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orders, holy
(Encyclopedia)orders, holy [Lat. ordo,=rank], in Christianity, the traditional degrees of the clergy, conferred by the Sacrament of Holy Order. The episcopacy, priesthood or presbyterate, and diaconate were in gene...mandrake
(Encyclopedia)mandrake, plant of the family Solanaceae (nightshade family), the source of a narcotic much used during the Middle Ages as a pain-killer and perhaps the subject of more superstition than any other pla...dice, in games and gambling
(Encyclopedia)dice [plural of die], small cubes used in games. They are usually made of ivory, bone, wood, plastic, or similar materials. The six sides are numbered by dots from 1 to 6, so placed that the sum of th...Dionysius the Areopagite, Saint
(Encyclopedia)Dionysius the Areopagite, Saint ârēŏpˈəjīt [key], fl. 1st cent. a.d., Athenian Christian, converted by St. Paul. Acts 17.34. Tradition has made him a martyr and the first bishop of Athens. He ha...Khalkís
(Encyclopedia)Khalkís kălˈsĭs [key], city (1991 pop. 51,646), capital of Évvoia (Euboea) prefecture, E Greece, on the island of Évvoia. Connected to the mainland by a bridge, the city is a trade center for lo...canonization
(Encyclopedia)canonization kănˌənĭzāˈshən [key], in the Roman Catholic Church, process by which a person is classified as a saint. It is now performed at Rome alone, although in the Middle Ages and earlier b...cane, walking stick
(Encyclopedia)cane, walking stick. Probably used first as a weapon, it gradually took on the symbolism of strength and power and eventually authority and social prestige. Ancient Egyptian rulers carried the symboli...Toul
(Encyclopedia)Toul to͞ol [key], town (1990 pop. 17,702), Meurthe-et-Moselle dept., NE France, on the Moselle River. It is largely an agricultural center but has clothing and glass industries. A Gallo-Roman city, i...porcelain
(Encyclopedia)porcelain [Ital. porcellana], white, hard, permanent, nonporous pottery having translucence which is resonant when struck. Porcelain was first made by the Chinese to withstand the great heat generated...Santiago de Compostela
(Encyclopedia)Santiago de Compostela säntyäˈgō ᵺā kōmpōstāˈlä [key] or Santiago, city (1990 pop. 91,419), capital of Galicia, in A Coruña prov., NW Spain, on the Sar River. The city is one of the chief...Browse by Subject
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