Agnus Dei
(Lat., ‘Lamb of God’).The hymn derived from John 1. 29 sung or said during or after the breaking of the bread at communion in W. churches.
Candlemas
[Ge]A traditional calendar festival in northern Europe celebrated in recent times on 2 February, the Christian feast of the purification of the Virgin Mary.
Christopher
(antipope Sept. 903–Jan. 904: d. early 904)A Roman by birth, priest of S. Damaso, one of the 25 ancient parish, or ‘title’, churches of Rome, he headed a coup which overthrew Leo V, flung him into ...
Constantine
(25 Mar. 708–9 Apr. 715)A Syrian like his predecessor and described by his biographer as ‘exceedingly gentle’, he should probably be identified with the archdeacon Constantine who was one of Pope ...
Gregory II
(d. 731),pope. Born in Rome, Gregory became a subdeacon under Pope Sergius; later he was treasurer and librarian and, in 710, now a deacon, accompanied Pope Constantine to Constantinople to help ...
John
(antipope Jan. 844)On the death of Gregory IV (25 Jan. 844) the populace of Rome, with violent demonstrations, proclaimed a deacon named John with no known links to the aristocracy as his successor, ...
John IX
(Jan. 898–Jan. 900)On the death of Theodore II the partisans of Stephen VI, sworn foes of his posthumously condemned victim Formosus, seized the initiative and elected Sergius, bishop of Caere ...
John VI
(30 Oct. 701–11 Jan. 705)Nothing is known of his background except that he was Greek by birth. The few glimpses that survive of his reign show him, at a time when Byzantium's hold on Italy was ...
John VII
(1 Mar. 705–18 Oct. 707)A Greek by birth, he was son of Plato and Blatta, his father being the highly placed official responsible for the maintenance of the imperial palace on the Palatine; he was ...
Justinian II
Emperor (685–95 and 705–11); born Constantinople ca.668, died Damatrys 7 Nov. 711 (Grierson, “Tombs and Obits” 51).He was son of Constantine V and Anastasia; an improbable tradition places his ...
Nativity of the BVM
The feast, which is observed on 8 Sept., is attested in the E. in the 8th cent. It was not generally observed in the W. until the 11th cent. The choice of date is unexplained.
Paschal
The Passover. A false etymology in the early Church connected this Hebrew word with the Greek verb paschein, meaning to suffer. Because of its theme of Christian suffering, it has then been suggested ...
St Euphemia
(perhaps 4th cent.), virgin and martyr. She was venerated in the E., especially as patroness of the church where the Council met at Chalcedon in 451. Feast day, 16 Sept.
St Willibrord
(658–739), ‘Apostle of Frisia’. A Northumbrian, he spent twelve years in an Anglo-Saxon religious community in Ireland. In 690 he went as a missionary to W. Frisia. On a visit to Rome in 692 he ...
Theodore
(antipope 687)A Roman presbyter, he was the Roman militia's candidate for the papacy at the disputed election following the death of John V on 2 Aug. 686. His rival, backed by the clergy, was the ...
