1.
Portugal
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Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. It is the westernmost country of mainland Europe, to the west and south it is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean and to the east and north by Spain. The Portugal–Spain border is 1,214 kilometres long and considered the longest uninterrupted border within the European Union, the republic also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira, both autonomous regions with their own regional governments. The territory of modern Portugal has been settled, invaded. The Pre-Celts, Celts, Carthaginians and the Romans were followed by the invasions of the Visigothic, in 711 the Iberian Peninsula was invaded by the Moors, making Portugal part of Muslim Al Andalus. Portugal was born as result of the Christian Reconquista, and in 1139, Afonso Henriques was proclaimed King of Portugal, in the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal established the first global empire, becoming one of the worlds major economic, political and military powers. Portugal monopolized the trade during this time, and the Portuguese Empire expanded with military campaigns led in Asia. After the 1910 revolution deposed the monarchy, the democratic but unstable Portuguese First Republic was established, democracy was restored after the Portuguese Colonial War and the Carnation Revolution in 1974. Shortly after, independence was granted to almost all its overseas territories, Portugal has left a profound cultural and architectural influence across the globe and a legacy of over 250 million Portuguese speakers today. Portugal is a country with a high-income advanced economy and a high living standard. It is the 5th most peaceful country in the world, maintaining a unitary semi-presidential republican form of government and it has the 18th highest Social Progress in the world, putting it ahead of other Western European countries like France, Spain and Italy. Portugal is a pioneer when it comes to drug decriminalization, as the nation decriminalized the possession of all drugs for use in 2001. The early history of Portugal is shared with the rest of the Iberian Peninsula located in South Western Europe, the name of Portugal derives from the joined Romano-Celtic name Portus Cale. Other influences include some 5th-century vestiges of Alan settlements, which were found in Alenquer, Coimbra, the region of present-day Portugal was inhabited by Neanderthals and then by Homo sapiens, who roamed the border-less region of the northern Iberian peninsula. These were subsistence societies that, although they did not establish prosperous settlements, neolithic Portugal experimented with domestication of herding animals, the raising of some cereal crops and fluvial or marine fishing. Chief among these tribes were the Calaicians or Gallaeci of Northern Portugal, the Lusitanians of central Portugal, the Celtici of Alentejo, a few small, semi-permanent, commercial coastal settlements were also founded in the Algarve region by Phoenicians-Carthaginians. Romans first invaded the Iberian Peninsula in 219 BC, during the last days of Julius Caesar, almost the entire peninsula had been annexed to the Roman Republic. The Carthaginians, Romes adversary in the Punic Wars, were expelled from their coastal colonies and it suffered a severe setback in 150 BC, when a rebellion began in the north
2.
Monastery
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A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone. A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which may be a chapel, church or temple, a monastery complex typically comprises a number of buildings which include a church, dormitory, cloister, refectory, library, balneary and infirmary. These may include a hospice, a school and a range of agricultural and manufacturing such as a barn. In English usage, the monastery is generally used to denote the buildings of a community of monks. In modern usage, convent tends to be applied only to institutions of female monastics, historically, a convent denoted a house of friars, now more commonly called a friary. Various religions may apply these terms in specific ways. The earliest extant use of the term monastērion is by the 1st century AD Jewish philosopher Philo in On The Contemplative Life, in England the word monastery was also applied to the habitation of a bishop and the cathedral clergy who lived apart from the lay community. Most cathedrals were not monasteries, and were served by canons secular, however, some were run by monasteries orders, such as York Minster. Westminster Abbey was for a time a cathedral, and was a Benedictine monastery until the Reformation. They are also to be distinguished from collegiate churches, such as St Georges Chapel, in most of this article, the term monastery is used generically to refer to any of a number of types of religious community. In the Roman Catholic religion and to some extent in certain branches of Buddhism, there is a more specific definition of the term. Buddhist monasteries are generally called vihara, viharas may be occupied by males or females, and in keeping with common English usage, a vihara populated by females may often be called a nunnery or a convent. However, vihara can also refer to a temple, in Tibetan Buddhism, monasteries are often called gompa. In Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, a monastery is called a wat, in Burma, a monastery is called a kyaung. A Christian monastery may be an abbey, or a priory and it may be a community of men or of women. A charterhouse is any monastery belonging to the Carthusian order, in Eastern Christianity, a very small monastic community can be called a skete, and a very large or important monastery can be given the dignity of a lavra. The great communal life of a Christian monastery is called cenobitic, as opposed to the life of an anchorite. In Hinduism monasteries are called matha, mandir, koil, or most commonly an ashram, jains use the Buddhist term vihara
3.
Ash Wednesday
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Ash Wednesday, a day of fasting, is the first day of Lent in Western Christianity. It occurs 46 days before Easter and can fall as early as February 4 or as late as March 10, Ash Wednesday is observed by many Western Christians, including Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, and Roman Catholics. According to the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus Christ spent 40 days fasting in the desert. Lent originated as a mirroring of this, fasting 40 days as preparation for Easter, every Sunday was seen as a commemoration of the Sunday of Christs resurrection and so as a feast day on which fasting was inappropriate. Accordingly, Christians fasted from Monday to Saturday during six weeks and from Wednesday to Saturday in the preceding week, orthodox Christians do this 40 days in a row. The words used traditionally to accompany this gesture are, Remember that you are dust, in the 1969 revision of the Roman Rite, an alternative formula was introduced and given first place, Repent, and believe in the Gospel. The old formula, based on the spoken to Adam and Eve after their sin, reminds worshippers of their sinfulness and mortality and thus, implicitly. The newer formula makes explicit what was implicit in the old. Originally, the ashes were strewn over mens heads, but, in the Catholic Church the manner of imposing ashes depends largely on local custom, since no fixed rule has been laid down. The Ash Wednesday ritual of the Church of England, Mother Church of the Anglican Communion, contains The Imposition of Ashes in its Ash Wednesday liturgy. The corresponding Catholic ritual in the Roman Missal for celebration within Mass merely states, Then the Priest places ashes on the head of those present who come to him, and says to each one. The 1969 revision of the Roman Rite inserted into the Mass the solemn ceremony of blessing ashes and placing them on heads, the Book of Blessings contains a simple rite. While the solemn rite would normally be carried out within a church building, while only a priest or deacon may bless the ashes, laypeople may do the placing of the ashes on a persons head. Even in the rite, lay men or women may assist the priest in distributing the ashes. In addition, laypeople take blessed ashes left over after the collective ceremony, at home the ashes are then placed with little or no ceremony. Even those who have been excommunicated and are forbidden to celebrate sacramentals are not forbidden to receive them. After describing the blessing, the rite of Blessing and Distribution of Ashes states, the Catholic Church does not limit distribution of blessed ashes to within church buildings and has suggested the holding of celebrations in shopping centres, nursing homes, and factories. Such celebrations presume preparation of an area and include readings from Scripture and prayers
4.
Charles Borromeo
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Charles Borromeo was a cardinal who was archbishop of Milan from 1564 to 1584. Among the great reformers of the sixteenth century, Borromeo, with St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Philip Neri. He was a leading figure during the Counter-Reformation and was responsible for significant reforms in the Catholic Church and he is honoured as a saint in the Catholic Church and his feast day is November 4. Charles biography was written by three of his contemporaries, Agostino Valerio and Carlo Bascape, who wrote their contributions in Latin, and Pietro Giussanno. Father Giussannos account was the most detailed of the three, Charles was a descendant of nobility, the family of Borromeo was one of the most ancient and wealthy in Lombardy, made famous by several notable men, both in the church and state. The aristocratic Borromeo familys coat of arms included the Borromean rings, Charles father Gilbert was Count of Arona, his mother Margaret was a member of the Milan branch of the House of Medici. The third son in a family of six children, he was born in the castle of Arona on Lake Maggiore, thirty-six miles from Milan, Borromeo received the tonsure when he was about twelve years old. At this time his uncle, Julius Caesar Borromeo, turned over to him the income from the rich Benedictine abbey of Sts. Gratinian and Felin, one of the ancient perquisites of this noble family, the young man attended the University of Pavia, where he applied himself to the study of civil and canon law. Due to a slight impediment of speech, he was regarded as slow, yet his thoroughness, in 1554 his father died, and although he had an elder brother, Count Federico, he was requested by the family to take the management of their domestic affairs. After a time, he resumed his studies, and on 6 December 1559 he earned a doctorate in utroque iure, on 25 December 1559, his uncle, Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Medici, was raised to the pontificate as Pope Pius IV. The newly elected pope required his nephew Charles Borromeo to come to Rome, shortly thereafter, on 31 January 1560, the pope created him cardinal, and thus Charles as cardinal-nephew was entrusted with both the public and the privy seal of the ecclesiastical state. He was also entrusted in the government of the Papal States and appointed supervisor of the Franciscans, Carmelites, Charles committed to organize the third and last section of the Council of Trent, in 1562-63. He took a share in the creation of the Tridentine Catechism. In 1561, Borromeo founded and endowed a college at Pavia, today known as Almo Collegio Borromeo, on 19 November 1562, his older brother, Federico, suddenly died. His family urged Charles to leave the church to marry and have children, so that the name would not become extinct. Charles was appointed administrator of the Archdiocese of Milan on 7 February 1560, after his decision to put into practice the role of bishop, he decided to be ordained priest and on 7 December 1563 he was consecrated bishop in the Sistine Chapel by Cardinal Giovanni Serbelloni. Charles made his entry into Milan as archbishop on 23 September 1565
5.
Anthony of Padua
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Saint Anthony of Padua, born Fernando Martins de Bulhões, also known as Anthony of Lisbon, was a Portuguese Catholic priest and friar of the Franciscan Order. He was born and raised by a family in Lisbon, Portugal. He was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church on 16 January 1946 and he is also the patron saint of lost things. Fernando Martins was born in Lisbon, Portugal and his wealthy and noble family arranged for him to be instructed at the local cathedral school. At the age of fifteen, he entered the community of Canons Regular at the Augustinian Abbey of Saint Vincent on the outskirts of Lisbon. In 1212, distracted by frequent visits from family and friends, he asked to be transferred to the motherhouse of the congregation, there the young Fernando studied theology and Latin. After his ordination to the priesthood, Fernando was named guestmaster, while he was in Coimbra, some Franciscan friars arrived and settled at a small hermitage outside Coimbra dedicated to Saint Anthony of Egypt. Fernando was strongly attracted to the simple, evangelical lifestyle of the friars, news arrived that five Franciscans had been beheaded in Morocco, the first of their order to be killed. King Afonso ransomed their bodies to be returned and buried as martyrs in the Abbey of Santa Cruz, inspired by their example, Fernando obtained permission from church authorities to leave the Canons Regular to join the new Franciscan Order. Upon his admission to the life of the friars, he joined the small hermitage in Olivais, adopting the name Anthony, Anthony then set out for Morocco, in fulfillment of his new vocation. However, he fell ill in Morocco and set sail back for Portugal in hope of regaining his health. On the return voyage the ship was blown off course and landed in Sicily, from Sicily he made his way to Tuscany where he was assigned to a convent of the order, but he met with difficulty on account of his sickly appearance. He was finally assigned to the hermitage of San Paolo near Forlì, Romagna. There he had recourse to a one of the friars had made in a nearby cave, spending time in private prayer. One day, in 1222, in the town of Forli, on the occasion of an ordination, a number of visiting Dominican friars were present, Anthony objected but was overruled, and his sermon created a deep impression. Not only his voice and arresting manner, but the entire theme and substance of his discourse and his moving eloquence. Everyone was impressed with his knowledge of scripture, acquired during his years as an Augustinian friar, at that point, Anthony was sent by Brother Gratian, the local Minister Provincial, to the Franciscan province of Romagna, based in Bologna. He soon came to the attention of the founder of the order, Francis had held a strong distrust of the place of theological studies in the life of his brotherhood, fearing that it might lead to an abandonment of their commitment to a life of real poverty
6.
Franciscans
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The Franciscans are a group of related mendicant religious orders within the Catholic Church, founded in 1209 by Francis of Assisi. These orders include the Order of Friars Minor, the Order of Saint Clare, Francis began preaching around 1207 and traveled to Rome to seek approval from the Pope in 1209. The original Rule of Saint Francis approved by the Pope disallowed ownership of property, the austerity was meant to emulate the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. Franciscans traveled and preached in the streets, while boarding in church properties, Saint Clare, under Franciss guidance, founded the Poor Clares in 1212, which remains a Second Order of the Franciscans. The extreme poverty required of members was relaxed in final revision of the Rule in 1223, the degree of observance required of members remained a major source of conflict within the order, resulting in numerous secessions. The Order of Friars Minor, previously known as the Observant branch, is one of the three Franciscan First Orders within the Catholic Church, the others being the Capuchins and Conventuals. The Order of Friars Minor, in its current form, is the result of an amalgamation of smaller orders completed in 1897 by Pope Leo XIII. The latter two, the Capuchin and Conventual, remain distinct religious institutes within the Catholic Church, observing the Rule of Saint Francis with different emphases, Franciscans are sometimes referred to as minorites or greyfriars because of their habit. In Poland and Lithuania they are known as Bernardines, after Bernardino of Siena, the name of original order, Friars Minor, means lesser brothers, and stems from Francis of Assisis rejection of extravagance. Francis was the son of a cloth merchant, but gave up his wealth to pursue his faith more fully. Francis adopted of the tunic worn by peasants as the religious habit for his order. Those who joined him became the original Order of Friars Minor and they all live according to a body of regulations known as the Rule of St Francis. First Order The First Order or the Order of Friars Minor are commonly called simply the Franciscans and this Order is a mendicant religious order of men, some of whom trace their origin to Francis of Assisi. Their official Latin name is the Ordo Fratrum Minorum, St. Francis thus referred to his followers as Fraticelli, meaning Little Brothers. Franciscan brothers are informally called friars or the Minorites and they all live according to a body of regulations known as the Rule of St Francis. These are The Order of Friars Minor, known as the Observants, most commonly simply called Franciscan friars, official name, the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin or simply Capuchins, official name, Friars Minor Capuchin. The Conventual Franciscans or Minorites, official name, Friars Minor Conventual, Second Order The Second Order, most commonly called Poor Clares in English-speaking countries, consists of religious sisters. The order is called the Order of St. Clare, but in the century, prior to 1263, this order was referred to as The Poor Ladies, The Poor Enclosed Nuns
7.
Pope John Paul II
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Pope Saint John Paul II, born Karol Józef Wojtyła, was Pope from 1978 to 2005. He is called by some Catholics Saint John Paul the Great and he was elected by the second Papal conclave of 1978, which was called after Pope John Paul I, who had been elected in August after the death of Pope Paul VI, died after thirty-three days. Cardinal Wojtyła was elected on the day of the conclave. John Paul II is recognised as helping to end Communist rule in his native Poland, John Paul II significantly improved the Catholic Churchs relations with Judaism, Islam, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Anglican Communion. He upheld the Churchs teachings on such matters as artificial contraception and the ordination of women and he was one of the most travelled world leaders in history, visiting 129 countries during his pontificate. By the time of his death, he had named most of the College of Cardinals, consecrated or co-consecrated a large number of the worlds bishops, a key goal of his papacy was to transform and reposition the Catholic Church. His wish was to place his Church at the heart of a new alliance that would bring together Jews, Muslims. He was the second longest-serving pope in history after Pope Pius IX. Born in Poland, John Paul II was the first non-Italian pope since the Dutch Pope Adrian VI, John Paul IIs cause for canonisation commenced in 2005 one month after his death with the traditional five-year waiting period waived. A second miracle attributed to John Paul IIs intercession was approved on 2 July 2013, John Paul II was canonised on 27 April 2014, together with Pope John XXIII. On 11 September 2014, Pope Francis added John Paul IIs optional memorial feast day to the worldwide General Roman Calendar of saints, in response to worldwide requests. It is traditional to celebrate saints feast days on the anniversary of their deaths, Karol Józef Wojtyła was born in the Polish town of Wadowice. He was the youngest of three born to Karol Wojtyła, an ethnic Pole, and Emilia Kaczorowska, whose mothers maiden surname was Scholz. Emilia, who was a schoolteacher, died in childbirth in 1929 when Wojtyła was eight years old and his elder sister Olga had died before his birth, but he was close to his brother Edmund, nicknamed Mundek, who was 13 years his senior. Edmunds work as a physician led to his death from scarlet fever. As a boy, Wojtyła was athletic, often playing football as goalkeeper, during his childhood, Wojtyła had contact with Wadowices large Jewish community. School football games were organised between teams of Jews and Catholics, and Wojtyła often played on the Jewish side. I remember that at least a third of my classmates at school in Wadowice were Jews
8.
Monastery of Santa Cruz (Coimbra)
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The Santa Cruz Monastery, best known as Igreja de Santa Cruz, is a National Monument in Coimbra, Portugal. Because the first two kings of Portugal are buried in the church it was granted the status of National Pantheon, founded in 1131 outside the protecting walls of Coimbra, the Santa Cruz Monastery was the most important monastic house during the early days of the Portuguese monarchy. St. Theotonius founded this community of Canons Regular of the Holy Cross of Coimbra, the monastery and church were erected between 1132 and 1223. Its school, with its vast library, was respected in medieval times and was a meeting point for the intellectual. Its scriptorium was used for the consolidation of power by King Afonso Henriques. Nothing remains of the early Romanesque monastery and it is known that it had only one nave and a high tower in the façade, as typical of the Augustinian-Romanesque constructions, but none of those elements subsisted. In the first half of the 16th century, the Monastery was completely renovated by King Manuels order, the architect Diogo de Boitaca was responsible for the layout of the Manueline church and the chapter house with its basket-handled and ribbed ceilings. Marco Pires gave continuity to the work, with the completion of the church, the Capela de São Miguel, the sacristy dates back to the 17th century and keeps some notable 16th-century canvases. Saint Anthony of Lisbon was a member of the community of canons regular and it was in this capacity that he welcomed the remains of the Franciscan protomartyrs, whose remains were being transported back to Assisi, after their deaths in Morocco. This led to his decision to leave the security and ease of the life of a canon for that of the newly founded Franciscans
9.
Pope Innocent II
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Pope Innocent II, born Gregorio Papareschi, was Pope from 14 February 1130 to his death in 1143. His election was controversial and the first eight years of his reign were marked by a struggle for recognition against the supporters of Antipope Anacletus II and he reached an understanding with Lothair II, Holy Roman Emperor who supported him against Anacletus and whom he crowned King of the Romans. Innocent went on to preside over the Second Lateran council, Papareschi came from a Roman family, probably of the rione Trastevere. He was probably one of the clergy in personal attendance on the Antipope Clement III, Pope Paschal II made him a cardinal deacon. In this capacity, he accompanied Pope Gelasius II when he was driven into France and he was consecrated on 14 February, the day after Honorius death. Anacletus mixed group of supporters were powerful enough to control of Rome while Innocent was forced to flee north. Based on a majority of the entire college of cardinals, Anacletus was the canonically elected pope. However, the legislation of Pope Nicholas II pre-empted the choice of the majority of the cardinal priests and this rule was changed by the Second Lateran council of 1139. In October of the year he was duly acknowledged by Holy Roman Emperor Lothair III. Anacletus and his supporters being in control of St. Peters Basilica, the coronation ultimately took place in the Lateran Church. Innocent took as cardinal-nephew first his nephew, Gregorio Papareschi, whom he elevated to cardinal in 1134, and then his brother Pietro Papareschi, another nephew, Cinzio Papareschi, was also a cardinal, raised to the cardinalate in 1158, after Innocents death. By the Second Lateran council of 1139, at which King Roger II of Sicily, Innocent IIs most uncompromising foe, was excommunicated, as a result, Roman factions that wished Tivoli annihilated took up arms against Innocent. This was a keystone in the Templars ever increasing power and wealth, on 22 July 1139, at Galluccio, Roger IIs son Roger III, Duke of Apulia, ambushed the papal troops with a thousand knights and captured Innocent. On 25 July 1139, Innocent was forced to acknowledge the kingship, in 1143, Innocent refused to recognise the Treaty of Mignano with Roger of Sicily, who sent Robert of Selby to march on papal Benevento. The terms agreed upon at Mignano were then recognised, Innocent II died on 24 September 1143 and was succeeded by Pope Celestine II. The doctrinal questions which he was called on to decide were those that condemned the opinions of Pierre Abélard, in 1143, as the Pope lay dying, the Commune of Rome, to resist papal power, began deliberations that officially reinstated the Roman Senate the following year. The Pope was interred in a sarcophagus that contemporary tradition asserted had been the Emperor Hadrians. Bull of Gniezno Pope Innocent II, in, Salvador Miranda, The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, online at fiu. edu, Website of Florida International University, retrieved 3 July 2011
10.
Athanasius Schneider
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Athanasius Schneider, O. R. C. is a Kazakhstani Roman Catholic bishop. He is the bishop of Astana, Kazakhstan and titular bishop of Celerina. He is a member of the Canons Regular of the Holy Cross of Coimbra, anton Schneider was born in Tokmok, Kirghiz SSR in the Soviet Union. His parents were ethnic Germans from Ukraine who were sent by Stalin to gulags in the Ural Mountains after the Second World War and they traveled to the Kirghiz SSR after being released from the camps and, later, to Estonia. In 1973, shortly after making his first Holy Communion by the hand of Bl, oleksa Zaryckyj, priest and martyr, he left with his family for Germany. When he joined the Canons Regular of the Holy Cross of Coimbra and he was ordained a priest on 25 March 1990. Starting in 1999, he taught Patristics at Mary, Mother of the Church Seminary in Karaganda, on 2 June 2006 he was consecrated Bishop at the Altar of the Chair of Saint Peter in the Vatican by Angelo Cardinal Sodano. In 2011 he was transferred to the position of bishop in the Archdiocese of Astana. He is the General Secretary of the Bishops Conference of Kazakhstan, Bishop Schneider defends the traditional form of receiving Holy Communion in Roman Catholic liturgy. This is the theme of his book Dominus est, published in Italian, currently in the Catholic Church in many dioceses with the consent of the Holy See, the practice of standing and receiving communion on the hand is permitted. All Eastern Catholic Churches receive communion on the tongue while standing
