Bar Mitzvah are Jewish celebrations connected with reaching the age of maturity and of legal and religious responsibility. A boy celebrates his
Bar Mitzvah when he is thirteen years and one day old, a girl (in non- orthodox communities) when she is twelve years and one day. The celebration involves the child reading a passage from the Torah or the Prophets in the synagogue on the Sabbath, and is then considered a full member of the congregation. Research Bar Mitzvah
In the Roman Catholic Church, beatification is an act by which the pope declares a person beatified or blessed after his death. It is the first step to canonization, that is, the raising one to the honour and dignity of a saint. No person can be beatified until fifty years after his or her death. All certificates or attestations of virtues and miracles, the necessary qualifications for saintship, are examined by the Congregation of Rites. This examination often continues for several years; after which his holiness decrees the beatification, and the corpse and relics of the future saint are exposed to the veneration of all good Christians. Research Beatification
A benitier or benatura is a stone font or vase for containing holy water, usually placed in a niche in the chief porch or entrance oi a Roman Catholic church, some times in one of the pillars close to the door, into which the members of the congregation on entering dip the fingers of the right hand, and then cross themselves. Research Benitier
A collective noun (or collective name) is a name which denotes or represents a number of individual items. For example, a number of sheep together is known as a 'flock'. The word 'flock' is the collective noun for a number of sheep. Some items have multiple collective nouns, for example a collection of goats can be known as a 'herd', a 'tribe' or a 'trip'.
Ambush is the collective noun for a group of tigers.
Army is the collective noun for a group of frogs, ants,
Array is the collective noun for a group of hedgehogs.
Badelynge is the collective noun for a group of ducks on the ground.
Bale is the collective noun for a group of turtles.
Barren is the collective noun for a group of mules.
Basket is the collective noun for a group of plums.
Battery is the collective noun for a group of barracuda.
Bazaar is the collective noun for a group of guillemots.
Bed is the collective noun for a group of clams.
Bench is the collective noun for a group of bishops, magistrates.
Bevy is the collective noun for a group of quail, roes, swans, pheasants, ladies.
Brace is the collective noun for a group of bucks.
Brood is the collective noun for a group of chickens.
Building is the collective noun for a group of rooks.
Bunch is the collective noun for a group of grapes, flowers.
Bundle is the collective noun for a group of asparagus.
Business is the collective noun for a group of ferrets.
Caravan is the collective noun for a group of camels.
Cast is the collective noun for a group of hawks, falcons.
Cete is the collective noun for a group of badgers.
Charm is the collective noun for a group of goldfinches.
Chatter is the collective noun for a group of budgerigars.
Chattering is the collective noun for a group of choughs.
Chine is the collective noun for a group of polecats.
Clamour is the collective noun for a group of rooks.
Clous is the collective noun for a group of gnats.
Clowder is the collective noun for a group of cats.
Clump is the collective noun for a group of trees.
Cluster is the collective noun for a group of grapes, spiders.
Clutch is the collective noun for a group of eggs.
Clutter is the collective noun for a group of spiders.
Colony is the collective noun for a group of gulls, frogs, penguins, ants, beavers.
Company is the collective noun for a group of widgeon, parrots.
Congregation is the collective noun for a group of plovers.
Convocation is the collective noun for a group of eagles.
Covert is the collective noun for a group of coots.
Covey is the collective noun for a group of partridges, grouse.
Crash is the collective noun for a group of rhinoceros.
The congregationalists, formerly called Independents, are a Christian sect claiming to continue the primitive form of church government; founded by the moderate party among the Brownists and Barrowists early in the 17th century. Under the Commonwealth they rapidly developed, and though they suffered after the Restoration, in common with their rivals the Presbyterians, they speedily recovered after the Revolution, and soon outstripped the latter sect so far as England was concerned.
The name Independent, as it was frequently adopted by other bodies with which they had no sympathy, was discarded in favour of the name of Congregational Brethren, which appeared to express a leading feature in their polity. This is the government of each congregation by all the members of that congregation, and not, as in the Presbyterian church, by a session of the pastor and ruling elders only. Moreover each congregation is autonomous and wholly independent of extraneous jurisdiction, the union of Congregational churches having only such indirect authority as attends the cumulative expression of opinion. In doctrine the majority are evangelical, though in individual churches considerable latitude is shown. Research Congregationalists
The Council of Trent was a general Council of the Roman Catholic Church held at Trent between 1545 and 1563. Its origins have historical significance. A comprehensive definition of dogma and strong internal reforms were needed to enable the Roman Church to show an undivided front against the growing strength of the Reformed doctrines. The popes generally had resisted appeals for general councils, e.g. that made by the university of Paris in 1518. In 1530 the Protestant estates demanded a 'council of Christendom' and the emperor, Charles V, was strongly convinced of the necessity of reform. After various delays and postponements between 1537 and 1544, a council was summoned to Trent by pope Paul III, in 1545. Over 200 fathers attended, and the sittings continued, broken partly by political developments, under Popes Julius III and Pius IV, the last of the 25 sessions being held in December 1563.
Among the matters dealt with by the council (the Tridentine decrees), the most important were: the joint value of Scripture and the tradition of the Church as standards of Divine revelation; the interpretative authority of the Church Fathers; original sin; the authority of the Vulgate, 1546; the Divine origin and forms of the sacraments of baptism and confirmation, 1547; the Eucharist and penance, 1551; communion in both kinds and the sacrifice of the Mass, 1562; orders and the regulation of the hierarchy; the sacrament of matrimony; veneration of saints, indulgences, index of prohibited books, 1563. The decrees were confirmed by Pius IV in 1564.
The Council of Trent was of great importance as guiding the main lines of Roman Catholic development in Post-Reformation times. The catechism of the council, summarising its decrees and definitions, was edited by the Dominican scholars, and in 1564 the Roman Congregation of the Council was established to safeguard its decisions and facilitate their practice. Research Council Of Trent
A cutty-stool was a low stool of repentance. It was a seat set apart in Presbyterian churches in Scotland, on which offenders against chastity were exhibited before the congregation and submitted to the minister's rebukes before they were readmitted to church privileges. Research Cutty-stool
A homily is a discourse or sermon read or pronounced to an audience on some subject of religion; a discourse pronounced in the church by the minister to the congregation.
The ancient homily was sometimes simply a conversation, the prelate talking to the people and interrogating them, and they in turn talking to and interrogating him. In modern use a homily differs but little from an ordinary sermon, the idea of simplicity, however, being always attached to it.
The earliest existing examples of the homily are those of Origen in the 3rd century. In the schools of Alexandria and Antioch this form of discourse was sedulously cultivated, and Clement of Alexandria, St Dionysius, and Gregory Thaumaturgus are among the names most eminent in this department. It was in later centuries, however, and in the hands of Atlianasius, Gregory of Nyssa, and Gregory of Nazianzus, Basil, Cyril of Jerusalem, and Cyril of Alexandria, and especially of Chrysostom that the homily reached its highest excellence. Augustine and Gregory the Great were among the western composers of homilies.
In the Church of England, after the Reformation, two official books of homilies were issued. These were called The First and Second Books of Homilies, and the former, ascribed to Thomas Cranmer, appeared in 1547; the latter, said to be by Jewell, in 1563. They were originally meant to be read by those of the inferior clergy who were not qualified to compose discourses themselves. Research Homily
The Ignorantines were a religious congregation of the Roman Catholic Church devoted to the gratuitous education of children. The movement was founded about 1683 by the Abbe de La Salle. The statutes of the order, approved by Benedict XIII. in 1725, imposed on its members vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience. In 1789 the order counted 1000 members, and possessed 121 houses. They were forced to quit France, but were recalled by Bonaparte in 1806. They were later to be met with in various countries. In France the law of 1882 banished them from the public schools. Research Ignorantines
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Bar Mitzvah
