Word origins

• superintendentA person who is authorized to supervise, direct or administer something.
• albaA type of lyrical poetry, traditionally Provençal, about lovers who must part at dawn.
• CanaanA historic region of the Middle East, roughly equivalent to Palestine/Israel.
• incarnateEmbodied in flesh; given a bodily, especially a human, form; personified.
• lectionaryA book or listing that contains a collection of scripture readings appointed for Christian or Jewish worship on a given day or occasion.
• missaa mass, in the sense of a composition setting several sung parts of the liturgical service (most often chosen from the ordinary parts Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Agnus Dei and/or Sanctus) to music, notably when the text in Latin is used (as long universally prescribed by Rome)
• feriaA weekday on a Church calendar on which no feast is observed.
• GalliA surname.
• ammamother
• kyrieA short prayer or petition including the phrase kyrie eleison, meaning “Lord, have mercy”.
• novenaA recitation of prayers and devotions for nine consecutive days, especially one to a saint to ask for their intercession.
• gehennaIn rabbinical literature and Christian and Islamic scripture, the place where the souls of the wicked go after death, where they suffer eternal damnation or annihilation.
• BenedictusThe Gospel canticle of Zechariah (Luke 1:68–79), with the incipit Benedictus Dominus Deus Israel (“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel”).
• jubilateTo show elation or triumph; to rejoice.
• hethThe eighth letter of many Semitic alphabets (Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic and others).
• JebusA placename, said in the Bible to have been the name of Jerusalem prior to its conquest by Joshua and David.
• superintendTo oversee the work of others; to supervise.
• excommunicateTo officially exclude someone from membership of a church or religious community.
• exarchIn the Byzantine Empire, a governor of a distant province.
• HamathAn Iron Age city located in north-west Syria. Roughly equivalent to modern day Hama.
• sinecureA position that requires little to no work, or easy work, but still gives an ample payment; a cushy job.
• hypostasisA sedimentary deposit, especially in urine.
• discalcedPertaining to a religious order that historically forswore the wearing of shoes.
• temporaleA cycle of texts to be read or chanted at liturgical services on particular weeks and movable feasts throughout the year; a book that contains this cycle.
• abbreviatorA person who abbreviates or shortens.
• accensorOne of the functionaries who light and trim the tapers.
• Alb SundaySynonym of Quasimodo (“the Sunday one week after Easter Sunday”).
• anagogyThe spiritual or mystical interpretation of a word or passage beyond the literal, allegorical or moral sense.
• archconfraternityA religious confraternity that, as a special concession of the Holy See, can join or affiliate with, and extend privileges to, other similar brotherhoods.
• ArvaditeAn inhabitant of the island and city of Arwad.
• aspergillumAn implement, in the form of a brush or of a rod with a perforated container, for sprinkling holy water; a holy-water sprinkle.
• Beloved DiscipleA figure in the Gospel of John whose identity is left implicit within the text; traditionally, John the Evangelist himself.
• cardinalateThe dignity and ecclesiastic office of Roman Catholic cardinal.
• collocutorAny of the people engaged in a conversation.
• colorumA rebel organization characterized by religious fanaticism.
• condoleFollowed by with: to express condolence to, or sympathetic sorrow with, someone; to lament in sympathy with someone.
• contemptus mundiContempt for worldly concerns or secular life.
• conversusA lay brother.
• diplomaticsThe science of authenticating, dating, and interpreting old official documents.
• dry massThe mass of a rocket including its contents but without propellant.
• ecumenical councilA church council to which bishops from the entire world are invited, held by Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christians to be infallible in its decisions on faith and morals when certain conditions are met.
• enhypostasiaThe state of the human nature of Jesus Christ being entirely dependent on, and not existing independently of, the divine nature of God as a whole (which is the hypostasis of the Holy Trinity comprising God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit), or individual persons of the Trinity such as the Father and the Holy Spirit.
• expiatoryOf or pertaining to expiation.
• extraordinary formThe Tridentine liturgy according to the rubrics in force shortly before the Second Vatican Council.
• formal heresyThe teaching or expression of an opinion in the conscious knowledge that it is contradictory to the teachings of the Church, and as such heretical.
• GirgashiteA member of a certain group of descendants of Canaan who inhabited the land of Canaan.
• habemus papamUsed by the Vatican to announce the election of a new Pope.
• hypostatic unionIn Chalcedonian Christianity, the unity of the two natures of Jesus Christ, divine and human, in a single individual person or hypostasis.
• in excelsisTo the highest degree; archetypal, quintessential.
• in partibus infideliumOf a bishop or see: merely titular, without regular jurisdiction, and serving to assist some other bishop or to act as delegates of the pope where no hierarchy had yet been established.
• IntroiboThe prayers spoken by the priest at the foot of the altar at the start of a Tridentine Mass.
• Lord's DaySunday, the first day of the week, particularly as the Christian Sabbath.
• martyriumA tomb or other edifice erected in homage to a martyr.
• material heresyAn opinion that is objectively contradictory to the teachings of the Church, and as such heretical, but which is uttered by a person without the subjective knowledge of it being so.
• MemorareA prayer for the intercession of the Virgin Mary, beginning in English, “Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary …”
• mysteriarchOne who rules over mysteries.
• Novus OrdoThe version of the Roman Rite of the Mass established in 1969, the Mass of Paul VI, usually celebrated in a vernacular language.
• oculateIPA⁽ᵏᵉʸ⁾: /ˈɒkjʊlət/
• offensive to pious earsDescribing a doctrine or proposition that is not heretical, but formulated improperly or ambiguously and hence liable to cause scandal. A formal censure.
• partial indulgenceAn indulgence that remits part of a person’s sins, and thus part of their time in purgatory.
• philosophical sinSin that is said to contravene the natural moral order rather than offending God directly, for example because the sinner is ignorant of divine law or does not think of God in the act.
• plenary indulgenceAn indulgence that remits all of a person’s sins, and thus the whole of their time in purgatory.
• postcommunionThe concluding portion of the communion service.
• Precious BloodThe blood of Jesus Christ, especially in the form it is believed to take in the consecrated wine of the Eucharist.
• Quicunque vultThe Athanasian Creed.
• QuinisextDescribing a council convoked by the emperor Justinian II at Constantinople in 692, also known as the Council in Trullo; of or pertaining to this council.
• sacramentaryAn ancient book of the Roman Catholic Church, containing the rites for Mass, the sacraments, etc.
• SarabaiteA class of monk in Catholic belief who dwelt in his own home, or in or near a city.
• SiniteAn inhabitant of the city of Šianu (identified with modern Siano on the coast of Syria).
• SosipaterA person mentioned in Romans 16:21. Perhaps the same person as Sopater
• TersanctusThe Trisagion (beginning “Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal …”).
• Vicar of ChristThe Pope.
• White SundaySynonym of Quasimodo (“the Sunday one week after Easter Sunday”).
• words of institutionThe pronouncements “This is my body” and “This is my blood”, said by the celebrants at the climax of most eucharistic liturgies and held by many churches to be essential to the performance of the rite.
• ZemariteAn inhabitant of the city of Ṣumuru (identified with modern Tell Kazel on the coast of Syria).