He succeeded Antonius Felix. He was just in his administration of the province. The Acts of the Apostles ...

(Encyclopedia) Siegen, city (1994 pop. 111,845), North Rhine–Westphalia, W Germany, on the Sieg River. Iron ore is mined nearby, and the city has iron foundries. Other manufactures include leather goods and machin...

(Encyclopedia) Sisters of Charity, in the Roman Catholic Church, name of many independent communities of women. Most of them owe their origin to the institute of St. Vincent de Paul, founded (1634) for works of merc...

(Encyclopedia) Young, Whitney Moore, Jr., 1921–71, African-American civil-rights leader; b. Lincoln Ridge, Ky. A social worker by profession, he joined the National Urban League in 1947 as director of industrial r...

(Encyclopedia) Guadet, Marguerite Élie märgərētˈ ālēˈ güädāˈ [key], 1758–94, French revolutionary. A leader of the Girondists, he was outlawed (1793) for his attacks on Maximilien Robespierre and Jean ...

(Encyclopedia) Vatican Council, Second, popularly called Vatican II, 1962–65, the 21st ecumenical council (see council, ecumenical) of the Roman Catholic Church, convened by Pope John XXIII and continued under Pau...

(Encyclopedia) Lesueur or Le Sueur, Jean François zhäN fräNswäˈ [key], 1760–1837, French composer. During the French Revolution his operas, such as La Caverne (1793) and Paul et Virginie (1794), were highly p...

(Encyclopedia) Potter, Alonzo, 1800–1865, American Episcopal bishop, b. near Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Ordained a priest in 1824, he served (1826–31) as rector of St. Paul's Church in Boston. In 1831 he became professo...

(Encyclopedia) Flaxman, John, 1755–1826, English sculptor and draftsman. At 20 he went to work for Josiah Wedgwood, designing the cameolike decorations for Wedgwood's pottery. Later, in Rome, he devoted himself to...

(Encyclopedia) Fort Snelling, on a bluff above the junction of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers, SE Minn.; est. 1820. It served as a regional protective barrier and as a nucleus for settlement. Minneapolis and S...