Sayyid Ghulam Hussain Shah Bukhari

Syed Ghulam Hussain Shah Bukhari () (born 1932) is an Islamic scholar from Pakistan. He belongs to the Naqshbandi Sufi school of thought. He manages the Dargah Hussainabad, one of the largest religious institution in Pakistan.
Early life.
Syed Ghulam Hussain Shah Bukhari was born in 1932 in a village Drib Chandia, Qambar Shahdadkot, Pakistan.
He is a Naqshbandi Sufi saint. He received religious education from his father, Syed Gul Muhammad Shah, his other teachers were Khushi Muhammad Tunio, Ghulam Muhammad Chandio and Ali Gohar Mastoi.
In 1980, he built a masjid and madrassa titled "Dargah Hussainabad" where religious education and accommodation is free of all political associations. He is also the head of "Tanzeem Islahul Fuqra Al-Hussainia", that provides also religious education to people.
He has also been attacked by terrorists.


Olav Totland

Olav Totland (11 September 1904 – 26 July 1996) was a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party.
He was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from Bergen in 1969, but was not re-elected in 1973. He had previously served as a deputy representative during the term 1965–1969, but sat through half of the term as a regular representative, replacing Nils Langhelle who died in August 1967.
Born in Bergen, Totland took a cand.theol. education in 1934. He was vicar at Bruvik Church in Bruvik from 1948 to 1958, but then returned to become vicar in Bergen. He was a member of Bergen city council from 1959 to 1971. He was a member of the city school board from 1960 to 1971, chairing it from 1966 to 1967. He was also active in Blå Kors, the Norwegian member organization of the International Federation of the Blue Cross, and the Association of Norwegian Christian Socialists.


Peter Blomevenna

Peter Blomevenna or Blommeveen (born 29 March 1466 in Leiden; died 14 August 1536 in Cologne) was a Carthusian author and prior of Cologne Charterhouse from 1507 to 1536.
He was a translator of Denis the Carthusian, among many other works, and an active opponent of early Protestantism. He was a close friend of Werner Rolewinck (died 1502).


A. C. DeWolf


Patrick Kelly (bishop of Benin City)

Patrick Joseph Kelly (31 August 1894 – 18 August 1991) was the Roman Catholic Bishop of Benin City in Nigeria.
A native of Barnacragh, Ballinasloe, his grandparents lived on the Seymour estate at Clontuskert. He attended Garbally College.
Trained as a missionary priest, Kelly joined the SMA (Society for African Missions), attending the seminary at Blackrock Road, Cork City. Ordained there on 29 June 1921, he spent much of his religious life in Nigeria. Many of his colleagues died on the missions.
He was appointed the Vicar Apostolic of Western Nigeria and Titular Bishop of Thignica by the Holy See on 11 December 1939 and was consecrated at St. Michael's Church, Ballinasloe on 2 June 1940, but was unable to return to Africa due to World War II until 1941. He aided in the construction of dozens of schools and churches in the diocese. There were 157 schools in 1939; in 1973, there were 786.
His title changed to Vicar Apostolic of Asaba-Benin in 1943 and Bishop of Benin City in 1950. He retired in 1973 and died in 1991, two weeks before his 97th birthday.


Filippo Anfossi

Filippo Anfossi (died 14 May 1825) was a Vicar-General of the Dominicans and Master of the Sacred Palace.
Biography.
Anfossi was born in Taggia, Province of Imperia.
He carried on the negotiations with Lamennais regarding the corrections to be made in his "Essai sur l'indifférence" (Paris, 1821–23). He was one of the ultramontanist opponents of the various strands of Gallicanism represented by Scipione de Ricci, Vincento Palmieri, and Guillaume de la Luzerne.
Among his published works are: "Difesa della bolla 'Auctorem fidei' in cui si trattano le maggiori questioni che hanno agitate in questi tempi la chiesa" (Rome, 1810 and 1816); "Motivi per cui il Padre Filippo Anfossi Domenicano a creduto di non potere adorire alle quattro proposizioni gallicane" (Rome, 1813); "L'unione politico-religiosa considerata nei suoi rapporti colla civile societá" (Rome, 1822).
He died in Rome in 1825.


Bareil Antos


David Chilton

David Harold Chilton (1951–1997) was an American reformed pastor, Christian reconstructionist, speaker, and author of several books on economics, eschatology and Christian Worldview from Placerville, California. He contributed three books on eschatology: "Paradise Restored" (1985), "The Days of Vengeance" (1987), and "The Great Tribulation" (1987).
His book "Productive Christians in an Age of Guilt-Manipulators: A Biblical Response to Ronald J. Sider" (1981) was a response to Ronald J. Sider's best-selling book, "Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger: A Biblical Study" (1977), which promoted various programs of wealth redistribution by the government. Chilton argued that the Bible either does not authorize such programs or explicitly teaches against them.
His book "Power in the Blood: A Christian Response to AIDS" (1987) was primarily dealing with the Church's relationship with the world.
Jule Ingersoll notes that Chilton was the Reconstructionist specialist on postmillennialism, and that while Rousas Rushdoony was the "architect of the theological and philosophical system", Chilton was the "general contractor in charge of developing and popularizing postmillennialism."
Early years.
David Chilton was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1951. At the age of one, he moved with his Christian missionary parents to the Philippines. At the age of 8, the family returned to the United States where his father became a pastor in Southern California. Growing up in California in the 1970s youth movement and hippie culture, he experienced a conversion to Christianity while listening to a missionary speak at his father's church. He began reading the Bible and teaching Bible studies. The young Chilton consequently became deeply involved in the nascent Jesus People movement, and started a singing group with his sister Jayn and some friends called The Children of Light. He frequently spoke, performed music, and taught Bible studies at Christian coffeehouses in Los Angeles, California region. He was ordained in the Jesus People Movement by Pat Boone.
Chilton came to prominence as a writer for the Chalcedon Report edited by R.J. Rushdoony after a Christian friend recommended one of Rushdoony's books. At the same time, Chilton discovered the writings of the Puritans, and was exposed for the first time to Reformed theology as a result of reading these books, and to the doctrines of predestination, election, and perseverance of the saints. After meeting Rushdoony, Chilton was asked to write a monthly column for Chalcedon Report while alternating speaking for Dr. Rushdoony at his church in Hollywood (which was affiliated with the Orthodox Presbyterian Church) while pastoring a church in Anaheim, California. At this time Chilton was also influenced by fellow Christian Reconstructionists Greg Bahnsen and James B. Jordan. He married his wife, Darlene, and had 3 children, Nathan, Jacob, and Abigail.
In 1981, after several years of pastoring in Anaheim, Chilton wrote his first book, "Productive Christians in an Age of Guilt-Manipulators: A Biblical Response to Ronald J. Sider" over the course of a month with a pencil and paper at a coffeehouse. Not long after the completion of the book, he moved to Placerville, CA to pastor a church for a year, during which he wrote a newsletter for Christian teachers and homeschoolers called The Biblical Educator. Chilton also used his influence to help launch World Magazine with Joel Belz and wrote a monthly column for the publication for years, which was very popular.
Although Chilton loved the people of Placerville and did not want to leave, he accepted a job offer from prominent Reconstructionist (and Rushdoony son-in-law) Gary North as a research assistant at The Institute for Christian Economics in Tyler, Texas. It was during his three-year stay in Texas that North commissioned Chilton to write his two books for North's imprint Dominion Press: Paradise Restored and Days of Vengeance.
Later years.
In 1986 Chilton accepted an offer to return to Placerville to pastor the church there. He continued to work in pastoral ministry, speak at conferences, write a weekly column for The Sacramento Union newspaper, was counsel for The Fieldstead Co. at an economic conference in Switzerland and wrote his last two books, The Great Tribulation and Power in the Blood.
Whitefield Theological Seminary awarded him with 2 degrees: The Master of Divinity in the field of Pastoral Theology in 1990 and the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the field of Christian Thought in 1992, primarily for his work on "Days of Vengeance".
Death.
In 1994, Chilton suffered a massive heart attack and went into a six-week coma. He slowly began to recover, though he had difficulty speaking. During this time, he wrote a monthly column on the family for Ligonier Ministries. He took his second speaking trip to Australia for a month of engagements and also spoke at a church in The Bahamas. He also became a proponent of the Christian eschatological view known as preterism.
In 1997, Chilton suffered his second heart attack and died at the age of 45 years.


Andrew Cant (educator)

Andrew Cant (date of birth unknown, died 1728) was a Scottish clergyman and scholar, and Principal of the University of Edinburgh from 1675 to 1685.
He is believed to be the son of the Presbyterian minister and covenanter Andrew Cant (1590–1663). He was a minister of Edinburgh during the reign of Charles II, and consequently is assumed to have been an adherent of Episcopacy.
The same person, or perhaps his son, was deprived of his charge in Edinburgh, at the Revolution, and, on 17 October 1722 was consecrated as one of the bishops of the disestablished Episcopal Church in Scotland. This individual died in 1728.
He married Anne Burnett, daughter of Sir Thomas Burnet, 1st Baronet of Leys, Kincardineshire.


Jack Cunningham (bishop)

Jack Cunningham (1 September 1926 – 18 October 1978) was the first Anglican Bishop of Central Zambia.
Educated at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wakefield and Edinburgh Theological College he was ordained in 1953. He was a Curate at St Mark with St Barnabas, Coventry then held incumbencies at St Thomas and St Alban in the same city. In 1967 he emigrated to Zambia where he was Priest in charge of St Michael, Kitwe before his appointment to the episcopate. He confirmed the present bishop of the diocese Derek Kamukwamba.
He was appointed OBE in the 1978 New Year Honours.


Said Naum

Sa'id bin Salim Na'um Basalamah () or better known as Said Naum (; ) was the first Kapitan Arab in Batavia and a Muslim philanthropist in Dutch East Indies in the 19th century. He is known for his charities and endowment of large lands to be used as school and cemetery currently located in Tanah Abang.
History.
Said Na'um was a Hadhrami and lived in Palembang for sometime before later moved to Pekojan in Batavia. Said was a wealthy merchant who owned many trade ships and as a landlord in Batavia with extensive and large areas of lands. He was also a pious man, has a clean heart, loved people of piety, respect for the poor and needy and known for his very generous "Waqf al-Turbah" (land endowment), where he endowed hectares of his lands to be used for schools, cemeteries and mosques.
He married a girl named Zainah bint Ubayd, who gave him one only son named Muhammad who later died, and several daughters. The oldest was Syekhah, who was married to a righteous man, Sheikh Salim bin Umar Bahfen. His other daughter was Ruqayyah, who was married to Sheikh Abdullah bin Said Basalamah, and the last one was Nur, who married to Sheikh Said bin Ahmad Jawwas. All of them had children.
After moving to Batavia, he later married another woman (it was common in the era for men to have multiple wives) named Nur binti Muhammad Audhah, who gave him a daughter named Muznah who then married to Ali bin Abubakar bin Umar Shahab, a Wulayti Hadhrami from Dammun near Tarim. From Muznah's marriage with Ali, Said had some grandchildren, namely Abubakar, Muhammad, and sidah. His grandson Abubakar later became the first principal of Jamiat Kheir school.
In Batavia, Said bought a large piece of land in area of Pekojan called "Tanah Tinggi" (Highland). On the land he later built a mosque called "Masjid Tanah Tinggi" in November 1833 CE (Rajab 1249 AH). Due to his popularity among Arab Indonesians, the Government of Dutch East Indies appointed him as the first Kapitan Arab in Batavia from 1844 to 1864.
Later in his life when his physical condition and business declined, his business was handed to his son-in-law Abdullah bin Said Basalamah. In 1844, he donated land as cemetery in Tanah Abang area, Batavia. Naum was buried in his endowed cemetery near the grave of Sheikh Salim bin Abdullah bin Sumair who died in 1855 CE (1271 AH).
In the 1970s, the government of Jakarta created a controversy by relocating the cemetery to Karet. They dug the graves and remains of hundreds of corpses were moved to the new location. Some part of the land he endowed is now used as K-12 school named after his name.


William Melmoth

William Melmoth (sometimes "William Melmoth the Elder") (1665/66–1743) was an English devotional writer and lawyer, whose major work, "The Great Importance of a Religious Life Consider'd" (1711), proved to be one of the most popular pieces of religious writing of the 18th century. He was the father of William Melmoth (1710–1799), a Commissioner of Bankrupts.
Life and career.
Melmoth was admitted to the Inns of Court to begin his training as a barrister at Clifford's Inn on 15 April 1686, and then transferred to Inner Temple on 30 May 1689 and from there he was called to the Bar on 29 May 1693. Records show that he was admitted as a "gentleman." On his admission to the Bar he was called to take the Test Act oath that served as an oath of allegiance to William III and Mary II and the Protestant succession, he was troubled by Jacobite non-juror concerns of legitimacy. He wrote to John Norris, the religious writer, to ask whether swearing allegiance to an usurper might not make him an accessory to the usurpation.
However, Melmoth did take the oath, and in 1699 he moved to Lincoln's Inn, working mostly in chancery cases. He married, and this wife died around 1699 and left him property. He married again, a woman named Catharine, by 1710, and the two had four daughters and two sons to survive infancy. Among these was William Melmoth the Younger.removed
Writings.
As a high churchman, he was pleased with the accession of Queen Anne in 1702. He was active in the Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge and greatly concerned with the lasciviousness and "impiety" of the English stage. He wrote, anonymously, to rail against stage performances, including correspondence with Daniel Defoe and the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Tenison. It was during these years of 1703–1711 that Melmoth composed "The Great Importance".
"The Great Importance of a Religious Life Consider'd" was published for the first time in 1711. Melmoth published the book anonymously. Like William Law's later "A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life" (1728), Melmoth's book emphasized personal renewal and religious awakening. Instead of focusing on social ills and matters of politics or polity, Melmoth focused on the individual Christian and urged a revitalized faith. The book was immediately successful and was translated into French and Welsh within a year. Melmoth's authorship of the book was not definitely asserted until his son did so in 1797. However, the work sold exceptionally well, having a staggering thirty editions by 1797 and selling 420,000 copies between 1766 and 1784 alone.
Melmoth wrote pamphlets and short works for publication, anonymously, throughout his public life, but he was only an occasional author. In 1719, he was made a Bencher of Lincoln's Inn and was soon recognised as one of the leading chancery counsel of the day. He devoted considerable energies to the physical and financial improvement of the Inn and continued to work up until a few days before his death on 6 April 1743.


Arthur Hodgkinson

 Arthur Edward Hodgkinson (1913- 1995) was an Anglican priest, most notably Provost of St Andrew's Cathedral, Aberdeen from 1965 until 1978.
Hodgkinson was born on 29 October 1913 and educated at Edinburgh Theological College. He was ordained in 1940. After curacies in Glasgow and Perth, he was Priest in charge of Lochgelly from 1947 to 1954. He was then Rector of Motherwell from 1954 until his appointment as Provost.
He died on 19 April 1995.


Rachel Griffiths

Rachel Anne Griffiths (born in 1968) is an Australian actress and director. Raised primarily in Melbourne, she began her acting career appearing on the Australian series "Secrets" before being cast in a supporting role in the comedy "Muriel's Wedding" (1994), which earned her an AACTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. In 1997, she was the lead in Nadia Tass's drama "Amy". She had a role opposite Julia Roberts in the American romantic comedy "My Best Friend's Wedding" (1997), followed by her role as Hilary du Pré in "Hilary and Jackie" (1998), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
From 2001 to 2005, Griffiths portrayed masseuse Brenda Chenowith in the HBO series "Six Feet Under", for which she earned a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in 2002. She subsequently appeared on television as Sarah Walker Laurent on the ABC drama series "Brothers & Sisters" from 2006 to 2011, for which she was nominated for multiple Primetime Emmy Awards.
She has also had roles in the films "Blow" (2001), portraying the mother of George Jung; the historical drama "Ned Kelly" (2003); "Step Up" (2006), and the Julian Assange television biopic "" (2012). In 2016, she appeared in a supporting role in Mel Gibson's biographical war drama "Hacksaw Ridge", and in the docudrama miniseries "When We Rise", written by Dustin Lance Black.
Onstage, Griffiths appeared in a Melbourne-based production of "Proof" in 2002, which earned her a Helpmann Award, and later made her Broadway debut in a 2011 critically acclaimed production of "Other Desert Cities". In addition to acting, she made her directorial debut with the short film "Tulip" in 1998, and has directed several episodes of the Australian television series "Nowhere Boys" and the British drama series "Indian Summers" in 2015 and 2016, respectively.
Early life.
Griffiths was born on 18 December 1968 in Australia, where she spent her early childhood on the Gold Coast. She is the daughter of Anna and Edward Martin Griffiths. She has two older brothers, Ben, and Samuel. She moved to Melbourne at the age of five, with her mother and two older brothers. Griffiths was raised Roman Catholic. She recalled first being inspired to become an actress after watching the U.S. miniseries "Roots" as a child.
Griffiths attended Star of the Sea College, a Catholic girls' high school in Brighton. She earned a Bachelor of Education degree in drama and dance at Victoria College, Rusden. After being rejected from the National Institute of Dramatic Art, Griffiths joined the Woolly Jumpers, a Geelong-based community theatre group. In 1991, she wrote and performed the one-woman show "Barbie Gets Hip", which played at the Melbourne Fringe Festival in 1991.
Career.
1994–2000: Early work and critical recognition.
Griffiths and Toni Collette were cast as best friends and fellow outcasts in the 1994 film "Muriel's Wedding". Her performance won her critical acclaim and both the Australian Film Critics Award and the Australian Film Institute Awards for Best Supporting Actress. She followed in 1996 with the role of an earthy, ill-mannered pig farmer's daughter in Michael Winterbottom's "Jude".
In 1997, Griffiths sparked a controversy after attending uninvited the opening of the Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia, while topless. She stated a wish to protest the views taken by the media and state government towards the new casino, inspired by the story of Lady Godiva.
Griffiths joined forces again with "Muriel's Wedding" director P. J. Hogan for her American film debut, "My Best Friend's Wedding", in 1997. That same year she starred in "My Son the Fanatic", a British film in which she portrayed a tough Yorkshire prostitute who becomes involved with a considerably older Pakistani taxicab driver, played by Om Puri. Griffiths received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of real-life flautist Hilary du Pré opposite Emily Watson as her sister, famed cellist Jacqueline "Jackie" du Pre, in "Hilary and Jackie" (1998). After the release of "Hilary and Jackie", Griffiths was cast in the starring role in the Australian comedy "Me Myself I" (1999).
2001–2011: American television and further acclaim.
In 2001, Griffiths appeared opposite Natasha Richardson in the English comedy "Blow Dry", playing a lesbian hairdresser who enters a hairstyling competition with her lover, followed by the Ted Demme-directed "Blow" (2001) opposite Johnny Depp and Ray Liotta, in which she played the mother of Boston cocaine magnate George Jung. Nick Nunziata of "IGN" was critical of Griffiths' performance in the film, writing: "the only performance that doesn't ring true is that of Rachel Griffiths as Jung's mother...she just doesn't connect."
The same year Griffiths appeared in "Blow", she was cast as one of the leads in the HBO drama series "Six Feet Under". Her performance as emotionally-scarred massage therapist, Brenda Chenowith, earned her Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Awards, as well as two Emmy Award nominations over the series' five season-run. In the third season, she missed four episodes due to her first pregnancy; her second pregnancy was written into the show's final season and she appeared in almost every episode of the series.
While starring on "Six Feet Under", Griffiths continued to occasionally appear in the films, playing the supportive housewife of Dennis Quaid in the Walt Disney drama "The Rookie" (2002), and in the Australian biopic "Ned Kelly" (2003), opposite Heath Ledger, Geoffrey Rush, and Orlando Bloom. In the spring of 2002, she appeared in a Melbourne production of "Proof" by the American playwright David Auburn, for which she earned a Helpmann Award for Best Female Actor in a Play.
In 2004, she played a key role in the Hallmark film adaptation of the Kent Haruf novel Plainsong.
In 2006, she became part of the ensemble cast, co-starring alongside Sally Field, Calista Flockhart, Balthazar Getty and Matthew Rhys, of the dramatic series "Brothers & Sisters", in which she portrays Sarah Walker, who inherits control of the family business after her father's death. Griffiths received a 2007 Emmy nomination and a 2008 Emmy nomination for her work on the series, followed by 2008 and 2009 Golden Globe nominations. Griffiths starred on the series until its conclusion in 2011. Additionally, she appeared as Inez Scull in the 2008 miniseries adaptation of Larry McMurtry's "Comanche Moon".
Griffiths made her Broadway debut in "Other Desert Cities", directed by Joe Mantello and co-starring Judith Light, Stockard Channing, and Stacy Keach, which began previews on 10 October 2011, opening on 3 November 2011 in Manhattan. David Rooney of "The Hollywood Reporter" praised both Griffith's performance as well as the overall production, writing: "[The play] has acquired a riveting center in the raw performance of Rachel Griffiths, who makes a knockout New York stage debut. With discreet adjustments to the text and more penetrating characterizations all around from the sterling cast, the balance between comedy and intense family drama has been fine-tuned in richly satisfying ways". Ben Brantley of "The New York Times" deemed her performance "a beautifully modulated Broadway debut".
2012–2018: Return to Australia; directing.
In 2012, Griffiths returned to live in her native Australia, after having lived and worked in the United States for a decade. She expressed a desire to work less and spend more time with her children after having worked what she described as "80-hour-weeks" while appearing on "Six Feet Under" and "Brothers & Sisters".
In November 2013, "The Sydney Morning Herald" reported that Griffiths was to play Julia Gillard in a television drama based on the book, "The Stalking of Julia Gillard" by Kerry-Anne Walsh. But the project stalled as the proposal for the film was rejected by the Australian television networks.
In 2015, she made her debut as a television director when she directed three episodes of the second series of the Australian teen drama "Nowhere Boys".
In 2016, Griffiths was cast opposite Guy Pearce and Mary-Louise Parker in the American miniseries "When We Rise", a docudrama focusing on LGBT rights, in which she portrays a nurse during the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States. The same year, she appeared in a supporting part opposite Hugo Weaving in the Mel Gibson-directed war drama "Hacksaw Ridge", which earned her an AACTA nomination for Best Supporting Actress. In 2018, she appears in the SBS thriller miniseries "Dead Lucky", which was sold for American distribution to the streaming service SundanceNow in April 2018.
In 2020, Griffiths starred in the Amazon Prime television show, "The Wilds," as Gretchen Klein.
Other ventures.
In 2017, Griffiths worked promoting the "No Robe" campaign for the Art Series Hotels, which invited hotel guests to pose for nude portraits in their rooms and have them brought to life by artists. She also serves on the board of the Sydney Contemporary art fair.
Personal life.
Griffiths married Australian artist Andrew Taylor on 31 December 2002 in the chapel of her high school, Star of the Sea College, in Melbourne. In 2003, she and Taylor had a son, Banjo, followed by a daughter, Adelaide, in 2005. In 2009, she gave birth to her third child Clem in Los Angeles; Griffiths suffered a ruptured uterus giving birth. She spent a total of three days undergoing surgery, and recovered from the condition.
In 2002, Griffiths stated she was an atheist. However, in a 2015 interview, she revealed she was again a practising Catholic, the faith in which she was raised. In 2017, she spoke out in favour of same-sex marriage in Australia. She has also supported the Global Charter of Basic Rights campaign for Oxfam Australia. She considers herself a feminist.
After having lived and worked in the United States for nearly a decade while appearing on the series "Six Feet Under" and "Brothers & Sisters", Griffiths returned to live in her native Australia in 2012.
Griffith was honoured in the Australia Day Honours in 2020.
In June 2020 Griffith made a number of social media posts during the Black Lives Matter protests, beginning by making light of the deaths in police custody by stating that "it's easier on the soul to watch this all happening with beautiful nails", a reference to her having received a manicure in the midst of protests. Her post and responses were condemned by the Aboriginal community. She later apologized for her comments.


St. Adeloga of Kitzingen

St. Adeloga of Kitzingen, also known as Hadeloga and Adela, is a German saint. Her father was Charles Martel, a Frankish statesman and military leader. She was a princess and "of singular beauty". She was sought after for marriage, but she refused, wanting to devote herself to God instead. Her father treated her with "studied brutality and public insult"; she went to his chaplain, who was also her spiritual director, for support and advice, so Martel expelled them both from his palace. They journeyed to Kitzingen, in modern Bavaria, a "wild and desert place", where they built a convent. She was made the convent's first abbess; the convent attracted virgins and was directed to follow the rules of St. Benedict and St. Scholastica. Martel later reconciled with and visited Adeloga, and donated lands for her convent.
St. Adeloga is listed in the Benedictine Martyrology, and an ancient biography of her written by an anonymous author and published by Flemish hagiographer Jean Bolland. After her death, she was succeeded at the Kitzingen convent by St. Thecla.


Vinay Katiyar

Vinay Katiyar (born 11 November 1954) is a politician and
the founder-president of Bajrang Dal, the youth wing of the Hindu nationalist organisation Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) in India. He has served as an All India General Secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and as a Member of Parliament in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.
Life and career.
Katiyar was born to Devi Charan Katiyar and Shyam Kali in Kanpur. He holds a bachelor's degree in Commerce from Kanpur University.
Katiyar started his political journey with Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the Sangh Parivar. He was the organizing secretary of ABVP's Uttar Pradesh state unit from 1970 to 1974, and the convener of the Jayaprakash Narayan's Bihar Movement in 1974. He became a pracharak (full-time worker) of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in 1980. He founded the Hindu Jagran Manch in 1982. In 1984, he was chosen to start the new youth organisation Bajrang Dal to support the Ram Janmabhoomi movement.
Later, Katiyar served as the President of Uttar Pradesh State Unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party from 2002 to 18 July 2004 and the national General Secretary of the BJP from 2006.
Katiyar was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Faizabad (Ayodhya) constituency to the 10th, 11th and 13th Lok Sabha in 1991, 1996 and 1999, and to the Rajya Sabha as a representative of Uttar Pradesh in 2012.
Controversies.
In a 2018 interview with ANI"," Katiyar said that there was no need for Muslims to remain in India in the wake of its Partition, and that Muslims in India should, instead, move to Pakistan or Bangladesh. These views were shared after his comments about the Taj Mahal, claiming that the monument was a Hindu temple in the period of Aurangzeb's rule and implied that it would soon be returned to its 'original state' through its destruction.


Morten Thrane Esmark

Hans Morten Thrane Esmark (21 August 1801 – 24 April 1882) was a Norwegian priest and mineralogist. He is most noted for first locating the mineral thorite.
Biography.
Morten Thrane Esmark was born at Kongsberg in Buskerud, Norway as a son of Professor Jens Esmark, a professor of mineralogy. His given name came from his maternal grandfather Danish zoologist and mineralogist, Morten Thrane Brünnich. Esmark took his theological exam in 1825 and first began his ministry as chaplain at Eidanger in Tromsø, Troms, Norway. He served as a parish priest for a period at Ramnes in Jarlsberg. He later served as vicar at Brevik in Telemark.
Morten Thrane Esmark described several new minerals principally from Langesundsfjorden in Telemark. He commonly sent interesting specimens to his father, Jens Esmark, who was a professor of mineralogy and geology at the Royal Frederick University. Morten Thrane Esmark located the first specimens of thorite, from which the element thorium is derived, on the island of Løvøya. His father forwarded the specimen to Swedish chemist Jöns Jacob Berzelius, who confirmed that it was a new mineral which contained a new element. The personal mineral collection of Morten Thrane Esmark was later donated to the Tromsø University Museum.
Personal life.
He was married to Ulriche Benedicte Wiborg (1810–1898). Nature researcher Birgitte Esmark (1841–1897) was their daughter.


Ugochukwu Ezuoke

Ugochukwu Ezuoke was an Anglican bishop in Nigeria: he was Archbishop of Aba and Bishop of Aba until 2011 when he retired and was succeeded as Archbishop by Ikechi Nwosu.
Ezuoke was consecrated as the pioneer Bishop of Umuahia on 16 January 1994 at St. Michael's Cathedral Aba.


Mansfeld

Mansfeld, sometimes also unofficially Mansfeld-Lutherstadt, is a town in the district of Mansfeld-Südharz, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.
Protestant reformator Martin Luther grew up in Mansfeld, and in 1993 the town became one of sixteen places in Germany to be designated a "Lutherstadt" for this reason.
Geography.
It is situated east of the Harz mountain range on the river Wipper, a left tributary of the Saale, about northwest of Halle. Together with neighbouring Eisleben, it is part of the historic Mansfeld Land region, roughly corresponding to the former district of Mansfelder Land which in 2007 merged into present Mansfeld-Südharz district.
Mansfeld station is a stop on the Mansfeldbahn railway line ("Wipperliese"), a branch of the Berlin-Blankenheim railway, running from Klostermansfeld to Wippra.
Town districts.
The township currently comprises 15 districts ("Ortschaften"):
History.
The House of Mansfeld, whose members belonged to the Saxon nobility and served as counts in the Hassegau, was first documented in a 973 deed. The counts built Mansfeld Castle, whose foundations date back to the late 11th century, when one Hoyer of Mansfeld served as field marshal to Emperor Henry V. The first reference of the fortress coincides with the extinction of the elder line in 1229. The estates were inherited by the Lords of Querfurt, who also adopted the comital title, calling themselves Counts of Mansfeld from that time on.
The settlement of Mansfeld received town privileges in 1400, and grew through the development of copper and silver mining, an activity in which Hans Luder from Möhra, father to Martin Luther and Mansfeld citizen from 1484, was employed as a master smelter. Luther's family had arrived into a modest prosperity, he himself attended the local school between 1488 and 1496. The building known as "Luther's School" had to be torn down and rebuilt in 2000 due to structural problems. His parents' house is preserved and today a museum. Luther also acted as an altar server at the St George parish church.
The Counts of Mansfeld had already lost Imperial immediacy in 1580. When the comital line finally became extinct in 1780, the estates around Mansfeld were incorporated into the Prussian Duchy of Magdeburg. The town retained the status of an independent city ("Immediatstadt"), it was temporarily part of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Westphalia and after the 1815 Congress of Vienna belonged to the Prussian Province of Saxony.
Politics.
Seats in the town's assembly ("Stadtrat") as of 2014 local elections:


Wilhelm Gass

Wilhelm Gass (November 28, 1813 – February 21, 1889) was a German theologian born in Breslau. He was the son of theologian Joachim Christian Gass (1766–1831).
He received his education in Breslau, Halle and Berlin, and as a student was influenced by the teachings of August Neander (1789–1850). In 1846 he became an associate professor at the University of Breslau, and during the following year relocated to Greifswald, where in 1855 he achieved the title of "professor ordinarius". In 1862 he was appointed professor of systematic theology at the University of Giessen, and in 1868 moved to Heidelberg as a successor to Richard Rothe (1799–1867). He died in 1889 in Heidelberg
His theological work largely dealt with the history of Protestant dogmatics, studies of the Greek Orthodox Church during the Middle Ages and the history of Christian ethics. Among his more important written works was the four-volume "Geschichte der Lutherischen Dogmatik" (History of Lutheran Dogmatics 1854-67), and an 1846 book on Georgius Calixtus and syncretism called "Georg Calixt und der Synkretismus". Other noted works by Wilhelm Gass include:


Randall Goodgame

Randall Kilpatrick Goodgame (born February 15, 1974) is an American singer-songwriter of contemporary Christian music and the creative force behind the family music brand, Slugs & Bugs. Goodgame has recorded eight solo albums and contributed to numerous others. He has written songs for Caedmon's Call, Andrew Peterson, Jason Gray, Jill Phillips, and Eric Peters. He is also a frequent collaborator of Andrew Peterson, including the 2006 music album, "Slugs & Bugs & Lullabies". From this album, the song "You Can Always Come Home" was featured on the VeggieTales' "The Wonderful Wizard of Ha's" (2007).
Early life.
Randall Goodgame is the son of surgeon John T. Goodgame, Jr. and his wife, Beth Goodgame, of Clearwater, Florida. When he was nine years old, he began taking piano lessons along with his older brother and younger sister. At age 15, he began studying under blind Brazilian pianist Manfredo Fest. He began performing for local charity events, including fundraisers for Clearwater's Morton Plant Hospital. While in high school, he performed with the Clearwater High Jazz Band, was captain of the swim team, and participated in the Student Government Association. He graduated from Clearwater High School in 1992.
As a freshman studying music and biology at Birmingham-Southern College, Goodgame won the Jazz Holiday scholarship, awarded by the Clearwater Jazz Holiday festival. He later changed his major to English, reasoning that the exposure to various literary genres would improve his songwriting. On weekends and vacations from college, Goodgame was the keyboardist for the Southern rock Black Creek Band, which released an album entitled "Live from Gainesville" during his tenure. From February to August 1995, he toured the Southeastern United States with the band before returning to Birmingham-Southern to finish his degree. A paper about his experience on the road became part of his senior project.
Early music career.
In December 1995, Goodgame released his eponymous first album, "Randall Goodgame". Except for one track – a cover of Bob Dylan's "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight" – Goodgame composed the music and lyrics to all ten songs on the album. In addition to performing the lead vocals, Goodgame also played the piano, acoustic guitar, harmonica, accordion and mandolin on the album. Other performers accompanied him on the bass guitar and percussion instruments. Released on Goodgame's own label, Redfish Records, much of the recording was done at Cliff Downs' studio in Nashville, Tennessee, but portions were recorded at Panda Studios in Clearwater. Writing in "MusicRow", Robert K. Oermann called Goodgame the "folkie find of the day" and called his debut album "a superb self-made CD that's full of memorable melodies, stirring production, ear-catching lyrics and personable vocal".
After graduating from Birmingham-Southern in May 1996, Goodgame moved to Nashville. Goodgame's cousin brought a copy of "Randall Goodgame" to a disc jockey at WCHZ-FM in Augusta, Georgia. After receiving positive listener responses to the song "Momma Louise", the DJ invited Goodgame and his newly formed Randall Goodgame Band to play at a South by Southwest Music Festival in Augusta in October 1996. Goodgame released his second album, "Arkadelphia", in 2000, the same year he performed his first show in his hometown of Clearwater.
Christian music career.
Goodgame eventually began writing songs for contemporary Christian artists such as Caedmon's Call, Jason Gray, and The Midtown Project. In 2001, he opened for Andrew Peterson, and in 2003, he joined Caedmon's Call and Jars of Clay on tour. He wrote seven of the songs on Caedmon's Call's 2004 album "Share the Well". Also in 2004, Goodgame opened for Dove Award winner Ginny Owens' 15-state tour.
In 2007, Goodgame collaborated with Peterson to release a children's album, "Slugs & Bugs & Lullabies". The album's popularity led to him being invited to compose songs for the Christian-themed cartoon series "VeggieTales". Goodgame continued the "Slugs & Bugs" brand with "A Slugs & Bugs Christmas" in 2010 and "Slugs & Bugs Under Where?" in 2011. He has also released a "Slugs & Bugs"-themed curriculum for Vacation Bible School and does live performances as part of the "Slugs and Bugs" LIVE series. An April 2015 "Parents Life" review of Goodgame's "Sing the Bible with Slugs & Bugs" – which features 18 tracks of direct Bible quotations set to music, said the album "possesses a high-quality artistic sensibility that few children's CDs maintain", adding that the songs would "have kids memorizing Scripture in no time". The album was one of five nominees for Children's Music Album of the Year at the 47th Annual Dove Awards in 2015.


Fernando Capalla

Fernando Robles Capalla is a Roman Catholic archbishop-emeritus of the Archdiocese of Davao. He was born on November 1, 1934 in Leon, Iloilo Province. He was succeeded by Romulo Valles as archbishop of Davao on February 11, 2012.
Educational background.
Fernando started his education at Leon Central Elementary School in his hometown. He attended secondary schooling at Colegio de San Agustin in Iloilo City. His continued his studies at St. Vincent Ferrer Seminary in Jaro, Iloilo City from 1950-1961. He took further studies from St. John's University in New York, USA in 1967, earning an MA in English Literature.
Priesthood.
He was ordained priest on March 18, 1961 at the age of 26 as a diocesan priest of the Archdiocese of Jaro. He was appointed as auxiliary bishop of Davao on April 2, 1975 at the age of 40. He was also appointed as titular bishop of Grumentum on that same date. On April 25, 1977 he was appointed as bishop-prelate of Iligan City in Lanao del Norte province and subsequently appointed as bishop on November 15, 1982 when it was raised to a full-fledged diocese. In 1987, Pope John Paul II appointed him Apostolic Administrator of the newly created Prelature of St. Mary's in Marawi City, Lanao del Sur.
Archbishop of Davao.
He became the Coadjutor Archbishop of Davao on June 28, 1994. He was formally installed to lead the archdiocese as its third archbishop and metropolitan in November 28, 1996. He served as President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) for one term, from December 2003 to December 2005. Archbishop Capalla is a Council Member of the Federation of Asian Bishops Conference (FABC) and is one of the Founders/Convenors of the Bishops-Ulama Conference. For over a decade now, he has been a Member of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.
Archbishop Capalla promotes inter-religious dialogue among the tri-people of Mindanao- the Christians, the Muslims and the Lumads. Archbishop Capalla was succeeded by Zamboanga Archbishop Romulo Valles as Primate of Davao.


Ishq-Nuri Tariqa

The Ishq-Nuri Tariqa or Ishq-Nuri Sufi Order, is a branch or offshoot of the famous, and much older Chistiyya Sufi mystical teaching order, or system
Origins.
The Order was founded by the Chishti Sufi sage and shaykh (master/teacher) Khwaja Khalid Mahmood Siddiqui al-Chishti in the late 1960s in the city of Lahore, Pakistan. The founder was a sage initiated originally in the Chishti-Nizami section of the traditional Chishti Order, who felt that a more modern, and 'contemporaneous expression' of the teachings of this system was needed. The Ishq-Nuri order sought to make "Ishq"—Divine Love—as its essential teaching basis and in this, reflected many of the ideas of earlier Sufi sages and saints like Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti and Baba Farid as well as other universal Sufis masters such as Rumi, Hakim Sanai and others. A broad, universal love and thankfulness, remains one of the key tenets of the order's teaching.
Practice.
The Ishq-Nuri continue to practice on a small scale within South Asia only, mostly within Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. It is believed that some people in Europe and parts of the Middle East are now also starting to follow this order


Luigi Boccardo

Luigi Boccardo (9 August 1861 - 9 June 1936) was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and the brother of Giovanni Maria Boccardo. Luigi established the Sisters of Jesus the King as a contemplative branch to his latter brother's Poor Daughters of Saint Cajetan.
Boccardo served as a simple parish priest in Turin and was noted for his commitment to religious vocations as well as for his devotion to methods of evangelization for the faithful under his charge. He has been nicknamed the "Apostle of Merciful Love".
His beatification cause commenced after his death and - upon the approval of Pope Benedict XVI - was beatified on 14 April 2007; Cardinal José Saraiva Martins presided over it on the behalf of the pope in Turin.
Life.
Luigi Boccardo was born on 9 August 1861 as the seventh of nine children to Gaspare Boccardo and Giuseppina Malerba; his siblings included his sister Giacinta and his brothers Albino and Giovanni Ottavio. His eldest brother was Giovanni Maria (20 November 1848 - 30 December 1913).
Giovanni Ottavio - at the age of thirteen - became Luigi's godfather at the latter's baptism and would have a decisive role in Luigi's future.
His parents - though farmers - managed to enroll their son in an education with the Barnabite Fathers where older brother Giovanni Ottavio also studied. The latter's good example served to have a great impact on Boccardo who began to think that he might want to become a priest and received additional confidence in that path when his sister Giacinta entered - in 1874 - a cloistered convent.
Boccardo's parents expressed their reluctance at allowing Luigi to become a priest but his older brother Giovanni Ottavio interceded to their parents on his behalf. He also took the financial burden of providing for his ecclesiastical studies. Boccardo commenced his studies in October 1875 and received the clerical cassock on 23 September 1877. It was around this time he contracted a severe illness in the form of an aggressive fever that almost killed him; a last resort to save him was water for him to drink from Lourdes. It was this water that helped him deepen and cultivate further a devotion to the Blessed Virgin and on a card wrote: "This is she who saved me and stole my heart".
During this period Boccardo also received the spiritual direction from Giuseppe Allamano. He was ordained to the priesthood on 7 June 1884 and received ordination from the Cardinal Archbishop of Turin Gaetano Alimonda. He celebrated his first Mass in the presence of his parents and siblings as well as the faithful on 8 June. Boccardo was appointed as a parochial vicar in the parish where his brother Giovanni Maria served as a parish priest at Pancalieri. He supported the latter when he founded the Sisters of Saint Cajetan. On 12 April 1886 he was appointed as the Vice-Rector and the spiritual director of priests at the Ecclesiastical Boarding School of Our Lady of Good Counsel in Turin and served for three decades with Allamano who was the rector.
He was made an Honorary Canon of the Collegiate of Ss. Trinity on 2 June 1909. In 1913 he published his first ascetic work entitled "The Spiritual Son" as part of his major work: "Confession and Management". He also published "The Spiritual Father" and "The Celestial Vocations" between 1913 and 1928. Boccardo's brother Giovanni Maria died on 30 December 1913; Boccardo later oversaw in 1924 the exhumation of his late brother. On 9 January 1914 - at the behest of Cardinal Agostino Richelmy - he was made the Superior General of his late brother's order. Boccardo also underwent pilgrimages to both Lourdes and Rome and also travelled south to Naples and then up north to both Lucca and Florence.
On 3 December 1919 he was made the director of the Institute for the Blind which was at the time in grave debt. He took residence with that institute on 12 June 1928. On 24 October 1931 he finished work and consecrated the new Shrine of Christ the King.
Boccardo - on 18 January 1932 - decided to establish his own religious congregation as a contemplative branch of his late brother's order and named it the Sisters of Jesus the King. The first vesting of its first members was held on 19 October 1932.
He presided over his final Mass on 26 April 1936 and died in peace on 9 June 1936. His remains were moved from its first resting place on 15 November 1937 and were moved again on 8 June 1961.
Beatification.
The process for beatification commenced on 19 April 1979 - under Pope John Paul II - in a diocesan process in Turin that would gather documents on his life as well as collate all his writings and information on his congregation. The beginning of the process granted him the title Servant of God.
The process later closed and received the validation of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints on 7 February 1992; this allowed for the latter to commence their own investigation on Boccardo's life and works and began the so-called "Roman Phase". This allowed for the postulation to compile the Positio - or dossier containing biographical details as well as attesting his virtues - and submit it to officials in Rome in 1995. However it was forced to pass the approval of a historical commission who had to ensure all was in order before the cause could proceed.
On 12 April 2003 he was proclaimed to be Venerable after John Paul II acknowledged the fact that Boccardo had lived a model Christian life of heroic virtue - both the cardinal and theological virtues.
The miracle needed for his beatification was investigated and received validation as being a process that fulfilled its duties on 2 December 1994. A decade later it moved to a medical board based in Rome who approved it on 11 March 2004; consulting theologians also approved it on 19 October 2004 and the Congregation for the Causes of Saints followed suit on 15 March 2005.
The healing was approved as a legitimate miracle on 15 December 2005; Cardinal José Saraiva Martins presided over the beatification on 14 April 2007 on the behalf of Pope Benedict XVI.
The current postulator assigned to the cause is Sister Livia Piccinali.


Hans Nicolai Lange

Hans Nicolai Lange (2 December 1795 – 24 December 1848) was a Norwegian priest and politician.
Biography.
He was born at Jevnaker in Oppland, Norway. He was the son of Johan Jørgen Lange (1754-1814) and Dorothea Helena Larsen (1771-1824). He father was a parish priest.
 Lange had five siblings. He was the elder brother of politicians Otto Vincent Lange and Ulrik Frederik Lange, brother-in-law of Nils Landmark and Even Hanssen and uncle of Johan Jørgen Lange Hanssen.
In 1825 he married Anna Rebekka Blix (1799-1874). They had no children.
He was the first teacher at the Bragernes borgerskole in Drammen, working there from 1825–1846. He was elected to the Norwegian Parliament in 1839.
 He later became vicar in Bragernes parish. Lange was appointed Mayor of Drammen for two terms; first 1838–1839, then 1842–1848.
Due to bad health, he traveled to Paris to regain it, but died there on Christmas Eve 1848.


Acts of the Martyrs

Acts of the Martyrs (Latin Acta Martyrum) are accounts of the suffering and death of a Christian martyr or group of martyrs. These accounts were collected and used in church liturgies from early times, as attested by Saint Augustine.
These accounts vary in authenticity. The most reliable follow accounts from trials. Very few of these have survived. Perhaps the most reliable of these is the account of Saint Cyprian.
The account of Scillitan Martyrs is also based on trial records, though it has been embellished with miraculous and apocryphal material.
A second category, the "Passiones," are based on eyewitness accounts. These include the martyrdoms of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, Saint Polycarp, the Martyrs of Lyons, the famous "Acts of Perpetua and Felicitas", and the Passion of Saint Irenaeus. In these accounts, miraculous elements are restricted, a feature that proved unpopular. These accounts were often later embellished with legendary material.
A third category is accounts that are largely or purely legendary, probably with or without a kernel of historical information. The Acts of Saint Catherine of Alexandria and those of Saint George fall into this category.
Eusebius of Caesarea was likely the first Christian author to produce a collection of acts of the martyrs.
Besides these, there are romances, either written around a few real facts which have been preserved in popular or literary tradition, or else pure works of the imagination, containing no real facts whatever. Still, as they were written with the intention of edifying and not deceiving the reader, a special class must be reserved for hagiographical forgeries. To this must be relegated all those Acts, Passions, Lives, Legends, and Translations which have been written with the express purpose of perverting history, such, for instance, as the legends and translations falsely attaching a saint's name to some special church or city.
Origins.
The expression Acta martyrum, in general applies to all narrative texts about the death of the martyrs; but it possesses a more precise and restricted meaning, when referring, in technical terms, to the official records of the processes and conviction. These official records were shorthands and were transcribed by the officials of the court chancery ("notarius exceptor") to be preserve in its archives; because of this relationship with the court of the proconsul, they were also called "proconsulares" ("Acta proconsularia"). Once the distinction is made, the name of the act is reserved for the verbal processes (like, for example, Acta martyrum Scyllitanorum) while the references relating to the martyrs, the name of passio is applied, in all of its diverse form ( gesta, martyrium, legenda). Such a distinction is also justified by the different purpose and nature of both type of documents; the records are destitute of all hagiographic character, while the Passions are characterized by their purpose and edifying religious sense. Nonetheless, it is necessary to add that in the group of records is included some texts containing narrative parts alien to the verbal process, but of equal historical and documentary value ("Acta-Passio SS. Perpetuae et Felicitatis", for example).
In any case, the preserve records are small, of about a dozen fragments, so that most of the narrative texts about the martyrs are the Passions. The shortage of official records and direct documenting has been controversial. The old christian communities had a great interest in maintaining the memory of their martyrs, as it is proven by the news referenced in the story of martyrdom of Polycarp (m. 156), whose memory were venerated annually in Izmir. Cyprian use to recommend his clerics to take detailed note of the death of the martyrs; These valuable testimonies were also the oldest news about the cult of the martyrs. According to what is known to date, there is no precise idea of up to what degree christians use to transcribe the records of the processes; it is, undoubtedly, very likely that some of those who witnessed the development of stenography in their text, in the same manner as the "notarius" of the court, and they gave it to the community for preservation in the archives of the church. This hypothesis seems to be confirmed by the details and notes of the judge or the martyr and seem to interrupt the rigid protocol form. In the other hand, it did not prove easy for christian to obtain copies of the verbal processes that were saved in the proconsular archive, for which in occasion, large sums had to be paid.. No precedents have been preserved that allow us to know if the Church of Rome, which had organized a section of notaries, took the initiative of collecting the records of its martyrs, nor is the news that Julius Africanus did a similar task as far as Rome is concerned, trustworthy. The information about the other communities is still less certain.
Anyhow, the shortage of this type of documentation can be explained in part by the destruction ordered by Diocletian in the year 303 of the sacred books that existed in the churches and that would have affected the records equally. There are no traces suggesting that the churches got involved in restoring the heritage of the destroyed hagiographic texts after the persecution ended. The events of later centuries, such as the western Germanic invasions in the fifth (V) and sixth (VI) century, may have consummated the irreparable loss of the writings still preserved.
Division and classification.
Given the enormous number of hagiographic texts and the heterogeneous nature of their origin, authority and value, critics have proposed a classification to guide their study. It has been observed in the first place that a classification of the texts based on the criterion of the authenticity of the martyr or the legitimacy of his cult is not valid or useful. A classification based on extrinsic characteristics, such as the one that divides the hagiographic documents in "Acta, Passiones, Vitae, Miracula, Translationes," etc., also lacks value, according to the object of the story. Neither does the classification meet the demands of criticism two large groups, contemporary documents and subsequent documents, since it does not express anything about the value of the document. The safest criterion is the one indicated by Hippolyte Delehaye, which is based on the degree of sincerity and historicity offered by the literary genre of the document.
According to this criterion, six groups of texts are established:
If the elements that distinguish the six groups are considered, it is possible to verify that the first and the second refer to a uniform type of texts because of the contemporary and direct nature of the information; the next two contain stories, based in varying degrees, on at least partially secure data; the last two, on the other hand, are true fantasies without a historical basis.
Maintaining the same criteria as Delehaye, the texts can be classified into three simpler groups:
Literary scheme.
Except for the records, all of the narrative documents mentioned above offer, from a literary point of view, common characters, since they are all the result of an elaboration and compositional process typical of hagiographic literature; the tendency to the schematic form has a remote origin, whose trace already manifested in ancient texts, close to the type and narrative sincerity, of the same record. This has happened, for example, in the "Martyrium Polycarpi", in which it is possible to recognize the attempt of the hagiographer to assimilate the death of the martyr to that of Christ. This theme, of the martyr who imitates Christ, appears already in the first Christian writers. When subsequently, from the fourth century on, certain patterns or essential criteria are fixed, the hagiographers adopt certain narrative characteristics that become the literary genre of the "passions".
In the first place the legal tone of the Roman criminal process of the first records has been preserved; sometimes even some of the passions make reference to it, showing how, on more than one occasion, the lost records served as sources. The introductory formula of the consular date of the records preserve the indication of the emperor, governor or proconsul, even in historically erroneous cases. The phases of the procedure, arrest, appearance, interrogation, torture, judgment and torment are preserve and constitute the structure of the narrative; likewise, the protagonists, usually few in number, of the ancient records are preserved: the martyr, the judge or magistrate and the executioner; in the second place, the Christian spectators who animate their companion and, finally, the hostile mass of the pagans. On a similar scheme, the evolutionary process of the passions develops (throughout the centuries IV to XX), with successive enrichments and formal improvements, including fantasies, common places and errors, due to both ignorance and blind piety of the hagiographers. These unsubstantiated relationships can be broken down like this:
The same happened with the narrations of the pains and tortures, prolonged and multiplied without saving prodigies made by the martyr, adorned with the spectacular element provided by fantasy and legend. In this transformation and development, negative from the critical point of view, several factors influenced to a considerable degree: the spread of the cult of the relics, with the inevitable abuses easily imaginable; veneration of the martyred saint, patron saint of the city, monastery or church, which obliged him to find or invent a living; the particularly religious and devout environment of the Middle Ages, favored by the monks who were among the most active writers of the hagiographic texts.
Compilation.
Dispensing from the first records collected, incomplete and that are already considered lost, it can be said that the first compiler was Eusebius of Cesarea, of whom the title of the writing of martyribus is known which unfortunately has been lost; On the other hand, "Martyribus Palestinae" is preserved. This was the only collection known in Rome during the sixth century, in the time of St. Gregory the Great, as the Pope himself informed the bishop and patriarch of Alexandria, Eulogio, who had requested documentation about the collections of gesta martyrum. Almost at the same time, great martyrology was forming, called jeronimiano with the commemorations of all the martyrs, which grouped the oldest martyrologies of the churches. This fact is important, because the compilation of many of the passions is intimately related to this martyrology, which served as a starting point. Later, parallel to the disclosure of the narratives of the gesta martyrum, there was the need to synthesize them in succinct stories, including them in the most known martyrologies at that time; those composed by Saint Bede the Venerable in the eighth century and Florus of Lyon, Atto and Usuard in the ninth century. These had at their disposal the data of the passions and adapted them to the liturgical commemoration of the calendar; some of them, especially Adón, had no critical concern and used the texts without evaluating them, confusing and distorting data and news. Because of such information, these medieval martyrologies were called "historical martyrologies".
Something similar happened in the Eastern Church, where the numerous passions were collected in abbreviated form in the liturgical books, for example in the saints ("menaea"), in which was introduced for each day of the 12 months of the year an appointment about the life and martyrdom of the saint. The same happened with the menologies ("menology"), also divided into 12 volumes, corresponding to the 12 months of the year; in them the passions are synthesized in a more extensive way than in the preceding ones. We can not forget the menology of Symeon the Metaphrast (tenth century), who read and transcribed fragments of ancient passions, giving them a better literary form, for which he changed and adapted the various parts of the original (hence the name Metaphraste, from the Greek "metaphrasis"= change). The work has rendered a valuable service to the hagiography by saving various texts subsequently lost. During the Late Middle Ages, numerous collections of Lives of Saints, Passionists, Legendaries, etc. were made, which are still found in various codices of European libraries; others, on the other hand, were recast arbitrarily in other compilations later printed and translated in vulgar language; thus constituting a copious literature that reaches until the Renaissance.
Hagiographic critique.
The most arduous problem concerning the "Acta martyrum" is to determine its authenticity, the historical value that at least in part contain and often hide the numerous texts, whose analysis is far from being concluded. The first attempt to determine the authentic records is owed to the Benedictine Thierry Ruinart, who collected and published 117 texts that he considered genuine. Its origin and value were not homogeneous, since only 74 numbers contained the text of the passions, while the rest were paragraphs and fragments taken from old Christian writers, like Eusebio, John Chrysostom, Basil and even Prudentius, of whose hymns had extracted paragraphs relative to the martyrs Hippolytus of Rome and Saint Lawrence. It is true that in most cases they are historical figures, but the selection of the texts was not carried out under a uniform or safe criterion, nor was it accompanied by a critical analysis. The Benedictine, who had a rather vague idea of the purpose of its collection, only intended to make known the oldest and most trustworthy document for each of the martyrs, with the intention of excluding falsified documents.
In 1882 Edmond-Frederic Le Blant had the idea to continue and complete the compilation of Ruinart and added another group of records, which he considered authentic by the adequacy of the narrative with the Roman legal phrases. The criterion of Le Blant is not firm and shows once again the complexity of the critical work aimed at establishing the authentic records; the various authentic acta martyrum lists, which other authors have sketched or compiled later do not represent the result of a rigorous and scientific analysis, but rather are insignificant retouchings of Ruinart's work
With much greater seriousness, although very slowly, they are occupied with these works according to an organic plan by the Bollandists. In recent years, a series of principles and norms of hagiographic criticism have been exposed in relation to the records by several specialists, such as, H. Achelis, J. Geffken, A. Harnack, in Germany; P. Allard, J. Leclercq, in France; the Jesuit F. Grossi-Gondi, Fr. Lanzoni and Pio Franchi de 'Cavalieri, in Italy. The most valuable contribution, however, is due to the bolandist H. Delehaye, from whose writings it would be possible to extract a critical summula. Ihe contributed, in effect, the safest classification of the records; He has pointed out the various components of a martyr's dossier, has reconstructed the iter of the legend, underlining the special function of the massa and local traditions; He has studied hagiographic documents parallel to the narrative texts, such as martyrologies and synaxes, and has established the different value of literary, liturgical and monumental sources, specifically establishing that of chronological and topographical data (doctrine of hagiographic coordinates). In summary, he has outlined and perfected the discipline of the method.
It has been said, with a certain air of reproach, that the hagiographic criticism has been interested until the present, almost exclusively in the problems related to the authenticity and chronology of the document, neglecting the social aspect and the environment in which it was written; aspect that in turn helps determine the same chronology. It has been insisted, therefore, on the need to "identify the cultural and religious concepts expressed in the document and establish a reference to the social environment where the text comes from and to which it is addressed" .


Francis Tiburtius Roche

Francis Tiburtius Roche was the first bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tuticorin.
Early life.
Bishop Francis Tiburtius Roche was born in Punnaikayal on 14 April 1879. He joined the Society of Jesus and was ordained a priest on 2 October 1910. When the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tuticorin was erected on 12 June 1923, he was appointed the first bishop of the diocese on the same day and was consecrated bishop on 23 September 1923. He is the first indigenous bishop of Latin Rite in India, in Asia, in China (first chinese bishop in 1926) and in Africa (first african bishop in 1939).
Significance.
He was the first native Indian bishop of Latin Rite in the modern times and he was entrusted with the first Indian catholic diocese of Latin rite, Roman Catholic Diocese of Tuticorin with native priests. He was succeeded by Bishop Thomas Fernando and died on 17 December 1955.


Paul Lanneau

Paul Lanneau (22 July 1925 – 26 January 2017) was a Roman Catholic bishop.
Ordained to the priesthood in 1949, Lanneau served as auxiliary bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels, Belgium from 1982 to 2002.


Gabriel Mmole

Gabriel Mmole (1939 – 15 May 2019) was a Tanzanian Roman Catholic prelate. Born in Nangoo, Mmole was ordained to the priesthood in 1971. He was appointed Bishop of Mtwara in 1988 and served until Pope Francis accepted his resignation on 15 October 2015 and named to succeed him.
Mmole died following a long illness on 15 May 2019 in Mtwara, at the age of 80.


Shah Niyaz Ahmad

Shah Niyaz Ahmad was a Sufi poet from India.
Life and death.
Shah was born on 6th Jumada al-Thani 1155 Hijri (7 August 1742) and died on 6th Jumada al-Thani 1250 Hijri (9 October 1834).
His Tomb lies in the small city Bareilly Sharif of Uttar Pradesh.
Parental lineage.
He was descendant of 4th Rashidun Caliph Ali. He was an Alvi from his paternal line and his mother was Rizvi Syed. His great grandfathers belonged to the royal family of Bukhara. Among his great grandfathers Shah Ayaat-ul-lah Alvi left the sultanate and settled in Multan. His grandson Azmatullah Alvi came to Sirhind. His son Elahi Shah Muhammad later settled in Delhi. He was the father of Niyaz. He was appointed Chief Justice in Delhi. He earned the title of "Hakim-e-Elahi". Shah Niyaz was born in Sirhind and came to Delhi with his father. His mother's name was Bibi Laado but she was famous by the name of Bibi Gharib Nawaz. She was descendant of Musa al-Kazim.
Education.
His primary education started at home under the guidance of his maternal grandfather Sa'id-ud-din. Later he was educated at Madrasa Faqriya Delhi. He completed his education including Quran, Hadith, Tafseer, Fiqh at the age of 15. He then became a teacher there. He later became the principal of the madarsa.
Initiation in Sufi Order.
Niyaz got his Sufi training from Sayed Fakhar-uddin Muhammad Dehalvi, also known as Fakhr-e-Jahan, in Bareilly, (Uttar Pradesh, India). Later, Niyaz was inducted in Qadiriyya order by Abdullah Shah Baghdadi, who was direct descendant of Abdul Qadir Jilani. Shah Niyaz also received spiritual blessings from other saints of other Sufi orders. He was initiated in Qadiriyya order by Syed Abdullah Baghdadi and Mohi-ud-din Diyasnami, in Chisti-Nizami order by Moulana Fakhar-e-Jahan and Said-ud-din, in Suharwardi order by Fakhar-e-Jahan, and in Chisti-Sabri-Naqshbandi order by Shah Rahmat-ul-lah.
The Sufi order he established is known as the "Niyazi Silsila".
Marriage and children.
He married twice. His first wife, who was daughter of Abdullah Baghdadi, died after some years in marriage. He had two sons, Shah Nizam-ud-din Husain and Shah Nasir-ud-din, from his second wife.
He died on 6th Jumada al-Thani 1250 Hijri (9 October 1834) in Bareilly, where his tomb located. His urs (death anniversary) is celebrated annually in a traditional way.
Khalifa (Caliphs).
His eldest son Nizamuddin Hussain was his premier khalifa and successor. Other prominent khulafa included Syed Muhammed Sani of Badakshan, Maulvi Abdul Latif of Samarkand, Maulvi Naimatullah of Kabul, Maulvi Yar Muhammed of Kabul, Mulla Jan Muhammed of Kabul, Maulana Waz Muhammed of Badakshan, Maulvi Muhammed Husain of Mecca, Mirza Asadullah Baig of Bareilly, Mirza Agha Muhammad of Jabalpur, Maulvi Ubiadullah of Mansehra and
Shah Miskeen Jaipuri.


Oscar Cruz

Oscar V. Cruz (17 November 1934 – 26 August 2020) was an archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines. He was the Archbishop Emeritus of Lingayen–Dagupan in Pangasinan, Philippines, from 1991 to 2009.
Biography.
Oscar Cruz was born on 17 November 1934 in Balanga, Bataan, Philippines. He received his seminary training at the University of Santo Tomas Central Seminary, and further theology studies at the Lateran University.
His priestly ordination was on 8 February 1962, and his episcopal consecration on 3 May 1976. He was the first Filipino rector of San Carlos Seminary of the Archdiocese of Manila from 1973 to 1978. He was an auxiliary bishop of Manila (1976–1978) and archbishop of the Archdiocese of San Fernando (1978–1988). He served as a judicial vicar of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) National Tribunal of Appeals, and director of the CBCP Legal Office. He was appointed Archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan on 15 July 1991.
Cruz published many books, including "CBCP Guidelines on Sexual Abuse and Misconduct: A Critique", and "Call of the Laity".
Controversy.
Manila RTC, Branch 52 Judge Antonio Rosales on 14 May 2008, issued the warrant of arrest, granted the P10,000 bail motion, and Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz posted bail. Libel cases were filed against him after he accused the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) of using female staff to act like "guest relations officers (GROs)" during the 2004 birthday celebration of First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo. His arraignment was set on 17 June.
Retirement.
On 8 September 2009, Pope Benedict XVI accepted the retirement of Archbishop Cruz. He was replaced by Bishop Socrates B. Villegas of the Diocese of Balanga.
Death.
Cruz died on 26 August 2020, at age 85, at 5: 00 AM, from complications of multiple organ failure caused by COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines.


Abubus

Abubus, also spelt Abobus or Abobi, was the father of Ptolemy. He is mentioned only in the first book of the Maccabees and , wherein Ptolemy invites Simon Maccabaeus and his two sons, Mattathias and Judas, to a banquet, subsequently killing them.


Muhammad Nurbakhsh Qahistani

Mir Sayyid Muhammad Nurbakhsh Qahistani (1392-1464; ) was a mystic (Sufi) who gave name to the Noorbakshia school of Islam. He wrote al "Fiqh al-Ahwat" (Islamic Jurisprudence) and "Kitab al-Aetiqadia" (Book of Faith).
Life.
Nurbakhsh's real name was Muhammad bin Abdullah. His father was born in Qain and his grandfather in al-Hasa, whence in some ghazals (lyrics) he styles himself as Lahsavi (one from al-Hasa). His father migrated from Bahrain to Qain in Qahistan, where Nurbakhsh was born in 795 A.H. (1393 C.E.). Thus his full name as appeared in his prose works is Sayyid Muhammad Nurbakhsh Qahistani.
Nurbakhsh became a disciple of Sayyid Ishaq al-Khatlani, himself a disciple of Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani. Through his writings Nurbakhsh made an attempt to bridge the gap between the orthodox Sunni'ism and Shi'ism and gave an Islamic Fiqh of religious moderation in his book titled "Al-Fiqh al-Ahwat" (Moderate Islamic Jurisprudence).
His tomb is in Suleqan near Tehran.
Works.
Syed Muhammad Nurbakhsh wrote of about 150 works in Arabic or Persian.


Julius von Pflug

Julius von Pflug (1499 in Eythra – 3 September 1564 in Zeitz) was the last Catholic bishop of the Diocese of Naumburg from 1542 until his death. He was one of the most significant reformers involved with the Protestant Reformation.
Life.
He was the son of Cæsar von Pflug, who acted as commissary for the Elector of Saxony in the Leipzig Disputation in 1519. He studied at the universities of Leipzig (1510–17) and Bologna (1517–19), and returned to Germany in 1519 to become canon in Meissen. Disturbed by the religious controversies at home, he returned to Bologna, whence he went to Padua, but in 1521, induced by offers of preferment from Duke George, he returned to his native state, first of all to Dresden, and then to Leipzig, where he still continued to devote himself chiefly to humanistic interests.
In 1528–29 he was again in Italy, and in 1530 he accompanied Duke George to the Diet of Augsburg. At this time he became a correspondent of Erasmus, and in his letters to him unfolded his plan for restoring religious peace to Germany. Everything could be done, he thought, by the influence of moderate men like Erasmus and Melanchthon. Erasmus replied that things had gone so far that even a council could be of no help; one party wanted revolution, the other would tolerate no reform. In 1532 Pflug became dean of Zeitz, where he had to grapple with the practical question of the Reformation, since not only was the bishop, who was also diocesan of Freising, continually absent, but the neighboring Protestant elector of Saxony was alleging claims of jurisdiction over the See.
Pflug was in favor of lay communion under both kinds, the marriage of the priesthood, and general moral reform. He took part in the Leipzig Colloquy in 1534, and as dean of Meissen prepared for the clergy of the diocese the constitutions reprinted in the "Leges seu constitutiones ecclesiœ Budissinensis" (1573). As one of the envoys of John of Meissen, Pflug endeavored, in 1539, to secure from the papal nuncio, Alexander, who was then at Vienna, adhesion to his project for a reform of Roman Catholicism along the lines already indicated, only to be obliged to wait for the decision of the pope.
The Reformation was now carried through in Meissen, and Pflug took refuge in Zeitz, later retiring to his canonry at Maintz, and thus rendering Zeitz more accessible to the Protestant movement. In 1541 he was appointed bishop of Naumburg, but John Frederick, the elector of Saxony, hating all men of moderation, forbade him to occupy his see. Pflug was uncertain whether he would accept the nomination or not; and meanwhile the elector, after vainly urging the chapter to nominate another bishop, turned the cathedral of Naumburg over to Protestant services and proposed to provide for the election of a bishop according to his liking.
The elector's theologians, though exceedingly dubious regarding his course, finally yielded, and John Frederick selected Nicolaus von Amsdorf for the place and had him ordained by Luther. On 15 January 1542, however, Pflug accepted his election to the bishopric, and sought to have his rights protected by the diets of Speyer (1542, 1544), Nuremberg (1543), and Worms (1545). At the latter diet the emperor directed the elector to admit Pflug to his bishopric, and to repudiate Amsdorf and the secular directors of the chapter. John Frederick refused, however, and the question was settled only by the Schmalkaldic War.
Hitherto Pflug had been in favor of a Roman Catholic reform of a far-reaching character, as was shown by his part at the Regensburg Conference of 1541 where he disputed with Johannes Eck and Johann Gropper; but political conditions and his troubles with the elector of Saxony now made him a bitter opponent of the Reformation. In 1547, when the Schmalkaldic War closed, Pflug took possession of his bishopric under imperial protection. He was a prominent factor in the negotiations which resulted in the Augsburg Interim, the basis of which was formed by the revision of his "Formula sacrorum emendandorum" by himself, Michael Helding, Johannes Agricola, Domingo de Soto, and Pedro de Malvenda. Pflug now entertained still higher hopes of realizing his reform of Roman Catholicism. He took part in negotiations in Pegau, continuing them in a secret correspondence with Melanchthon to induce him and Prince George of Anhalt to accept a modified sacrificial theory of the Mass; and he was also concerned in the deliberations between Maurice and Joachim II and their theologians at Jüterbog.
The result was the first draft of the Leipzig Interim, which was submitted to the national diet in his presence. In his own diocese Pflug refrained from disturbing the Lutherans, restoring Roman Catholic worship only in the chief church in Zeitz and the cathedral of Naumburg, and even permitting Protestant services to be held in the latter. There was almost an entire dearth of Roman Catholic clergy, nor could he secure a sufficient number from other dioceses. He was accordingly forced to allow the married ministers whom Amsdorf had placed in office to retain their positions, though without Roman Catholic ordination. In November 1551, he was present for a short time at the Council of Trent. Even after the final success of the Protestants in 1552, he remained in undisturbed possession of his see, thanks to his popularity and moderation; and after the abdication of Charles V, he urged the best interests of Germany in his "Oratio de ordinanda republica Germaniœ" (Cologne, 1562).
In 1557 he presided at the Colloquy of Worms, but was unable to prevent the Flacians from wrecking negotiations. To the last, however, he hoped that, when the Council of Trent reassembled, his moderate program would be successful in restoring religious peace.


Mandakini (actress)

Mandakini (born Yasmeen Joseph 30 July 1963) is a former Bollywood actress. She is best remembered for her role in the 1985 movie "Ram Teri Ganga Maili".
Early life.
Mandakini was born in an Anglo Indian family in Meerut. Her father, Joseph is British.
Career.
Early career.
Starting off as an unknown girl from Meerut, Yasmin was rejected by at least three film makers before Ranjit Virk changed her name to Mandakini and signed her up for "Mazloom". Before the film could take off, Raj Kapoor discovered her at age 22 and cast her in a lead role in the 1985 movie "Ram Teri Ganga Maili" with the screen name "Mandakini" opposite his youngest son, Rajiv Kapoor. The movie was a blockbuster, and it earned Mandakini a Filmfare nomination as Best Actress. She caused a stir after she was seen partially nude in two sequences of the film.
Mandakini acted in a few more successful films, such as "Dance Dance" with Mithun Chakraborty, "Kahan Hai Kanoon" with Aditya Pancholi and "Pyaar Karke Dekho" with Govinda, but never recreated the success of her first movie.
The Dawood connection.
After 1989, Mandakini mysteriously stopped signing films, though she had several film releases in 1990 and eventually faded from Bollywood.
In the early nineties, photographs began circulating of Mandakini in the presence of dreaded gangster Dawood Ibrahim. There were reports doing the rounds that the two were having an affair, and the photos only served to fuel them. One of the theories put forward was that Ibrahim, who was known to have a keen interest in Bollywood and had financed movies, had pressured Rajiv Kapoor into casting Mandakini, and she was Ibrahim's mistress. Later, it was alleged that she had moved to Dubai to be with him.
Mandakini vehemently denied the reports linking her relation to Dawood. While she admitted to knowing and being on friendly terms with him, she claimed that they did not know each other personally, saying that "I know Dawood but I'm not his woman".
Later career.
Mandakini's career suffered a serious setback. She quit movies after "Zordaar" in 1996 and has lived in Mumbai with her husband and children. Since then, she has made attempts to reinvent herself. She released two pop music albums – "No Vacancy" and "Shambala" – neither of which was a success.
Currently, she runs classes in Tibetan yoga and is a follower of the Dalai Lama. With her husband, she runs a centre for Tibetan medicine, which is commonly known as the Tibetan Herbal Centre in the area.
Personal life.
In 1990, Mandakini married a former Buddhist monk, Dr. Kagyur T. Rinpoche Thakur. Thakur gained fame in childhood as the baby featured in Murphy Radio advertisements in the 1970s and 1980s. They have a son named Rabbil and a daughter Rabze Innaya Mandakini.


Jacob Maschius

Jacob Mortenssøn Maschius (c.1630 – 12 August 1678) was a Norwegian clergyman, poet and copperplate engraver. He is most remembered for the poetry book, "Norwegia religiosa" (1661).
Maschius attended Bergen Cathedral School in 1651. He subsequently traveled to Copenhagen and studied there for some years, returning to Norway in 1659. He received a commission to serve as a draftsman during the construction of a fortification on Munkholmen, an islet located north of Trondheim. Construction of the fortress began in 1658 and was completed in 1661. From 1668–1669, he worked for Johan Frederik von Marschalck, commander of Bergenhus Fortress located in the entrance to the harbor in Bergen.
After a visit to the Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim approximately 1660, he wrote a poetry book entitled "Norwegia religiosa". It contained illustrations of the cathedral, one set from the north, the second of the western front. These later formed the basis for discussions regarding subsequent restoration of the cathedral which was initiated in 1869.
In 1676, he was appointed priest in the parish of Jølster in Sogn og Fjordane county. He became engaged in May 1678 with Maren Finde, who was his predecessors widow. They were married in June 1678. He continued to serve as parish priest until the time of his death in 12 August 1678.


Carl Lampert

Carl Lampert (9 January 1894 – 13 November 1944) was an Austrian Roman Catholic priest who served as the pro-vicar for the Diocese of Feldkirch in addition to being an outspoken critic of Nazism during World War II. This led to constant surveillance against him and his eventual arrests on several occasions. This all culminated with his final arrest in 1943 and his death from the guillotine in 1944 alongside a fellow Christian prisoner.
He was declared to have been killed "in odium fidei" (in hatred of the faith) and was beatified on 13 November 2011 in Austria; Cardinal Angelo Amato presided over it on the behalf of Pope Benedict XVI who had approved the cause.
Life.
Carl Lampert was born as the last of seven children of Franz Xaver Lampert and Maria Rosina Lampert in Feldkirch in 1894. He attended school in his hometown and would attend a state high school after the completion of his first studies; the death of his father seemed to jeopardize this but an uncle of his provided financial aid to him in an effort to see Lampert through his education.
Lampert commenced his studies for the priesthood in 1914 in Brixen and received his ordination from Bishop Franz Eggar on 12 May 1918 during World War I; he celebrated his first Mass on 26 May 1918. Following his ordination he worked as a chaplain in Dornbirn and was involved in pastoral work with adolescents. In 1930 he moved - with the financial support of Bishop Sigismund Waitz - to Rome for studies in canon law and moved to new quarters at the Collegio Teutonico di Santa Maria dell'Anima until 1935 as a secretary to the Roman Rota. Pope Pius XI later made him a monsignor in 1935.
On 1 October 1935 he was stationed in the Diocese of Innsbruck where Waitz wanted him to perform several administration duties. Around this time he was considered to be the diocese's new bishop but Pius XI did not choose him; instead he was made Pro-Vicar of that diocese on 15 January 1939. In 1940 he attempted in vain to secure the release of Otto Neururer and when he was killed Lampert published an obituary in a church newsletter for him. However he was arrested for this due to violating what was Nazi confidentiality laws and was deported to Dachau on 25 August 1940. He was then sent to Sachsenhausen in Berlin on 1 September 1940 where he was forced to do labor in a penal colony. A popular saying of his - while there - was "in the name of Christ for the Church". He was sent back to Dachau on 15 December 1940 and remained there for eight months before being released on 1 August 1941 and sent to Stettin. Despite being freed he was put under intense surveillance and was regarded with much suspicion; his phone calls were tapped and all correspondence was read. He continued to work as a pastor but also worked as a hospital chaplain.
Lampert was arrested for the last time on 4 February 1943 and endured intense interrogations and was also tortured. He was found to be guilty of both treason and sedition on 30 December 1943 and was sent to Torgau on 14 January 1944 where he spent seven months in solitary confinement. A third trial gave him the death sentence on 8 September 1944. Lampert - alongside a fellow priest - was executed in a guillotine on 13 November 1944 at 4:00pm.
His remains were cremated and buried in Halle an der Saale and were returned to his hometown in 1948.
Beatification.
The beatification process commenced on 5 September 1997 under Pope John Paul II and granted Lampert the title Servant of God. The diocesan process spanned from 1 October 1998 to 18 November 2003 and had to ascertain the facts about whether or not Lampert died in hatred of his Christian faith. The process was validated on 14 March 2008 and allowed for the drafting of the Positio - documenting his life and reasons for how he died in hatred of the faith - which was submitted to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in 2009.
On 27 June 2011 his beatification was approved as Pope Benedict XVI acknowledged the fact that Lampert had indeed been killed in the camps for his faith. Cardinal Angelo Amato presided over the beatification in Austria on the behalf of the pope on 13 November 2011.
The current postulator assigned to the cause is Andrea Ambrosi.


Thomas Dafydd

Thomas Dafydd was an 18th-century Welsh elegist and hymn writer.
Dafydd may have come from Llanegwad, Carmarthenshire. Between 1765 and 1792, he published approximately 20 booklets of hymns and elegies described prominent Methodists of his day.


Abraham Kobina Ackah

Abraham Kobina Ackah is an Anglican bishop in Ghana: previously an Archdeacon, he has been Bishop of Wiawso since 2006.


Jacob Kwashi

Jacob Kwashi is an Anglican bishop in Nigeria: he is the current Bishop of Zonkwa, one of 13 dioceses within the Anglican Province of Abuja, itself one of 14 provinces within the Church of Nigeria.
Kwashi became Bishop of Zonkwa in September 2011, having previously been Dean of St Michael's Cathedral in Kaduna. His older brother, Benjamin Kwashi is the Archbishop of the Province of Jos.


Life of Andrew the Fool

The Life of Andrew the Fool is a Byzantine hagiography text concerning Andrew of Constantinople. The text was very popular during the Byzantine era with thirty manuscripts dated between the tenth to the sixteenth century AD, and in the post-Byzantine period, eighty-two Greek copies between the sixteenth to the nineteenth century.


Zaccaria Giovanni Divanic

Zaccaria Giovanni Divanic (died 9 March, 1562) was a Roman Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Pedena, Croatia from 1550 to 1562.
Biography.
On 23 May 1550, Zaccaria Giovanni Divanic was appointed during the papacy of Pope Julius III as Bishop of Pedena. He served as Bishop of Pedena until his death on 9 March 1562.


Surya Deo Sharma

Surya Dev Sharma was a Hindu leader and Trustee of Shri Peetambra Peeth Datia. He also founded Arya Veer Dal, an organisation for young Hindus.
Surya Dev Sharma was from the village of Kathaout in Ghazipur district, Uttar Pradesh. He entered Hindu politics in Gwalior State under the patronage of Jiwaji Rao Scindhia, the Maharaja of Gwalior. He was elected a municipal councillor and twice elected as a Member of Legislative Assembly in Madhya Pradesh, firstly from Sewdha and then from Datia.
After leaving politics, Sharma was appointed caretaker of the religious peeth in Datiya by his spiritual guide, Guru Maharaj.


Bernard of Hildesheim

Bernhard or Bernard(us) of Hildesheim (died 20 July 1154) was Bishop of Hildesheim from 1130 until 1153 (resigned). He achieved the canonization of Gotthard of Hildesheim by Pope Innocent II and founded the basilica St. Godehard in honour of the new Saint at Hildesheim, where he was buried. He is venerated "Blessed" in the Roman Catholic Church.


Marie Julie Jahenny

Marie-Julie Jahenny (Coyault, Blain, February 12, 1850 – La Fraudais, March 4, 1941) was a Breton mystic and stigmatist.
Life.
Marie-Julie Jahenny was born in a large peasant family, and later joined the Third Order of Saint Francis.
During her life, she reported several apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ through which she received prophecies about the end of the world, the Great Catholic Monarch, punishment for the sins of the people, the destruction of Paris through civil war, the Three Days of Darkness, and the coming of Antichrist.
From the age of twenty-three until her death, she bore the stigmata. According to the testimony of witnesses, she experienced miraculous Holy Communions, miraculous fasting periods to where she lived on no other food but the Eucharist for several years, suffered supernatural attacks from the devil, and had the gift of prophecy and miracles.
Marie-Julie predicted numerous chastisements for sin that would fall first on France then spread to the rest of the world. These include: earthquakes, unprecedented destruction through storms, failed harvests, unknown plagues that would spread rapidly plus the cures for them, a "Blood Rain" that would fall for seven weeks, civil war in France that apparently would be started by conspirators in the government, the persecution of the Catholic Church with the total closure of all churches and religious houses, persecution and slaughter of Christians, the destruction of Paris, a Two Day period of Darkness that would come circa a month before the Three Days of Darkness. The coming of the Great Monarch would also be announced by signs in the sky. She also had visions of the Angelic Pontiff who would reign at the same time of the Great Monarch, and that both these great leaders were destined to restore the Catholic Church. Her house has been transformed into a sanctuary, which bears her name, in Blain, near Nantes where she is buried in the cemetery.


Evan Davies (Independent minister)

Evan Davies (1750-1806) was a Welsh Independent minister, born in the Llandysul area of Ceredigion. He was son of the minister James Davies. Evan studied for a number of years at Carmarthen Academy, before in 1775 being ordained co-pastor of the church at Llanedy, Carmarthenshire. He remained in the post until his death, aged 56, in 1806. He is known to have been instrumental in establishing several churches, such as those at Llanelly, Capel Als (1780), and Cross Inn, Ammanford (1782).


Baldric of Noyon

Baldric of Noyon was the forty-second bishop of Tournai (1099–1112). A chronicle of Arras and Cambrai has mistakenly been attributed to him. His surviving "acta" include the charter of 1105 by which he awarded the right of presentment for Tielt to the chapter of St Salvator in Harelbeke.


Pir Irani

Pir Syed Mustafa Sibghatullah Shah Irani (1900–1986), popularly known as Pir Irani, was a Sufi saint who was the Khalifa of Baba Ji Khawaja Muhammad Qasim of Mohra Sharif. He was taught by Baba Ji Khawaja Muhammad Qasim Sadiq of Mohra Sharif. His father named him as Sibghatullah, and mother liked the name Mustafa. He got the Title "Pir Irani" from his Murshid Baba Ji Khawaja Muhammad Qasim Sadiq of Mohra Sharif. He was born in Iran and belonged to an influential Syed family. His ancestors were associated with Shahanshah Iran dynasty from centuries. After getting basic education, he graduated from military academy. Reza Shah Pahlavi called him and assigned the job of Assistant to General Auditor. After the war of Ispahan, he became close aide of Reza Shah Pahlavi. His interest in islam compelled him to look for a guide Murshid or Pir. He got his initial training Sulook from Aaka Shams-ul-Urafa at Tehran, Iran. After one year of his spiritual education Sulook, his master Murshid directed him "Pir Irani" to seek further spiritual education from Hindustan "India". He started his journey towards Hindustan; while traveling, he met with Khizer Al-Khidr who guided him towards Baba Ji Khawaja Muhammad Qasim Sadiq. He got his spiritual Education from 1930 until 1938 at Mohra Sharif. He got khilafat or Ijaza in Sufi orders especially named four Sufi orders i.e. Naqshbandi, Suhrawardiyya, Chishti Order, Qadiriyyah. He was then sent to Sindh, Pakistan to preach others.
Pir Irani remained at Hyderabad and guided thousands of disciples, He died on 27 December 1986 at Hyderabad and rested at mustafaiya shareef.


John Baptist Todd

John Baptist Todd, O.F.M. (30 November 1921 – 4 December 2017) was a Franciscan priest working in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Karachi in Pakistan. He was educated at St Patrick’s High School and the University of Bombay. He received his religious training under the Order of Friars Minor and was ordained a priest in 1948.
One of his first assignments was as Prefect of Discipline at St Patrick's High School, Karachi in the 1950s. Former President Pervez Musharraf attended St. Patrick's School in 1958–59. When he visited the school after becoming president, he recalled Todd giving him a sound caning for misbehaving. Musharraf subsequently presented a cane to Todd on the visit.
He was first vice principal and later principal of St Bonaventure's High School, Hyderabad from 1958–77. He was also instrumental in starting the school band in 1958. In the early 1960s Todd took a break from St. Bonaventure's to act as the principal of St. Mary’s High School, Sukkur and also served as principal of St Francis Grammar School, Quetta. From 2000-06 he was vice principal of St. Patrick's School.
On 6 May 2011, The Old Patricians (former students of the school) presented the Father J. B. Todd OFM Gold Medal to the top student from the eighth grade at the closing ceremony of the 150th anniversary of the school.
On 18 March 2012, at the age of 91, he attended the Old Patricians' St Patrick's Day Reunion dinner.
Among his former students is Bishop Samson Shukardin of Hyderabad. Along with many other former students they gathered at the Karachi Gymkhana to celebrate Todd’s 94th birthday.
Death.
Todd died in Karachi on 4 December 2017 at the age of 96, 5 days after his 96th birthday. His funeral was held on December 6, 2017 at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Karachi. It was celebrated by Archbishop Joseph Coutts of Karachi and Bishop Samson Shukardin of Hyderabad.


Steven Akobe

Steven Akobe is an Anglican bishop in Nigeria: he is the current Bishop of Kabba, one of 11 dioceses within the Anglican Province of Lokoja, itself one of 14 provinces within the Church of Nigeria. His birthday is on February 16.


Oscar Joliet

Oscar Joliet (13 September 1878 - 3 February 1969) was a scholar-priest who served between 1948 and 1969 as the Auxiliary bishop of Ghent.
Life.
Oscar Jozef Joliet was born in Ghent, third recorded son of the baker, Augustus Joliet (1838-1914) and his wife Lucia Joliet-Ysebaert from Zelzate. He attended school at the Sint-Barbaracollege, a Jesuit establishment in the city. Between 1896 and 1905 he attended the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. It was here that he received his doctorate of philosophy on 1 June 1901, and was ordained into the priesthood on 20 September 1902. Still at the Gregorian University, on 30 June 1905 he received his doctorate in theology and on 25 June 1907 he received his doctorate in canon law.
In 1907 he returned to Belgium, now based in East Flanders where on 6 September 1907 he took up an appointment as Professor of Philosophy at the St. Joseph Minor Seminary in Sint-Niklaas. He remained at Sint-Niklaas till 1919, when on 7 September he was appointed professor - later also director - at the in Ghent. In Ghent he had also been a canon of the Chapter of Ghent since 1 January 1919.
He went back to Rome in 1927. He took over as president of the on 29 August 1927, remaining in the post till 1945. Returning to Belgium after the war he became archdeacon and deacon at St Bavo's Cathedral, Ghent on 4 September 1945. He became vicar-general in Ghent with special responsibility for training and education on 6 March 1948.
On 17 April 1948 Joliet was appointed titular bishop of , a necessary corollary for his consecration in June of that year as auxiliary bishop in Ghent. His principal consecrator was Karel Justinus Calewaert who had himself been consecrated Bishop of Ghent two months earlier.
Oscar Joliet died in Ghent on 3 February 1969 some months after his ninetieth birthday.
His elder brothers, Edmond (1875-1944) and Edgard (1876-1954), had also been Roman Catholic priests.