…a person who does not conform to social norms of behaviour because of mental disability or as a deliberate choice, regarded as having a compensating divine blessing or inspiration…
…a region on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, in what is now Israel and Palestine, revered by Christians as the place in which Christ lived and taught, by Jews as the land given to the people of Israel, and by Muslims…
…(especially in the Catholic Church) the name of Jesus as an object of formal devotion…
…the papacy or the papal court; those associated with the Pope in the government of the Roman Catholic Church at the Vatican…
…(in the Roman Catholic Church) a period of remission from the penal consequences of sin, granted under certain conditions for a year usually at intervals of twenty-five years…
…Christ as a child with Mary and Joseph (and often also others such as John the Baptist or St Anne), especially as a subject for a painting…
…any of various European alliances sponsored by the papacy during the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries. They include the League of 1511–13, formed by Pope Julius II to expel Louis XII of France from Italy, and the French Holy League (also called the Catholic League) of 1576 and 1584, a Catholic extremist league formed during the French Wars of Religion…
…the ecclesiastical court of the Roman Catholic Church established as the final court of appeal in trials of heresy. Formed in 1542 as part of the Inquisition, it was renamed the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1965…
…the sacrament or rite of ordination as a member of the clergy, especially in the grades of bishop, priest, or deacon…
…a place revered as holy, typically one to which religious pilgrimage is made…
…a member of an evangelical Christian group which expresses religious fervour by frenzied excitement or trances…
…(in Christianity) the third person of the Trinity; God as spiritually active in the world…
…a loose alliance of European powers pledged to uphold the principles of the Christian religion. It was proclaimed at the Congress of Vienna (1814–15) by the emperors of Austria and Russia and the king of Prussia and was joined by most other European monarchs…
…the Saturday preceding Easter Sunday. Also called Easter Eve or Easter Saturday…
…the place in which the body of Jesus was laid after being taken down from the Cross…
…the day on which the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross is held, 14 September…
…the inner chamber of the sanctuary in the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, separated by a veil from the outer chamber. It was reserved for the presence of God and could be entered only by the High Priest on the Day of Atonement…
…having the status of an ordained member of the clergy…
…the day on which the feast of the Invention of the Cross is held, 3 May…
…the empire set up in western Europe following the coronation of Charlemagne as emperor in the year 800. It was created by the medieval papacy in an attempt to unite Christendom under one rule. At times the territory of the empire was extensive and included Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and parts of Italy and the Netherlands…
…(in the Roman Catholic Church) a day on which Roman Catholics are required to attend Mass…
…a chest or cupboard housing the Torah scrolls in a synagogue…
…(in medieval legend) the cup or platter used by Christ at the Last Supper, and in which Joseph of Arimathea received Christ’s blood at the Cross. Quests for it undertaken by medieval knights are described in versions of the Arthurian legends written from the early 13th century onward…
…a book of the Apocrypha, telling of three Hebrew exiles thrown into a furnace by Nebuchadnezzar…
…a person, especially a child, that causes trouble or annoyance…
…the three persons of the Christian Godhead; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…
…the service of Christian worship at which bread and wine are consecrated and shared…
…(in Catholic use) the consecrated elements of the Eucharist, especially the bread or Host…
…the Jewish festivals of Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashana…
…a Christian festival commemorating the massacre of the Innocents, 28 December…
…the Christian service, ceremony, or sacrament commemorating the Last Supper, in which bread and wine are consecrated and consumed…
…another name for Unification Church.…
