Derived from the French syndicats, associations of workingmen uniting members of the same trade or industry for the furtherance of common economic interests.

A layman, who in the name, and by the authority, of the Holy See assumes the care and civil administration of the temporalities and in particular the pecuniary alms destined for the support and benefit of Franciscan convents, and thence provides for the requirements of the brethren.

Synderesis, or more correctly synteresis, is a term used by the Scholastic theologians to signify the habitual knowledge of the universal practical principles of moral action.

An explanation is given by Plutarch in a small work on brotherly love ("Opera Moralia", ed. Reiske, VII, 910). He there tells how the Cretans were often engaged in quarrels among themselves, but became immediately reconciled when an external enemy approached.

A name which in the early Church was given to those monks or clerics who lived in the same room with their bishops, and whose duty it was to be witnesses to the purity of their lives or to perform the daily spiritual exercises in common with them.

Means gathering, assembly, reunion. It is exactly equivalent to the Latin collecta (from colligere), and corresponds to synagogue (synagoge), the place of reunion.

The name of a liturgical book of the Byzantine Church. The exact meaning of the name has changed at various times.

A titular see in Phrygia Pacatiana, suffragan of Laodicea.

The place of assemblage of the Jews. This article will treat of the name, origin, history, organization, liturgy and building of the synagogue.

Martyr, d. circa 138. According to legend, her seven sons were martyred with her, and her acts were extant in the fifth century, but today we have no reliable testimonies about her life and martyrdom.

Lengthy article on this pope, who died in 514.

Author of one of the Greek versions of the Old Testament included by Origen in his Hexapla and Tetrapla. Some fragments of this version survive in what remains of the Hexapla.

The investing of outward things or actions with an inner meaning, more especially for the expression of religious ideas.

Theologian, born at Braine-le-Comte, Hainault, Belgium, 1581; died at Douai, 22 February, 1649.

A minor monastic order or, strictly speaking, congregation following in general the Rule of St. Benedict but distinct from the Black monks and not forming a part of the confederation of Benedictine congregations.

A twelfth-century philosopher of Neo-Platonic tendencies.

Pope (999-1003).

In office for 21 years, while Constantine was emperor. St. Sylvester died in 335.

Founder of the Sylvestrines. Canon, hermit. Died 1267.

The name given to two series of propositions containing modern religious errors condemned respectively by Pius IX (1864) and Pius X (1907).

Born at Leeds; martyred at York Tyburn 23 March, 1586-7.

A titular see in Thebian Secunda, suffragan of Ptolemais. Syene (Egyptian, Souanou, Coptic, Souan) was originally the marketplace of the island of Elephantine (in Egyptian, Abou).

Was martyred in 1591 for having assisted priests and for being a convert to Catholicism.