Browsing: Religion

A Brief History On September 14, 1975, Elizabeth Ann Seton was canonized by Pope Paul VI, thus she became the first person born in what is now the United States to be granted sainthood.  Born in New York, on August 28, 1774, she just missed being born in the United States, but more importantly, was not even born into a Catholic family!  Seton was also the founder of the first religious order for nuns in America, the Sisters of Charity. Digging Deeper Born Elizabeth Ann Bayley to a French Huguenot family, her father had been a prominent doctor in New…

A Brief History On September 11, 2001, the fanatical Islamist terror group, al-Qaeda, carried out coordinated attacks against the United States, resulting in the crashing of a fully occupied jetliner into the Pentagon, the hijacking and subsequent crash of another jetliner, and the crashing of yet another two jetliners into the World Trade Center, taking down two of the tallest buildings in the world.  Lost were nearly 3000 innocent lives with another 6000 people injured.  About $10 billion worth of property and infrastructure was also destroyed.  For what? Digging Deeper Apparently misguided Islamists see the United States as an enemy…

A Brief History On September 9, 1991, the Tajik SSR declared its independence from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) as part of the disintegration of the USSR and became the sovereign nation of Tajikistan.  The first part of the name of the new nation is no mystery, it reflects the majority ethnicity of the people in that region, people calling themselves Tajiks.  The ending part of the name of the country, and the names of so many other countries in the region, “stan,” derives from the Persian word for “place.”  Thus, Tajikistan pretty much means “Place of the…

A Brief History On August 1, 1714, the British people dug deep, really deep, in order to select their next King when Queen Anne died.  Bypassing more than 50 people higher on the royal ladder to the crown in order to select a Protestant instead of settling for a Catholic, George, Elector of Hanover (Germany), became King of Great Britain!  How could so many people higher in the normal hereditary order of succession (the real term for this is primogeniture, but we figure most of our readers are not Professors of History like Dr. Zar!) be passed over?  Simply because…

A Brief History On July 30, 1419, The First Defenestration of Prague took place, which of course, means there was a second Defenestration!  Prague, the capital in what was then called Bohemia and today the capital of the Czech Republic, is a vibrant city as the seat of government today, just as it was back in 1419.  Why would such a beautiful city be the scene of violence? Digging Deeper First of all, we must let you know what “defenestration” means.  Not a word you hear every day although the action described by it is not all that unusual.  (Drum…