1. Abolition—the ending of the practice of slavery.
2. Arthritis—a disease that causes inflammation of the joints. Arthritis, depending on which joints of the body it affects, can make it difficult and painful to walk or perform other everyday functions.
3. Beatification—the ceremony in which the Catholic Church recognizes that a deceased person lived a life of Gospel holiness in a heroic way. In most cases, a proven miracle obtained through the holy person’s prayers to God is also required. A person who is beatified is given the title Blessed.
4. Canonization—the ceremony in which the pope officially declares that someone is a saint in heaven. To canonize someone is to recognize that he or she has lived a life of heroic virtue, is worthy of imitation, and can intercede for others. Like beatification, which it follows, canonization requires a miracle resulting from the holy person’s prayers to God.
5. Caravan—a company of travelers on a journey; sometimes, a train of pack animals, such as camels.
6. Chastity, vow of—by this vow, a religious freely gives up the right to marry, along with the privileges that come with being married.
7. Consecrate—to declare or make something sacred.
8. Doctrine—any truth taught by the Church that is to be believed by the faithful.
9. Liturgical—having to do with the official public worship of the Church, especially the celebration of the Eucharist, and the administration of the Sacraments.
10. Novitiate—a period of time (usually one or two years) in which those who have responded to God’s call to religious life grow in love for Jesus and in their desire to give themselves fully to him in the Church. Through prayer, study, and participation in their institute’s life and mission, the novices learn about the spirit of the institute. They prepare to make the vows through which they will totally offer their lives to Jesus.
11. Obedience, vow of—by this vow, a religious promises to obey God’s will as it comes through his or her superiors, the persons who govern and serve religious communities.
12. Papacy—the system of Church government, which is headed by the pope.
13. Pleurisy—an inflammation of the lungs that makes it hard for a person to breathe.
14. Poverty, vow of—by this vow, a religious promises to live a simple life and gives up personal ownership of things, in imitation of Jesus.
15. Proxy—authority or power to act for another.
16. Religious—used as a noun, a woman or a man whose life is dedicated to God.
17. Thatch—plant material used as a house roof. In Sudan, round huts are often thatched with cone-shaped roofs of grass and millet stalks.
18. Vice Consul—the second-in-command to a consul, an official appointed by a government to live in a foreign country and represent that government’s commercial interests.
19. Vocation—a call from God to a certain lifestyle. A person may have a vocation to the married life, the priesthood, the religious life, or the single life. Everyone has a vocation to be holy.
20. Vow—an important promise freely made to God. The most common vows today are those of poverty, chastity, and obedience made by members of religious communities.