Stiletto through the end of the 19th century, particularly in France, Corsica, and Italy. While still used as a weapon of surprise and assassination, the use of stiletto in preference to the dagger in close combat confrontations between adversaries became widespread throughout Italy, Sardinia, and Corsica. The continued popularity of the stiletto in the Kingdom of Sicily resulted in the development of the "scherma di stiletto siciliano" (Sicilian school of stiletto fighting). A person skilled in the use of a stiletto would thrust the knife deep into the victim, then twist the blade sharply in various directions before retracting it, causing
Aemilianus van Heel Aemilianus van Heel Johannes Wilhelm van Heel (8 June 1907 – 8 October 1938), later known as Father Aemilianus van Heel, was a Franciscan friar from the Netherlands, who served as a missionary in China and died in the second Sino-Japanese War. Van Heel was born in Leiden, the Netherlands, on 8 June 1907. His parents were Johannes Cornelis van Heel (a cobbler) and Maria Clasina Blesting. He entered the Franciscan order and was ordained a priest on 26 March 1933. Later that year he left for China as a missionary, where he took the name Hu Yong-Sheng. The young