1.
Clare of Assisi
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Saint Clare of Assisi is an Italian saint and one of the first followers of Saint Francis of Assisi. Following her death, the order she founded was renamed in her honor as the Order of Saint Clare, St. Clare was born in Assisi, the eldest daughter of Favorino Sciffi, Count of Sasso-Rosso and his wife Ortolana. Traditional accounts say that Clares father was a representative of an ancient Roman family, who owned a large palace in Assisi. Ortolana belonged to the family of Fiumi, and was a very devout woman who had undertaken pilgrimages to Rome, Santiago de Compostela. Later in life, Ortolana entered Clares monastery, as did Clares sisters, Beatrix, as a child, Clare was devoted to prayer. Although there is no mention of this in any historical record, however, at the age of 18 she heard Francis preach during a Lenten service in the church of San Giorgio at Assisi and asked him to help her to live after the manner of the Gospel. On the evening of Palm Sunday, March 20,1212, she left her fathers house and accompanied by her aunt Bianca, there, her hair was cut, and she exchanged her rich gown for a plain robe and veil. Francis placed Clare in the convent of the Benedictine nuns of San Paulo and her father attempted to force her to return home. She clung to the altar of the church and threw aside her veil to show her cropped hair and she resisted any attempt, professing that she would have no other husband but Jesus Christ. In order to provide the greater solitude Clare desired, a few days later Francis sent her to Sant Angelo in Panzo, Clare was soon joined by her sister Catarina, who took the name Agnes. They remained with the Benedictines until a small dwelling was built for them next to the church of San Damiano, other women joined them, and they were known as the Poor Ladies of San Damiano. They lived a life of poverty, austerity and seclusion from the world. San Damiano became the center of Clares new religious order, which was known in her lifetime as the Order of Poor Ladies of San Damiano, hugolino wanted San Damiano as part of the order he founded because of the prestige of Clares monastery. San Damiano emerged as the most important house in the order, by 1263, just ten years after Clares death, the order had become known as the Order of Saint Clare. Unlike the Franciscan friars, whose members moved around the country to preach, Saint Clares sisters lived in enclosure and their life consisted of manual labour and prayer. The nuns went barefoot, slept on the ground, ate no meat, for a short period, the order was directed by Francis himself. Then in 1216, Clare accepted the role of abbess of San Damiano, as abbess, Clare had more authority to lead the order than when she was the prioress and required to follow the orders of a priest heading the community. Clare defended her order from the attempts of prelates to impose a rule on them more closely resembled the Rule of Saint Benedict than Francis stricter vows
2.
San Damiano, Assisi
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San Damiano is a church with a monastery near Assisi, Italy. Built in the 12th century, it was the first monastery of the Order of Saint Clare, the church has a hut-shaped façade, the entrance is preceded by a short portico with three round arcades supported by brickwork pillars. Above the central arch is a rose window. The interior has a nave with ogival barrel vaults. The right wall is home to a chapel with, at the altar. The nave ends with an apse with a modern stone altar, a Baroque wooden tabernacle. According to Franciscan sources, a miracle in which Saint Francis heard an exhortation from Christ occurred in 1205 in this church, finding himself near San Damiano, which threatened ruin, old as it was, driven by the impulse of the Holy Spirit, he entered to pray. On hearing that voice, Francis remained astonished and trembling, being in the church alone and, perceiving in his heart the power of divine language, the San Damiano cross which putatively spoke to Francis currently hangs in the Basilica di Santa Chiara in Assisi. Other artworks in the include a 14th-century Madonna with Child between Sts. Damian and Rufinus fresco, located in the apse and this convent became the home of Saint Clare of Assisi and her followers in 1212. Work was carried out to buildings for this religious community. The Sisters stayed until Clares death in 1253 when it was too dangerous to remain. The convent is open free of charge to the public, downstairs off the cloister is the refectory in its original state. A fresco in the refectory recalls the visit of Pope Gregory IX when he asked Clare to bless the loaves, upstairs are St Clares Oratory where the Blessed Sacrament was kept. Next to this is the dormitory, a cross marks the place where Clare died on 11 August 1253. Assisi, Casa Editrice Francescana dei Fratei Minori Conventuali
3.
Enclosed religious orders
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Enclosed religious orders of the Christian churches have solemn vows with a strict separation from the affairs of the external world. The term cloistered is synonymous with enclosed, in the Catholic Church enclosure is regulated by the Code of Canon Law, either the Latin code or the Oriental code, and also by subsidiary legislation. The stated purpose for such enclosure is to prevent distraction from prayer, depending upon the reason and the length of time, the proper authority can allow enclosed men or women to leave the enclosure. More commonly, cloistered individuals are temporarily released from the obligation of enclosure to participate in a religious event - a papal visit or a bishops visit. Some men and women who are cloistered may have knowledge of fields like education or health care, depending on their training during formation or the cloistered life. They can provide for the needs of their community, and, rarely, there are procedures in place for the cloistered to receive the needed utilities, communication needs, and medical needs while keeping leaving the cloister to a minimum. Benedictine monks, for instance, have often staffed parishes and been allowed to leave monastery confines. In the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, once a man or woman has made solemn, perpetual religious vows, the release from these monastic vows has to be approved by the ecclesiastical authorities. Normally there is a period, called exclaustration, in which the person looks to establish a new life. This usually lasts up to six years under the current Code of Canon Law, after this period the appropriate authority, generally the Holy See, determines that the wish to leave this life is valid and grants the former monk or nun release from their vows. Anglican religious orders have different procedures for the release from perpetual vows, contemplative orders prioritise worship and prayer over economic or outreach activity. They exist in the Roman Catholic, Anglican and Eastern Orthodox traditions as well as in Buddhist settings, cenobite Convent Monasticism Religious order New Advent Encyclopaedia III ff
4.
Nun
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A nun is a member of a religious community of women, typically one living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. The term nun is applicable to Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Anglicans, Lutherans, Jains, Buddhists, Taoists, Hindus, Mother Teresas Missionaries of Charity, lives an active vocation of both prayer and service, often to the needy, ill, poor, and uneducated. All Buddhist traditions have nuns, although their status is different among Buddhist countries, fully ordained Buddhist nuns have more Patimokkha rules than the monks. The important vows are the same, however, as with monks, there is quite a lot of variation in nuns dress and social conventions between Buddhist cultures in Asia. Chinese nuns possess the full ordination, Tibetan nuns do not. In Thailand, a country never had a tradition of fully ordained nuns. However, some of them have played an important role in dhamma-practitioners community. There are in Thai Forest Tradition foremost nuns such as Mae Ji Kaew Sianglam, the founder of the Nunnery of Baan Huai Saai, who is believed by some to be enlightened as well as Upāsikā Kee Nanayon. At the beginning of the 21st century, some Buddhist women in Thailand have started to introduce the bhikkhuni sangha in their country as well, dhammananda Bhikkhuni, formerly the successful academic scholar Dr. Chatsumarn Kabilsingh, established a controversial monastery for the training of Buddhist nuns in Thailand. The relatively active roles of Taiwanese nuns were noted by some studies, researcher Charles Brewer Jones estimates that from 1952 to 1999, when the Buddhist Association of the ROC organized public ordination, female applicants have outnumbered males by about three to one. He adds, All my informants in the areas of Taipei and Sanhsia considered nuns at least as respectable as monks, in contrast, however, Shiu-kuen Tsung found in Taipei county that female clergy were viewed with some suspicion by society. She reports that while outsiders did not necessarily regard their vocation as unworthy of respect, wei-yi Cheng studied Luminary order in southern Taiwan. Based on studies of Luminary order, Cheng concluded that the order in Taiwan was still young and gave nuns more rooms of development. Gelongma ordination requires the presence of ten fully ordained people keeping exactly the same vows, because ten nuns are required to ordain a new one, the effort to establish the Dharmaguptaka bhikkhu tradition has taken a long time. It is permissible for a Tibetan nun to receive ordination from another living tradition. Based on this, Western nuns ordained in Tibetan tradition, like Thubten Chodron, the ordination of monks and nuns in Tibetan Buddhism distinguishes three stages, rabjung-ma, getshül-ma and gelong-ma. The clothes of the nuns in Tibet are basically the same as those of monks, hokke-ji in 747 was established by the consort of the Emperor. It took charge of provincial convents, performed ceremonies for the protection of the state, aristocratic Japanese women often became Buddhist nuns in the premodern period
5.
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
6.
Francis of Assisi
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Saint Francis of Assisi, born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, informally named as Francesco, was an Italian Roman Catholic friar and preacher. He founded the mens Order of Friars Minor, the women’s Order of Saint Clare, the Third Order of Saint Francis, Francis is one of the most venerated religious figures in history. Pope Gregory IX canonized Francis on 16 July 1228, along with Saint Catherine of Siena, he was designated Patron saint of Italy. In 1219, he went to Egypt in an attempt to convert the Sultan to put an end to the conflict of the Crusades, by this point, the Franciscan Order had grown to such an extent that its primitive organizational structure was no longer sufficient. He returned to Italy to organize the Order, once his community was authorized by the Pope, he withdrew increasingly from external affairs. Francis is also known for his love of the Eucharist, in 1223, Francis arranged for the first Christmas live nativity scene. He died during the hours of 3 October 1226, while listening to a reading he had requested of Psalm 142. Pietro was in France on business when Francis was born in Assisi, upon his return to Assisi, Pietro took to calling his son Francesco, possibly in honor of his commercial success and enthusiasm for all things French. Since the child was renamed in infancy, the change can hardly have had anything to do with his aptitude for learning French, as some have thought. While going off to war in 1202, Francis had a vision that directed him back to Assisi, in 1205, Francis left for Apulia to enlist in the army of Walter III, Count of Brienne. Francis lived the high-spirited life typical of a young man. In 1201, he joined an expedition against Perugia and was taken as a prisoner at Collestrada. It is possible that his conversion was a gradual process rooted in this experience. Upon his return to Assisi in 1203, Francis returned to his carefree life, in 1204, a serious illness led him to a spiritual crisis. A strange vision made him return to Assisi, deepening his ecclesiastical awakening, on a pilgrimage to Rome, he joined the poor in begging at St. Peters Basilica, an experience that moved him to live in poverty. Francis returned home, began preaching on the streets, and soon gathered followers and his Order was authorized by Pope Innocent III in 1210. He then founded the Order of Poor Clares, which became a religious order for women. As a youth, Francesco became a devotee of troubadours and was fascinated with all things Transalpine, in this account, he was selling cloth and velvet in the marketplace on behalf of his father when a beggar came to him and asked for alms
7.
Palm Sunday
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Palm Sunday is a Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in each of the four canonical Gospels, the difficulty of procuring palms in unfavorable climates led to their substitution with branches of native trees, including box, olive, willow, and yew. The Sunday was often named after these trees, as in Yew Sunday. In the accounts of the four canonical Gospels, Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem takes place about a week before his Resurrection and it suggests that Jesus was declaring he was the King of Israel to the anger of the Sanhedrin. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord and we bless you from the house of the Lord. The symbolism of the donkey may refer to the Eastern tradition that it is an animal of peace, versus the horse, a king would have ridden a horse when he was bent on war and ridden a donkey to symbolize his arrival in peace. Jesus entry to Jerusalem would have thus symbolized his entry as the Prince of Peace, not as a war-waging king. In Luke 19,41 as Jesus approaches Jerusalem, he looks at the city and weeps over it, in many lands in the ancient Near East, it was customary to cover in some way the path of someone thought worthy of the highest honour. The Hebrew Bible reports that Jehu, son of Jehoshaphat, was treated this way, both the Synoptic Gospels and the Gospel of John report that people gave Jesus this form of honour. In the synoptics the people are described as laying their garments and cut rushes on the street, in Jewish tradition, the palm is one of the Four Species carried for Sukkot, as prescribed for rejoicing at Leviticus 23,40. In the Greco-Roman culture of the Roman Empire, which strongly influenced Christian tradition and it became the most common attribute of the goddess Nike or Victory. Although the Epistles of Paul refer to Jesus as triumphing, the entry into Jerusalem may not have been pictured as a triumphal procession in this sense before the 13th century. In ancient Egyptian religion, the palm was carried in funeral processions, the palm branch later was used as a symbol of Christian martyrs and their spiritual victory or triumph over death. In Revelation 7,9, the white-clad multitude stand before the throne, Palm Sunday, or the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem, as it is often called in some Orthodox Churches, is one of the Twelve Great Feasts of the liturgical year. The day before Palm Sunday, Lazarus Saturday, believers often prepare palm fronds by knotting them into crosses in preparation for the procession on Sunday, the hangings and vestments in the church are changed to a festive colour—gold in the Greek tradition, and green in the Slavic tradition. Wherefore, we like children, carry the banner of triumph and victory, blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord. There is no requirement as to what kind of branches must be used. Whatever the kind, these branches are blessed and distributed together with candles either during the All-Night Vigil on the Eve of the Feast, the faithful take these branches and candles home with them after the service, and keep them in their icon corner as an evloghia
8.
Order of Friars Minor
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The Order of Friars Minor is a mendicant Catholic religious order, founded in 1209 by Francis of Assisi. 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 and they all live according to a body of regulations known as the Rule of St Francis. 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, the 2013 Annuario Pontificio gave the following figures for the membership of the principal male Franciscan orders. Clad in a garment, barefoot, and, after the Evangelical precept, without staff or scrip. Amid numerous dissensions in the 14th century sprang a number of separate congregations and it maintained the principles of Olivi, and, outside of Umbria, spread also in the kingdom of Naples, where Angelo died in 1337. Like several other congregations, it was obliged in 1568 under Pope Pius V to unite with the general body of Observantists. As a separate congregation, this originated through the union of a number of houses which followed Olivi after 1308 and it was limited to southwestern France and, its members being accused of the heresy of the Beghards, was suppressed by the Inquisition during the controversies under John XXII. This was founded in the hermitage of St. Bartholomew at Brugliano near Foligno in 1334, most of the Observantist houses joined this congregation by degrees, so that it became known simply as the brothers of the regular Observance
9.
Third Order of Saint Francis
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The Third Order of Saint Francis, historically known as the Order of Penance of Saint Francis, is a third order within the Franciscan movement of the Catholic Church. It includes both congregations of vowed men and women and fraternities of men and women living standard lives in the world and it has been believed that the Third Order of Saint Francis was the oldest of all third orders, but historical evidence does not support this. Similar institutions are found in documentation of some monastic orders in the 12th century, in addition, a third order has been found among the Humiliati, confirmed together with its rule by Pope Innocent III in 1201. In 1978, the Third Order of Saint Francis was re-organised, with the new rule, the name used by the secular branch of the order was changed to the Secular Franciscan Order. There also are Third Order, Society of St. Francis within the Anglican & Episcopal Church. Tertiaries, or what is known as Third Orders, are persons who live according to the Third Rule of religious orders. There are differing opinions as to the origins of the Third Order of St. Francis, another group of scholars believe that St. Francis name became associated with pre-existing penitential lay-confraternities, without his having any special connection with or influence on them. Thomas of Celano and others held that Francis did indeed found a Third Order, in the composition of this rule St. Francis was assisted by his friend Cardinal Ugolino. As to the place where the Third Order was first introduced nothing certain is known, the preponderance of opinion is for Florence, chiefly on the authority of Mariano of Florence, or Faenza, who cites the first papal bull known on the subject. The less authoritative Fioretti assigns Cannara, a town two hours walk from the Portiuncula, as the birthplace of the Third Order. Mariano and the Bull for Faenza suggest that 1221 was the earliest date for founding of the Third Order, thomas of Celano wrote that the oldest preserved rule was dated 1221. This rule contained originally twelve chapters, a thirteenth was added under Pope Gregory IX, among other things, it prescribes simplicity in dress, considerable fasting and abstinence, and the canonical office or other prayers instead. Because of the prohibition of bearing arms, the followers of this came into conflict with local authorities. In the 13th century, there were Third Order Confraternities with local variations, in 1289 Pope Nicholas IV confirmed the rule in the bull Supra montem. The rule published and approved by Pope Nicholas IV was substantially the same as the oldest 1221 text, Nicholas IV introduced unity of rule and of direction into the Third Order, which was put under the care of the Friars Minor. By the 15th century, numerous individuals living under the Rule of the Third Order were living in small communities and they had been living under the same rule as the married penitents who led more routine forms of life. A papal decree of 1447 organized the more isolated communities into a new, from that point, members were defined either as Third Order Regular, or as the Third Order Secular, for those members of the Order who lived in the world. In the later centuries of the Franciscan movement, the Order of Regular Tertiaries was considered as equivalent to the friars of the First Order, the influence of the Franciscan Third Order Secular upon the society of medieval Europe was significant
10.
Rule of St. Clare
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Saint Clare of Assisi is an Italian saint and one of the first followers of Saint Francis of Assisi. Following her death, the order she founded was renamed in her honor as the Order of Saint Clare, St. Clare was born in Assisi, the eldest daughter of Favorino Sciffi, Count of Sasso-Rosso and his wife Ortolana. Traditional accounts say that Clares father was a representative of an ancient Roman family, who owned a large palace in Assisi. Ortolana belonged to the family of Fiumi, and was a very devout woman who had undertaken pilgrimages to Rome, Santiago de Compostela. Later in life, Ortolana entered Clares monastery, as did Clares sisters, Beatrix, as a child, Clare was devoted to prayer. Although there is no mention of this in any historical record, however, at the age of 18 she heard Francis preach during a Lenten service in the church of San Giorgio at Assisi and asked him to help her to live after the manner of the Gospel. On the evening of Palm Sunday, March 20,1212, she left her fathers house and accompanied by her aunt Bianca, there, her hair was cut, and she exchanged her rich gown for a plain robe and veil. Francis placed Clare in the convent of the Benedictine nuns of San Paulo and her father attempted to force her to return home. She clung to the altar of the church and threw aside her veil to show her cropped hair and she resisted any attempt, professing that she would have no other husband but Jesus Christ. In order to provide the greater solitude Clare desired, a few days later Francis sent her to Sant Angelo in Panzo, Clare was soon joined by her sister Catarina, who took the name Agnes. They remained with the Benedictines until a small dwelling was built for them next to the church of San Damiano, other women joined them, and they were known as the Poor Ladies of San Damiano. They lived a life of poverty, austerity and seclusion from the world. San Damiano became the center of Clares new religious order, which was known in her lifetime as the Order of Poor Ladies of San Damiano, hugolino wanted San Damiano as part of the order he founded because of the prestige of Clares monastery. San Damiano emerged as the most important house in the order, by 1263, just ten years after Clares death, the order had become known as the Order of Saint Clare. Unlike the Franciscan friars, whose members moved around the country to preach, Saint Clares sisters lived in enclosure and their life consisted of manual labour and prayer. The nuns went barefoot, slept on the ground, ate no meat, for a short period, the order was directed by Francis himself. Then in 1216, Clare accepted the role of abbess of San Damiano, as abbess, Clare had more authority to lead the order than when she was the prioress and required to follow the orders of a priest heading the community. Clare defended her order from the attempts of prelates to impose a rule on them more closely resembled the Rule of Saint Benedict than Francis stricter vows
11.
Pope Innocent IV
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Pope Innocent IV, born Sinibaldo Fieschi, was Pope of the Catholic Church from 25 June 1243 to his death in 1254. Born in Genoa in an year, Sinibaldo was the son of Beatrice Grillo and Ugo Fieschi. The Fieschi were a merchant family of Liguria. Sinibaldo received his education at the universities of Parma and Bologna and, for a time and it is pointed out by Agostino Paravicini-Bagliani, however, that there is no documentary evidence of such a professorship. From 1216-1227 he was Canon of the Cathedral of Parma and he was considered one of the best canonists of his time, and was called to serve Pope Honorius III in the Roman Curia as Auditor causarum, from 11 November 1226 to 30 May 1227. He was then promoted to the office of Vice-Chancellor of the Holy Roman Church, though he retained the office, Vice-Chancellor Sinibaldo Fieschi was created Cardinal Priest of San Lorenzo in Lucina on 18 September 1227 by Pope Gregory IX. He later served as governor of the March of Ancona. It is widely repeated, from the 17th century on, that he became bishop of Albenga in 1235, Innocents immediate predecessor was Pope Celestine IV, elected 25 October 1241, whose reign lasted a mere fifteen days. The two prelates remained incarcerated and missed the conclave that immediately elected Celestine, the conclave that reconvened after his death fell into camps supporting contradictory policies about how to treat with the emperor. After a year and a half of debate and coercion. Cardinal de Fieschi very reluctantly accepted election as Pope 25 June 1243, as Cardinal de Fieschi, Sinibaldo had been on friendly terms with Frederick, even after his excommunication. The Emperor also greatly admired the cardinals wisdom, having enjoyed discussions with him from time to time, following the election the witty Frederick remarked that he had lost the friendship of a cardinal but made up for it by gaining the enmity of a pope. Negotiations leading to this objective began shortly afterwards, but proved abortive, the Emperors machinations caused a good deal of anti-papal feeling to rise in Italy, particularly in the Papal States, and imperial agents encouraged plots against papal rule. Realizing how untenable his position in Rome was growing, Innocent IV secretly and hurriedly withdrew, traveling in disguise, Innocent made his way to Sutri and Civitavecchia, to Genoa, his birthplace, where he arrived on 7 July. From there, on 5 October, he fled to France, making his way to Lyon, where he arrived on November 29,1244, Innocent was happily greeted by the magistrates of the city. The bishops met for three sessions,28 June,5 July, and 17 July 1245. Their principal business was to subjugate the Emperor Frederick II, Gregory IX, had issued letters on 9 June 1239, ordering all the bishops of France to confiscate all Talmuds in the possession of the Jews. Agents were to raid each synagogue on the first Saturday of Lent of 1240, the Bishop of Paris was ordered to see to it that copies of the Popes mandate reached all the bishops of France, England, Aragon, Navarre, Castile and León, and Portugal
12.
Constitution
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A constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i. e. constitute, some constitutions are uncodified, but written in numerous fundamental Acts of a legislature, court cases or treaties. Constitutions concern different levels of organizations, from states to companies. A treaty which establishes an international organization is also its constitution, within states, a constitution defines the principles upon which the state is based, the procedure in which laws are made and by whom. Some constitutions, especially codified constitutions, also act as limiters of state power, by establishing lines which a states rulers cannot cross, the term constitution comes through French from the Latin word constitutio, used for regulations and orders, such as the imperial enactments. Later, the term was used in canon law for an important determination, especially a decree issued by the Pope. The Latin term ultra vires describes activities of officials within an organization or polity that fall outside the constitutional or statutory authority of those officials. Ultra vires gives a justification for the forced cessation of such action. A violation of rights by an official would be ultra vires because a right is a restriction on the powers of government, and therefore that official would be exercising powers they do not have. It was never law, even though, if it had been a statute or statutory provision, in such a case, only the application may be ruled unconstitutional. Historically, the remedy for such violations have been petitions for common law writs, excavations in modern-day Iraq by Ernest de Sarzec in 1877 found evidence of the earliest known code of justice, issued by the Sumerian king Urukagina of Lagash ca 2300 BC. Perhaps the earliest prototype for a law of government, this document itself has not yet been discovered, for example, it is known that it relieved tax for widows and orphans, and protected the poor from the usury of the rich. After that, many governments ruled by codes of written laws. The oldest such document still known to exist seems to be the Code of Ur-Nammu of Ur, some of the better-known ancient law codes include the code of Lipit-Ishtar of Isin, the code of Hammurabi of Babylonia, the Hittite code, the Assyrian code and Mosaic law. In 621 BC a scribe named Draco codified the cruel oral laws of the city-state of Athens, in 594 BC Solon, the ruler of Athens, created the new Solonian Constitution. It eased the burden of the workers, and determined that membership of the class was to be based on wealth. Cleisthenes again reformed the Athenian constitution and set it on a footing in 508 BC. The most basic definition he used to describe a constitution in general terms was the arrangement of the offices in a state
13.
Assisi
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Assisi is a town and comune of Italy in the Province of Perugia in the Umbria region, on the western flank of Monte Subasio. The 19th-century Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows was also born in Assisi, around 1000 BC a wave of immigrants settled in the upper Tiber valley as far as the Adriatic Sea, and also in the neighborhood of Assisi. These were the Umbrians, living in fortified settlements on high ground. From 450 BC these settlements were taken over by the Etruscans. The Romans took control of central Italy after the Battle of Sentinum in 295 BC and they built the flourishing municipium Asisium on a series of terraces on Monte Subasio. Roman remains can still be found in Assisi, city walls, the forum, a theatre, an amphitheatre, in 1997, the remains of a Roman villa were also discovered containing several well-preserved rooms with frescoes and mosaics in a condition rarely found outside sites such as Pompei. In 238 AD Assisi was converted to Christianity by bishop Rufino, according to tradition, his remains rest in the Cathedral Church of San Rufino in Assisi. The Ostrogoths of king Totila destroyed most of the town in 545, Assisi then came under the rule of the Lombards as part of the Lombard and then Frankish Duchy of Spoleto. The thriving commune became an independent Ghibelline commune in the 11th century, the city, which had remained within the confines of the Roman walls, began to expand outside these walls in the 13th century. In this period the city was under papal jurisdiction, the city went into a deep decline through the plague of the Black Death in 1348. The city came again under papal jurisdiction under the rule of Pope Pius II, in 1569 construction was started of the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli. During the Renaissance and in later centuries, the city continued to develop peacefully, as the 17th-century palazzi of the Bernabei, now the site of many a pilgrimage, Assisi is linked in legend with its native son, St. Francis. The gentle saint founded the Franciscan order and shares honors with St. Catherine of Siena as the saint of Italy. He is remembered by many, even non-Christians, as a lover of nature, Assisi was hit by two devastating earthquakes, that shook Umbria in September 1997. But the recovery and restoration have been remarkable, although much remains to be done, massive damage was caused to many historical sites, but the major attraction, the Basilica di San Francesco, reopened less than 2 years later. UNESCO collectively designated the Franciscan structures of Assisi as a World Heritage Site in 2000, the Basilica of San Francesco dAssisi. The Franciscan monastery, il Sacro Convento, and the lower and upper church of St Francis were begun immediately after his canonization in 1228, and completed in 1253. The Basilica was badly damaged by an earthquake on 26 September 1997, during part of the vault collapsed, killing four people inside the church
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Assisi Cathedral
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Assisi Cathedral, dedicated to San Rufino is a major church in Assisi, Italy. This stately church in Umbrian Romanesque style was the church built on the same site to contain the remains of bishop Rufinus of Assisi. The construction was started in 1140 to the designs by Giovanni da Gubbio and he may be the same Giovanni who designed the rose-window on the façade of Santa Maria Maggiore in 1163. The cathedral has been important in the history of the Franciscan order, in this church Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Clare and many of their original disciples were baptised. It was on hearing Francis preaching in church in 1209 that Clare became deeply touched by his message. Tommaso da Celano related that once Saint Francis was witnessed praying in church while, at the same time. In 1228, while he was in Assisi for the canonization of Saint Francis, Pope Innocent IV inaugurated the finished church in 1253. The Romanesque façade was built with stones from the Monte Subasio and it is a typical example of the style found in 12th-century churches of Umbria. This façade is divided in three sections, the rather bare top level is triangular with an empty semi-circular arch in the middle, probably intended to contain a frieze or a mosaic. The middle level is divided by two pilasters, in line with the arch in the upper level, each of the bay thus delineated contains a rose window, the central one the largest and the most ornate. Its frame is supported by three telamones, each standing on an animal, in the four spandrels around the rose window are the four animal symbols of the four evangelists. The lower level consists of a number of squares and three decorated portals with griffins at the base of the side portals. Especially the middle portal is extensively decorated, the portal is surrounded with three arches decorated with saints, floral and geometrical motifs and intertwined swans. At the base of the arch, on each side, is a lion. These sculptures of lions and griffins have great iconographic importance, the bottom and the middle part of the square bell tower, on the left side of the façade, were built in the 11th century. It was then situated behind the apse of the church built by bishop Ugone in 1029. The top level dates from the 13th century, one can see on the bell tower a colossal one-handed liturgical clock showing the 24 hours of the hora italica, a period of time ending with sunset at 24 hours. The foundations of the bell tower rest on a Roman cistern, the structure on the side of the bell tower has been identified as the home of St. Clare
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Porziuncola
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It is the place from where the Franciscan movement started. The name Porziuncola was first mentioned in a document from 1045, the same legend relates that the chapel passed into the possession of Benedict of Nursia in 516. The chapel was located on a portion of land belonging to the Order of Saint Benedict of Monte Subasio. Later, the name of the passed to the little church itself. It was in bad condition, lying abandoned in a wood of oak trees. Francis took this literally to mean the church in which he was presently praying. His father Pietro, highly indignant, attempted to change his mind, first with threats, after a final interview in the presence of the bishop, Francis renounced his father and his patrimony, laying aside even the garments he had received from him. For the next couple of months he lived as a beggar in the region of Assisi, returning to the town for two years this time, he restored several ruined churches, among them the Porziuncola, little chapel of St Mary of the Angels, just outside the town. Francis built himself a hut near the Chapel of Our Lady of the Angels and was soon joined by others. Around 1211 the small chapel was given to Francis of Assisi by the abbot of Saint Benedict of Monte Subasio on condition of making it the house of his religious family. Adjoining this humble sanctuary, already dear to Francis, the first Franciscan convent was formed by the erection of a few small huts or cells of wattle, straw, and mud, and enclosed by a hedge. On Palm Sunday 1211 St. Francis received in this church Clare of Assisi, the General Chapters, the annual meetings of the friars, were held in this church usually during Pentecost. Feeling his end approaching, St. Francis asked to be back to the Porziuncola in September 1226. On his death-bed St. Francis recommended the chapel to the faithful protection and he died, in his cell, not fifteen yards from the church, at sunset on Saturday,3 October 1226. However this may be, here or in this neighbourhood was the cradle of the Franciscan Order, after the death of Francis, the spiritual value and the charisma of the Porziuncola became even greater. St. Francis himself pointed out the Portiuncola as a source of inspiration. Shortly after 1290, the chapel, which measured only about 5.5 by 3.2 m, the altar piece, an Annunciation, was painted by the priest Hilarius of Viterbo in 1393. The monastery was at most the residence, only for a short time, in 1415 it first became associated with the Regular Observance, in the care of which it remains to the present day
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Religious habit
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A religious habit is a distinctive set of garments worn by members of a religious order. Modern habits are sometimes eschewed in favor of a business suit. Catholic Canon Law requires only that it be in some way identifiable so that the person may serve as a witness to Gospel values, for instance in Turkey, where religious garb is not allowed in public, a Franciscan might wear street clothes. In many orders, the conclusion of postulancy and the beginning of the novitiate is marked by a ceremony, among some Franciscan communities of men, novices wear a sort of overshirt over their tunic, Carthusian novices wear a black cloak over their white habit. In some orders, different types or levels of profession are indicated by differences in habits, kāṣāya, chougu are the robes of Buddhist monks and nuns, named after a brown or saffron dye. In Sanskrit and Pali, these robes are also given the general term cīvara. Buddhist kāṣāya are said to have originated in India as set of robes for the devotees of Gautama Buddha, a notable variant has a pattern reminiscent of an Asian rice field. Original kāṣāya were constructed of discarded fabric and these were stitched together to form three rectangular pieces of cloth, which were then fit over the body in a specific manner. The three main pieces of cloth are the antarvāsa, the uttarāsaṅga, and the saṃghāti, together they form the triple robe, or tricīvara. The tricīvara is described fully in the Theravāda Vinaya. The antarvāsa is the robe covering the lower body. It is the undergarment that flows underneath the layers of clothing. It has a neck, and almost entirely covers the torso. In representations of the Buddha, the bottom of the antarvāsa usually protrudes, a robe covering the upper body. It comes over the undergarment, or antarvāsa, in representations of the Buddha, the uttarāsaṅga rarely appears as the uppermost garment, since it is often covered by the outer robe, or saṃghāti. The saṃghāti is a robe used for various occasions. It comes over the robe, and the undergarment. In representations of the Buddha, the saṃghāti is usually the most visible garment and it is quite similar in shape to the Greek himation, and its shape and folds have been treated in Greek style in the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhāra
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Order of Saint Benedict
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Each community within the order maintains its own autonomy, while the order itself represents their mutual interests. Internationally, the order is governed by the Benedictine Confederation, a body, established in 1883 by Pope Leo XIIIs Brief Summum semper, individuals whose communities are members of the order generally add the initials OSB after their names. The monastery at Subiaco in Italy, established by Saint Benedict of Nursia circa 529, was the first of the monasteries he founded. He later founded the Abbey of Monte Cassino, there is no evidence, however, that he intended to found an order and the Rule of Saint Benedict presupposes the autonomy of each community. It was from the monastery of St. Andrew in Rome that Augustine, the prior, at various stopping places during the journey, the monks left behind them traditions concerning their rule and form of life, and probably also some copies of the Rule. Lérins Abbey, for instance, founded by Honoratus in 375, probably received its first knowledge of the Benedictine Rule from the visit of St. Augustine, in Gaul and Switzerland, it supplemented the much stricter Irish or Celtic Rule introduced by Columbanus and others. In many monasteries it eventually displaced the earlier codes. Largely through the work of Benedict of Aniane, it became the rule of choice for monasteries throughout the Carolingian empire, Monastic scriptoria flourished from the ninth through the twelfth centuries. Sacred Scripture was always at the heart of every monastic scriptorium, as a general rule those of the monks who possessed skill as writers made this their chief, if not their sole active work. In the Middle Ages monasteries were founded by the nobility. Cluny Abbey was founded by William I, Duke of Aquitaine in 910, the abbey was noted for its strict adherence to the Rule of St. Benedict. The abbot of Cluny was the superior of all the daughter houses, one of the earliest reforms of Benedictine practice was that initiated in 980 by Romuald, who founded the Camaldolese community. The English Benedictine Congregation is the oldest of the nineteen Benedictine congregations, Augustine of Canterbury and his monks established the first English Benedictine monastery at Canterbury soon after their arrival in 597. Many of the sees of England were founded and governed by the Benedictines. Monasteries served as hospitals and places of refuge for the weak, the monks studied the healing properties of plants and minerals to alleviate the sufferings of the sick. Germany was evangelized by English Benedictines, willibrord and Boniface preached there in the seventh and eighth centuries and founded several abbeys. In the English Reformation, all monasteries were dissolved and their lands confiscated by the Crown, during the 19th century they were able to return to England, including to Selby Abbey in Yorkshire, one of the few great monastic churches to survive the Dissolution. St. Mildreds Priory, on the Isle of Thanet, Kent, was built in 1027 on the site of an abbey founded in 670 by the daughter of the first Christian King of Kent, currently the priory is home to a community of Benedictine nuns
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Abbess
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In Christianity, an abbess is the female superior of a community of nuns, which is often an abbey. In the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Coptic and Anglican abbeys, the mode of election, position, rights and she must be at least 40 years old and have been a nun for 10 years. The age requirement in the Catholic Church has evolved over time, the requirement of 10 years as a nun is only 8 in Catholicism. In the rare case of not being a nun with the qualifications. The office is elective, the choice being by the votes of the nuns belonging to the community. Unlike the abbot, the abbess receives only the ring, the crosier, and she does not receive a mitre as part of the ceremony. An abbess serves for life, except in Italy and some adjacent islands, Abbesses are, like abbots, major superiors according to canon law, the equivalents of abbots or bishops. They have full authority in its administration and they may not administer the sacraments, whose celebration is reserved to bishops, priests, deacons, namely, those in Holy Orders. They may not serve as a witness to a marriage except by special rescript and they may not administer Penance, Anointing of the Sick, or function as an ordained celebrant or concelebrant of the Mass. They may preside the Liturgy of the Hours which they are obliged to say with their community, speak about Scripture to their community, on the other hand, they may not ordinarily give a homily or read the Gospel during a Mass. Also granted exceptional rights was the Abbess of the Cistercian order in Conversano Italy and she was granted the ability to appoint her own vicar-general, select and approve the confessors, along with the practice of receiving the public homage of her clergy. This practice continued until some of the duties were modified due to an appeal by the clergy to Rome, finally in 1750, the public homage was abolished. This custom accompanied Celtic monastic missions to France, Spain, in 1115, Robert, the founder of Fontevraud Abbey near Chinon and Saumur, France, committed the government of the whole order, men as well as women, to a female superior. In Lutheran churches, the title of abbess has in some cases survived to designate the heads of abbeys which since the Protestant Reformation have continued as monasteries or convents and these positions continued merely changing from Catholic to Lutheran. The first to make this change was the Abbey of Quedlinburg and these are collegiate foundations, which provide a home and an income for unmarried ladies, generally of noble birth, called canonesses or more usually Stiftsdamen or Kapitularinnen. The office of abbess is of social dignity, and in the past, was sometimes filled by princesses of the reigning houses. The last such ruling abbess was Sofia Albertina, Princess of Sweden, in the Hradčany of Prague is a Catholic institute whose mistress is titled an Abbess. It was founded in 1755 by the Empress Maria Theresa, the Abbess is required to be an Austrian Archduchess
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Florence
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Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the Metropolitan City of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants, Florence was a centre of medieval European trade and finance and one of the wealthiest cities of the time. It is considered the birthplace of the Renaissance, and has called the Athens of the Middle Ages. A turbulent political history includes periods of rule by the powerful Medici family, from 1865 to 1871 the city was the capital of the recently established Kingdom of Italy. The Historic Centre of Florence attracts 13 million tourists each year and it was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1982. The city is noted for its culture, Renaissance art and architecture, the city also contains numerous museums and art galleries, such as the Uffizi Gallery and the Palazzo Pitti, and still exerts an influence in the fields of art, culture and politics. Due to Florences artistic and architectural heritage, it has been ranked by Forbes as one of the most beautiful cities in the world, in 2008, the city had the 17th highest average income in Italy. Florence originated as a Roman city, and later, after a period as a flourishing trading and banking medieval commune. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, it was politically, economically, and culturally one of the most important cities in Europe, the language spoken in the city during the 14th century was, and still is, accepted as the Italian language. Starting from the late Middle Ages, Florentine money—in the form of the gold florin—financed the development of all over Europe, from Britain to Bruges, to Lyon. Florentine bankers financed the English kings during the Hundred Years War and they similarly financed the papacy, including the construction of their provisional capital of Avignon and, after their return to Rome, the reconstruction and Renaissance embellishment of Rome. Florence was home to the Medici, one of European historys most important noble families, Lorenzo de Medici was considered a political and cultural mastermind of Italy in the late 15th century. Two members of the family were popes in the early 16th century, Leo X, catherine de Medici married king Henry II of France and, after his death in 1559, reigned as regent in France. Marie de Medici married Henry IV of France and gave birth to the future king Louis XIII, the Medici reigned as Grand Dukes of Tuscany, starting with Cosimo I de Medici in 1569 and ending with the death of Gian Gastone de Medici in 1737. The Etruscans initially formed in 200 BC the small settlement of Fiesole and it was built in the style of an army camp with the main streets, the cardo and the decumanus, intersecting at the present Piazza della Repubblica. Situated along the Via Cassia, the route between Rome and the north, and within the fertile valley of the Arno, the settlement quickly became an important commercial centre. Peace returned under Lombard rule in the 6th century, Florence was conquered by Charlemagne in 774 and became part of the Duchy of Tuscany, with Lucca as capital. The population began to again and commerce prospered
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Pope Innocent III
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Pope Innocent III reigned from 8 January 1198 to his death. His birth name was Lotario dei Conti di Segni, sometimes anglicised to Lothar of Segni, Pope Innocent was one of the most powerful and influential popes. He exerted an influence over the Christian states of Europe. Pope Innocent was central in supporting the Catholic Churchs reforms of ecclesiastical affairs through his decretals and this resulted in a considerable refinement of Western canon law. Pope Innocent is notable for using interdict and other censures to compel princes to obey his decisions, Innocent called for Christian crusades against Muslim Spain and the Holy Land, as well as the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars in southern France. One of Pope Innocents critical decisions was organizing the Fourth Crusade, originally intended to attack Jerusalem through Egypt, a series of unforeseen circumstances led the crusaders to Constantinople, where they ultimately sacked the city in 1204. Lotario de Conti was born in Gavignano, near Anagni and his father was Count Trasimund of Segni and was a member of a famous house, Conti, which produced nine Popes, including Gregory IX, Alexander IV and Innocent XIII. Lotario was the nephew of Pope Clement III, his mother, as Pope, Lotario was to play a major role in the shaping of canon law through conciliar canons and decretal letters. He subscribed the papal bulls between 7 December 1190 and 4 November 1197, as a cardinal, Lotario wrote De miseria humanae conditionis. The work was popular for centuries, surviving in more than 700 manuscripts. Although he never returned to the work he intended to write, On the Dignity of Human Nature. Celestine III died on 8 January 1198 and he was only thirty-seven years old at the time. He took the name Innocent III, maybe as a reference to his predecessor Innocent II, as pope, Innocent III began with a very wide sense of his responsibility and of his authority. The Muslim recapture of Jerusalem in 1187 was to him a divine judgment on the moral lapses of Christian princes and he was also determined to protect what he called the liberty of the Church from inroads by secular princes. The patrimonium was routinely threatened by Hohenstaufen German kings who, as Roman emperors, the early death of Henry VI left his 4-year-old son Frederick II as king. Henry VI’s widow Constance of Sicily ruled over Sicily for her son before he reached the age of majority. She was as eager to remove German power from the kingdom of Sicily as was Innocent III, before her death in 1198, she named Innocent as guardian of the young Frederick until he reached his maturity. In exchange, Innocent was also able to recover papal rights in Sicily that had been surrendered decades earlier to King William I of Sicily by Pope Adrian IV, the Pope invested the young Frederick II as King of Sicily in November 1198
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Ostia Antica (district)
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Ostia Antica is a district in the commune of Rome, Italy, five kilometers away from the coast. Under the Romans, Ostia Antica reached a peak of some 75,000 inhabitants in the 2nd and 3rd century AD. A slow decline began with the time of Constantine I, and his mother, St. Monica, died in an inn here. The poet Rutilius Namatianus also reported the lack of maintenance of the city in 414, Ostia became an episcopal see as early as the 3rd century AD, with the cathedral of Santa Aurea erected over the tomb of St. Monica. As the centuries passed, Ostia fell into ruin but remained an access from the sea for visitors to Rome, saracen pirates were a frequent concern, the naval Battle of Ostia was fought off the coast in 849. Pope Gregory IV fortified the existing burgh and it was rechristened Gregoriopolis, by this time, the shifting course of the Tiber had landlocked the ancient port, and the town was mainly a shelter for the workers of the nearby salt mills. In the late 15th century, the bishop Giuliano della Rovere commissioned the rebuilding of the main church, the Castle of Julius II, also built at this time, remains the most striking feature of modern Ostia. The castle was abandoned after a flood in 1587 flooded its moat, the castle and the town were restored again in the 20th century. Ostia was featured in the novels I, Claudius and Claudius the God, the novels include scenes set at Ostia spanning from the reign of Augustus to the reign of Claudius, including the departure of Agrippa to Syria and Claudiuss reconstruction of the harbour. In the 1976 television series, Ostia was frequently mentioned but never actually seen, Ostia appears briefly towards the end of the Roman Empire section of the 1981 comedy film History of the World, Part I, where the main characters board a galleon bound for Judaea. In the film, however, Ostia is only referred to as simply the port. Storia Ambiente Itinerari Roma 2007 Site of the Centro Studi Storici Ambientali Ostia and of Genius Loci Publisher
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Pope Gregory IX
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Pope Gregory IX Latin, Gregorius IX, was Pope from 19 March 1227 to his death in 1241. The successor of Pope Honorius III, he inherited the traditions of Pope Gregory VII and of his cousin Pope Innocent III. The date of his birth varies in sources between c.1145 and 1170 and he received his education at the Universities of Paris and Bologna. He was created Cardinal-Deacon of the church of SantEustachio by his cousin Innocent III in December 1198, in 1206 he was promoted to the rank of Cardinal Bishop of Ostia e Velletri. He became Dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals in 1218 or 1219, upon the special request of Saint Francis, in 1220, Pope Honorius III appointed him Cardinal Protector of the order of the Franciscans. As Cardinal Bishop of Ostia, he cultivated a wide range of acquaintances, among them the Queen of England, Gregory IX was elevated to the papacy in the papal election of 1227. He took the name Gregory because he assumed the papal office at the monastery of Saint Gregory ad Septem Solia. Gregorys Bull Parens scientiarum of 1231, after the University of Paris strike of 1229 and this pope, being a remarkably skillful and learned lawyer, caused to be prepared Nova Compilatio decretalium, which was promulgated in numerous copies in 1234. The supplement completed the work, which provided the foundation for papal legal theory, in the 1234 Decretals, he invested the doctrine of perpetua servitus iudaeorum – perpetual servitude of the Jews – with the force of canonical law. According to this, the followers of the Talmud would have to remain in a condition of political servitude until Judgment Day, the doctrine then found its way into the doctrine of servitus camerae imperialis, or servitude immediately subject to the Emperors authority, promulgated by Frederick II. The Jews were thus suppressed from having influence over the political process. In 1239, under the influence of Nicholas Donin, a Jewish convert to Christianity, following a public disputation between Christians and Jewish theologians, this culminated in a mass burning of some 12,000 handwritten Talmudic manuscripts on 12 June 1242, in Paris. Gregory was a supporter of the mendicant orders which he saw an excellent means for counteracting by voluntary poverty the love of luxury and he was a friend of Saint Dominic as well as Clare of Assisi. On 17 January 1235, he approved the Order of Our Lady of Mercy for the redemption of captives. He appointed ten cardinals and canonized Saints Elisabeth of Hungary, Dominic de Guzmán, Anthony of Padua and he transformed a chapel to Our Lady in the church of Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome. Gregory IX endorsed the Northern Crusades and attempts to bring Orthodox Slavic peoples in Eastern Europe under Papacys fold, at the coronation of Frederick II in Rome,22 November 1220, the emperor made a vow to embark for the Holy Land in August 1221. Gregory IX began his pontificate by suspending the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, Frederick II appealed to the sovereigns of Europe complaining of his treatment. The suspension was followed by excommunication and threats of deposition, as deeper rifts appeared, Frederick II went to the Holy Land and in fact managed to take possession of Jerusalem
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Monasticism
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Monasticism or monkhood is a religious way of life in which one renounces worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual work. Monastic life plays an important role in many Christian churches, especially in the Catholic, similar forms of religious life also exist in other faiths, most notably in Buddhism, but also in Hinduism and Jainism, although the expressions differ considerably. By contrast, in other religions monasticism is criticized and not practiced, as in Islam and Zoroastrianism, or plays a marginal role, males pursuing a monastic life are generally called monks while female monastics are called nuns. Many monks and nuns live in monasteries to stay away from the secular world, the way of addressing monastics differs between the Christian traditions. As a general rule, in Roman Catholicism, monks and nuns are called brother or sister, while in Eastern Orthodoxy, the Sangha or community of ordained Buddhist bhikkhus and original bhikkhunis was founded by Gautama Buddha during his lifetime over 2500 years ago. This communal monastic lifestyle grew out of the lifestyle of earlier sects of wandering ascetics and it was initially fairly eremitic or reclusive in nature. Bhikkhus and bhikkunis were expected to live with a minimum of possessions, lay followers also provided the daily food that bhikkhus required, and provided shelter for bhikkhus when they needed it. After the Parinibbana of the Buddha, the Buddhist monastic order developed into a primarily cenobitic or communal movement. The practice of living communally during the rainy season, prescribed by the Buddha. The number of rules observed varies with the order, Theravada bhikkhus follow around 227 rules, there are a larger number of rules specified for bhikkhunis. The Buddhist monastic order consists of the male bhikkhu assembly and the female bhikkhuni assembly, initially consisting only of males, it grew to include females after the Buddhas stepmother, Mahaprajapati, asked for and received permission to live as an ordained practitioner. Bhikkhus and bhikkhunis are expected to fulfill a variety of roles in the Buddhist community, first and foremost, they are expected to preserve the doctrine and discipline now known as Buddhism. A bhikkhu or Bhikshu, first ordains as a Samanera, novices often ordain at a young age, but generally no younger than eight. Samaneras live according to the Ten Precepts, but are not responsible for living by the set of monastic rules. Higher ordination, conferring the status of a full Bhikkhu, is only to men who are aged 20 or older. Bhikkhunis follow a progression, but are required to live as Samaneras for longer periods of time- typically five years. The disciplinary regulations for bhikkhus and bhikkhunis are intended to create a life that is simple and focused, however, celibacy is a fundamental part of this form of monastic discipline. Monasticism in Christianity, which provides the origins of the monk and monastery
24.
Monticello
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Monticello was the primary plantation of Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States, who began designing and building Monticello at age 26 after inheriting land from his father. The current Nickel features a depiction of Monticello on the reverse, situated on the summit of an 850-foot -high peak in the Southwest Mountains south of the Rivanna Gap, the name Monticello derives from the Italian for little mount. Cabins for field slaves were farther from the mansion, at Jeffersons direction, he was buried on the grounds, in an area now designated as the Monticello Cemetery. The cemetery is owned by the Monticello Association, a society of his descendants through Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson, after Jeffersons death, his daughter Martha Jefferson Randolph sold the property. In 1834 it was bought by Uriah P. Levy, a commodore in the U. S. Navy and his nephew Jefferson Monroe Levy took over the property in 1879, he also invested considerable money to restore and preserve it. In 1923, Monroe Levy sold it to the Thomas Jefferson Foundation and it has been designated a National Historic Landmark. In 1987 Monticello and the nearby University of Virginia, also designed by Jefferson, were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Jeffersons home was built to serve as a house, which ultimately took on the architectural form of a villa. It has many antecedents, but Jefferson went beyond them to create something very much his own. He consciously sought to create a new architecture for a new nation, work began on what historians would subsequently refer to as the first Monticello in 1768, on a plantation of 5,000 acres. Jefferson moved into the South Pavilion in 1770, where his new wife Martha Wayles Skelton joined him in 1772, Jefferson continued work on his original design, but how much was completed is of some dispute. In constructing and later reconstructing his home, Jefferson used both free workers and enslaved laborers, after his wifes death in 1782, Jefferson left Monticello in 1784 to serve as Minister of the United States to France. His decision to remodel his own home may date from this period, in 1794, following his service as the first U. S. Secretary of State, Jefferson began rebuilding his house based on the ideas he had acquired in Europe. The remodeling continued throughout most of his presidency, although generally completed by 1809, Jefferson continued work on the present structure until his death in 1826. Jefferson added a hallway and a parallel set of rooms to the structure, more than doubling its area. He removed the second full-height story from the house and replaced it with a mezzanine bedroom floor. The interior is centered on two rooms, which served as an entrance-hall-museum, where Jefferson displayed his scientific interests. The most dramatic element of the new design was an octagonal dome, the dome room has now been restored to its appearance during Jeffersons lifetime, with Mars yellow walls and a painted green floor
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Perugia
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Perugia is the capital city of both the region of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the river Tiber, and of the province of Perugia. The city is located about 164 kilometres north of Rome and 148 km south-east of Florence and it covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area. The region of Umbria is bordered by Tuscany, Lazio, the history of Perugia goes back to the Etruscan period, Perugia was one of the main Etruscan cities. Perugia is also a cultural and artistic centre of Italy. The famous painter Pietro Vannucci, nicknamed Perugino, was a native of Città della Pieve and he decorated the local Sala del Cambio with a beautiful series of frescoes, eight of his pictures can also be admired in the National Gallery of Umbria. Perugino was the teacher of Raphael, the great Renaissance artist who produced five paintings in Perugia, another famous painter, Pinturicchio, lived in Perugia. Galeazzo Alessi is the most famous architect from Perugia, the citys symbol is the griffin, which can be seen in the form of plaques and statues on buildings around the city. Perugia was an Umbrian settlement but first appears in history as Perusia, one of the 12 confederate cities of Etruria. Fabius Pictors account, utilized by Livy, of the carried out against the Etruscan League by Fabius Maximus Rullianus in 310 or 309 BC. At that time a thirty-year indutiae was agreed upon, however, in 295 Perusia took part in the Third Samnite War and was reduced, with Volsinii and Arretium, a number of lead bullets used by slingers have been found in and around the city. Negotiations with the besieging forces fell to the bishop, Herculanus. Totila is said to have ordered the bishop to be flayed and beheaded, st. Herculanus later became the citys patron saint. In the Lombard period Perugia is spoken of as one of the cities of Tuscia. Peter, acknowledged the validity of the statement and recognised the established civic practices as having the force of law. However this dominant tendency was rather an anti-Germanic and Italian political strategy, midway through the 14th century Bartholus of Sassoferrato, who was a renowned jurist, asserted that Perugia was dependent upon neither imperial nor papal support. Civic peace was constantly disturbed in the 14th century by struggles between the party representing the people and the nobles. A citadel known as the Rocca Paolina, after the name of Pope Paul III, was built, in 1797, the city was conquered by French troops. On 4 February 1798, the Tiberina Republic was formed, with Perugia as capital, in 1799, the Tiberina Republic merged to the Roman Republic
26.
Siena
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Siena is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena, the historic centre of Siena has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site. It is one of the nations most visited tourist attractions, with over 163,000 international arrivals in 2008, Siena is famous for its cuisine, art, museums, medieval cityscape and the Palio, a horse race held twice a year. Siena, like other Tuscan hill towns, was first settled in the time of the Etruscans when it was inhabited by a called the Saina. A Roman town called Saena Julia was founded at the site in the time of the Emperor Augustus, the first document mentioning it dates from AD70. Some archaeologists assert that Siena was controlled for a period by a Gaulish tribe called the Senones, according to local legend, Siena was founded by Senius and Aschius, two sons of Remus and thus nephews of Romulus, after whom Rome was named. Supposedly after their fathers murder by Romulus, they fled Rome, taking them the statue of the she-wolf suckling the infants. Additionally they rode white and black horses, giving rise to the Balzana, some claim the name Siena derives from Senius. Other etymologies derive the name from the Etruscan family name Saina, Siena did not prosper under Roman rule. It was not sited near any major roads and lacked opportunities for trade and its insular status meant that Christianity did not penetrate until the 4th century AD, and it was not until the Lombards invaded Siena and the surrounding territory that it knew prosperity. Siena prospered as a trading post, and the constant streams of pilgrims passing to, the oldest aristocratic families in Siena date their line to the Lombards surrender in 774 to Charlemagne. This ultimately resulted in the creation of the Republic of Siena, the Republic existed for over four hundred years, from the late 11th century until the year 1555. During the golden age of Siena before the Black Death in 1348, in the Italian War of 1551–59, the republic was defeated by the rival Duchy of Florence in alliance with the Spanish crown. After 18 months of resistance, Siena surrendered to Spain on 17 April 1555, the new Spanish King Felipe II, owing huge sums to the Medici, ceded it to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, to which it belonged until the unification of Italy in the 19th century. A Republican government of 700 Sienese families in Montalcino resisted until 1559, the picturesque city remains an important cultural centre, especially for humanist disciplines. The city lies at 322 m above sea level, the Siena Cathedral, begun in the 12th century, is a masterpiece of Italian Romanesque-Gothic architecture. Its main façade was completed in 1380, the original plan called for an ambitiously massive basilica, the largest then in the world, with, as was customary, an east-west nave. However, the scarcity of funds, in due to war and plague, truncated the project
27.
Rule of Saint Benedict
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The Rule of Saint Benedict is a book of precepts written by Benedict of Nursia for monks living communally under the authority of an abbot. The spirit of Saint Benedicts Rule is summed up in the motto of the Benedictine Confederation, pax, compared to other precepts, the Rule provides a moderate path between individual zeal and formulaic institutionalism, because of this middle ground it has been widely popular. The Rule of Saint Benedict has been used by Benedictines for fifteen centuries and his Rule was written as a guide for individual, autonomous communities, and to this day all Benedictine Houses remain self-governing. Advantages seen in retaining this unique Benedictine emphasis on autonomy include cultivating models of tightly bonded communities, perceived disadvantages comprise geographical isolation from important activities in adjacent communities. Other perceived losses include inefficiency and lack of mobility in the service of others, Christian monasticism first appeared in the Eastern Roman Empire a few generations before Benedict of Nursia, in the Egyptian desert. Within a generation, both solitary and communal monasticism became very popular and spread outside of Egypt, first to Palestine, Saint Basil of Caesarea codified the precepts for these eastern monasteries in his Ascetic Rule, or Ascetica, which is still used today in the Eastern Orthodox Church. In time, setting an example with his zeal, he began to attract disciples, after considerable initial struggles with his first community at Subiaco, he eventually founded the monastery of Monte Cassino in 529, where he wrote his Rule near the end of his life. In chapter 73, Saint Benedict commends the Rule of Saint Basil and he was probably aware of the Rule written by Pachomius, and his Rule also shows influence by the Rule of St Augustine of Hippo and the writings of Saint John Cassian. Chapter 3 ordains the calling of the brothers to council upon all affairs of importance to the community, Chapter 4 lists 73 tools for good work, tools of the spiritual craft for the workshop that is the enclosure of the monastery and the stability in the community. These are essentially the duties of every Christian and are mainly Scriptural either in letter or in spirit, Chapter 5 prescribes prompt, ungrudging, and absolute obedience to the superior in all things lawful, unhesitating obedience being called the first degree, or step, of humility. Chapter 6 recommends moderation in the use of speech, but does not enjoin strict silence, chapters 8-19 regulate the Divine Office, the Godly work to which nothing is to be preferred, namely the eight canonical hours. Detailed arrangements are made for the number of Psalms, etc. to be recited in winter and summer, on Sundays, weekdays, Holy Days, Chapter 19 emphasizes the reverence owed to the omnipresent God. Chapter 20 directs that prayer be made with heartfelt compunction rather than many words and it should be prolonged only under the inspiration of divine grace, and in community always kept short and terminated at a sign from the superior. Chapter 21 regulates the appointment of a Dean over every ten monks, each monk is to have a separate bed and is to sleep in his habit, so as to be ready to rise without delay, a light shall burn in the dormitory throughout the night. Chapters 31 and 32 order the appointment of officials to charge of the goods of the monastery. Chapter 33 forbids the possession of anything without the leave of the abbot. Chapter 34 prescribes a just distribution of such things, Chapter 35 arranges for the service in the kitchen by all monks in turn. Chapters 36 and 37 address care of the sick, the old, and they are to have certain dispensations from the strict Rule, chiefly in the matter of food
28.
Europe
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Europe is a continent that comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, yet the non-oceanic borders of Europe—a concept dating back to classical antiquity—are arbitrary. Europe covers about 10,180,000 square kilometres, or 2% of the Earths surface, politically, Europe is divided into about fifty sovereign states of which the Russian Federation is the largest and most populous, spanning 39% of the continent and comprising 15% of its population. Europe had a population of about 740 million as of 2015. Further from the sea, seasonal differences are more noticeable than close to the coast, Europe, in particular ancient Greece, was the birthplace of Western civilization. The fall of the Western Roman Empire, during the period, marked the end of ancient history. Renaissance humanism, exploration, art, and science led to the modern era, from the Age of Discovery onwards, Europe played a predominant role in global affairs. Between the 16th and 20th centuries, European powers controlled at times the Americas, most of Africa, Oceania. The Industrial Revolution, which began in Great Britain at the end of the 18th century, gave rise to economic, cultural, and social change in Western Europe. During the Cold War, Europe was divided along the Iron Curtain between NATO in the west and the Warsaw Pact in the east, until the revolutions of 1989 and fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1955, the Council of Europe was formed following a speech by Sir Winston Churchill and it includes all states except for Belarus, Kazakhstan and Vatican City. Further European integration by some states led to the formation of the European Union, the EU originated in Western Europe but has been expanding eastward since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The European Anthem is Ode to Joy and states celebrate peace, in classical Greek mythology, Europa is the name of either a Phoenician princess or of a queen of Crete. The name contains the elements εὐρύς, wide, broad and ὤψ eye, broad has been an epithet of Earth herself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion and the poetry devoted to it. For the second part also the divine attributes of grey-eyed Athena or ox-eyed Hera. The same naming motive according to cartographic convention appears in Greek Ανατολή, Martin Litchfield West stated that phonologically, the match between Europas name and any form of the Semitic word is very poor. Next to these there is also a Proto-Indo-European root *h1regʷos, meaning darkness. Most major world languages use words derived from Eurṓpē or Europa to refer to the continent, in some Turkic languages the originally Persian name Frangistan is used casually in referring to much of Europe, besides official names such as Avrupa or Evropa
29.
Papal bull
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A Papal bull is a specific kind of public decree, letters patent, or charter issued by a pope of the Roman Catholic Church. It is named after the seal that was traditionally appended to the end in order to authenticate it. Papal bulls have been in use at least since the 6th century, but the phrase was not used until around the end of the 13th century, and then only internally for unofficial administrative purposes. However, it had become official by the 15th century, when one of the offices of the Apostolic Chancery was named the register of bulls, by the accession of Pope Leo IX in 1048, a clear distinction developed between two classes of bulls of greater and less solemnity. The majority of the bulls now in existence are in the nature of confirmations of property or charters of protection accorded to monasteries. In an epoch when there was much fabrication of such documents, a Papal confirmation, under certain conditions, could be pleaded as itself constituting sufficient evidence of title in cases where the original deed had been lost or destroyed. Since the 12th century, Papal bulls have carried a seal with the heads of the Apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul on one side. Papal bulls were issued by the Pope for many kinds of communication of a public nature. Papyrus seems to have used almost uniformly as the material for these documents until the early years of the eleventh century. Popularly, the name is used for any Papal document that contains a metal seal, today, the bull is the only written communication in which the Pope will refer to himself as Episcopus Servus Servorum Dei. For example, when Pope Benedict XVI issued a decree in bull form, while Papal bulls always used to bear a metal seal, they now do so only on the most solemn occasions. A Papal bull is today the most formal type of public decree or letters patent issued by the Vatican Chancery in the name of the Pope, the body of the text had no specific conventions for its formatting, it was often very simple in layout. For the most solemn bulls, the Pope signed the document himself, following the signature in this case would be an elaborate monogram, the signatures of any witnesses, and then the seal. Nowadays, a member of the Roman Curia signs the document on behalf of the Pope, usually the Cardinal Secretary of State, and thus the monogram is omitted. The most distinctive characteristic of a bull was the seal, which was usually made of lead. On the obverse it depicted, originally somewhat crudely, the early Fathers of the Church of Rome, the Apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul, identified by the letters Sanctus PAulus and Sanctus PEtrus. Each head was surrounded by a circle of globetti, and the rim of the seal was surrounded by a ring of such beads. On the reverse was the name of the issuing Pope in the nominative Latin form, with the letters PP, for Pastor Pastorum
30.
Colette of Corbie
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Colette of Corbie, P. C. C. was a French abbess and the foundress of the Colettine Poor Clares, a reform branch of the Order of Saint Clare, better known as the Poor Clares. She is honored as a saint in the Catholic Church, due to a number of miraculous events claimed during her life, she is venerated as the patron saint of women seeking to conceive, expectant mothers and sick children. Her contemporary biographers say that her parents had grown old without having children and their prayers were answered when, at the age of 60, Marguerite gave birth to a daughter. Out of gratitude, they named the baby after the saint to whom they credited the miracle of her birth and she was affectionately called Nicolette by her parents, which soon came to be shorted to Colette, by which name she is known. After her parents died in 1399, Colette joined the Beguines and she received the habit of the Third Order of St. Francis in 1402, and became a hermit under the direction of the Abbot of Corbie, living near the abbey church. In October 1406, she turned to the Antipope Benedict XIII of Avignon who was recognized in France as the rightful pope, Benedict received her in Nice, in southern France, and allowed her to transfer to the Order of Poor Clares. Additionally, he empowered her through several papal bulls, issued between 1406 and 1412, to found new monasteries and to complete the reform of the Order. With the approval of the Countess of Geneva and the aid of the Franciscan itinerant preacher, Henry de Beaume, Colette began her work at Beaune and she remained there only a short time. In 1410, she opened her first monastery at Besançon, in a house of Urbanist Poor Clares. From there, her reform spread to Auxonne, to Poligny, to Ghent, to Heidelberg, to Amiens, to Pont-à-Mousson in Lorraine, during her lifetime 18 monasteries of her reform were founded. For the monasteries which followed her reform, she prescribed extreme poverty, going barefoot, Colette died at Ghent in March 1447. Colette was beatified 23 January 1740, by Pope Clement XII and was canonized 24 May 1807 by Pope Pius VII and she is invoked by childless couples desiring to become parents, and is also the patroness of expectant mothers, and sick infants. Currently outside France the Colettine nuns are found in Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Norway, the Philippines, Spain and throughout the United Kingdom and the United States. Together with friar Henry of Beaume, Colette also inaugurated a reform among the Franciscan friars, in 1448 they had only thirteen friaries, all attached to monasteries of the Colettine nuns. Together with other branches of the Friars Minor, they were merged into the wider Observant branch in 1517 by Pope Leo X. While traveling to Nice to meet Pope Benedict, Colette stayed at the home of a friend and his wife was in labor at that time with their third child, and was having major difficulties in the childbirth, leaving her in danger of death. Colette immediately went to the church to pray for her. The mother gave birth successfully, and survived the ordeal and she credited Colettes prayers for this
31.
Corbie
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Corbie is a commune of the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. The small town is situated 15 km up river from Amiens and it lies in the valley of the River Somme, at the confluence of the River Ancre. The town is bisected by the Canal de la Somme and this Satellite photograph shows it in its context. The town is to the left and the fenny Somme valley winds down to it from the right, the chalk of the Upper Cretaceous plateau shows pale in the fields. The River Ancre flows down from the north-east, the A29 is shown under construction snaking across the chalk in the southern part of the picture. The fainter, straight line just to its north is the road N29 and it passes through Villers-Bretonneux, the village just south of Corbie. The town of Corbie grew up round Corbie Abbey, founded in 657 or 660 by the queen regent Bathilde and its scriptorium came to be one of the centres of work of manuscript illumination when the art was still fairly new in western Europe. In this early, Merovingian, period the work of Corbie was innovative in that it showed pictures of people, for example and it was also the place of creation, in about 780, of the influential Caroline minuscule script. The contents of its library are known from catalogues of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, in 1638, Cardinal Richelieu ordered the transfer of the librarys books to the library at Saint-Germain-des-Prés, which was dispersed at the end of the eighteenth century. In 1234, Floris IV, Count of Holland died at a tournament held here, in 1475, the town was taken by Louis XI. The Spanish took it on 15 August 1636 but were ousted in November by Richelieu, in 1918, Corbie was on the margin of the battlefield of Villers-Bretonneux at which the First Battle of the Somme of the Spring Offensive came to a climax. Abbey of St. Peter Town Hall Church of la Neuville, at the north-west end of the town Adalard of Corbie, in 822, he founded Corvey Abbey on the territory of Höxter in Westphalia. Adela of France, Countess of Flanders, countess of Corbie, married Baldwin V, Count of Flanders, their son, Baldwin of Mons became Baldwin VI, Saint Colette, reformer of the Franciscan Order Eugène Lefebvre, aviation pioneer, born at Corbie 4 October 1878. He was the first pilot to be killed at the controls of his aeroplane,7 September 1909 Höxter, Germany Pickering, Great Britain Communes of the Somme department INSEE Nordenfalk, western European Illuminated Manuscripts 8th to 16th centuries
32.
Peter of Alcantara
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Saint Peter of Alcantara, O. F. M. was a Spanish Franciscan friar canonized in 1699. He was born at Alcántara, Province of Cáceres, Extremadura and his father, Peter Garavita, was the governor of Alcántara, and his mother was of the noble family of Sanabia. He decided to join the Franciscans at the age of 16 shortly after he was sent to university in Salamanca by his stepfather, returning home, he became a Franciscan friar of the Stricter Observance in the friary at Manxaretes, Extremadura, in 1515. At the age of twenty-two he was sent to found a new community of the Stricter Observance at Badajoz and he was ordained a priest in 1524, and the following year was appointed Guardian of the friary of St. Mary of the Angels at Robredillo, Old Castile. A few years later he began preaching with much success and he preferred to preach to the poor, his sermons, taken largely from the Prophets and Sapiential Books, breathe the tenderest human sympathy. Soon, though, other came to join him. Peter was chosen guardian and Master of novices at the friary of Palhais, in 1560 these communities were erected into the Province of Arrábida. Friaries were established at Pedrosa, Plasencia and elsewhere, in 1556 they were made a commissariat, with Peter as Commissary, and in 1561 a religious Province under the title of St Joseph. Not discouraged by the opposition and ill-success his efforts at reform had met with in St Gabriel Province, the reform spread rapidly into other provinces of Spain and Portugal. In 1562 the Province of St Joseph was put under the jurisdiction of the Minister General of the Observants and his success was so remarkable that St Francis Borgia once wrote to him, Your remarkable success is a special comfort to me. In St. Teresa of Jesus, Peter perceived a soul chosen of God for a great work and it was a letter from Peter that encouraged her to found her first monastery at Avila, August 24 of that year. St. Teresas autobiography is the source of much of our information regarding Peters life, work, the gift of miracles and prophecy. According to St. Teresa of Ávila, it was a common thing for him to take food only once in three days, and that sometimes he would go a week without eating. He was a man of remarkable austerity and poverty who travelled throughout Spain preaching the Gospel to the poor and he wrote a Treatise on Prayer and Meditation, which was considered a masterpiece by St. Teresa, St. Francis de Sales and Louis of Granada. While in prayer and contemplation, he was seen in ecstasies. In his deathbed, he was offered a glass of water which he refused and he died while on his knees in prayer on October 18,1562 in a monastery at Arenas. It is also said that Peter slept very little and that he always slept sitting up, because he was awake most of the time when his brother friars were sleeping, he is the patron saint of night watchmen. Peter of Alcantara was beatified in Rome by Pope Gregory XV on April 18,1622, and canonized by Pope Clement IX on April 28,1669
33.
Holy See
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The Holy See, also referred to as the See of Rome, is the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, the episcopal see of the Pope, and an independent sovereign entity. It serves as the point of reference for the Catholic Church everywhere. Today, it is responsible for the governance of all Catholics, organised in their Particular Churches, Patriarchates, as an independent sovereign entity, holding the Vatican City enclave in Rome as sovereign territory, it maintains diplomatic relations with other states. Diplomatically, the Holy See acts and speaks for the whole church and it is also recognised by other subjects of international law as a sovereign entity, headed by the Pope, with which diplomatic relations can be maintained. The creation of the Vatican City state was meant to ensure the diplomatic, in Greek, the adjective holy or sacred is constantly applied to all such sees as a matter of course. The word see comes from the Latin word sedes, meaning seat, while Saint Peters basilica in Vatican City is perhaps the church most associated with the Papacy, the actual cathedral of the Holy See is the church of Saint John Lateran within the city of Rome. The Pope governs the Catholic Church through the Roman Curia, the Secretariat of State, under the Cardinal Secretary of State, directs and coordinates the Curia. The incumbent, Archbishop Pietro Parolin, is the Sees equivalent of a prime minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, Secretary of the Section for Relations with States of the Secretariat of State, acts as the Holy Sees minister of foreign affairs. Parolin was named in his role by Pope Francis On 31 August 2013, mamberti was named in his role by Pope Benedict XVI in September 2006. The Secretariat of State is the body of the Curia that is situated within Vatican City. The others are in buildings in different parts of Rome that have rights similar to those of embassies. The Roman Rota handles normal judicial appeals, the most numerous being those that concern alleged nullity of marriage and it also oversees the work of other ecclesiastical tribunals at all levels. The most important of these is the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, the Prefecture of the Papal Household is responsible for the organization of the papal household, audiences, and ceremonies. The Holy See does not dissolve upon a Popes death or resignation and it instead operates under a different set of laws sede vacante. The government of the See, and therefore of the Catholic Church, canon law prohibits the College and the Camerlengo from introducing any innovations or novelties in the government of the Church during this period. In 2001, the Holy See had a revenue of 422.098 billion Italian lire, the Guardian newspaper described Mennini and his role in the following manner. Paolo Mennini, who is in effect the popes merchant banker, Mennini heads a special unit inside the Vatican called the extraordinary division of APSA – Amministrazione del Patrimonio della Sede Apostolica – which handles the patrimony of the Holy See. The Holy See has been recognized, both in practice and in the writing of modern legal scholars, as a subject of public international law, with rights
34.
Venice
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Venice is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is situated across a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and these are located in the shallow Venetian Lagoon, an enclosed bay that lies between the mouths of the Po and the Piave Rivers. Parts of Venice are renowned for the beauty of their settings, their architecture, the lagoon and a part of the city are listed as a World Heritage Site. In 2014,264,579 people resided in Comune di Venezia, together with Padua and Treviso, the city is included in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, with a total population of 2.6 million. PATREVE is a metropolitan area without any degree of autonomy. The name is derived from the ancient Veneti people who inhabited the region by the 10th century BC, the city was historically the capital of the Republic of Venice. Venice has been known as the La Dominante, Serenissima, Queen of the Adriatic, City of Water, City of Masks, City of Bridges, The Floating City, and City of Canals. The City State of Venice is considered to have been the first real international financial center which gradually emerged from the 9th century to its peak in the 14th century and this made Venice a wealthy city throughout most of its history. It is also known for its several important artistic movements, especially the Renaissance period, Venice has played an important role in the history of symphonic and operatic music, and it is the birthplace of Antonio Vivaldi. Venice has been ranked the most beautiful city in the world as of 2016, the name Venetia, however, derives from the Roman name for the people known as the Veneti, and called by the Greeks Eneti. The meaning of the word is uncertain, although there are other Indo-European tribes with similar-sounding names, such as the Celtic Veneti, Baltic Veneti, and the Slavic Wends. Linguists suggest that the name is based on an Indo-European root *wen, so that *wenetoi would mean beloved, lovable, a connection with the Latin word venetus, meaning the color sea-blue, is also possible. The alternative obsolete form is Vinegia, some late Roman sources reveal the existence of fishermen on the islands in the original marshy lagoons. They were referred to as incolae lacunae, the traditional founding is identified with the dedication of the first church, that of San Giacomo on the islet of Rialto — said to have taken place at the stroke of noon on 25 March 421. Beginning as early as AD166 to 168, the Quadi and Marcomanni destroyed the center in the area. The Roman defences were again overthrown in the early 5th century by the Visigoths and, some 50 years later, New ports were built, including those at Malamocco and Torcello in the Venetian lagoon. The tribuni maiores, the earliest central standing governing committee of the islands in the Lagoon, the traditional first doge of Venice, Paolo Lucio Anafesto, was actually Exarch Paul, and his successor, Marcello Tegalliano, was Pauls magister militum. In 726 the soldiers and citizens of the Exarchate rose in a rebellion over the controversy at the urging of Pope Gregory II
35.
Mantua
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Mantua is a city and commune in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the province of the same name. In 2016, Mantua became Italian Capital of Culture, as chosen by the Italian Government on 27 October 2015, in 2017, Mantua will also be European Capital of Gastronomy, included in the Eastern Lombardy District. In 2007, Mantuas centro storico and Sabbioneta were declared by UNESCO to be a World Heritage Site. Mantuas historic power and influence under the Gonzaga family has made it one of the artistic, cultural, and especially musical hubs of Northern Italy. Mantua is noted for its significant role in the history of opera, the city is known for its architectural treasures and artifacts, elegant palaces. It is the place where the composer Monteverdi premiered his opera LOrfeo and it is the nearest town to the birthplace of the Roman poet Virgil, who was commemorated by a statue at the lakeside park Piazza Virgiliana. Mantua is surrounded on three sides by artificial lakes, created during the 12th century, as the defence system. These lakes receive water from the Mincio River, a tributary of the Po River which descends from Lake Garda, the three lakes are called Lago Superiore, Lago di Mezzo, and Lago Inferiore. A fourth lake, Lake Pajolo, which served as a defensive water ring around the city. These dated, without interruption, from Neolithic times to the Bronze Age and the Gallic phases, and ended with Roman residential settlements, which could be traced to the 3rd century AD. Mantua was a settlement which was first established about the year 2000 BC on the banks of River Mincio. In the 6th century BC, Mantua was an Etruscan village which, the name may derive from the Etruscan god Mantus. This new Roman territory was populated by soldiers of Augustus. Mantuas most famous ancient citizen is the poet Virgil, or Publius Vergilius Maro, after the fall of the western Roman Empire in 476 AD, Mantua was invaded in turn by Goths, Byzantines, Longobards, and Franks. In the 11th century, Mantua became a possession of Boniface of Canossa, the last ruler of that family was the countess Matilda of Canossa, who, according to legend, ordered the construction of the precious Rotonda di San Lorenzo in 1082. The Rotonda still exists today and was renovated in 2013, free Imperial City of Mantua After the death of Matilda of Canossa, Mantua became a free commune and strenuously defended itself from the Holy Roman Empire during the 12th and 13th centuries. In 1198, Alberto Pitentino altered the course of River Mincio, three of these lakes still remains today and the fourth one, which ran through the centre of town, was reclaimed in the 18th century. Podesteria Rule From 1215, the city was ruled under the podesteria of the Gallic-Guelph Rambertino Buvalelli, during the struggle between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines, Pinamonte Bonacolsi took advantage of the chaotic situation to seize power of the podesteria in 1273
36.
Padua
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Padua is a city and comune in Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic, the city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, which has a population of c. Padua stands on the Bacchiglione River,40 kilometres west of Venice and 29 km southeast of Vicenza, the Brenta River, which once ran through the city, still touches the northern districts. Its agricultural setting is the Venetian Plain, to the citys south west lies the Euganaean Hills, praised by Lucan and Martial, Petrarch, Ugo Foscolo, and Shelley. It hosts the University of Padua, founded in 1222, where Galileo Galilei was a lecturer, Padua is the setting for most of the action in Shakespeares The Taming of the Shrew. There is a play by the Victorian writer Oscar Wilde, titled The Duchess Of Padua, the original significance of the Roman name Patavium is uncertain. It may be connected with the ancient name of the River Po, additionally, the root pat-, in the Indo-European language may refer to a wide open plain as opposed to nearby hills. The ending -ium, signifies the presence of villages that have united themselves together, Padua claims to be the oldest city in northern Italy. According to a tradition dated at least to the time of Virgils Aeneid and to Livys Ab Urbe Condita, Padua was founded in around 1183 BC by the Trojan prince Antenor. After the Fall of Troy, Antenor led a group of Trojans and their Paphlagonian allies, the Eneti or Veneti, thus, when a large ancient stone sarcophagus was exhumed in the year 1274, officials of medieval commune declared the remains within to be those of Antenor. Nevertheless, archeological remains confirm a date for the foundation of the center of the town to between the 11th and 10th centuries BC. The Roman historian Livy records an invasion of the Spartan king Cleonimos around 302 BC. The Spartans came up the river but were defeated by the Veneti in a naval battle, still later, the Veneti of Padua successfully defended themselves against the aggression of Etruscans and Gauls. According to Livy and Silius Italicus, the Veneti, including those of Padua, formed an alliance with the Romans by 226 BC, against their common enemy, men from Padua fought and died besides the Romans at Cannae. As the Romans advanced northward, Padua was gradually assimilated into the Roman Republic, in 175 BC, Padua requested the aid of Rome in putting down a local civil war. In 91 BC, Padua, along with cities of the Veneti. Around 49 BC, Padua was made a Roman municipium under the Lex Julia Municipalis and its citizens ascribed to the Roman tribe, at that time the population of the city was perhaps 40,000. The city was reputed for its excellent breed of horses and the wool of its sheep, in fact, the poet Martial remarks on the thickness of the tunics made there
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Agnes of Assisi
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Saint Agnes of Assisi, O. S. C. was the younger sister of Saint Clare of Assisi and one of the first abbesses of the Order of Poor Ladies. She was a daughter of Count Favorino Scifi. Her birth name was probably Caterina, she took the name of Agnes when she became a nun and her mother, Ortolana, who also would join the Order founded by her daughters, belonged to the noble family of the Fiumi. Their cousin Rufino was one of the original Three Companions of Francis of Assisi, Agnes childhood was passed between her fathers palace in the city and his castle of Sasso Rosso on Mount Subasio. On 18 March 1212, her eldest sister Clare, inspired by the example of St. Francis of Assisi, left their fathers home in secret to become a follower of the saint. Sixteen days later, Agnes ran off to the Benedictine Monastery of St. Angelo where St. Francis had brought her sister, resolved to share Clares life of poverty and penance. Angry at having lost two of his daughters, their father sent his brother Monaldo, and several relations and armed followers to the monastery to force Agnes, if persuasion failed, to return home. Monaldo drew his sword to strike his niece, but his arm allegedly dropped to his side, withered, the others dragged Agnes out of the monastery by her hair, striking her and kicking her repeatedly. Agnes body reportedly became so heavy, perhaps due to the help of her sister, Agnes relatives, purportedly realizing that something divine protected her, allowed the sisters to remain together. Saint Francis himself cut her hair and gave her the religious habit, in 1221 the Abbess Clare chose her sister to lead a community of Benedictine nuns in the village of Monticelli who wished to embrace the way of life of the Poor Ladies. She later went on to other communities of the Order, including those of Mantua, Venice. Agnes was said to be virtuous, and as abbess she ruled with a benevolent kindness. Agnes nursed her sister Clare during the illness, and shortly thereafter died herself. Her remains were interred with those of her sister at the Basilica of St. Clare at Assisi, Agnes feast day is the anniversary of her death,16 November. Rome 1989, Instituto Storico dei Cappucini
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Spain
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By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth
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Barcelona
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Founded as a Roman city, in the Middle Ages Barcelona became the capital of the County of Barcelona. Barcelona has a cultural heritage and is today an important cultural centre. Particularly renowned are the works of Antoni Gaudí and Lluís Domènech i Montaner. The headquarters of the Union for the Mediterranean is located in Barcelona, the city is known for hosting the 1992 Summer Olympics as well as world-class conferences and expositions and also many international sport tournaments. It is a cultural and economic centre in southwestern Europe, 24th in the world. In 2008 it was the fourth most economically powerful city by GDP in the European Union, in 2012 Barcelona had a GDP of $170 billion, it is leading Spain in both employment rate and GDP per capita change. In 2009 the city was ranked Europes third and one of the worlds most successful as a city brand, since 2011 Barcelona has been a leading smart city in Europe. During the Middle Ages, the city was known as Barchinona, Barçalona, Barchelonaa. Internationally, Barcelonas name is abbreviated to Barça. However, this refers only to FC Barcelona, the football club. The common abbreviated form used by locals is Barna, another common abbreviation is BCN, which is also the IATA airport code of the Barcelona-El Prat Airport. The city is referred to as the Ciutat Comtal in Catalan. The origin of the earliest settlement at the site of present-day Barcelona is unclear, the ruins of an early settlement have been excavated in the El Raval neighbourhood, including different tombs and dwellings dating to earlier than 5000 BC. The founding of Barcelona is the subject of two different legends, the first attributes the founding of the city to the mythological Hercules. In about 15 BC, the Romans redrew the town as a castrum centred on the Mons Taber, under the Romans, it was a colony with the surname of Faventia, or, in full, Colonia Faventia Julia Augusta Pia Barcino or Colonia Julia Augusta Faventia Paterna Barcino. It enjoyed immunity from imperial burdens, the city minted its own coins, some from the era of Galba survive. Some remaining fragments of the Roman walls have incorporated into the cathedral. The cathedral, also known as the Basilica La Seu, is said to have founded in 343
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Burgos
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Burgos is a city in northern Spain and the historic capital of Castile. It is situated on the confluence of the Arlanzón river tributaries and it has about 180,000 inhabitants in the actual city and another 20,000 in the metropolitan area. It is the capital of the province of Burgos, in the community of Castile. A large number of churches, palaces and other buildings from the medieval age remain, the city is surrounded by the Fuentes Blancas and the Paseo de la Isla parks. The city forms the principal crossroad of northern Spain along the Camino de Santiago and it has a well-developed transportation system, forming the main communication node in northern Spain. In 2008, the international Burgos Airport started to offer commercial flights, furthermore, AVE high speed trains are planned to start service in the near future, stopping at the newly-built Rosa de Lima train station. The Museum of Human Evolution was opened in 2010, unique in its kind across the world, the museum features the first Europeans, which lived in this area 800,000 years ago. Burgos was selected as the Spanish Gastronomy Capital of 2013, there are several possible origins for the toponymy. When the city was founded, the inhabitants of the country moved into the fortified village. The city began to be called Caput Castellae, early humans occupied sites around Burgos as early as 800,000 years ago. When the Romans took possession of what is now the province of Burgos, in Roman times, it belonged to Hispania Citerior and then to Hispania Tarraconensis. The region came to be known as Castile, i. e. land of castles, the city began to be called Caput Castellae. The county of Burgos, subject to the Kings of León, continued to be governed by counts and was extended, one of these counts, Fernán González. In the 11th century, the city became the see of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burgos, throughout the 13th and 14th centuries, Burgos was a favourite seat of the kings of León and Castile and a favoured burial site. In 1285, Sancho IV added a new body to the consejo which came to dominate it, the jurado in charge of collecting taxes and overseeing public works, the alguacil was the royal official instituted to judge disagreements. On 9 June 1345, sweeping aside the city government, Alfonso XI established direct rule of Burgos through the Regimiento of sixteen appointed men. In 1574, Pope Gregory XIII made the bishopric a Metropolitan archbishorpic, Burgos has been the scene of many wars, with the Moors, the struggles between León and Navarre, and between Castile and Aragon. In the Peninsular War against Napoleonic France, the siege of Burgos was a scene of a withdrawal for Arthur Wellesley, again in the 19th-century Carlist civil wars of the Spanish succession Burgos was the scene of a battle
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Belgium
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Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a sovereign state in Western Europe bordered by France, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, and the North Sea. It is a small, densely populated country which covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres and has a population of about 11 million people. Additionally, there is a group of German-speakers who live in the East Cantons located around the High Fens area. Historically, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg were known as the Low Countries, the region was called Belgica in Latin, after the Roman province of Gallia Belgica. From the end of the Middle Ages until the 17th century, today, Belgium is a federal constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. It is divided into three regions and three communities, that exist next to each other and its two largest regions are the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in the north and the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia. The Brussels-Capital Region is a bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. A German-speaking Community exists in eastern Wallonia, Belgiums linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in its political history and complex system of governance, made up of six different governments. Upon its independence, declared in 1830, Belgium participated in the Industrial Revolution and, during the course of the 20th century, possessed a number of colonies in Africa. This continuing antagonism has led to several far-reaching reforms, resulting in a transition from a unitary to a federal arrangement during the period from 1970 to 1993. Belgium is also a member of the Eurozone, NATO, OECD and WTO. Its capital, Brussels, hosts several of the EUs official seats as well as the headquarters of major international organizations such as NATO. Belgium is also a part of the Schengen Area, Belgium is a developed country, with an advanced high-income economy and is categorized as very high in the Human Development Index. A gradual immigration by Germanic Frankish tribes during the 5th century brought the area under the rule of the Merovingian kings, a gradual shift of power during the 8th century led the kingdom of the Franks to evolve into the Carolingian Empire. Many of these fiefdoms were united in the Burgundian Netherlands of the 14th and 15th centuries, the Eighty Years War divided the Low Countries into the northern United Provinces and the Southern Netherlands. The latter were ruled successively by the Spanish and the Austrian Habsburgs and this was the theatre of most Franco-Spanish and Franco-Austrian wars during the 17th and 18th centuries. The reunification of the Low Countries as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands occurred at the dissolution of the First French Empire in 1815, although the franchise was initially restricted, universal suffrage for men was introduced after the general strike of 1893 and for women in 1949. The main political parties of the 19th century were the Catholic Party, French was originally the single official language adopted by the nobility and the bourgeoisie
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France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
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Reims
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Reims, a city in the Grand Est region of France, lies 129 km east-northeast of Paris. The 2013 census recorded 182,592 inhabitants in the city of Reims proper and its river, the Vesle, is a tributary of the Aisne. Founded by the Gauls, it became a city during the period of the Roman Empire. Reims played a prominent ceremonial role in French monarchical history as the site of the crowning of the kings of France. The Cathedral of Reims housed the Holy Ampulla containing the Saint Chrême and it was used for the anointing, the most important part of the coronation of French kings. Reims functions as a subprefecture of the department of Marne, in the region of Grand Est. Although Reims is by far the largest commune in both its region and department, Châlons-en-Champagne is the capital and prefecture of both. Before the Roman conquest of northern Gaul, Reims, founded circa 80 BC as *Durocorteron, at its height in Roman times the city had a population in the range of 30,000 -50,000 or perhaps up to 100,000. Christianity had become established in the city by 260, at which period Saint Sixtus of Reims founded the bishopric of Reims, for centuries the events at the crowning of Clovis I became a symbol used by the monarchy to claim the divine right to rule. Meetings of Pope Stephen II with Pepin the Short, and of Pope Leo III with Charlemagne, took place at Reims, Louis IV gave the city and countship of Reims to the archbishop Artaldus in 940. Louis VII gave the title of duke and peer to William of Champagne, archbishop from 1176 to 1202, by the 10th century Reims had become a centre of intellectual culture. Archbishop Adalberon, seconded by the monk Gerbert, founded schools which taught the liberal arts. Louis XI cruelly suppressed a revolt at Reims, caused in 1461 by the salt tax, during the French Wars of Religion the city sided with the Catholic League, but submitted to Henri IV after the battle of Ivry. In August 1909 Reims hosted the first international meet, the Grande Semaine dAviation de la Champagne. Major aviation personages such as Glenn Curtiss, Louis Blériot and Louis Paulhan participated, hostilities in World War I greatly damaged the city. German bombardment and a subsequent fire in 1914 did severe damage to the cathedral, from the end of World War I to the present day an international effort to restore the cathedral from the ruins has continued. The Palace of Tau, St Jacques Church and the Abbey of St Remi also were protected and restored, the collection of preserved buildings and Roman ruins remains monumentally impressive. During World War II the city suffered additional damage, but in Reims, at 2,41 on the morning of 7 May 1945, General Eisenhower and the Allies received the unconditional surrender of the German Wehrmacht
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Montpellier
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Montpellier is a city in southern France. It is the capital of the Hérault department, Montpellier is the 8th largest city of France, and is also the fastest growing city in the country over the past 25 years. Nearly one third of the population are students from three universities and from three higher education institutions that are outside the university framework in the city. Located on the south coast of France on the Mediterranean Sea, it is the third-largest French city on the Mediterranean coast after Marseille and Nice. Montpellier is one of the few cities in France without any Roman heritage. In the Early Middle Ages, the episcopal town of Maguelone was the major settlement in the area. Montpellier, first mentioned in a document of 985, was founded under a feudal dynasty, the Guilhem. The two surviving towers of the city walls, the Tour des Pins and the Tour de la Babotte, were built later, william VIII of Montpellier gave freedom for all to teach medicine in Montpellier in 1180. This era marked the point of Montpelliers prominence. The city became a possession of the Kings of Aragon in 1204 by the marriage of Peter II of Aragon with Marie of Montpellier, who was given the city and its dependencies as part of her dowry. Montpellier gained a charter in 1204 when Peter and Marie confirmed the traditional freedoms. Under the Kings of Aragon, Montpellier became an important city, a major economic centre. It was the second or third most important city of France at that time, with its importance steadily increasing, the city finally gained a bishop, who moved from Maguelone in 1536, and the huge monastery chapel became a cathedral. In 1432, Jacques Cœur established himself in the city and it became an important economic centre, at the time of the Reformation in the 16th century, many of the inhabitants of Montpellier became Protestants and the city became a stronghold of Protestant resistance to the Catholic French crown. In 1622, King Louis XIII besieged the city surrendered after a two months siege, afterwards building the Citadel of Montpellier to secure it. Louis XIV made Montpellier capital of Bas Languedoc, and the town started to embellish itself, by building the Promenade du Peyrou, the Esplanade, after the French Revolution, the city became the capital of the much smaller Hérault. During the 19th century the city developed into an industrial centre, in the 1960s, its population grew dramatically after French settlers in Algeria were resettled in the city following Algerias independence from France. In the 1980s and 1990s, the city drew attention with a number of redevelopment projects, such as the Corum
"Clares, Poor". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.
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