WebRoman Catholicism, Christian church that has been the decisive spiritual force in the history of Western civilization. Along with Eastern Orthodoxy and Protestantism, it is one of the three major branches of Christianity. The Roman Catholic Church traces its history to Jesus Christ and the Apostles. Over the course of centuries it developed a highly …

WebClements, GeorgeJohn H. White/EPA/National Archives, Washington, D.C.. The Eucharist, or Holy Communion, is another sacrament of initiation and can be received daily if desired.It is the central rite of Catholic worship. A baptized child's First Communion is usually celebrated around age seven or eight and is preceded by their first confession (the …

Web11-11-2022 · Byzantine Empire, the eastern half of the Roman Empire, which survived for a thousand years after the western half had crumbled into various feudal kingdoms and which finally fell to Ottoman Turkish onslaughts in 1453. The very name Byzantine illustrates the misconceptions to which the empire’s history has often been subject, for its inhabitants …

WebCatholic Emancipation, in British history, the freedom from discrimination and civil disabilities granted to the Roman Catholics of Britain and Ireland in a series of laws during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. After the Reformation, Roman Catholics in Britain had been harassed by numerous restrictions. In Britain, Roman Catholics could not purchase …

WebThe Roman Catholic Reformation The Council of Trent. The most important single event in the Catholic Reformation was almost certainly the Council of Trent, which met intermittently in 25 sessions between 1545 and 1563.The papacy’s bitter experiences with the conciliarism of the 15th century made the popes of the 16th century wary of any so …

Web07-11-2022 · Vodou, also spelled Voodoo, Voudou, Vodun, or French Vaudou, a traditional Afro-Haitian religion. Vodou represents a syncretism of the West African Vodun religion and Roman Catholicism by the descendants of the Dahomean, Kongo, Yoruba, and other ethnic groups who had been enslaved and transported to colonial Saint-Domingue (as Haiti was …

Web19-10-2022 · Prussia, German Preussen, Polish Prusy, in European history, any of certain areas of eastern and central Europe, respectively (1) the land of the Prussians on the southeastern coast of the Baltic Sea, which came under Polish and German rule in the Middle Ages, (2) the kingdom ruled from 1701 by the German Hohenzollern dynasty, …

WebCharles V, (born February 24, 1500, Ghent, Flanders [now in Belgium]—died September 21, 1558, San Jerónimo de Yuste, Spain), Holy Roman emperor (1519–56), king of Spain (as Charles I; 1516–56), and archduke of Austria (as Charles I; 1519–21), who inherited a Spanish and Habsburg empire extending across Europe from Spain and the Netherlands …

WebRenaissance, (French: “Rebirth”) period in European civilization immediately following the Middle Ages and conventionally held to have been characterized by a surge of interest in Classical scholarship and values. The Renaissance also witnessed the discovery and exploration of new continents, the substitution of the Copernican for the Ptolemaic system …

WebValentine’s Day, also called St. Valentine’s Day, holiday (February 14) when lovers express their affection with greetings and gifts. Given their similarities, it has been suggested that the holiday has origins in the Roman festival of Lupercalia, held in mid-February. The festival, which celebrated the coming of spring, included fertility rites and the pairing off of …