Muhammad Azmat Ullah Shah

Khawaja Sufi Muhammad Azmat Ullah Shah (November 1, 1945 – September 25, 2016) was a renowned Sufi spiritual leader and a retired Colonel of the Pakistan Armed Forces. He was the son and "mureed" (follower) of the eminent Khawaja Faqeer Sufi Muhammad Naqeeb Ullah Shah, and later became the leader of the Naqeebi spiritual chain, Silsila Aliya Naqeebiya. He practised and taught Islam through the simplest, yet most practical ways and was known for his unrivalled promotion of discipline, love and peace, through enlightening individuals to find and realise their true selves. He regularly emphasised that those who could not love, respect and thank other fellow human beings could not love, respect and thank Allah.
Early life.
Khawaja Sufi Muhammad Azmat Ullah Shah was born on 1 November 1945. He passed matriculation from Quetta board of Secondary Education in 1962 followed by successful completion of Intermediate education (Higher Secondary Education) from Islamia College Kasur.
He received education in sharia and enlightenment under the supervision of his Shaikh and late father, the grand sheikh of Naqeebia Spiritual chain.
While his father was his Pir o Murshed, his mother was a Sufiah, she made great sacrifices and guided her kids as per Sunnah.
Pakistan Army.
Khawaja Sufi Muhammad Azmat Ullah Shah joined the Pakistan Army in 1962. After the successful completion of his professional training in the Military Academy, he served in the Pakistan Army, Frontier Forces.
During his service he earned the rank of Colonel, having fought in the Soviet–Afghan War.
In 1994, his shaikh nominated him as his successor and following his Shaikh's passing, he became the custodian of his Shrine and Astana at "Naqeeb Abad Sharif" in Kasur, Pakistan. After his retirement from Pakistan Army in 1994, he served masses through education of peace, tolerance and discipline as 1st Custodian/ Sajada and leader of Silsila Aliya Naqeebia.
Religious career.
Shah was an esteemed spiritual leader with millions of followers worldwide, and the leader of the Naqeebi spiritual chain. He was Sajjada Nashin (custodian and trustee) of Astana Aliya Naqeebia, Naqeebabad Sharif near Kasur, Pakistan by 2005. In 2012, he announced his support for Imran Khan.
His life was about reaching out to people and helping them understand the meaning of this life and the hereafter. He offered a philosophy of love, peace and discipline. His followers remember him with love and respect. He taught his followers to be focused. He said that people should act with focus and passion while remembering Allah with each breath.
Azmat ul Auliya explained Deen Islam simply and clearly.
His followers tell about his spiritual connection with his followers. They speak of him guiding them spiritually to attain peace, connect with soul, and about the meaning of this life and the hereafter.
Every Dargah/ Shrine serves food to the masses. At Astana Aliya Naqeebia, Muhammad Azmat Ullah Shah made this a religious duty for his chain. "Langer" (food) served at this shrine of Naqeebia Chain is called Shahi Langer which means food of highest quality fit for kings. "Langer" at Astana Aliya Naqeebia is available in huge quantities. Each week has a menu that includes vegetables, pulses, rice, meat, curry, tea, milk, sweets, sharbats and pickles.
In 2004 he visited Wales where he was honored at Cardiff City Hall. He was a member of Nazaria-i-Pakistan Trust.
Spiritual gatherings.
Silsila Aliya Naqeebia creates year round spiritual gatherings. This chain has no day without spiritual gathering. People from across Pakistan come to Astana e Aliya Naqeebia, Naqeebabad Sharif Kasur, Pakistan on the 27th night of each lunar month. This is called Sattaisvien Sharif, which means blessed 27th of each month. Followers recite Darood o Salam, Hamd o Naat, Quran o Hadees and then Zikr o Khatam Sharif. Every Sataisvien Sharif Mehfil e Sama (sufi music and poetry) makes followers cry and tremble with fear of Allah. Many attendees Mehfil e Sama lose themselves in the music and poetry, while crying and reciting Kalma Tayaba they do Raqs (whirling Dervishes). They explain this Kaifiyat/Condition as "connecting with soul and celestial energy and losing themselves in that moment of Tuabah (asking forgiveness ), realization of true self, letting go of all worldly thoughts, worries and status""."
Legacy.
Azmat ul Auliya passed away in Britain on September 26, 2016 of kidney disease. He was buried at Astana-e-Aliya Naqeeb Abad, Kasur. His funeral service was attended by many people, including Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and Rana Muhammad Iqbal Khan. He is buried next to his father.
Naqeeb e Sani and Azmat e Sani succeeded him.


Anne Daly

Anne Daly or Mother Mary Berchmans (28 May 1860 – 4 March 1924) was an Irish-Australian superior general of the Sisters of Charity of Australia and founded numerous hospitals in Australia, as well as being active in education.
Early life.
Anne Daly was born in Tipperary on 28 May 1860. Her parents were John, a blacksmith, and Mary Daly (née Cleary). She had 8 siblings. The family emigrated to Australia in 1865, settling in Jembaicumbene near Braidwood, New South Wales. Daly was privately educated at home. She applied to the Department of Public Instruction in May 1877, and was appointed an assistant at Braidwood Catholic School. After further training she taught at Newtown Girls’ School, Grafton Primary, and St Mary's Cathedral Girls' School, Sydney.
Career.
St Mary's Cathedral Girls’ School was run by the Sisters of Charity, and on 28 May 1881 she entered their congregation at St Vincent's, Potts Point. She received the habit on 22 October 1881, professing on 3 January 1884 as Sister Mary Berchmans. She taught at St Mary's until December 1888, when she was appointed to the Sisters' congregation in Melbourne where she ran St Patrick's School, Victoria Parade. She became superior of the Melbourne convent in 1892, with responsibility for St Patrick's and four other primary schools founded by the Sisters between 1891 and 1897.
The Melbourne convent moved into hospital care in 1893, opening a seven-bed St Vincent's Hospital for the sick poor of the inner city. Daly was the rectress of the hospital, a position she held for the next 30 years. The hospital grew quickly under her leadership, receiving government funding from 1903, and had 120 beds by 1905. She established a nurses' training school affiliated to the Royal Victorian Trained Nurses' Association in 1903, and then in 1910, St Vincent's Clinical School, associated with the University of Melbourne. In 1913 she founded Mount St Evins, a private hospital. From 1911, Daly was involved in the process for the beatification of Mother Mary Aikenhead.
She also, in 1898, bought the land on which the Catholic Ladies College was built three years later.
She was elected superior general of the Australian congregation in 1920, and returned to Sydney. In 1920 she oversaw the foundation of a hospital in Queensland, two further hospitals in New South Wales, and a clinical school at St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney. Daly died on 4 March 1924 in St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, and is buried at Rookwood Cemetery, Sydney. In August 1935, a bronze bust of Daly by Paul Raphael Montford was unveiled in commemoration of her foundation of St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne, with the hospital opening the Berchmans Daly wing in October 1960.


Otto Ritschl

Otto Karl Albrecht Ritschl (26 June 1860 in Bonn – 28 September 1944 in Bonn) was a German theologian, the son of Albrecht Ritschl.
After studying at Göttingen, Bonn and Giessen, he became professor at Kiel (extraordinarius) in 1889 and afterwards at Bonn (extraordinarius 1894; ordinarius 1897). He published, among other works, "Schleiermachers Stellung zum Christentum in seinen Reden über die Religion" (1888), and a "Life" of his father (2 vols, 1829–96).


Peter Faber

Peter Faber (, ) (13 April 1506 – 1 August 1546) was the first Jesuit priest and theologian, who was also a co-founder of the Society of Jesus, along with Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier. Pope Francis announced his canonization on 17 December 2013.
Life.
Early life.
Faber was born in 1506 to a peasant family in the village of Villaret, in the Duchy of Savoy (now Saint-Jean-de-Sixt in the French Department of Haute-Savoie). As a boy, he was a shepherd in the high pastures of the French Alps. He had little education, but a remarkable memory; he could hear a sermon in the morning and then repeat it verbatim in the afternoon for his friends. Two of his uncles were Carthusian priors. At first, he was entrusted to the care of a priest at Thônes and later to a school in the neighboring village of .
In 1525, Faber went to Paris to pursue his studies. He was admitted to the Collège Sainte-Barbe, the oldest school in the University of Paris, where he shared his lodgings with Francis Xavier. There Faber's spiritual views began to develop, influenced by a combination of popular devotion, Christian humanism, and late medieval scholasticism. Faber and Xavier became close friends and both received the degree of Master of Arts on the same day in 1530. At the university, Faber also met Ignatius of Loyola and became one of his associates. He tutored Loyola in the philosophy of Aristotle, while Loyola tutored Faber in spiritual matters. Faber wrote of Loyola's counsel: "He gave me an understanding of my conscience and of the temptations and scruples I have had for so long without either understanding them or seeing the way by which I would be able to get peace." Xavier, Faber, and Loyola all became roommates at the University of Paris and are all recognized by the Jesuits as founders of the Society of Jesus.
Jesuit preacher.
Faber was the first among the small circle of men who formed the Society of Jesus to be ordained. Having become a priest on 30 May 1534, he received the religious vows of Ignatius and his five companions at Montmartre on 15 August.
Upon graduation, Loyola returned to Spain for a period of convalescence, after instructing his companions to meet in Venice and charging Faber with conducting them there. After Loyola himself, Faber was the one whom Xavier and his companions esteemed the most. Leaving Paris on 15 November 1536, Faber and his companions rejoined Loyola at Venice in January 1537. When war between Venice and the Turks prevented them from evangelizing the Holy Land as they planned, they decided to form the community that became the Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuit Order. The group then traveled to Rome where they put themselves at the disposal of Pope Paul III. After Faber spent some months preaching and teaching, the Pope sent him to Parma and Piacenza, where he brought about a revival of Christian piety.
Recalled to Rome in 1540, Faber was sent to Germany to uphold the position of the Catholic Church at the Diet of Worms and then at the Diet of Ratisbon in 1541. Another Catholic theologian, Johann Cochlaeus, reported that Faber avoided theological debate and emphasized personal reformation, calling him "a master of the life of the affections". Faber was startled by the unrest that the Protestant movement had stirred up in Germany and by the decadence he found in the Catholic hierarchy. He decided that the remedy did not lie in discussions with the Protestants but in the reform of the Roman Catholic, especially of the clergy. For ten months, at Speyer, at Ratisbon, and at Mainz, he conducted himself with gentleness with all those with whom he dealt. He influenced princes, prelates, and priests who opened themselves to him and amazed people by the effectiveness of his outreach. Faber possessed the gift of friendship to a remarkable degree. He was famous not for his preaching, but for his engaging conversations and his guidance of souls. He crisscrossed Europe on foot, guiding bishops, priests, nobles, and common people alike in the Spiritual Exercises.
As a lone Jesuit often on the move, Faber never felt alone because he walked in a world whose denizens included saints and angels. He would ask the saint of the day and all the saints "to obtain for us not only virtues and salvation for our spirits but in particular whatever can strengthen, heal, and preserve the body and each of its parts". His guardian angel, above all, became his chief ally. He sought support from the saints and angels both for his personal sanctification and in his evangelization of communities. Whenever he entered a new town or region, Faber implored the aid of the particular angels and saints associated with that place. Through the intercession of his allies, Faber could enter even a potentially hostile region assured of a spiritual army at his side. As he desired to bring each person he met to a closer relationship through spiritual friendship and conversation, he would invoke the intercession of the person's guardian angel.
Called to Spain by Loyola, he visited Barcelona, Zaragoza, Medinaceli, Madrid, and Toledo. In January 1542 the pope ordered him to Germany again. For the next nineteen months, Faber worked for the reform of Speyer, Mainz, and Cologne. The Archbishop of Cologne, Hermann of Wied, favored Lutheranism, which he later publicly embraced. Faber gradually gained the confidence of the clergy and recruited many young men to the Jesuits, among them Peter Canisius. After spending some months at Leuven in 1543, where he implanted the seeds of numerous vocations among the young, he returned to Cologne. Between 1544 and 1546, Faber continued his work in Portugal and Spain. Through his influence while at the royal court of Lisbon, Faber was instrumental in establishing the Society of Jesus in Portugal. There and in Spain, he was a fervent and effective preacher. He was called to preach in the principal cities of Spain, where he aroused fervor among the local populations and fostered vocations to the clergy. Among them there was Francis Borgia, another significant future Jesuit. King John III of Portugal wanted Faber made Patriarch of Ethiopia. Simão Rodrigues, co-founder of the Jesuit order, wrote that Faber was "endowed with charming grace in dealing with people, which up to now I must confess I have not seen in anyone else. Somehow he entered into friendship in such a way, bit by bit coming to influence others in such a manner, that his very way of living and gracious conversation powerfully drew to the love of God all those with whom he dealt." He then worked in several Spanish cities, including Valladolid, Salamanca, Toledo, Galapagar, Alcalá, and Madrid.
Death.
In 1546, Faber was appointed by Pope Paul III to act as a "peritus" (expert) on behalf of the Holy See at the Council of Trent. Faber, at age 40, was exhausted by his incessant efforts and his unceasing journeys, always made on foot. In April 1546, he left Spain to attend the Council and reached Rome, weakened by fever, on 17 July 1546. He died, reportedly in the arms of Loyola, on 1 August 1546. Faber's body was initially buried at the Church of Our Lady of the Way, which served as a center for the Jesuit community. When that church was demolished to allow for the construction of the Church of the Gesù, his remains and those of others among the first Jesuits were exhumed. His are now in the crypt near the entrance to the Gesù.
Writings.
Faber kept a diary of his spiritual life known as his "Memoriale". Most of it dates from June 1542 to July 1543, with some additional entries from 1545 and a final brief entry made in January 1546. It begins with a quotation from "Psalms": "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits." It takes the form of a series of conversations, mostly between God and Faber with occasional contributions on the part of various saints and Faber's colleagues.
Peter Faber authored "The Blessed Sacrament" which proffers a convincing argument for the existence and nature of God.
Veneration.
Those who had known Faber in life already invoked him as a saint. Francis de Sales, whose character recalled that of Faber's, never spoke of him except as a saint. He is remembered for his travels through Europe promoting Catholic renewal and his great skill in directing the Spiritual Exercises. Faber was beatified on 5 September 1872. His feast day is celebrated on 2 August by the Society of Jesus. Faber was honored as part of the 2006 Jesuit Jubilee Year which celebrated the 500th anniversary of the birth of Francis Xavier, the 500th anniversary of the birth of Peter Faber, and the 450th anniversary of the death of Ignatius Loyola.
Pope Francis, on his own 77th birthday, 17 December 2013, announced Faber's canonization. He used a process known as "equipollent canonization" that dispenses with the standard judicial procedures and ceremonies in the case of someone long venerated. Faber is regarded as one of Pope Francis' favorite saints. A few weeks earlier, Francis had praised Faber's "dialogue with all, even the most remote and even with his opponents; his simple piety, a certain naïveté perhaps, his being available straightaway, his careful interior discernment, the fact that he was a man capable of great and strong decisions but also capable of being so gentle and loving." Francis also gave thanks for Faber's canonization when he celebrated Mass on 3 January 2014, at the Church of the Gesù.
Legacy.
The Saint Peter Faber Jesuit Community at Boston College is a residence for priests in formation.
Creighton University confers the Blessed Peter Faber Integrity Award on a student, faculty or staff member who is involved in activities that promote integrity, social justice, peace, and religious, racial, and cultural harmony and is able to inspire and lead others to distill their values and integrity.
Saint Peter Faber House at Gonzaga University is an extension of the University Ministry office reserved for preparing retreats and further developing University Ministry programs.
The Faber Center for Ignatian Spirituality was adopted as a ministry of Marquette University in November 2005.
The Peter Faber Chapel serves as the central space for the University of Scranton's Retreat Center at Chapman Lake, about 30 minutes north of Scranton, PA.
The St. Peter Faber conference room in Loyola Hall at Manresa House of Retreats, Convent, Louisiana, is the location where men on retreat are directed through the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola
The School of Business at Australian Catholic University is known as the Peter Faber School of Business.
Faber Hall at Fordham University in the Bronx, New York, is a residence hall and administrative building.
It was announced in "Publishers Weekly" on 26 October 2016 that Loyola Press has contracted Jon M. Sweeney, the author of "The Pope Who Quit" and other historical books, to write a new narrative life of Saint Peter Faber.


Crown of thorns

According to the New Testament, a woven crown of thorns was placed on the head of Jesus during the events leading up to his crucifixion. It was one of the instruments of the Passion, employed by Jesus' captors both to cause him pain and to mock his claim of authority. It is mentioned in the gospels of Matthew ("And when they had plaited a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee and mocked him, saying Hail, King of the Jews!" ), Mark () and John (, ), and is often alluded to by the early Church Fathers, such as Clement of Alexandria, Origen and others.
Since at least around the year 400, a relic believed by many to be the crown of thorns has been venerated. At the time of the Crusades, the Latin Emperor Baldwin II of Constantinople yielded the relic to French King Louis IX. Kept in the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris until 15 April 2019, when a fire touched the cathedral, the relic has since been kept in the Louvre Museum.
As a relic.
Jerusalem.
The three Biblical gospels that mention the crown of thorns do not say what happened to it after the crucifixion. The oldest known mention of the crown already being adored as a relic was made by St. Paulinus of Nola, writing after 409, who refers to the crown as a relic that was adored by the faithful ("Epistle Macarius" in Migne, "Patrologia Latina," LXI, 407). Cassiodorus (c. 570) speaks of the crown of thorns among other relics which were “the glory” of the city of Jerusalem. "There", he says, "we may behold the thorny crown, which was only set upon the head of Our Redeemer in order that all the thorns of the world might be gathered together and broken" (Migne, LXX, 621). When Gregory of Tours in "De gloria martyri" avers that the thorns in the crown still looked green, a freshness which was miraculously renewed each day, he does not much strengthen the historical authenticity of a relic he had not seen, but the "Breviary or Short Description of Jerusalem") (a short text dated to about 530 AD), and the "itinerary" of Antoninus of Piacenza (6th century) clearly state that the crown of thorns was then shown in the "Basilica of Mount Zion," although there is uncertainty about the actual site to which the authors refer. From these fragments of evidence and others of later date (the "Pilgrimage" of the monk Bernard shows that the relic was still at Mount Zion in 870), it is shown that a purported crown of thorns was venerated at Jerusalem in the first centuries of the common era.
Constantinople.
Some time afterwards, the crown was purportedly moved to Constantinople, then capital of the empire. Historian Francois de Mély supposed that the whole crown was transferred from Jerusalem to Constantinople not much before 1063. In any case, Emperor Justinian is stated to have given a thorn to St. Germain, Bishop of Paris, which was long preserved at Saint-Germain-des-Prés, while the Empress Irene, in 798 or 802, sent Charlemagne several thorns which were deposited by him at Aachen. Eight of these are said to have been there at the consecration of the basilica of Aachen; the subsequent history of several of them can be traced without difficulty: four were given to Saint-Corneille of Compiègne in 877 by Charles the Bald; Hugh the Great, Duke of the Franks, sent one to the Anglo-Saxon King Athelstan in 927, on the occasion of certain marriage negotiations, and it eventually found its way to Malmesbury Abbey; another was presented to a Spanish princess about 1160; and again another was taken to Andechs Abbey in Germany in the year 1200.
France.
In 1238, Baldwin II, the Latin Emperor of Constantinople, anxious to obtain support for his tottering empire, offered the crown of thorns to Louis IX, King of France. It was then in the hands of the Venetians as security for a great loan of 13,134 gold pieces, yet it was redeemed and conveyed to Paris where Louis IX built the Sainte-Chapelle, completed in 1248, to receive it. The relic stayed there until the French Revolution, when, after finding a home for a while in the Bibliothèque Nationale, the Concordat of 1801 restored it to the Church, and it was deposited in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris.
The relic that the Church received is a twisted circlet of rushes of "Juncus balticus", a plant native to maritime areas of northern Britain, the Baltic region, and Scandinavia; the thorns preserved in various other reliquaries are of "Ziziphus spina-christi", a plant native to Africa and Southern and Western Asia, and had allegedly been removed from the Crown and kept in separate reliquaries since soon after they arrived in France. New reliquaries were provided for the relic, one commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte, another, in jeweled rock crystal and more suitably Gothic, was made to the designs of Eugene Viollet-le-Duc. In 2001, when the surviving treasures from the Sainte-Chapelle were exhibited at the Louvre, the chaplet was solemnly presented every Friday at Notre-Dame. Pope John Paul II translated it personally to Sainte-Chapelle during World Youth Day. The relic can be seen only on the first Friday of every month, when it is exhibited for a special veneration Mass, as well as each Friday of Lent. See also Feast of the Crown of Thorns.
Members of the Paris Fire Brigade saved the relic during the Notre-Dame de Paris fire of April 15, 2019.
The "Catholic Encyclopedia" states:
Authorities are agreed that a sort of helmet of thorns must have been plaited by the Roman soldiers, this band of rushes being employed to hold the thorns together. It seems likely according to M. De Mély, that already at the time when the circlet was brought to Paris the sixty or seventy thorns, which seem to have been afterwards distributed by St. Louis and his successors, had been separated from the band of rushes and were kept in a different reliquary. None of these now remain at Paris. Some small fragments of rush are also preserved ... at Arras and at Lyons. With regard to the origin and character of the thorns, both tradition and existing remains suggest that they must have come from the bush botanically known as "Ziziphus spina-christi", more popularly, the jujube tree. This reaches the height of fifteen or twenty feet and is found growing in abundance by the wayside around Jerusalem. The crooked branches of this shrub are armed with thorns growing in pairs, a straight spine and a curved one commonly occurring together at each point. The relic preserved in the Capella della Spina at Pisa, as well as that at Trier, which though their early history is doubtful and obscure, are among the largest in size, afford a good illustration of this peculiarity.
Third-class relics.
Not all of the reputed holy thorns are first-class relics, that is, relics of the original crown. M. de Mély was able to enumerate more than 700. The statement in one medieval obituary that Peter de Averio gave to the cathedral of Angers, ""unam de spinis quae fuit apposita coronae spinae nostri Redemptoris" ("one of the spines which were attached to the thorny crown of our Redeemer") (de Mély, p. 362) indicates that many of the thorns were relics of the third class—objects touched to a relic of the first class, in this case some part of the crown itself. (In Roman Catholic tradition, a relic of the first class is a part of the body of a saint or, in this case, any of the objects used in the Crucifixion that carried the blood of Christ; a relic of the second class is anything known to have been touched or used by a saint; a relic of the third class is a devotional object touched to a first-class relic and, usually, formally blessed as a sacramental.) Again, even in comparatively modern times, it is not always easy to trace the history of these objects of devotion, as first-class relics were often divided and any number of authentic third-class relics may exist.
Purported remnants.
During a crusade to the Holy Land, French King Louis IX bought what was venerated as Jesus’ Crown of Thorns. It is kept in Paris to this day, in the Louvre Museum. Individual thorns were given by the French monarch to other European royals: the Holy Thorn Reliquary in the British Museum, for example, containing a single thorn, was made in the 1390s for the French prince Jean, duc de Berry, who is documented as receiving more than one thorn from Charles V and VI, his brother and nephew.
Two "holy thorns" were venerated, one at St. Michael's church in Ghent, the other at Stonyhurst College, both professing to be thorns given by Mary, Queen of Scots to Thomas Percy, 7th Earl of Northumberland.
The "Gazetteer of Relics and Miraculous Images" lists the following, following Cruz 1984:
Iconography.
The appearance of the crown of thorns in art, notably upon the head of Christ in representations of the Crucifixion or the subject "Ecce Homo", arises after the time of St. Louis and the building of the Sainte-Chapelle. The "Catholic Encyclopedia" reported that some archaeologists had professed to discover a figure of the crown of thorns in the circle which sometimes surrounds the chi-rho emblem on early Christian sarcophagi, but the compilers considered that it seemed to be quite as probable that this was only meant for a laurel wreath.
The image of the crown of thorns is often used symbolically to contrast with earthly monarchical crowns. In the symbolism of King Charles the Martyr, the executed English King Charles I is depicted putting aside his earthly crown to take up the crown of thorns, as in William Marshall's print Eikon Basilike. This contrast appears elsewhere in art, for example in Frank Dicksee's painting "The Two Crowns".
Carnations symbolize the passion as they represent the crown of thorns.
Criticism of the adoration of the crown of thorns.
A critique of the adoration of the crown of thorns was set forth in 1543 by Jean Calvin in the work "Treatise on Relics". He described numerous parts of the crown of thorns known to him, located in different cities. Based on a large number of parts of the crown of thorns, Calvin wrote:
In regard to the Crown of thorns, it would seem that its twigs had been planted that they might grow again. Otherwise I know not how it could have attained to such a size. First, a third part of it is at Paris, in the Holy Chapel, and then at Rome there are three thorns in Santa Croce, and some portion also in St. Eustathius. At Sienna, I know not how many thorns, at Vineennes one, at Bourges five, at Besan~on, in the church of St. John, three, and as many at Koningsberg. At the church of St. Salvator, in Spain, are several, but how many I know not; at Compostella, in the church of St. Jago, two; in Vivarais, three; also at Toulouse, Mascon, Charrox in Poicton, St. Clair, Sanflor, San Maximinin Provence, in the monastery of Selles, and also in the church of St. Martin at Noyon, each place having a single thorn. But if diligent search were made, the number might be increased fourfold. It is most evident that there must here be falsehood and imposition. How will the truth be ascertained? It ought, moreover, to be observed, that in the ancient Church it was never known what had become of that crown. Hence it is easy to conclude, that the first twig of that now shown grew many years after our Saviour's death.


Ernesto Maguengue

Ernesto Maguengue (born 2 August 1964) is a Mozambican clergyman, who is the Auxiliary Bishop of Nampula. He was ordained as a priest on 14 May 1989 in Maputo. On 24 June 2004 he was appointed Bishop of Pemba, which came into effect on 14 November, until his resignation on 27 October 2012. On 6 August 2014 Maguengue was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Nampula and Titular Bishop of Furnos Minor.


Juliette Colbert de Barolo

Juliette Colbert Falletti de Barolo (26 June 1786 - 19 January 1864) - born as Juliette Victoire Colbert and known in Italy as Giulia Falletti di Barolo - was a French Roman Catholic philanthropist and the founder of both the Sisters of Saint Anne and the Daughters of Jesus the Good Shepherd. Colbert was a well-educated girl living in France during and after the tumultuous French Revolution which caused her faith to deepen since she had the desire to aid the poor and neglected. Her marriage to a nobleman in Paris led to the two setting off to live in Turin where the couple threw themselves into charitable works. The couple bore no children but rather "adopted" the town's poor. Colbert was widowed some decades later and became professed into the Secular Franciscan Order while establishing hospitals and schools as well as other charitable institutions.
Her cause for canonization opened in late 1990 (she became titled as a Servant of God) and culminated in mid-2015 when Pope Francis confirmed her heroic virtue and named her as Venerable. Her husband's cause was opened in 1995 and he remains a Servant of God.
Life.
Juliette Victorienne Françoise Colbert was born in Maulévrier on 26 June 1786 as the second of four children to the nobles Edouard Victurnien Charles René Colbert (15 December 1754-August 1839) and Annemarie Louise de Crénolle (the couple married on 12 March 1782). Her father served as an ambassador for Maximilian Franz von Österreich. Her ancestor was the former Finance Minister Jean Baptiste Colbert who served for King Louis XIV (either the great-granddaughter or descended from his brother). In October 1793 her mother died in Brussels leaving her father to care for the children. Her siblings (in order) were:
Her father remarried on 19 April 1812 to Pauline Le Clerc and she had a half-brother in René-Oliver (b. 19 March 1813). Colbert studied art and music in her private studies and learnt Greek and Latin as well as English and Italian and German when the Colbert's lived there.
The French Revolution forced her father to relocate with his children in 1793 to the German Kingdom before settling in Holland and Belgium (her mother died in Brussels); their return to France came after Napoleon Bonaparte assumed power. Upon their return their castle had been burnt down and their land had been laid waste. Colbert had been traumatized with the death of her aunt and paternal grandfather at the guillotine in 1794 (during the Terror) added with the death of her mother months before. In 1804 she served Empress Josephine in the imperial court where she first met her future husband. The two had in common a deep faith and desire to aid others though their temperaments were different: she was impetuous with a brilliant mind while he was gentle and reserved in nature. Colbert married the nobleman Carlo Tancredi Falletti di Barolo in Paris on 18 August 1806 and the couple later relocated to Turin (it was supposed to be brief but became a permanent arrangement) in 1814 after Napoleon's fall where the couple lived childless for the remainder of their lives together. Prince Camillo Borghese helped in mediating the union between the couple. The couple bore no children (both were infertile) but viewed the poor as their adopted children. It became the norm for her to help prisoners as well as poor girls and their mothers. Colbert created free schools with her husband for children and the first opened in Borgo Dora in 1821; she founded the Istituto del Rifugio for mothers in 1823 and an institute for victims of child prostitution later in 1833.
In 1814 - during the Easter Octave - she encountered a Eucharistic procession to an ill person and knelt before the Blessed Sacrament. But a piercing scream broke the procession: "It is soup I need, not Viaticum!" This provocation from an inmate in a prison near the procession led Colbert to visit the prison where she was shocked from the degradation of the prisoners and their conditions. This moved her to help them.
In 1834 she founded the Sisters of Saint Anne with the Archbishop of Turin Luigi Fransoni encouraging her work; she later founded the Daughters of Jesus the Good Shepherd. In 1835 she distinguished herself in aiding the ill during a cholera epidemic which saw officials award her with the Order of Saints Maurizio and Lazzaro. Her husband contracted this which caused great concern granted his frail health at the time. The doctors advised that he seek treatment in Austria though his condition deteriorated after contracting a violent fever forcing the pair to stop in Verona. The pair moved for respite at an inn in Chiari in Brescia where he died in her arms on 4 September 1838. Colbert later provided the former prisoner Silvio Pellico with an annual pension from 1834 until his death in 1854 and she provided for the French translation of his published works. Pellico first served as the couple's librarian in 1834 and the two became good friends with Pellico who became Colbert's private aide in 1838 after her husband died. In 1845 she opened the Hospital of Saint Filomena for handicapped children and in 1847 established a vocational school for aspiring workers. Colbert often wore a hair shirt of coarse horsehair as a penitential practice.
Colbert became a professed member in the Secular Franciscan Order at some stage after her husband died. It was around this stage that her spiritual director was Giuseppe Cafasso. In 1862 the election for a new superior-general was held and the Sisters of Saint Anne saw fit to elect Caterina Dominici. In 1845 she travelled to Rome for six months in the hopes of expediting her claim for papal recognition of her orders. Colbert succeeded in this venture and Pope Gregory XVI provided canonical recognition in a decree on 8 March 1846 not long before the pontiff's death.
Colbert was close friends with Madeleine Sophie Barat and supported the efforts of Giuseppe Benedetto Cottolengo in social activities. But she also came into contact with Giovanni Bosco and asked him to serve as a chaplain for the Istituto del Rifugio. But his ill health sometime after proved a challenge since he refused to abandon the girls prompting Colbert to ask him to leave so as to take care of his own health.
Her death came in 1864 after having fallen ill in October 1863 and her remains have been housed in the Santa Giulia church since 1899 after their transferral. Colbert had founded not long before her death the Opera Pia Barolo in order for that institute to be able to continue her work; she had left her entire fortune to that institute.
Barolo wine.
The couple were both identified with the famous Barolo wine. It had long been rumored that the wine had been produced in Turin at their estate but at that point had never been sold on the market. Once the King Carlo Alberto joked with her and asked if it were true that the wine was produced there. It was within the week that she sent out several ox-drawn carts to the palace with 325 barrels for the king.
Colbert offered it to her guests and to reigning monarchs.
Beatification process.
The cause for canonization opened on 17 November 1990 under Pope John Paul II and she became titled as a Servant of God after the Congregation for the Causes of Saints issued an official edict declaring "nihil obstat" (nothing against the cause). The diocesan phase of investigation was inaugurated under Giovanni Saldarini on 21 January 1991 who later closed it on 4 July 1994; the C.C.S. later validated this process on 13 January 1995. In 2009 the postulation submitted the Positio dossier for further assessment with historical advisors issuing their assent on 27 October 2009 to the cause.
Theologians affirmed their support for the cause on 1 April 2014 following their assessment of the Positio with the cardinal and bishop members of the C.C.S. also approving it on 21 April 2015. Colbert became titled as Venerable on 5 May 2015 after Pope Francis confirmed that she had lived a model life of heroic virtue.
The current postulator for this cause is the Capuchin friar Paolino Rossi.


Rodrigo de Bastidas y Rodriguez de Romera

Rodrigo de Bastidas y Rodriguez de Romera (died 1570) was a Roman Catholic prelate who served as the second Bishop of Puerto Rico (1541–1567) and the first Bishop of Coro (1531–1532).
Biography.
Rodrigo de Bastidas y Rodriguez de Romera was born in Santo Domingo.
On June 21, 1531 and confirmed by Pope Clement VII as the first Bishop of Coro.
On June 30, 1532, he was consecrated bishop by Francisco Mendoza, Bishop of Zamora.
On July 6, 1541 he was appointed by Pope Paul III as the second Bishop of Puerto Rico.
On May 6, 1567, he resigned as Bishop of Puerto Rico.
He died in 1570.
He was the principal consecrator of Alfonso de Fuenmayor, the fifth Bishop of Santo Domingo.


Solomon Gberegbara

Solomon Gberegbara is an Anglican bishop in Nigeria: he has been Bishop of Ogoni since 2005.


Franz Friedrich von Sturmfeder

Franz Friedrich von Sturmfeder (11 December 1758, Mannheim – 26 February 1828, Augsburg) was a German Roman Catholic priest. From 1812 to 1818 and from 1819 to 1821 he was vicar general and diocesan administrator in Augsburg - this covered the period between the fall of the Prince-Bishopric of Augsburg and the formation of the present diocese of Augsburg.
He is also notable as the uncle of Louise von Sturmfeder (1789 - 1866), tutor to Franz Joseph I of Austria and his brother Maximilian I of Mexico.


History of Joseph the Carpenter

The History of Joseph the Carpenter ("Historia Josephi Fabri Lignari") is a compilation of traditions concerning Mary (mother of Jesus), Joseph, and the "holy family," probably composed in Byzantine Egypt in Greek in the late sixth or early seventh centuries, but surviving only in Coptic and Arabic language translation. The text bears witness to the belief in the perpetual virginity of Mary.
It is one of the texts within the New Testament apocrypha concerned with the period of Jesus' life before he was 12.
Contents.
The text is framed as an explanation by Jesus on the Mount of Olives concerning the life of Joseph, his stepfather. Agreeing with Mary's continued virginity, the text proclaims that Joseph had four sons (Judas, Justus, James, and Simon) and two daughters (Assia and Lydia) by a previous marriage.
After this basic background, the text proceeds to paraphrase the Gospel of James, stopping at the point of Jesus' birth. The text states that Joseph was miraculously blessed with mental and physical youth, dying at the age of 111. His oldest sons (Justus and Simon) get married and have children, and likewise his two daughters get married and live in their own houses.
Joseph's death takes up a substantial portion of the text. He first lets out a significant prayer, including in his last words a series of lamentations about his carnal sins. About 50% of the work is an extension of the death scene, in which the angel of death, as well as the archangels Michael and Gabriel, appear to him. At the conclusion of the text, Jesus affirms that Mary remained a virgin throughout her days by addressing.
Age and surviving versions.
Some information indicates the text was written in Egypt in the fifth century. Two versions survive, one in Coptic, the other in Arabic, with the Coptic version likely being the original. Much of the text is based on material in the Gospel of James.
Correlation with 3rd-century apocryphon.
The early third century apocryphal "First Apocalypse of James" from the Nag Hammadi library states: Jesus speaking to James, "For not without reason have I called you my brother, although you are not my brother materially." This adds an additional record of Mary's relationship to Jesus' brothers, allowing the explanation of her perpetual virginity.


Manish Grover

Manish Grover (born 24 June 1951) is a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) politician and a former Member of the Legislative Assembly, representing Rohtak constituency in the Vidhan Sabha.
Personal life.
Manish Grover was born to Wazir Chand and Seeta Devi Grover on 15 July 1954 in Rohtak. He joined Jan Sangh in 1971. In 1987, he successfully contested the Municipal Corporation Elections from Ghani Pura, Rohtak.
He married Veena Grover on 3 February 1982. They have two children Himanshu and Rashmi. Himanshu is married to Somya Khurana and lives in Rohtak. Rashmi is married to Gaurav Ahuja, and lives in Delhi.


Georg Hille

Georg Hille (born 28 December 1923) is a Norwegian clergyman. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Hamar from 1974 to 1993.
Hille was born in Varteig as the son of bishop Henrik Greve Hille, and grandson of Arnoldus Hille. He graduated as cand.theol. from the University of Oslo in 1950. From 1951 to 1956 he was secretary for , and from 1953 to 1955 also for the Norwegian Bible Society. He was priest in Bergen from 1956 to 1957, in Oslo from 1957 to 1963, and in Lom from 1963 to 1971. From 1974 to 1993 he served as bishop of the Diocese of Hamar.


Morteza Hosseini Fayaz

Sayyid Murtadha Husayni al-Fayadh (9 April 1929 - 20 August 2014, Arabic: السيد مرتضى الحسيني فياض) was an Iraqi Twelver Shi'a Marja.
He has studied in seminaries of Najaf, Iraq under Abul-Qassim Khoei and Muhsin al-Hakim.


Kururamma

Kururamma (1570–1640 AD) was a devotee of Guruvayoorappan (Lord Krishna of Guruvayoor). Born in the village of Parur, near the abode of saint Vilwamangalam, as "Gauri", she received the name Kururamma since she was the senior-most woman of the Kurur Illam. Although she was a childless widow, Kururamma had the Lord as a child and used to treat Him like her very own. Kururamma feature in various legends associated with the Guruvayoor Temple.


Josse Ravesteyn

Josse Ravesteyn, also spelled Ravestein (ca. 1506–1570), was a Flemish Roman Catholic theologian.
Biography.
Born about 1506, at Tielt, a small town in Flanders, hence often called "Tiletanus (Jodacus)"). He studied philosophy at the Collège du Lys, in the University of Leuven, and in 1525 graduated fourth. He was appointed to teach philosophy in the same college, where he continued his course of theology, under the professors, Ruard Tapper and Jan Hessels (also known as Jean Leonardi Hasselius). From 1540 to 1553 he was president of the College of Houterle, and associated with the Abbé de Ste-Gertrude as guardian of the privileges of the university. In 1546 he became ordinary professor in the theological faculty and canon of the first rank in the collegiate chapter of St-Pierre. He was then only a licentiate in theology, but received the doctorate on 5 October following.
On the recommendation of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V he was sent to the Council of Trent (1551) and took an active part in the preparatory work of Sessions XIII-XVI. Arrived at Trent in September 1551, with his four colleagues from the University of Leuven, he presented in November a memorandum "super articulis de sacramentis poenitentiae at extremae unctionis". Later he drew up another on the two articles concerning the Mass. Called by Ferdinand I to the Conference of Worms in 1557, he accompanied Franciscus Sonnius and Martin Rythovius and there met three other theologians from the Low Countries: Jean Delphinus, Barthélemy Latomus, and Peter Canisius.
About 1558 he was made provost of Walcourt, in Namur. In 1561, on the resumption of the work of the general council, he was proposed as a delegate, but failing health forced him to decline the honour. In 1559 he succeeded Ruard Tappert as director of the nuns in the hospital at Leuven, an office he filled till his death, 1570. Through personal merit Ravesteyn was selected as rector of the university in 1545 and 1550.
He was a pious and learned priest, zealous in teaching purity of doctrine. Through his efforts the teachings of the innovator Michel Baius were censured by the Spanish Universities of Salamanca and Alcalá, by the Faculty of Paris in 1560, and by Pius V in his Bull "Ex omnibus afflictionibus" of 1 October 1567.
Writings.
Ravesteyn's works are: "Epistola Ven. Patri Laurentio Villavincentio", against Baianism; "Demonstratio religionis christianae ex verbo Dei"; "Confessionis, sive doctrinae, quae nuper edita est a ministris qui in ecclesiam Antverpiensem irrepserunt et Augustanae confessioni se assentiri profitentur succincta confutatio"; "Apologia Catholicae confutationis profanae illius et pestilentis confessionis, quam contra inanes cavillationes Matthaei Flacci Illyrici"; "De concordia gratiae et liberi arbitrii"; "Epistolae tres Michaeli de Bay"; "Apologia seu defensio decretorum concilii Tridentini de sacramentis adversus censuaras et examen Martini Kemnitii" in two parts. In this "Apology", which is his chief work, the author comments on, and brilliantly defends, the dogmatic decrees of Sessions IV-VI, the doctrine concerning the Canon of the Scriptures, original sin and justification, the sacraments in general, baptism, confirmation, the Eucharist as a sacrament and as a sacrifice. He died before writing a third part, in which he intended to treat of the other sacraments.


Mordechai Efraim Fischel Sofer-Zussman

Mordechai Efraim Fischel Sofer-Zussman (1867–1942) was a Hungarian rabbi who served as the chief rabbi of Budapest.
Sofer-Zussman's father was Benjamin Zev Wolf Sofer-Zussman, a rabbi in Budapest and the author of "Chalifot Simlat Binyamin".Modecai Sofer-Zussman married the daughter of Kopel Reich, Chief Rabbi of Budapest.
After becoming a rabbi, Sofer-Zussman served in several communities before becoming the head of the Yere'im Community. In 1914, he was appointed chief rabbi of Hungary to succeed Kopel Reich.. Sofer-Zussman wrote a commentary on the Pentateuch called "Ateret Paz," which was published in Jerusalem (1967).


Magnus Mwalunyungu

Magnus Mwalunyungu (August 25, 1930 – February 13, 2015) was a Roman Catholic bishop.
Ordained to the priesthood in 1959, Mwalunyungu was named bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tunduru-Masasi, Tanzania in 1992 and retired in 2005.


Heinrich von Melk

Heinrich von Melk was a German satirist of the twelfth century; of knightly birth and probably a lay brother in the convent of Melk, in present-day Lower Austria.


Frederick W. Hamilton

Frederick William Hamilton (March 30, 1860 – May 22, 1940) was an American Universalist businessman and the fourth president of Tufts University from 1905 to 1912. Born in Portland, Maine, he received his Bachelor of Arts from Tufts in 1880 and his Master of Arts in English literature and philosophy in 1886, in addition to an honorary Doctor of Divinity in 1889 and, from St. Lawrence University, an honorary Doctor of Laws in 1906.
As president, due to his strong opposition to coeducation, he created a separate Jackson College for women, with a separate faculty and administration. He resigned in 1912 due to having lost the trust of the Tufts Community. He later became manager of a forestry company and died in Boston in 1940. He was Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, and a member of Theta Delta Chi.


Stanislaus Hosius

Stanislaus Hosius (; 5 May 1504 – 5 August 1579) was a Polish Roman Catholic cardinal. From 1551 he was the Prince-Bishop of the Bishopric of Warmia in Royal Prussia and from 1558 he served as the papal legate to the Holy Roman Emperor's Imperial Court in Vienna, Austria. From 1566 he was also the papal legate to Poland.
He is designated a Servant of God.
Early life.
Hosius was born in Kraków, the son of Ulrich Hosse of Pforzheim. He spent his early youth at Kraków and Wilno, and at the age of fifteen, already well versed in German, Polish and Latin, he entered the University of Kraków from which he graduated as Bachelor of Arts in 1520. Piotr Tomicki, Bishop of Kraków and Vice-Chancellor of Poland, employed him as private secretary and entrusted to him the education of his nephews. Tomicki became his patron and underwrote his studies at the University of Padua and the University of Bologna, Italy. At Padua, Reginald Pole was one of his fellow students. At Bologna, he pursued jurisprudence under Hugo Buoncompagni, the future Gregory XIII.
Career.
After graduating as doctor of canon and civil law at the University of Bologna on 8 June 1534, he returned to Cracow and became secretary in the royal chancery. On the death of Bishop Tomicki (1535), he continued as secretary under the new vice-chancellor, Bishop Jan Chojeński of Płock. After the death of Bishop Choinski in 1538, Hosius was appointed royal secretary. In that position, he had the entire confidence of King Sigismund, who bestowed various ecclesiastical benefices upon him as reward for his faithful services. In 1543, Hosius was ordained priest. King Sigismund died in 1548, but before his death, he had instructed his son and successor, Sigismund II, to nominate Hosius for the next vacant episcopal see.
Hosius was nominated for the See of Chełmno in 1549. He had not sought that dignity and accepted it only with reluctance. Hosius was then sent by Sigismund on a diplomatic important mission to the courts of King Ferdinand I at Prague and Emperor Charles V at Brussels and Ghent. The mission resulted in an alliance between Poland and the other monarchies. Upon his return to Poland, he received episcopal consecration at Kraków on 23 March 1550, and he immediately took possession of his see. Hosius had Jesuit sympathies and actively opposed the Protestant Reformation.
Two years later, he became Prince-Bishop of Warmia in Royal Prussia, Poland. Hosius drew up the "Confessio fidei christiana catholica", adopted by the Synod of Piotrków in 1557. He was a supremely-skillful diplomat and administrator. Hosius and Marcin Kromer were the two bishops most instrumental in keeping the Warmia region Caholic, and neighbouring Ducal Prussia became Protestant. In 1558 Pope Paul IV summoned him to Rome, and soon Hosius became an influential member of the Roman Curia.
The following year, Pope Pius IV appointed Hosius as his personal nuncio to Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, at the court in Vienna, where he was to work on the reopening of the Council of Trent. He was further charged with gaining the support of the emperor's son, Maximilian, who appeared to have Protestant sympathies. For his successful work Hosius was promoted to cardinal in 1561. Pope Pius IV named him Legate-Theologian for the third session of the Council of Trent; the other two legates were Cardinals Puteo and Gonzaga.
Despite health issues he mediated between the various factions at the Council and addressed issue particular to Poland-Lithuania, such as the status of the Teutonic Knights and the marriage of Stansilaus Orzechowski. When the Council ended, he returned home, despite requests to travel to Rome for the papal conclave that was to be held after the death of the ailing Pius IV. Cardinal Truchess even suggested thag Hosius was a candidate for the papacy. Instead of going to Rome, he returned to his diocese, leaving Trent on December 1563 to implement the decrees and canons of the Council of Trent. In 1566, Pope Pius V consecrated him as Papal Legate to Poland.
Death and legacy.
Besides carrying through many difficult negotiations, he founded the lyceum of Braniewo (Braunsberg) to counter the rapidly spreading Protestants. It became the centre of the Roman Catholic mission among Protestants. In 1572, Pope Gregory XIII declared Hosius a member of the Congregatio Germania. He died at Capranica Prenestina, near Rome, on 5 August 1579.
A special friend to Hosius was Saint Peter Canisius. Both Kromer and Hosius left many records of their German speeches and sermons in their years of duty in the Bishopric of Warmia. They were later translated to Czech, English, and French.
A collected edition of his works was published at Cologne, Germany in 1584 ( "Life" by A Eichhorn (Mainz, Germany, 1854), 2 vols).
Cause of beatification.
The cause of sainthood commenced but paused for a while until it resumed as of 5 August 2006. He is now known as a Servant of God.


Pietro Casola

Pietro Casola (1427 – November 6, 1507) was a Catholic canon, born to a noble Italian family in Milan. He is most notable for the journal of his "Pilgrimage to Jerusalem in the Year 1494". He served in Rome as a secretary attache to the Milanese Embassy in Rome and later as senior of the Cardinal Deacons of the Duomo. In 1467, Pope Paul II nominated him for the benefice of St. Victor at Corbetta as a reward for his service to the Catholic Church.
On May 15, 1494, Casola started his journey to the Holy Land of Jerusalem. His journal included detailed notes of the places that he visited along the way including their economic industries, food and culture as well as the status of their churches. He traveled to Ragusa, Corfu, Zante, Modone, Corone, Cerigo, Cerigotto, Paros, Candia, Rhodes. Limassol, Famagusta, Episcopia, Jaffa, Nabule (Nablus), Rama (Ramallah), Lydda (Lod), and finally Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Jericho. Another such guide is that of Francesco Suriano from a few decades earlier.


Manuel Revollo Crespo

Manuel Revollo Crespo (June 17, 1925 – October 26, 2014) was a Roman Catholic bishop.
Ordained to the priesthood in 1952, Revollo Crespo was named titular bishop of "Casae in Numinda" and auxiliary bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cochabamba, Bolivia in 1985. In 1993, he was appointed coadjutor bishop of the Bolivia Military Ordinariate and resigned in 2000.


Enchin

 (814–891) was a Japanese Buddhist monk who founded of the Jimon school of Tendai Buddhism and Chief Abbot of Mii-dera at the foot of Mount Hiei. After succeeding to the post of Tendai , in 873, a strong rivalry developed between his followers and those of Ennin's at Enryaku-ji (note: Ennin had died in 864).
The rivalry was largely geographical, and was not based much on sectarian differences over interpretations of practice or doctrine; nevertheless, the friction between the followers of the two "zasu" finally broke out into a violent conflict. Rivalres between the followers of different "zasu" were not anything new at that time. During his twelve years on Hiei, Enchin himself saw a conflict between direct disciples of Saichō (namely Enchō and Kōshō) and the disciples of his own master, the second Tendai "zasu" Gishin. After the death of Gishin, his main follower, Enshu, was elected as the third "zasu", but Enchō and Kōshō objected and finally forced Enshu and his followers to leave Mount Hiei.
Most significantly, Enchin united the Tendai school's teachings with those of Chinese Esoteric Buddhism, and interpreted the "Lotus Sutra" from the point of view of esoteric teachings as well as used Tendai terminology in order to explain the esoteric "Mahavairocana Tantra."
Enchin is said to have supported the worship of native gods ("kami") and certain elements of Confucianism. In a memorial speech in 887, he noted the respect the court of Tang China had for Japan because of Japan's encouragement and welcoming of the ideals of "li" () and "yi" (). He warned that though Enryaku-ji was founded with the native gods in mind, "no such officiating monks are provided for the main deities of the mountain. This is certainly a breach of Li. There ought to be two monks to worship the two gods."


Dan Kgomosotho

Dan Kgomosotho is a South African Anglican bishop: he has been the Bishop of Mpumalanga since 2010.


John Burton (Archdeacon of Cleveland)

John Burton was Archdeacon of Cleveland from his installation on 23 July 1685 until his death on 24 November 1700.
Burton was born in Sedbergh was educated at St John's College, Cambridge. He migrated to University of Oxford in 1675. He was Vicar of Rushden and a canon of York.


Rudolf Deng Majak

Rudolf Deng Majak (November 1, 1940 – March 6, 2017) was a Roman Catholic bishop.
Majak was born in Awac, Sudan, in 1940. In 1970 he was ordained in Rumbek to the priesthood. In 1992 he became the Apostolic Administrator of Wau, now in South Sudan. Deng Majak served as Bishop of that diocese from 1995 until his death.


Vincent Boi-Nai

Vincent Sowah Boi-Nai (born 1945) is a Ghanaian Catholic priest who has been the Bishop of Yendi since 1999.


Benedict Groeschel

Benedict Joseph Groeschel, C.F.R. (July 23, 1933 – October 3, 2014) was an American Franciscan friar, Catholic priest, retreat master, author, psychologist, activist, and television host. He hosted the television talk program "Sunday Night Prime" (originally "Sunday Night Live") broadcast on the Eternal Word Television Network, as well as several serial religious specials.
He founded the Office for Spiritual Development for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York. He was Associate Director of the Trinity Retreat House for clergy and executive director of St. Francis House. He was professor of pastoral psychology at St. Joseph's Seminary in New York and an adjunct professor at the Institute for Psychological Sciences in Arlington, Virginia. He was one of the founders of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal and among his close friends were Mother Teresa, Mother Angelica and Alice von Hildebrand.
Early life and education.
Born Robert Peter Groeschel on July 23, 1933, in Jersey City, New Jersey, was the eldest of the six children of Edward Joseph Groeschel and Marjule Smith Groeschel.
Groeschel attended Catholic elementary and high school (Immaculate Conception High School in Montclair, New Jersey) and then in 1950 he entered the Capuchin Order's St. Felix Friary (later turned into the Good Shepherd Church of the United Brethren in Christ) in Huntington, Indiana. As a novice at St. Felix's Groeschel met and was deeply impressed by Blessed Solanus Casey. After nine months in Indiana, Groeschel completed his novitiate at the order's friary in the Detroit Province in 1951.
The following year, he was admitted to temporary profession of vows and given the religious name of Benedict Joseph, after a Franciscan saint, Benedict Joseph Labre. In later life he would often comment that he felt it significant that his patron saint in the order was most likely schizophrenic.
Groeschel made his perpetual profession in 1954 and was ordained a priest in 1959. He received a master's degree in counseling from Iona College in 1964 and a Doctor of Education (D.Ed.) degree, with a specialty in psychology, from Teachers College, Columbia University in 1971.
Career.
In 1960, Groeschel became the chaplain for the Children's Village, a facility for emotionally disturbed children based in Dobbs Ferry, New York. In 1965, he joined the staff of St. Joseph's Seminary. He has taught at Fordham University, Iona College and Maryknoll Seminary. In 1967, he founded the St. Francis House in Brooklyn, New York, which provides a safe haven for young men looking for a new start in life. In 1974, Cardinal Terence Cooke, Archbishop of New York, asked him to establish the Trinity Retreat in Larchmont, New York, which provides spiritual direction and retreats for clergy. In 1984, Archbishop (future Cardinal) John Joseph O'Connor, Cardinal Cooke's successor, appointed Groeschel to the position of promoter of the cause of canonization of Cardinal Cooke. (Cardinal Cooke is recognized as a Servant of God as of May 2015.)
In the 1980s Groeschel became an early supporter and a popular weekly host for the Catholic television station Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN). Michael Warsaw, the chairman and chief executive officer of EWTN stated "In many of the most difficult days in the history of EWTN, Father Benedict was a strong and vocal supporter of Mother Angelica."
In 1985, Groeschel co-founded, with Christopher Bell, the Good Counsel Homes for homeless pregnant women and children.
In 1987, responding to the call of Pope John Paul II for religious orders to renew their communities, Groeschel and seven Capuchin colleagues broke away from their order "to follow a more traditional religious life that highlighted communal living and traditional garb while serving the poor and needy." They formed the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal with the mission of preaching reform and serving the poor. At the time of his death the order had grown to "115 brothers and priests and 31 sisters in nine friaries in the U.S., four in Europe and two convents in Central America."
After joining the Institute of Psychological Sciences in 2000, Groeschel taught an annual intensive course focused on how to give practical assistance to people experiencing trauma, extreme stress, and sorrow, while at the same time integrating religious values with counseling and psychotherapy.
Groeschel was Chairman of St. Francis House and the Good Counsel Homes. He was on the board of Ave Maria University in Naples, Florida, and was a member of the American Psychological Association. He was also involved with the Padre Pio Shelter, St. Anthony Residence, St. Francis Youth Center, and St. Benedict Joseph Medical Center in Honduras. The late Donna Summer, the queen of disco music paid tribute to Groeschel in the liner notes of her studio album Cats Without Claws originally released in 1984, when it became available as a compact disc a few years later. She said, "To Father Benedict Groechel, and father Glenn Sudano - for the inspiration on the line "Cats Without Claws." Fr Sudano is one of eight original Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, and Summer was married to his brother Bruce Sudano.
Author and activist.
Throughout his career, Groeschel was "an outspoken opponent of abortion and was quick to defend the church against what he saw as unfair criticism, which endeared him to conservative Catholics in particular."
Groeschel received wide public attention through his preaching engagements, writing and television appearances. He was the author of over 30 books and recorded more than 100 audio and video series. He published articles in several Catholic magazines on a monthly basis. His last books included "The Tears of God" (2008), "Questions and Answers About Your Journey to God" (2007), "The Virtue Driven Life" (2006), and "Why Do We Believe?" (2005) His weekly television program, "Sunday Night Live with Father Benedict Groeschel", offered a mix of interviews, answering viewer questions and discussing spiritual and social matters relating to the Catholic faith.
Groeschel was a highly visible Catholic activist, firstly in the civil rights movement. He publicly criticized insulting depictions of the Catholic Church in popular culture and the media. In September 1998, he led protests outside an Off-Broadway theater in New York City against the production of Terrence McNally's play "Corpus Christi". In his 2002 book, "From Scandal to Hope", he accused "The Boston Globe", "The New York Times", and the "San Francisco Chronicle" of revealing anti-Catholic prejudice in their coverage of the sexual abuse scandal that disrupted the church. "Seldom in the history of journalism have I seen such virulent attacks on any institution that is supposed to receive fair treatment in the press", he wrote.
In April 2005, following the election of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI, Groeschel said that the new pope had "been very badly abused by the American media". He thought that the pope's experiences during World War II had been distorted and his personality misrepresented.
Car accident.
On January 11, 2004, Groeschel was struck by an automobile while crossing a street in Orlando, Florida. He "suffered numerous broken bones and intracranial bleeding", and over a four-hour period, he had no blood pressure, heartbeat or pulse for about 20 minutes. A few days later the trauma triggered a near-fatal heart attack. While he was recovering from his injuries, he collaborated with John Bishop on the book "There Are No Accidents: In All Things Trust in God". He broadcast his first live program on EWTN on October 24, 2004. Although the accident left him with limited use of his right arm and difficulty in walking, he resumed preaching and giving retreats by the end of 2004 and he continued to keep a full schedule. As he told "The New York Times" nearly four years after his accident: "They said I would never live. I lived. They said I would never think. I think. They said I would never walk. I walked. They said I would never dance, but I never danced anyway."
Other health issues.
In 1984 Groeschel had heart problems that were addressed by bypass surgery.
In 2009 Groeschel, then age 75, suffered a minor stroke overnight March 20–21. The stroke caused temporary cognitive and speech difficulties that were noticeable in his March 29 appearance as the host of EWTN's "Sunday Night Live With Father Benedict Groeschel", where he made the condition public. During the show Groeschel stated the stroke was the reason Father Andrew Apostoli (also from his community) had replaced him the previous week and stated that he had decided to return so soon "so that viewers who may be suffering in some way won’t give up."
Notably during the broadcast Groeschel misspoke Apostoli’s name as "Father Augustine" and "confused a recent story in the news when he said that the University of Notre Dame was receiving an award from President Obama." It was reported that as the program continued "he was speaking much more normally. He even poked fun at himself for getting Father Andrew’s name wrong: 'I’ll never live that down.'"
Comments on sexual abuse.
Since 1973 Groeschel served as the director of spiritual development for the Archdiocese of New York. It was in this capacity as a "defender of the priesthood" that he was drawn into the sexual abuse scandals that came to light in the early 2000s.
In 2002 with large numbers of public allegations arising accusing priests of sexual abuse against minors, Groeschel caused some controversy during a sermon at a Yonkers church. He described the news reporting on the matter as a "media persecution" against Catholicism intended "to destroy whatever public influence the church might have." This perception of persecution was one "Many church officials concurred in", "The New York Times" would later report. Groeschel also told the Yonkers audience that "I've met with some of those people [the accused priests] and they are among the most penitent people I have met in my life. When you pick up the media, you don’t hear about the penitence."
Groeschel also made controversial comments in a 2012 interview published by the "National Catholic Register" on August 27 related to the sexual abuse of children by priests: "Suppose you have a man having a nervous breakdown, and a youngster comes after him. A lot of the cases, the youngster — 14, 16, 18 — is the seducer." On August 30, he issued a statement:
The Franciscan Friars of the Renewal organization also apologized for Groeschel's remarks, noting that they were out of character for him and stemmed from infirmities due to his 2004 car accident and a recent stroke. On September 3, EWTN announced that Groeschel had resigned from his position as host of "Sunday Night Prime" and that other members of his order would serve as the show's host.
Death.
Due to declining health, Groeschel had moved into St. Joseph's Home for the elderly in Totowa run by the Little Sisters of the Poor. He died there at 11 pm on October 3, 2014.
He had an ongoing medical condition that was grave enough that preparations to memorialize his life, including a Facebook tribute, were begun on September 9, 2014, by members of his religious order. On September 30, 2014, the Cardinal Newman Society announced on their Facebook page that they had received word that Groeschel "fell and re-injured the same arm that was hurt in his accident ten years ago" and asked for people to request prayers of intercession for his health from "Venerable Solanus Casey, a former roommate of Fr. Groeschel who is up for beatification". Doctors informed him that they felt it was inadvisable to attempt to repair the damaged arm (a fractured elbow and shoulder) as he was already in a weakened condition from the ongoing illness and was unlikely to survive surgery. He returned home but continued to have great pain. He died due to complications from his ongoing illness.
On the day of his death Groeschel met with Michael Mencer who as a child had his juvenile macular degeneration reversed, which he and his family accredited to the intercession of Sister Miriam Teresa Demjanovich, S.C. This event was accepted by the Vatican as a miracle that qualified Demjanovich to be beatified—this was set to be declared at a Mass the next day at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark (the first such beatification Mass to be held in the U.S. rather than Rome). Both Demjanovich and Groeschel had been born in Bayonne, New Jersey. Mencer had the relic of Demjanovich (a strand of her hair) that he had carried with him when he felt his vision problems lift and loaned it to Groeschel who blessed himself with it.
Br. Shawn Conrad O'Connor, C.F.R. was with Groeschel at the time of his death. O'Connor stated that after "kind of a rough day" of pain, Groeschel and he prayed the rosary accompanying the recording of Mother Angelica on EWTN. After the prayer O'Connor noticed that Groeschel was unresponsive and he could not find his pulse. After a few times asking for a response O'Connor noticed his mouth and eyes move, and felt that Groeschel was either asleep or in a "little trance" that he had been going into lately. O'Connor then laid down. A few minutes later a nurse came in and determined that Groeschel had died. O'Connor stated that Groeschel's last conscious action had been to pray the rosary and held that it was "a beautiful way to go."
O'Connor noted that due to illness and pain Groeschel "for the last two years and especially the last month...he really suffered...It seemed like he was doing his Purgatory right there in front of you...he really suffered and took a lot of time off Purgatory I think". Father Andrew Apostoli, noting this pain, recalled that Groeschel had told him "'I prayed to God that I would be able to suffer some great suffering before I die so that I could give a good example to people.' That seems to be how God answered that prayer."
Members of his order held the timing of his death was providential as that night was not only the vigil before a woman from his hometown was to be beatified, but also because it fell on the vigil of the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi (their founder) according to the Catholic liturgical calendar. (This vigil is also called the "Transitus" by Franciscans where they gather together to "ritually remember the passing of Francis of Assisi from this life into God", it "specifies the living memory of Francis", and "intensifies...commitment to follow Christ in the way of the poor man of Assisi.")
On the memorial page set up by members of his order, Groeschel's quote concerning his attitude about his death was given, "Saint Vincent de Paul said: 'If you love the poor, your life will be filled with sunlight, and you will not be frightened at the hour of death.' I wish to witness that this is true."
Groeschel's remains were placed in a simple pine casket (in accord with the rule of his community) and entombed in the crypt of the Most Blessed Sacrament Friary on October 12, 2014 following a funeral Mass at the Basilica Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Newark, New Jersey.
Audio recordings.
Groeschel made many audio recordings. Among them are two rosary recordings with the singer-songwriter Simonetta that have been on Catholic radio for more than a decade:


Thomas Irvine

 Thomas Thurstan Irvine was an Anglican priest in the mid 20th Century.
He was born in Birkenhead, Cheshire on 19 June 1913, one of six children of historian William Fergusson Irvine and Lilian Davies-Colley. His brother Andrew "Sandy" Irvine and his brother's climbing partner George Mallory lost their lives while attempting the first ascent of Mount Everest in early June 1924.
He was educated at Shrewsbury School in Shropshire and Magdalen College, Oxford. Ordained after a period of study at Ripon College Cuddesdon in 1939, he was Curate at All Saints, Hertford and then Precentor of St Ninian's Cathedral, Perth. Later he was Priest in charge at Lochgelly and then held incumbencies at Bridge of Allan and Perth before becoming Dean of St Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane.
He died on 5 November 1985.


Zainab Asvat

Dr. Zainab Asvat (born c. 1920 - 30 November 2013) was a South African anti-apartheid activist. Asvat was trained as a medical doctor, but was politically active most of her life.
Asvat was the first Muslim woman to become a doctor in South Africa. Her husband, Dr.Zain Kazi is a doctor and secretary of Transvaal Indian Congress
Early life and education.
Asvat was one of eleven children of Ebrahim and Fatima Asvat. Asvat's father took his daughter to political meetings when she was a girl and this helped her become politically active early on.She was a first Muslim girl to attend high school in the Transvaal In the 1940s. She studied medicine at the University of Witwatersrand after being influenced by Yusuf Dadoo who returned from his medical studies in Edinburgh.
Career.
In 1946, the South African government passed the Asiatic Land Tenure and Indian Representation Act No. 28, which was also called the "Ghetto Act." This law made it illegal for Indian citizens of South Africa to own land except in "exempted areas." Asvat took a year off of her third year of school, in 1946 to travel to Durban where she was a part of the Passive Resistance Campaign. During the campaign, resisters set up tents at the corner of Umbilo Road and Gale Street in Durban on 13 June 1946. The group was consist of eighteen participators, six of whom were women: Zainab Asvat, Zohra Bhayat, Amina Pahad, Zubeida Patel of Johannesburg, Lakshmi Govender, Veeramah Pather of Durban. The leaders of this resistance were Monty Naicker, President of the Natal Indian Congress (NIC) and M.D Naidoo, Secretary of the NIC. Her sister, Amina Cachalia came with her school friends came to cheer and sing for the group. On 16 June 1946, their tents were destroyed, stolen and Asvat was injured when a tent fell on her. Five people were beaten unconscious by the assault. Zainab made a fiery speech and said "Hooligans or no hooligans, carry on we must, and carry on we shall". The assault increased support for the resistance and thousands of people come to the tent to show their solidarity.She was arrested briefly on the 28th, but released by the night. This arrest had an influence on Asvat's younger sister, Amina Cachalia, who later also became an anti-apartheid activist. The day after the arrest, Asvat addressed a gathering of 800 women in the Avalon Cinema, inspiring the group to continue to resist. In July, she was arrested with other resisters and was sent to prison until early October.
After she was released from prison, Asvat, PK Naidoo and Suriakala Patel elected to the TIC committee and became one of the first women ever elected onto the TIC Committee. Asvat then returned to medical school and it wasn't until the 1956 that she became active again politically. Asvat, like many Indian women, joined the Federation of South African Women in order to fight apartheid in the 1950s. She organized a "network of support" for the families of the 156 activists who were arrested in December 1956. Asvat also provided meals for the accused activists during their trials.
In December 1963, Asvat organized a Women's March to the Union Buildings, where she and other activists protested against group area relocations and National Council for Indian. The police set their dogs on the marchers and charged them with batons. In 1964, she was banned from South Africa for five years. She then found out that she would be subject to another five-year ban. Asvat and her husband, Dr. Aziz Kazi, received exit permits and moved to London, seeking political asylum.
Later life and death.
In 2008, her role in opposing apartheid was part of a photographic exhibition called "Our Triumphs and Our Tears," which included portraits by Gisële Wulfsohn and was displayed at the Slave Lodge Cape Town.
Asvat died in London on 30 November 2013.


Haidara Kontorfilli

Haidara Kontorfilli (1890-1931) was a Sierra Leonean charismatic Islamic religious reformer and an anti-colonialist from the Mandingo ethnic group who championed the cause of the rural masses in Kambia in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone.
His surname derives from a Mandingo word which could be freely translated as meaning an enigma, or a thorn in the flesh. It is possible that this was not Haidara's original surname, and represented popular recognition of the challenge he posed to the colonial government.
Early life and career.
Haidara Kontorfilli was born in 1890 in Kambia, a town located in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone to Mandingo parents from French Guinea (now Guinea). At his hometown of Kambia he healed the sick, and from where he disseminated his religious teachings. His influence spread quickly and widely, and he attracted a considerable followers. He stressed the need for religious reform, directing his teachings mainly to the poorer people, and acting as the guardian of their interests. In a letter he wrote to Kambia District Commissioner, he warned the people of Kambia to change their ways and convert to Islam or face death.
At this juncture, the colonial administration became alarmed and confused, seeing his teachings and pronouncements as a threat to the stability of the government. On February 9, 1931, the British colonial administration served Haidara with an expulsion order, charging him with sedition. Haidara ignored the order and, in reply, wrote an open letter to the people of Kambia which among other things told them not to fear the British, and to refrain from paying the hated house tax, a proposal which made plenty of sense to the peasant masses hard pressed by the raging economic depression at the time. In effect, the letter was an open challenge to the very foundation of the colonial regime, and amounted to a declaration of war against it. The reaction of the colonial administration was to despatch troops of the Royal West African Frontier Force stationed in Kambia to effect Haidara's arrest at Bubuya.
Haidara, determined not to submit to the humiliation of an arrest, proceeded to organise and arm his followers with machetes, swords and guns in readiness for the inevitable encounter. The confrontation which took place on February 16, 1931 was brief. Haidara succeeded in killing the commanding British officer but he and four of his men were killed almost instantly, and the other protesters were dispersed.
Haidara Kontorfilli was clearly a heroic and charismatic leader, courageous and invested with considerable organisational abilities. His commitment to his own ideas and beliefs as well as to the interest of his followers was unquestionable, and in the end he sacrificed his life for both.


Nicholas Henshall

Nicholas James Henshall (born 6 April 1962) is a British Anglican priest and author, who has been Dean of Chelmsford since 2014.
Henshall was born on 6 April 1962 in Mossley, England. He is the son of Michael Henshall, long-serving Bishop of Warrington. He was educated at Manchester Grammar School, Wadham College, Oxford and Ripon College Cuddesdon.
He was ordained in 1989. After a curacy at, St Mary, Blyth he was Vicar of St Margaret, Scotswood from 1992 to 2002. He then became Canon Precentor of Derby Cathedral, and was Vicar of Christ Church, Harrogate from 2008 to 2014. He served as acting Archdeacon of Richmond during his final year there. Having been selected as the next Dean of Chelmsford, he was instituted at Chelmsford Cathedral on 2 February 2014.


Raven Grimassi

Gary Charles Erbe (April 12, 1951 – March 10, 2019), known as Raven Grimassi, was an American author of over 20 books, including topics on Wicca, Stregheria, witchcraft and neo-paganism. He popularized Stregheria, the religious practice of witchcraft with roots in Italy. Grimassi presented this material in the form of neo-paganism through his books. Raven had been a practitioner of witchcraft for over 45 years and was the co-director of the Ash, Birch and Willow tradition. He died of pancreatic cancer on March 10, 2019.
Early life.
Grimassi was born Gary Charles Erbe in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His father was Herbert Erbe Jr. (1922–2004), who was of German and Scots heritage, and who served as a sergeant in the United States Army in World War II. His mother was Flora Gemma Erbe (1915–2011), born in Pagani, Campania.
Herbert and Flora met in Italy during his military service, and they married in 1944. Flora's father was Giovanni Rescigno, a train station master in Naples, a Freemason, and an Italian witch. He entered the Order of the Pentagram in 1930. Grimassi wrote that his maternal grandfather was part of a tradition of Italian witches who were associated with the Carbonari revolutionary movement in the early 19th century, then joined the Masons or other secret societies as a cover for their meetings.
After some time in Pittsburgh, Herbert and Flora settled in San Diego, California, where they raised their children. Grimassi attended James Madison High School, advancing to San Diego Mesa College and San Diego City College where he studied to be a psychiatric technician.
Wicca.
Grimassi became involved with Wicca in 1969. He created his own system of witchcraft known as the "Aradian Tradition" ten years later, publishing it in print beginning in 1981. He was the co-directing elder of the Ash, Birch and Willow tradition. In 1994, the new age publisher Llewellyn Publications accepted his manuscript for "Ways of the Strega", which was reprinted the following year as "Italian Witchcraft: The Old Religion of Southern Europe".
Stregheria.
Reports that Grimassi claimed to belong to a "family tradition" of religious witchcraft had opened him to criticism.
Professor Sabina Magliocco, a critic of some of Grimassi's claims, however points out that "Grimassi never claims to be reproducing exactly what was practiced by Italian immigrants to North America; he admits Italian-American immigrants "have adapted a few Wiccan elements into their ways". After personally meeting Grimassi, Professor Magliocco writes in her letter to the Pomegranate Reader's Forum:
I had the pleasure of meeting Raven Grimassi during the summer of 2001, unfortunately after the final draft of my article had already been submitted to The Pom. He was very gracious and helpful to me. From information he revealed during our interview, I can say with reasonable certainty that I believe him to have been initiated into a domestic tradition of folk magic and healing such as I describe in my article.
Awards.
Grimassi won "Book of the Year" and "First Place – Spirituality Book" from the Coalition of Visionary Retailers in 1998 for his book "The Wiccan Mysteries", and his book the "Encyclopedia of Wicca & Witchcraft" was also awarded "Best Non-Fiction". His publisher, Weiser Books, produced the author's biography, "Horns of Honor".
Patheos listed Grimassi in 2018 as one of the 25 most influential living pagans.
Personal life.
In the 1970s, Grimassi recorded a garage rock song with Ritchie Brubaiter, called "Brat". After studying psychology in college, he worked for a few years for San Diego County Mental Health Services inside a secure psychiatric facility. He shifted to a center for abused children, then worked as a counselor for drug and alcohol abuse patients. The stress of these jobs moved him to study cosmetology and become a hair stylist for many years. After that he served as a financial aid counselor, then in the mid-1990s his book publishing income allowed a full-time writing career.
Grimassi's first marriage with Diane produced a daughter in 1979 – Brieanna, born in Escondido, California. Grimassi dedicated his book "The Wiccan Mysteries" to his "beautiful daughters, Michelle and Brieanna..." Grimassi's father died in 2004 and was buried at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego. His mother died in 2011 and was buried with her husband.
Grimassi's second marriage was to Stephanie Ann Zarrabi, pen-name Stephanie Taylor. From 1998, they operated a magick shop in Escondido called Raven's Loft, closing the physical store in 2002 to run it as a website. The couple moved to Springfield, Massachusetts, in 2009, but suffered a lightning strike in June 2017 which burned down their home and destroyed their business assets. Stephanie announced on her Facebook page that Grimassi died on March 10, 2019, aged 67, following a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was survived by two brothers and three daughters: Kathy, Michelle and Brieanna. A memorial service was held on March 23 in Springfield.


Robert Blackburne

Robert Blackburne was a Recusant plotter and scion of one of the prominent Catholic families in Lancashire, England.


John Nichols Thom

John Nichols Tom (sometimes spelt Thom; 1799 – 31 May 1838) was a Cornish wine-merchant and maltster who re-invented himself as Sir William Courtenay, stood for parliament in Canterbury, was convicted of perjury in a smuggling case, spent three years in the Kent County Lunatic Asylum, and, following his release, gathered a small band of followers and paraded in the Kent countryside. He, using the title "Sir William Percy Honeywood Courtney, King of Jerusalem", along with several of his followers, was killed in a confrontation with British Army soldiers in Bossenden Wood, in what has sometimes been called the last battle to be fought on English soil.
Early life.
John Nichols Tom (or Thom) was born the son of innkeepers in 1799 at St Columb Major, Cornwall. He was baptised in the parish church on 10 November 1799. His parents were William and Charity Tom who kept the Joiners' Arms. Tom went to school in Penryn, attending Bellevue Academy (a "Classical and Commercial Academy"). At the age of about fourteen he transferred to the private school in Launceston that was run by Reverend Richard Cope, pastor of the local Congregational Church.
Tom stayed at school until he was eighteen and was then articled to solicitor Mr Paynter of St Columb. He decided, however, against a career in the law and left after three years. After a short spell as an innkeeper in Wadebridge he settled down as a clerk in the firm of Lubbock and Co, wine merchants of Truro, and took over the business when the partners retired, extending it to include malting. In 1821 he married Catherine Fisher Fulpitt, the daughter of a market gardener in Truro. Tom was a tall, strongly built and handsome man, who became well known in Truro for his considerable sporting skill as a cricketer. During a visit to London he joined the Spencean Society.
When Tom was in his late twenties a series of personal disasters struck. His mother Charity was removed to Cornwall Lunatic Asylum in 1827, and she died there. Then, in 1828, his business premises in Pydar Street burnt down. Tom claimed the insurance and was able to rebuild the premises. At the Quarter Sessions held at Bodmin on 15 July 1828, Tom applied successfully for the return of £304 paid in excise duty on malt destroyed in the fire at his malthouse on 17 June 1828. In 1831 Tom received treatment from a surgeon for an "attack of insanity" but recovered sufficiently and the following spring sailed from Truro to Liverpool with a cargo of malt. He wrote to his wife from Liverpool to tell her he had sold the malt, and wrote to her again from Birmingham to tell her he was going to France. Nothing more was heard from him until over a year later, when his family heard that a man who fitted his description and went by the name of Sir William Courtenay was being held in Maidstone prison.
Canterbury.
In September 1832 Thom arrived in Canterbury, dressed in exotic costumes and wearing long hair and a beard. He put up at the Rose Inn at the junction of Rose Lane and the main street and went first by the name of Count Rothschild, and then by the name of Sir William Percy Honeywood Courtenay, Knight of Malta, heir to the Earl of Devon and the Kentish estates of Sir Edward Hales.
Although many people realized he was an imposter he nevertheless became a colourful and popular figure in the town, partly because he frequently made comical and insulting speeches directed at the unpopular mayor and magistrates of the city and the Archbishop of Canterbury. In the December 1832 general election Liberal support in the town was so overwhelmingly strong that the Conservatives decided against fielding any candidates. Stung by jeers about being afraid to stand, some local Conservatives asked Tom to stand as an independent candidate for Canterbury, hoping he would at least inconvenience the Liberals. He polled a creditable 375 votes (against 834 for Richard Watson and 802 for Viscount Fordwich, the Liberal candidates). He then decided to stand in the East Kent election but polled only a derisory three votes, including his own, and thereafter turned his attention to publishing a weekly paper, "The Lion". Eight issues of the paper were produced. Full of biblical quotations, it argued for the rights of the poor, expressed loyalty to the Crown, and was critical of the clergy, aristocracy, town corporations and Parliament. Tom's biographer described the views expressed in "The Lion" as showing "amazing common sense... far in advance of those generally held in his time", for example, regarding rents, taxation, the Irish problem, and corporal punishment, although he concedes that these "occasional shafts of light" were surrounded by "turgid nonsense".
Barming Heath.
At the beginning of March 1833, Thom intervened in the case of some Faversham smugglers, acting as a witness for the defence. The smugglers were nevertheless convicted, and Tom himself was prosecuted for perjury. His trial took place on 25 July at the Kent Summer Assizes at Maidstone before Mr Justice Parke and a crowded court. Evidence was heard from the Vicar of Boughton-under-Blean that Tom had actually been at church at the time he claimed to have witnessed events off the Goodwin Sands. In spite of the testimony of a number of character witnesses, the jury returned a verdict of guilty and Tom was sentenced to three months imprisonment and seven years transportation to Australia.
Tom's family in Truro had heard about the trial and Catherine Tom arrived in Maidstone in August to see if Courtenay was indeed her missing husband. He was produced by the governor of Maidstone Gaol and she made a positive identification. Although Tom always denied any connection with the Truro family, Catherine Tom was believed. She told the authorities about her husband's previous attack of insanity; he was then examined by two surgeons who declared him of unsound mind. Tom was subsequently transferred to Barming Heath Asylum on 28 October 1833.
Tom was a model patient in the asylum, and in early 1837 the superintendent suggested to Catherine Tom that she should petition the Home Secretary for her husband's release. Tom's father in Truro brought his son's case to the attention of Sir Hussey Vivian, the Liberal candidate for East Cornwall in the August 1837 election. Vivian, after his election, took the matter up with the Home Secretary, Lord John Russell, and Tom was granted a free pardon by Queen Victoria, on the condition he was returned into the care of his family in Cornwall. Tom was still refusing to acknowledge any association to the Cornish family and, instead of returning to Cornwall, he went to live with a local farmer and supporter, Mr Francis of Fairbrook, Boughton-under-Blean, who had offered to be his guardian. This was permitted, due to some ambiguous wording on the pardon, and in October 1837, four years after his admission to the asylum, Tom was released.
Battle and death.
By January 1838, Tom had fallen out with Mr Francis, and he spent the next few months riding through East Kent, relying on the hospitality of supporters. With promises of a better future, fairer distribution of wealth and greater equality, he attracted a following of agricultural labourers, artisans and small-holders. In particular, he addressed their concerns about low wages, lack of work, and the New Poor Law, which ordered all able-bodied men to workhouses if they could not find work. Until the end of May, the activities of Tom and his small band of followers were entirely peaceful as they marched around the local countryside trying to drum up support amongst the workers. Some wealthier landowners were however becoming alarmed and, on 31 May 1838, a local magistrate, Dr Poore, issued a warrant for Tom's arrest for inciting workmen to leave their work.
Early on the morning of 31 May, the parish constable of Boughton-under-Blean enlisted the help of his assistant and also of his brother, Nicholas Mears, and set off to find Tom. When they arrived at Bossenden Farm, where Tom and his followers were staying, Tom shot and killed Nicholas Mears. The constable and his assistant fled. News of the murder reached the magistrates and soldiers were called out from the barracks at Canterbury. A detachment of the 45th Infantry under Major Armstrong, with three junior officers and about one hundred men, met up with the magistrates and tracked Tom and his followers down to a clearing in Bossenden Wood. Tom's followers numbered between thirty and forty (a few having managed to escape after the killing of the constable), and, with the exception of Tom and one other who had pistols, were armed only with sticks. As the soldiers advanced, Lieutenant Bennet was shot dead by Tom. In the ensuing confrontation, which lasted only a few minutes, Tom and eight of his followers were killed or mortally wounded by the soldiers, and a young special constable who was helping the soldiers was caught in their fire and killed. One soldier was slightly injured by a stick.
Aftermath and legacy.
Tom's body, together with those of his followers who had been killed, was taken to the Red Lion Inn at Dunkirk. The inn was besieged by souvenir and relic hunters, and the simply curious. The landlord of Red Lion claimed 20,000 people had visited the neighbourhood over the next few days. Tom's biographer describes public feeling:
"This was an insignificant casualty list as battles go; but it was a terrible price to pay for the capture, dead, of one man. When the disastrous results of the affray became known, public opinion was deeply shocked at what seemed an unnecessary loss of life. The repercussions of the Battle of Bossenden wood were soon, in fact, to reach Westminster itself."
An inquest was held at the White Horse, Boughton, the Saturday after the battle, with the jury returning a verdict of "justifiable homicide" on the deaths of Tom and his followers. On the following Tuesday Tom was buried in Hernhill cemetery.
Few of Tom's followers had been arrested at the scene of the battle, but some were picked up over the next few days. Thirty men and two women were arrested, and of these ten were tried for murder - two for the murder of the constable's brother and nine for the murder of Bennett (with Thomas Mears being charged with both). Thomas Mears and William Price were convicted of the murder of the constable's brother, then the rest pleaded guilty. Thomas Mears and William Wills were transported for life, William Price for ten years, and the others received one year's imprisonment.
Local magistrates and politicians, especially Lord John Russell, were attacked for their role in the affair. There were accusations that Sir Hussey Vivian had requested Tom's release in return for his father's vote. A parliamentary select committee was appointed and sat for three days in June. Barrister Frederick Liardet was sent to survey the area for the Central Society of Education, and a school and a church were built in Dunkirk. Journalists talked of the ignorance and moral degradation of the area. Feargus O'Connor suggested a monument should be erected in memory of Courtenay's followers.


William Basset (divine)

William Basset (1644–1695) was an English divine.
Basset was the son of Thomas Basset, minister of Great Harborough in Warwickshire, was baptised there 22 October 1644, became a commoner of Magdalen Hall, Oxford, in 1660, and afterwards a demy of Magdalen College, also at the University of Oxford. He graduated M.A., and took orders, was beneficed first in Surrey, afterwards (1671) at Brinklow in his native county, and in July 1683 was presented by the Salters' Company to the rectory of St Swithin in London. His death occurred in the beginning of the year 1695–6, as he was succeeded on 25 March 1696 in his rectory of St Swithin by John Clark, M.A.
Works.
In addition to several sermons, he published: