Catholic Church

The intercession of saints is a Christian doctrine that maintains that saints can intercede for others. The invocation of the saints is the practice of persons requesting saints to intercede for them; the comprecation of saints is the practice in which Christians ask God for a share in the prayers offered by the saints. The practice of the invocation of the saints is held by the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, and some Lutherans and Anglicans (chiefly those of Evangelical Catholic or Anglo-Catholic churchmanship, respectively). The Lutheran Churches and the Anglican Communion accept the doctrine of the intercession of the saints, holding that the saints (living and in heaven) pray for the Church; the practice of the comprecation of saints is accepted by these traditions, though the invocation of the saints is generally rejected by these Christian denominations (apart from certain Evangelical Catholics and Anglo-Catholics).

To intercede is to go or come between two parties, to plead before one of them on behalf of the other. In ecclesiastical usage both words are taken in the sense of the intervention primarily of Christ, and secondarily of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the angels and saints, on behalf of men and women.

The Pantheon (UK: /ˈpænθiən/, US: /-ɒn/; Latin: Pantheum, from Ancient Greek Πάνθειον (Pantheion) '[temple] of all the gods') is an ancient 2nd century Roman temple and, since AD 609, a Catholic church called the Basilica of St. Mary and the Martyrs (Italian: Basilica Santa Maria ad Martyres) in Rome, Italy. It is perhaps the most famous, and architecturally most influential, rotunda.

The Pantheon was built on the site of an earlier temple, which had been commissioned by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa during the reign of Augustus (27 BC–AD 14). After the original burnt down, the present building was ordered by the emperor Hadrian and probably dedicated c. AD 126. Its date of construction is uncertain, because Hadrian chose to re-inscribe the new temple with Agrippa's original date inscription from the older temple.

The Diocese of Urgell (Catalan pronunciation: [uɾˈ(d)ʒeʎ]; Latin: Diœcesis Urgellensis) is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in Catalonia (Spain) and the Principality of Andorra in the historical County of Urgell, with origins in the 5th century AD or possibly earlier. It is based in the region of the historical Catalan County of Urgell, though it has different borders. The seat and cathedral of the bishop are situated in la Seu d'Urgell town. The state of Andorra is a part of this diocese.

Among its most notable events are Bishop Felix's adoptionist revolt, the coup of Bishop Esclua, and the overthrowing of the bishop by members of aristocratic families (namely Salla i Ermengol del Conflent, Eribau i Folcs dels Cardona, Guillem Guifré de Cerdanya and Ot de Pallars) between the years 981 and 1122.

Irish Catholics (Irish: Caitlicigh na hÉireann) are an ethnoreligious group native to Ireland whose members are both Catholic and Irish. The diaspora and the descendants of Irish Catholics includes millions of Americans, Canadians and Australians. In countries like the United States, Canada and Australia, many Catholics descend from Irish immigrants/migrants who passed down their faith.

Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes justification of sinners through faith alone, the teaching that salvation comes by unmerited divine grace, the priesthood of all believers, and the Bible as the sole infallible source of authority for Christian faith and practice. The five solae summarize the basic theological beliefs of mainstream Protestantism.

Protestants follow the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began in the 16th century with the goal of reforming the Catholic Church from perceived errors, abuses, and discrepancies. The Reformation began in the Holy Roman Empire in 1517, when Martin Luther published his Ninety-five Theses as a reaction against abuses in the sale of indulgences by the Catholic Church, which purported to offer the remission of the temporal punishment of sins to their purchasers. Luther's statements questioned the Catholic Church's role as negotiator between people and God, especially when it came to the indulgence arrangement, which in part granted people the power to purchase a certificate of pardon for the penalization of their sins. Luther argued against the practice of buying or earning forgiveness, claiming instead that salvation is a gift God gives to those who have faith.

Secular music and sacred music were the two main genres of Western music during the Middle Ages and Renaissance era. The oldest written examples of secular music are songs with Latin lyrics. However, many secular songs were sung in the vernacular language, unlike the sacred songs that followed the Latin language of the Church, which is not to say there are not secular songs in Latin or not secular songs that are religious in theme.

In the Middle Ages, and even through the Renaissance and the Age of Enlightenment, any music that was not commissioned by the Catholic Church (or, later, a Protestant church) for liturgical use was and still is considered "secular music." Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven) (commonly called "Ode to Joy") and Messiah (Handel) are both examples of secular music because, despite being wholly and innately religious in theme, they were not commissioned by any church or for use in any religion's liturgy. Symphony No. 9 was commissioned by the Philharmonic Society of London for theater performance, not by the Catholic Church, the Church of England, or any other church and not for liturgical use. Likewise, "Messiah (Handel) was commissioned by the Duke of Devonshire to be performed in Dublin theaters for a series of charity concerts, not by the Catholic Church or any other church and not for liturgical use. So, while "secular" today is often taken to mean non-religious in any way, when it refers to music from the Middle Ages through as late as the 19th century, music with a religious theme may be and very often is "secular music" for the simple fact that it was not written on behalf of any commissioning church or for liturgical use, meaning "secular" does not indicate that it is thematically non-religious but that it is non-religious vis-à-vis a religious organization (i.e., the Church) did not commission its creation, sacred music being definitively music commissioned by the Church for liturgical use, for use by the Church in the Church's established rituals, the Church's ceremonies, and the Church's forms of worship, and any and all other music (i.e., music not fitting that strict definition) being secular music, no matter how religiously themed or gloriously worshipful of God it may be. A caveat: while these definitions of sacred music and secular music still hold true today when referring to such music from the past, they tend not to still hold true today for more modern music as any modern song that is themed in religious worship, regardless of if any church commissioned it or uses it in its liturgy, is not considered secular music, like Christian rock is not considered secular music today, but if it were somehow packed up and sent back to the 1500s, it would be considered secular music today because it would have been considered secular music back in the 1500s because of not being commission by the Church for liturgical use but by the artists themselves, or their labels, for their own personal or professional use and so would have come down through history to today as secular music.

Hoodoo is a set of spiritual observances, traditions, and beliefs—including magical and other ritual practices—developed by enslaved African Americans in the Southern United States from various traditional African spiritualities and elements of indigenous North American botanical knowledge. Practitioners of Hoodoo are called rootworkers, conjure doctors, conjure men or conjure women, and root doctors. Regional synonyms for Hoodoo include roots, rootwork and conjure. As an autonomous spiritual system, it has often been syncretized with beliefs from religions such as Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, and Spiritualism.

Hoodoo, frequently associated with conjure, is a compilation of religious beliefs and practices, centered on ancestor worship, justice, and rootwork, a botanical practice used for both healing and causing harm. It is mostly influenced by West African spiritual practices, incorporating Indigenous herbalism and European grimoires. While there are a few academics who believe that Hoodoo is an autonomous religion, those who practice the tradition maintain that it is a set of spiritual traditions that are practiced in conjunction with a religion or spiritual belief system, such as a traditional African spirituality and Abrahamic religion.

The Western religions are the religions that originated within Western culture, which are thus historically, culturally, and theologically distinct from Eastern, African and Iranian religions. The term Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) an is often used instead of using the East and West terminology, as these originated in the Middle East.

Western culture itself was significantly influenced by the emergence of Christianity and its adoption as the state church of the Roman Empire in the late 4th century and the term "Christendom" largely indicates this intertwined history. Western Christianity was significantly influenced by Hellenistic religion (notably neoplatonism) as well as the Roman imperial cult. Western Christianity is largely based on the Catholic Church's Latin Church tradition, as opposed to Eastern Orthodoxy, from which it was divided by the Great Schism of the 11th century, and further includes all Protestant traditions that split with the Catholic Church from the 16th century onward.

The veneration of the dead, including one's ancestors, is based on love and respect for the deceased. In some cultures, it is related to beliefs that the dead have a continued existence, and may possess the ability to influence the fortune of the living. Some groups venerate their direct, familial ancestors. Certain religious groups, in particular the Eastern Orthodox Churches, Anglican Church, and Catholic Church venerate saints as intercessors with God; the latter also believes in prayer for departed souls in Purgatory. Other religious groups, consider veneration of the dead to be idolatry and a sin.

In European, Asian, Oceanian, African and Afro-diasporic cultures (which includes but should be distinguished from multiple cultures and Indigenous populations in the Americas who were never influenced by the African Diaspora), the goal of ancestor veneration is to ensure the ancestors' continued well-being and positive disposition towards the living, and sometimes to ask for special favours or assistance. The social or non-religious function of ancestor veneration is to cultivate kinship values, such as filial piety, family loyalty, and continuity of the family lineage. Ancestor veneration occurs in societies with every degree of social, political, and technological complexity, and it remains an important component of various religious practices in modern times.