The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church, the Church of the East are termed patriarchs. The word is derived from Greek πατριάρχης, meaning "chief or father of a family", a compound of πατριά, meaning "family", ἄρχειν, meaning "to rule". A patriarch was a man who exercised autocratic authority as a pater familias over an extended family; the system of such rule of families by senior males is termed patriarchy. A patriarch has been the logical choice to act as ethnarch of the community identified with his religious confession within a state or empire of a different creed; the term developed an ecclesiastical meaning, within the Christian Church. The office and the ecclesiastical circumscription of a Christian patriarch is termed a patriarchate. Abraham and Jacob are referred to as the three patriarchs of the people of Israel, the period during which they lived is termed the Patriarchal Age; the word patriarch acquired its religious meaning in the Septuagint version of the Bible.

In the Catholic Church, the bishop, head of a particular autonomous Church, known in canon law as a Church sui iuris, is ordinarily a patriarch, though this responsibility can be entrusted to a Major Archbishop, Metropolitan, or other prelate for a number of serious reasons. Since the Council of Nicaea, the bishop of Rome has been recognized as the first among patriarchs; that Council designated three bishops with this'supra-Metropolitan' title: Rome and Antioch. In the Pentarchy formulated by Justinian I, the emperor assigned as a patriarchate to the Bishop of Rome the whole of Christianized Europe, except for the region of Thrace, the areas near Constantinople, along the coast of the Black Sea, he included in this patriarchate the western part of North Africa. The jurisdictions of the other patriarchates extended over Roman Asia, the rest of Africa. Justinian's system was given formal ecclesiastical recognition by the Quinisext Council of 692, which the see of Rome has, not recognized. There were at the time bishops of other apostolic sees that operated with patriarchal authority beyond the borders of the Roman Empire, such as the Catholicos of Selucia-Ctesephon.

Today, the patriarchal heads of Catholic autonomous churches are: The Bishop of Rome, as head of the Latin Catholic Church The Armenian Catholic Patriarch of Cilicia and head of the Armenian Catholic Church, formed 1740, recognised 1742 The Chaldean Catholic Patriarch of Babylon and head of the Chaldean Catholic Church, formed 1552, recognised 1553 The Coptic Catholic Patriarch of Alexandria and head of the Coptic Catholic Church, established 1824 The Maronite Catholic Patriarch of Antioch and all the East and head of the Maronite Catholic Church, established 685 The Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East, of Alexandria and of Jerusalem, head of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. However, differences exist in the mode of accession. Whereas the election of a major archbishop has to be confirmed by the pope before he may take office, no papal confirmation is needed for a newly elected patriarch before he takes office. Rather, a newly-installed patriarch is required to petition the pope as soon as possible for the concession of what is called ecclesiastical communion.

Furthermore, patriarchs who are created cardinals form part of the order of cardinal bishops, whereas major archbishops are only created cardinal priests. Minor patriarchs do not have jurisdiction over other Metropolitan bishops; the title is granted purely as an honor for various historical reasons. They take precedence after the heads of autonomous churches in full communion, whether pope, patriarch, or major archbishop; the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, established 1099. The Patriarch of the East Indies a titular patriarchal see, united to Goa and Daman, established 1886; the Patriarch of Lisbon, established 1716. The Patriarch of Venice, established 1451; the Patriarch of Aquileia – with rival line of succession moved to Grado - dissolved in 1752. The Patriarch of Grado – in 1451 merged with the Bishopric of Castello and Venice to form the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Venice; the Patriarch of the West Indies – a titular patriarchal see, vacant since 1963. The Latin Patriarch of Antioch – title abolished in 1964.

The titular Latin Patriarch of Alexandria – title abolished in 1964. The Latin Patriarch of Constantinople – title abolished in 1964; the Latin Patriarchate of Ethiopia – 1555 to 1663, never effective, only held by Iberian Jesuits The pope can confer the rank of Patriarch without

Francesca Stuart Sindici was a Spanish-Italian painter. Sindici was born in Madrid in 1858 and became a pupil of Eduardo Dalbono and Domenico Morelli at the Naples Academy of Fine Arts, she married the Italian poet Augusto Sindici. Together they had a daughter, who became a novelist and married a publisher, she died in 1929 at the age of 71. Sindici is best known for her paintings of horses and cavalry, her painting A Carriage Race at Naples was included in the 1905 book Women Painters of the World. Francesca Sindici on artnet Spedizione di Roma 1870, il passaggio del Tevere, 1870 painting in the Museo centrale del Risorgimento, Rome

Walewyn van der Veen was one of the first lawyers and Notary Publics in New Amsterdam 1662-1664. The Register of New Netherland 1626-1674 by E. B. O Callaghan LL. D, Page 123, he succeeded the lawyer Salomon LaChaire 1661-1662. In 1664 New Amsterdam came under English rule and the named changed to New York. Walewijn van der Veen petioned the provincial council for admission as Notary Public on October 27 1661 and was sworn in on January 19, 1662 His workplace being in the old Town Hall or Stadt Huys built in 1642 The building was situated in Manhattan, on the corner of Pearl Street and Coenties Alley. Walewijn was born in Deventer in the Netherlands, his father was Walewijn van der Veen, a school master who opened a French school in Deventer on May 27, 1584 that taught speaking and writing in that language. His mother was Aeltgen Jans van Drillenburgh. Siblings: Jan van der Veen. Poet who married Thonnisken Ruirkinck in Deventer on March 14, 1626 Janneken Walewijns van der Veen who married Henrik Schoemaker van Coesvelt in Deventer on July 24, 1632 Arent van der Veen who married Maria Pijls in Utrecht on February 10, 1629 Johanna van der Veen Daughter: Catrina van der Veen who first married Frans Jansen van der Meulen from The Hague.

He passed away in 1677 and Catrina married second, Jonathan Provoost in New York on the 26th March 1679. He was the son of Margrieta Jelus. Walewijn was a cousin of the Dutch landscape painter Balthasar van der VeenIn the register of the marriage to his second wife Elisabet de Meersman, widow of Benjamin Jacobus van de Water, in Amsterdam on 23 April 1654, Walewijn was living in the Nieuwendijk, he began working for the West India Company as merchant and attorney and travelled between Amsterdam and New Netherland. He first appears in records in New Amsterdam on 26 June 1656 prosecuting Allard Anthony on the matter of Benjamin van de Water's estate, he was that year entrusted by governor Petrus Stuyvesant with carrying the plan of the development of the South River known today as the Delaware River, to the Dutch West India Company in Amsterdam. The ship on which he sailed, the'Otter', was lost off the coast of Devon, England, on the 15th of November 1656. Most people survived, he returned to New Amsterdam in 1658 with proxies from several people to collect debts.

He stayed in New Amsterdam doing trade on consignment and acted as attorney for Adriaen Blommaert, an important merchant and ship master. The original manuscripts of Walewijn van der Veen in the old Dutch language are kept in the New York Department of Records and Information Services They are from a period of early New York and are therefore of historical importance. Students and genealogists are able to see court cases, banns of matrimony, powers of attorney, indentures of apprentices, mortgages, conveyances of real estate and wills in early New Netherland. An example of a will executed by a couple with Walewyn van der Veen as the Notary is mentioned in a paper published by the New York Historical Society:'The Old Stadt Huys of New Amsterdam: A paper read before the New York Historical Society June 15th, 1875' by James W. GerardAn English translation was made of these manuscripts in 1862 by Dr. E. B. O'Callaghan but was not published; however in 1907, a book in two volumes by Berthold Fernow was published which gives the translation of these historical records into English.

Some Information on family background and work was provided for by the director, David William Voorhees of the Jacob Leisler Institute